The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-14
BEL GRADE ASSASSINATION IS
T ONLY MODERN ONE OF. ITS KIND.

ably frequent in the last half century. Blu
they have mainly been the work Of inGi'
,vidual iuuatics and individual fanatics. or
at the worst, the temporary explosion OF
criminal minorities and the great forces
which. in the vast majority OF men. make
ssilently and benefciently for progress
J Wilkes Booth represented only a handful
Of conspirators. upheld by To public senti-
1nent In the Southern States whose cause
they .gnorantly believed themselves TO be
championing. Guiteau represented only
himself. Czolgosz, like Cesare Santo, Luc-
chini Angelo BrescI and 4 host OF. others,
represented the anarchists. an order which
oyerspreads the civilized earth, TO be sure,
and whose haser elements preach the annihi-
lation of Princes and rulers, but who assert
The principle of human autonomy and
whose baser elements themselves leave the
actual practice OF their murderous precepts
TO individuals or to scattered bands OF con-
.spirators.
IN THE DAYS OF ROME.
( The assassination OF the King and Queen
of Servia belongs in different category.
To find an exact parallel in civilized coun-
try one must go back to the declining years
of the Roman Empire, when. as in SeTvia it
was the army which dethrone6 and MUIR
dered the rulers who had gained the hatred
of their people. Later parallels in semi
civilized countries are the murders of Abdul
s4Aziz in the Turkey of the Nineteenth Gen.
etury and of Peter III in the Russia of the
Eighteenth. These acts of violence had a
definite object in view. They wrought
revolution. They accomplished what Dis
raeii asserted that assassination never ac-
complished-they changed the history of the
world.
The Empire Of Rome may be said to have
been founded IN blood. The assassination OF
Julius Caesar. the defeat of his enemies.
Brutus. Cassius and their co-conspirators,
and the Discussions between his friends,
Antony and octavius. eliminated in the es-
adjustment Of the latter as Augustus
Caesar. Imperator. Augustus died peace
fully. But the story of the long line OF
Caesars who followed him is largely written
in blood. His five immediate successors.
Tiberius. Caligula. Claudius. Nero and Cal
ba. came to violent ends. AT staccato inter-
walls thereafter the Praetorian Guards, who
eventually became the real masters OF
Rome rose against their nominal master,
murdered him and bargained off the Empire
10 successor. who was constantly in dan
ger Of a similar fate. At last the line which
began with one Augustus, terminated in
another, whose insigniicance was indicated
by the contemptuous diminutive of Au-
gustulus, and further emphasized when he
was dismissed into pensioned obscurity in
stead of being condemned TO penal i'm
mortality.
PETER THE GREATS REIGN.
The story of the Romanoffs. dating from
1913, when Michael, the first Of the line, was
crowned Car of Russia, has been almost
as full OF tragedy as that of the Caesars.
Peter the Graat at the tender age of 10
escaped assassination only. through his
mothers heroism. Princess Sophia, his half
sister. had determined that her own idiot
brother. Ivan, Should succeed to the throne.
In pursuit of this object she sacked the
palace of Peters maternal ancestors. but
tane and his mother. Natalia. found refuge
sn sanctuary. Thither they were followed
by band of sacrilegious soldiers. One of
Them had actually drawn his sword upon
fhe child when Natalia sprang forward and
smperiously. demanded how he dared kill
elis- Gar. The soldier quailed and hesitated-
sTHat moment of hesitation saved Peters
fife. The sound of approaching horsemen
WAS heard outside. The soldiers turned and
fled.
Peter had a neat revenge upon Sophia
when. he came to the throne. He had her
beautiful hair shaved clean away from her
Skull and confined her in a convent. Three
conspirators communicated a plan of rescue
TO her. The letter was intercepted by Pc
ter's spies. The three conspirators were
seized and executed. An arm was severed
from one of the corpses, the letter was
thrust into its stiffening fingers and the
hideous trophy was hung up in Sophia's
bedroom. Injured as she was to scenes of
blood. this proved too much even for her
iron nerves. Before the flesh had rotted
from the bones she herself was in the grave.
After Sophia's death Peters hate concern
trated itself on his own son, Alexis. He
forced him into an unwilling marriage and
later accused him OF beating the unloyed
wife. The charge may have been true. but
Peter was hardly the man TO bring it. He
was wont 10 exercise his own hlsbandly
and imperial authority by beating his sue
cessive Czarinas and the ladies of the
court, to say nothing of kicking his Cen
erals downstairs. Alexis deemed It best to
lice from Russia. Peter lured him back with
promises, trumped up fresh charges against
hfm, threw him into a dungeon and then
haa him quietly and unostenta tiously pol
soned. Years afterwards an officer of Peters
court divu,ged the secret.
A SUCCESSION OF ASSASSINATIoNS.
On Peters death another son. Ivan Anton
evttch, then only months old. became his
successor. Thirteen months later the child's
flder sister. Elizabeth. who had inherited
the features and some of the qualities of
Der ferocious sire. had herself proclaimed
Empress. One of her first acts was to thrust
ivan Into prison. There he was kept for
Fears and literally dosed with brandy to
Eestroy his intellect. He had a dim notion
IN his muddled brain that he ought to be
Gar, and when. after Elizabeths death, the
tsurper, Peter III. visited him, he naively
remarked that some day he would become
Emperor and put all his enemies to death
That settled his fate. One morning Ivan
Nas found lying in a pool of blood, his body
pierced with twenty-five wounds.
Nemesis visited Peter in the shape OF his
Fife, the formidable Catherine, known to
posterity as the Great. She fomented the
popular discomfort against her husband for
lis servility to Frederick of Prussia and his
general lack Of patriotism. A conspiracy,
headed by GATHERINGS admirer. Alexis Or
lon, was formed among the mobiles. Peter
was dethroned and cast into prison. His
vile was proclaimed Catherine II. She
promptly dispatched Orloff to poison her
husband Peter detected the drug in glass
Of wine that Orloff had given him. Refus-
Ing to drink second glass, Orloff strangled
him on July II. 1762.
l GATHERINGS son and SUCCESSOR Paul III,
was dangerous maniac. Again the mobiles
Of the palace consptred against their Car
They forced an entrance TO his bedroom,