Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-08-15
WOULD-BE ASSASSIN AT LARGE
HE SHOT LABORI IN THE BACK AND
QUICKLY FLED.
His Victim Much Worse Yesterday
AfternOOn-It Is stated That n
Second st. BnrthOlomew's
Massacre of Dreyfusites
Was Planned.
Copyright. 1899. by the Associated Press,

grows tragical. That long becalmed town
than Paris. The Parisians are laborious
The Bretons are silent and possessed by
their belief or idea, whatever 1t may be-
This morning at 6 o'clock a well nigh
successful attempt was made to
kill NJ. Labori, who defended Zola
last year and who came here
to defend Dreyfus. with NJ. Demange. The
would-be assassin was evidently a crank
and looked a workman. His weapon was a
revolver: the theater of crime, the Quay
Richemont. 1t was while Labori was going
to the court with Colonel Picquart and
his cousin, NJ. CAST.
When Madame Labori came up, she was
sent to fetch the doctor, and, not knowing
the town, she lost a good deal of time
AT last she thought of going to the court
and asking there for military surgeon
Doctors Vidal and Recluse were at hand
and at once accompanied her. They haC
the presence of mind to send gendarmes
to the barracks for an ambulance with a
stretCher and bearers.
With deep thankfulness, they found that
NJ. Labori could move his limbs at will
The spine, therefore, was not injured. The
ball had entered at the sixth vertebra
behind the thorax. 1t nigh, be imbeddeG
in the muscle of the back or have pene,
trated deeper, injuring the lungs. How.
ever, the thing was to bear the wounded
advocate to the pretty and gay-lockine
villa he had hired for use during the trial
villa adorned with green slabs of faience
1@rfrr ;,, -,
of Rennes.
But why go further into details? The
lesson of the event was foreshadowed ir
my cable last evening. Fanaticism has
been appealed to, and has answered the
call.
Colonel Picquart describes the would be
murderer as swarthy and thickset, resolute
and intelligent looking. He thinks the man
might be a Southron. If SO he must have
known the country around Rennes. 1t is
a country of small, patchy fields, separated
by hedges, which he was evidently familiar
with. Apparently he knew places in the
thicket into which he could dive, and in
doing SO remain concealed for some time
from pursuer. The gendarmes that Colo
mel Picquart met Joined the pursuit, but
fleet running and knowledge of the locality
enabled the would-be murderer to escape.
NJ. Labori is young, fair, handsome and
full of lusty life and high spirits. His tai
ents as a speaker are not of the highest or
der, but no other member of the Paris bar
knows better how to use law to defeat its
object. He can drive a motor car through
the code. Until he pleaded for Zoa his
luck was uninterrupted. He then had an
attack of typhoid fever, which greatly
weakened him and forced him to neglect
business. The Zola affair was a great ad-
vertisement, but it brought him no direct
profit and created for him endless enemies
He refused the handsome fee the novelist
offered, nor does he accept pecuniary re-
ward from Dreyfus.
Labori is proud of his wife's beauty. She
is equally proud of his good looks and tai
ents and loses no opportunity to hear him
plead. She is an Australian, received, as a
pianist, her musical education in London
became player at concerts, made the ac-
quaintance of the deformed but highly gift
ed Russian pianist Pachmann, married him
had two children, and then fell in love with
Labori. The passion was mutual. She and
Pachmann were divorced and then she
married Labori. The children live with
her and find devoted stepfather in him.
Madame Labori has attended all the sit
beauty is beyond dispute She is a striking
blonde, and, though her path has not been
always strewn with roses, she expresses
the joy of life in splendid health and a
satisfied heart.
What a bolt from the blue sky the morn
ing's event has been to her! She seemed
the happiest woman alive when she set
out this morning. In less than ten min
utes her life was blighted.
Labori, not long convalescent from ty-
phoid, is in bad state to receive a ball
entering the thorax through the back. He
is now in a high fever and there may be
dangerous complications later.
l heard of the attempted assassination
shortly after this morning as l was en-
tering corridor leading to the hall of
justice in the Lycee. There 1 saw Nine.
Labori rushing from the opposite direction
pale as death, with surgeon in military
uniform beside her and following of other
persons. All had an air of intentness. Their
thoughts certainly did not run on the Drey-
fus case. Then officers and police rushed
out of the guard room and ran in the same
direction.
What is the matter?" / asked.
'Labori has been wounded by a pistol
shot and is probably now dead.'
Who wounded him.
Probably madman. A country woman
heard him gleefully shout, as he ran away,
I have killed Dreyfus'"
Terrible as the news was, felt l must
not follow Nine. Labori, but must gain
my place in the court room, which 1 found
crowded, as the sitting was about to COM
mence.
The president of the association of legal
journals, NJ. Taunay, well known as the
organizer of the International Press con-
gress, jumped upon a table and exclaimed:
M. Labor has been fired at and wounded -
Inc announcement caused a deep hush
Solemn silence reigned for perhaps three
or four minutes. Possibly it was the si-
lence of stupor, for all seemed stunned.
AT length the Nationalists and Dreyfusites
declared their horror of the crime and their
sympathy with the victim.
We on the Dreyfus side remembered how
lavish he was of his vitality, how he never
spared himself, how he was always In
the breach when violent assault was
impending; how, in the stress and hurry
OF attending to Zolas affairs last year, he
caught pleurisy, was between life and
death, and tended continuously and brought
back, rescued from the very grave by the
devoted and intelligent care of his lively
wife.
We remembered that we have all found
pleasure in seeing Nine. Labori at Rennes
with her blonde hair, regular features,
fine figure, motherly blue eyes and grace
ful walk, with all that she looked Ceres,
who had not yet lost Proserpina-we had
called her the bona dea,'' or good god
dess." We all felt that, as the news ar
rived, fortunately not confirmed, that La
h0rtfa Boa