The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-06-05
Sensational Scene Enacted At
lola Ceremonies
PARIS STIRRED BY INCIDENT
Major Dreyfus Is Object Of Murderous
Attack at the pantt IS Where
9S
ZoIa's Body Is = But
Injury Is Nc .9o GUS.

2p
Paris June ~ . = t the close of the
ceremonies after the canonization of
Emile Zola in z anthem today. when
the President of b.ance, the premier and
a host of ministers of state were taking
their departure, Louis Anthehne Gregori,
military writer of note, drew a revolver
and fired two shots point blank at Maj.
Alfred Dreyfus, for whose liberty Zola
fought and won.
Men distinguished in all walks of life
filled the Pantheon, and when the shots
rang out there was intense excitement
in fear that the President had been as
sassinated but even the attempt on the
life of Major Dreyfus created profound
impression. Soldiers Immediately sur
rounded Gregori and he was taken to
jail, bruised and bleeding, with his
clothes almost torn from his back
The affair has created tremendous
sensation in Paris, and the motive of the
would-be sassassin is the cause of much
mystification, for Gregori instead of be-
ing an ordinary fanatic such is car
ried away by the political passions of
the moment, is a man of mature age,
having been born in 1874, and was highly
esteemed in the circles where he was
known. Although born of Italian parents
he has been an ardent Frenchman for
years, and has written authoritatively on
military subjects, enjoying close relations
with many high French officers. He was
one of the correspondents who follow the
big French and German maneuvers for
obtaining data for technical papers.
Motive Is a Puzzle.
His friends are at a loss to understand
what induced him to commit such fool
hardy act, and many are disposed to
question his statement that he simply
shot as an individual in protest against
the participation of the army in the
ceremonies attending the placing of the
ashes of Zola in the Pantheon.
Some do not hesitate to express the
opinion that he may have been the tool of
little clan of royalists, who, under the
name of "L'Action Francaise," have
never ceased to insist that the court of
cessation illegally prevented an appeal
of the Dreyfus case nor abandon hope of
seeing a revision favorable to the con-
By the shooting of Dreyfus they point
out, the whole affair may be indirectly
reopened before July, because the assas-
sination or attempted assassination must
come before the assze court for trial.
Some color is lent to this theory by
series of remarkable articles that ap-
peared in this mornings LAction Fran
caise the organ of the group from the
pens of Charles Maurras and Leon Dau-
dat Of f1a yxrhn ha 1aad in
spirits among the royalist supporters of
Philippe of Orleans.
The articles apparently anticipated to-
days event, that of Maurras declaring
that these may be rumblng before the
revolution"
Daudet wrote "The real hero will be
Dreyfus, and Dreyfus may ask himself
whether this nocturnal gloriication of
modern crime will not conjure up a ter
rib1e dawn. He has already heard the
stroke of midnight"
Plot Of RoyaIists.
Furthermore, the Soleil, royalist
organ, this morning printed an entire
page eulogozing the Duke of Orleans,
accompanied by his picture. Other stories
are afloat to the effect that there was
an actual plot of royalist Catholic stu
dents to dump the hearse containing
Zola's body into the Seine last night but
that it was discovered and frustrated
Such rumors, however, received no Of
fetal confirmation, and the general pub
lie rejects them as far-fetched and alb
surd in view of the strength of repub-
lican sentiment among the masses.
Major Dreyfus was not seriously in
jured. A bullet entered his forearm,
but did not injure the bone. At late
h our tonight, the official statement was
made that his condition was very fa-
vorable and that no complications were
feared.
With regard to the reason for Gre
gorfs act, the opinion prevails in
Paris that there is much truth in his
avowal that he was driven to the deed
by the appeals to hatred with which the
anti-semitic papers have been filled
since the government resolved to place
the body of Zola in the Pantheon. The
state of this feeling can be gagged by
an interview with Henri Rochefort, edi
tor of the Patrie, which is published
tonigh in which he says;
..It would have been glorious death
for Dreyfus. 1t would have been his
first and only time under fire"
How Shots Were Fired.
1t was definitely established at the
reconstruction this afternoon of the
sce1.e at the Pantheon that Gregori
fired the first shot from behind Drey-
fus, the ball penetrating the sleeve
of his coat and buryng itself in
flower at the base of the catafalque.
When Dreyfus VIII eeled at the sound
of the detonation, he threw up his left
arm over his. head. The second shot
was fired point blank at his breast, the
bullet entering the wrist and ranging
upward. 1t was located this afternoon
by means of a radioscope, but was not
extracted
Mathieu Dreyfus, the brother Of
jor Dreyfus, who sprang forward to
save him, chivalrously protected Gre
gori from the crowd, which was rain
ing blows with canes and umbrellas on
the man shouting, "It is not for us to
punish; let the law take it's course.
Gregori made statement to the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2.)