Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1898-09-24
Says Her Death Has Done Great
Good to the Cause of Civ
iliZatiOn
And More Harm to Anarchy
Than Anything That Ever
Happened.
MEMORIAL MEETING IN NEW YORK

A memorial meeting for the late EN-
press of Austria and Queen of Hungary,
Elizabeth, was held Sunday afternoon in
the Grand Central Palace, New York
City. 1t was under the management of
the Hungarian Literary Society, and
there was a great outpouring of Hunga-
rians. Fully $500 people crowded inro
the hall, which was draped from the gal
leries to dome in mourning. Behind the
stage was a large oil painting of the late
Empress, on one side of it the flag of
Hungary and on the other the Stars and
Stripes.
After dirge by Hungarian band and
several selections by the Hungarian Sing
ing Circle, the Chairman of the meeting,
Morris Cukor, addressed the meeting. At
the conclusion of his remarks Mr.. Bourke
Cochran, the celebrated IrishAmerican
lawyer, was introduced, and delivered the
following eloquent and glowing tribute to
the memory of the Empress:
"Allow me at the very outset to express
my thanks to you for this opportunity to
address a gathering Of Hungarians on the
subject of their martyred Queen. l am
a stranger to your language, but not to
your history, and esteem it an honor to
be asked to express my sympathy with
you in the loss of your murdered Queen
and my reprobation of the crime which
has so shocked the world.
az think / am in the bounds of pro.
priety when l say that this awful deed
surpasses anything in history for atrocity.
The agents of violence have made the
world familiar with assassination, but
when the dagger of the assassin is pointed
at the heart of the noblest and gentlest
woman in the world we all weep.
This tragedy came so suddenly, was
so atrocious, so senseless to our percep-
ton, that we can not fathom the motive,
much less the consequences of the crime.
The gentle soul of the Empress rebelled
at the thought of violence. She chose,
when abroad, to trust herself to her fell
lows rather than to the paid guards, and
she has paid terrible price for her trust
in human nature. The heart that for
sixty years bled for the misery it couldn't
relieve bled to death before the dagger of
the assassin.
contemplating it, it seems as though
civilization was at a standstill. Yet closer
inspection shows us that anarchy is as
powerless as ever and civilization stronger
than it was before this crime. The EN-
press died useful death, as she had lived
a useful life. We find her stricken to
death without excuse or reason in Swiss
village-she sovereign, the Empress of
a great country, the Queen of a great
nation. But it was not as either that we
loved her in this country, but as a woman,
that type of womanhood that Americans
have made their ideal, and who is en-
shrined in every Americans heart. She
placed the house of Hapsburg secure on
the throne of Hungary by her advice to
her imperial husband, and in every little
act of her life she elevated the standard
of womanhood throughout the world.
"The thoughtless say that the loss of
such a woman is irreparabls. 1t is a sad
loss, but the manner in which the EN-
press was taken away has done more good
for civilization and more harm to the sect
to which the murderer belonged than
anything that has ever happened. Her
sufferings we're nothing compared to
what she suffered when her son lay dead
at her feet. 1 believe she suffered moth
ing from the assassin's knife.
"The anarchist regard as largely the
product of the fear of his own agitation.
/ don't believe there is such a thing in
existence as a serious anarchistic organi-
cation. When we catch these assassins
and examine them we find in them, not
the courage of the fanatic, but the petty
vanity of the lunatic Civilization is
moving along, although the, anarchist
turks in the byways. He will not be in
the way, though. l have never seen the
time when he appeared to represent any
force. By this last crime of his what has
he done but to make stronger the mon
archy he pretends to fight against
"The fruits of the Empress example
are now being harvested. By her death
the world is not worse, but better.
The anarchist we can dismiss. He is
a relic of barbarism. The woman
who died died a martyr, and the blood of
a martyr has always been useful seed to
civilization.
"The saddest spectacle of today is the
Emperor. 1t is not at the head of his
army or at the feet of his paupers that we
s-C - +
man at the bier of his wife.
at is not joy or splendor that has ac-
companied great things for the human
race, but sorrow and suffering, and the
Empress and Queen stands the strongest
influence for peace in Europe today"