The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-10-23
WHEN POSITION FAILS.
By CLINTON ROSS.
copyright, 1897, by Clinton Ross.l

equal" Twas a neat enough statement
for paper, but some in America believed
it not. Was there an equal for General
Washington? Did we not cringe a bit
to rank when a French marquis-albeit
a tall, red haired boy-came among us?
A title caught ever then many a good
appointment, and l doubt much some
times if Alexander of New Jersey would
have been so much esteemed if he had
not had claim to the Scottish earldom
of Stirling. l am sure many inefficient
foreign adventurers had service with
us because they had titles. Two of these
gentlemen proved conclusively great
natural abilities-one, of course, M.
Lafayette, who, a boy of 20, came so
cleverly out of the affair of Barren
Hill, and the other, Casimir Pulaski,
the Pole, whom | saw fall with a wound
in the thigh during the charge IN Sa-
vannah. Taken on the brig Wasp, he
died as she was putting to sea, esteemed
a good friend, a gallant captain.
1t was only the night before that he
told me the truth of that affair at War
saw which led to his service i'll America.
He was not, the Count Pulaski assured
me, himself a partner in this matter,
although he was indeed a member of
that confederation of boyars sworn to
fight for Polish freedom to the very
end. But circumstantial evidence led
to his Punishment, as it had to that Of
so many others. Despairing of Poland
and eager for a career. he came to
America.
Yet, although my friend was not
himself in this affair, the story he told
of it appears to me new. The picture
of the king and his assassin walking
side by side reasoning together of the
rainy night i'll the wood of Bilany has
had moro than passing effect. The story
proves that our revolt against a king
was not the first. All, history is full of
these Misunderstanding John, Charles
Stuart, Stanislaus of Poland, Louis
XVI, George III, by proxy III America,
and many another account
Now, this is the account of the affair,
as l remember it, that began in the
street of the Capuchins, Warsaw:
The king had been to his summer
palace that day of Sept. 3, 1771, and his
coach was returning along the street of
the C%apuchins; how it was 8 o'clock
of a rainy night as the leader of the
kings guard of some II dragons was
astounded when suddenly a man leaped
before his horse with the loud COM
mand, "Halt!" Tho lieutenant strug-
gled to bring his saber down on the fell
lows head. His horse careened, stop
ping indeed the whole company and the
coach, whence the kings head suddenly
projected.
At the moment a shot from a window
of a supposedly deserted house grazed
the kings face, instantly killing the
servant who was with him in the coach.
1.-The king is assassinatedl" The cry
was raised from guards and passers.
His majesty is dead!'
Stanislaus, who ever was considerate
of his interiors, shouted at this:
1T is Felix, the heyduc, who is shotl
Quick, catch the assassin
Suddenly down the street came the
sounds of horses and cries:
Down with Stanislaus, the creature
of the Russiansl"
At the same instant men rushed out
of the house whence the shot into the
coach had come, swearing, shouting
and firing, One of the kings guards
cried:
"A plot! An ambushl There are
a thousand!"
Instantly the panic became general.
The lieutenant of the guards, who had
succeeded i'll running through the fellow
at his bride rein, now found himself
confronted by the horsemen. Turning,
he led the flight, and the king was left
almost alone in his coach hugging the
dead body of his poor servant and OBJ
livious to everything else. The horses
of the coach, rearing and %plunging, re-
quired all the attention Of the postil-
ions, who themselves were frightened
out of whatever wit they may have had.
By this time the leader of the attack
ing horsemen was ~dismounted by the
coach door.
"Out, Stanislausl" he cried. 'You
are to come with me-"
The king, perceiving this to be Count
Kolinski, cried out to him:
"Kolinski. traitor, | am your kingl"
For an instant kolinski hesitated.
The sight of the king, placed as he was
with the dead servant in his arms, and
yet still the king, with that dignity
Stanislaus always possessed-that scene,
shown dimly by the lantern of the
coaoh-shook for a moment the con-
spirator's resolution.
But the others were behind him, des-
perate and knowing that if the issue of
the adventure were not successful death
was certain.
Pull him outi"
Then Stanislaus looked up from the
dead heyduc i'll his lap, the dark, hand
some man he always was, now with no
fear, but with a mastering anger at the
indignity.
"You shall hang for thisl''
All, they knew that danger too WE'LL
They could not hesitate if pity for a
moment had weakened their purpose.
Roughly they dragged the king from
the coach, he struggling and crying and
clinging to the dead and the sides of
the coach.
/ can imagine nothing more horrible
than that scene-the king now outside
in the mud, the dead body of the serv-
ant dangling from the coach step, the
Positions struggling with their horses,
the conspirators, some on foot and some
mounted, surrounding the king, one
bringing the fat Of a saber against his
lool o,,1 tLo o,l 80 &o,,,oo-lo