The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-09
RISKS OF THOSE IN HIGH PLACES.
Attempts, Successful aud Unsuccessful, to Kill
Rulers.

Lightning invariably strikes in high
places, and that is why there are few
persons who are in such constant danger
of death by violence as those who. either
by inheritance or by the election of their
fellow citizens, are raised high above the
level of their fellow creatures 1t is not
without good reason that insurance
companies hesitate about granting poll
cies on the lives of the rulers of the
world For the loftier a mans position,
the greater attraction does he seem to
possess for those who are afflicted with
one form or another of homicidal mania
Hardly year has elapsed since King
Humbert Of Italy was laid low by the
bullet of the Anarchist Bresci after re-
peated attempts upon his life in the
course of his reign of twenty two years
No less than twelve attempts were
made to assassinate Queen Victoria in
the sixty years that she remained on the
throne, and she carried to her grave the
scars on the forehead inflicted by the
bludgeon of one of her assailants. Ma
jor Gordon Wilson, who arrives today
on board the Celtic from Europe. helped,
while an Elton schoolboy, to Illustrate
another attempt on her life. Emperor
William was badly wounded in the face
at Bremen last year by a lunatic af.
flicted with homicidal mania, while
barely three years have passed since
Empress Elizabeth of Austria was killed
by the stab of an Anarchist, while
walking from her hotel to the wharf at
Geneva.
Five years ago the Shah of Persia was
shot and mortally wounded by a reli-
gious fanatic, while in 1881 Emperor AL
exander II of Russia, who had liberated
the serfs and who had just affixed his
signature to a decree endowing the Mus
covite Empire with a constitution and
parliamentary form of government,
was blown to pieces by the o-glycer-
inc bombs of the Nihilists. The present
Car had his head cut open by the sword
Of a would-be assassin while travelling
in Japan, and would doubtless have been
killed had it not been for the presence
of mind of his gigantic cousin, Prince
George of Greece, now Governor Gen.
eral of Crete. The latter's father,
couple of years ago, was likewise the OBJ
ject of a regcidal attack at Athens while
driving with his daughter, his coach
man being seriously wounded, and some
six years ago Sadi Carnot, while Presi-
dent of the French Republic, was killed
through the streets of Lyons
Repeated attempts We're made to muir
der the late Emperor Alexander III of
Russia and in one instance the railroad
train in which he was travelling with his
wife and children was wrecked and pre-
cipitated down a steep embankment,
many of the occupants being killed,
though the imperial family miraculous
w nh tool in ,,rx
In August. 1897, Canovas del Castillo,
whose wife has just died, was murdered
in her presence by an Italian Anarchist,
and old Emperor William, when close
on ninety years of age, was shot at ana
shockingly wounded by a man of the
name of Noeviling.
year ago an attempt was made to
shoot King Edward and Queen Alexan-
dria at Brussels, While the Emperor OF
Austria still bears the scar of the dam
gerous wound inflicted few years after
his accession to the throne at Vienna by
a crazy tailor. Queen Isabella of Spain
is another crowned head who can show
scars of this character, while of the long
list of forty odd Sultans who have reign
ed at Constantinople since the over
throw of the Byzantine Empire there is
not one who has died a natural death.
Many more names could be added to
this list, notably that of the Bulgarian
Prime Minister Stambuloff, who was
literally cut to pieces under the win
dows of Prince Ferdinand and whose
murderer remains unpublished by the
latter to this day. But this enumera-
tion will serve to show that lofty rank
and great eminence are invariably at
! tended by immense risk.