Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-21

| clamor demanded the destruction of the
| weapon. And when it was found that the
| poniard blade was of such exquisite tenn
per to resist all ordinary methods. such
| as the use of file and hammer, the authori-
| ties had to resort to sulphuric acid for Tie
purpose. The superstitiouS people of Spain.
| long trained in the belief in magic and
| black arts, from their intercourse with the
| Moors, would not believe that their ruler
was safe unless the poniard was entirely
| dissolved away and every trace of The su-
pernaturai removed.
| In this manner, also, the revolver with
which Prime Minister Canovas was shot,
| and even the gun used in the attempted
| assassination of King George of Greece, as
| well as the pistol used against King Alton
| So and the knife turned upon King Hum
| bert-all these were rendered into moth
| ingness by acids.
Has Some Good Points.
| Superstition aside, the custom has it's
commendable features, since, for one thing
the tools of murderers cannot then be ex-
hibited and made the objects of morbid
perhaps murderous. curiosity in dime
| museums and shows. The pointed file
which the murderer of Empress Elizabeth
had inserted into a wooden handle has
passed out of existence, and along with ii
even the surgical instruments used in the
post-mortem examination. The bel
which lay awhile the regal corpse of roy
alty's consort has been sent to Vienna,
that the emperor alone may have the mel
ancholy satisfaction of gazing on it in the
seclusiOn of his palace.
OF the We lpons with which great person.
ages have been killed during the century
now nearing its close, most have been de-
Stroyed. as wei as the wretches WHO WELD
ed them Nearly IL were knives. stiettos
or poniards. since most of the slayers of
royalty and rulers in Europe have belonged
to that nationality devoted to the use OF
steel as a means of revenge. Italy, in fact,
has furnished the majority of murderers
who have Invaded high places and taken
off the occupants of thrones. 1t may be
said. in truth, that Italy of late has pro-
vided the majority of such assassins
throughout the world at large, and can well
lay claim to the unenviable reputation of
being the mothcrland of murderers.
Famous ADMINISTRATIONS
The first year of this century, 1901, was
made notable by the assassination of 4
great ruler. in the person of Emperor Paul
of Russia, who had ascended the throne
upon the death of Catherine. But he was
killed with natures weapons, having been
strangled by a body of his generals on the
cath of March
Seven years later. or in 1903. the Sultan
Of Turkey, Seiim III, was also strangled
by the order of his own son. A quarter
century passed, it is believed before the
next ruler was killed, and this time the
scene of tragedy was Greece, the date De-
tober o, 1881, when President Capo d'Istrfa
was shot and stabbed to death.
In March, 1854, Carlo III. Duke of Parma.
was stabbed by one Antonio Cara who
somehow escaped the death penalty found
an asylum in this country and died in Phil
adelphIa twenty years ago
A Sultan of Turkey the enliehtened
Abdul Azziz, was bled to death in his bath
IT is claimed in 1876. But as in Turkey for
s0Verelgns to die natural death is some
what rare, the incident excited little atten-
ton at the time.
In Morocco and Algiers, under Turkish
RUE, the disappearance of a dey or two
was taken as matter of course in AleierS
alone four such digntaries having been
shot to death.
Destroyed by Dynamite.
The most notable assassination of tbe
time was that of the Car of Russia Alex-
ander H. who was blown up with dynamite
on March H. 1881. This weapon as is clear.
was seif-destructiVe, but those implicated
IN the throwing of it, five in number were
hanged within a month of the murder,
Napoleon's readymade monarch Murat.
was shot, as was that self-made Emperor
OF Mexico. lturbide. Shortly after the close
or the Chino-Japanese war a few vears
ago, the Queen of Corea was killed b,,t
whether shot or sfrapplad &c =, W"
doubt. "''ei VI
1t was Italian. as is well known ,ho+
stabbed the president of France. Carnot
the 24th of June, 1894. Unlike his brotber
Italian who stabbed the Empress of Aus
tria, he suffered the death penalty an6 ,,-as
Sulliotined, August 16, or less than tu~o
mcnthS after the crime was committed ~
has long been held that the guillotine was
Ihercuul means of taking off, but quite re-
cchtly French doctor claims to have die
covered that its victims, on the contrary
Sul1er terribly. The outpouring of blood
tnat attends the decapitation, he says, all
comes from the great vessels of the neck
put Tor more than an hour life is prolonged
by the blood in the Uranium. Tins in
stead OF being instant in its effect decan-
itation rather prolongS the agony for the
pra1n nndS nouriShment for more than an
hour after the head is cut off, during
which time the person decapitated retains
his or her senses of hearing smelling and
seeing: Absolute death does not ensue for
three hours!'
What horror in the thought that the AL
most 1nnumerable victims of the gllillotfne.
especially those noble maids and matrons
who fell beneath it's blade during the
French revolution should have suffered
ior hours more than the fortunes of the
damned. For some of those who have felt
IT'S Keen edge one might have no sympathy.
Dut Tor those innocent others!
On the Western Continent.
Assassination of royal rulers seems to
nave been introduced into America in the
hrst decade of this century, and the first
W Ian was d pldCh man, DeSSalineS who
for while had masqueraded under the
title OF emperor, and was killed by his
troops in 1905. The next to die by violence
was his successor Cnrstophe sometimes
called the first black king in America. and
who was crowned as Henry l. built a nal
ace and a castle, and kept an executioner.
He ian the gamut of royalty and then com
mitted suicide to avoid death at the hands
of his enemies. shooting himself with a
silver bullet
He was the eminent creator of those now
degenerate scions of nobility whose an
cestors sported the titles of dukes and
counts of Marmalade and Lemonade and
as saint Henry" he now rests secure of
fame, in the Haitian chronicles 1t he
came the custom, after that, to depose a
Haitian ruler by the powder and poniard
route, SO that the chronicle becomes tire
some of those who took that meanS of exit.
In 1872 President Balta of Peru was shot
by Gutierrez. who had made himself die
tator, and the same year President Moreno
of Ecuador shared the same fate, while
the following year Gutierrez himself went
the same way. In fact, it would be almost
impossible to take cognzance of the vari-
Gus rulers of the South American republics
who have met death while AZ the summit
In