The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-05-29
ASSASSlNATl0NS.
Grimes That Have Changed the His.
tory of the World.

Grimes That Have Changed the His.
tory of the World.
Step by step throughout the worlds
history assassination has been a factor
in determining the course of events
and in molding the life of nations.
Frequently the assassin's weapon
which sent a ruler 10 death has sent
upon the worlds stage a successor
whose career set irrevocable milestones
upon the pathway of the peoples of the
world. Especially was this true in
those days when conquest was the
guiding star of the rulers of the world.
Probably one of the ostsimportant
and early assassinations wis that of
Philip of Macedon. which occurred in
the year 336 &. c. Not only did it ter
inmate the career of one of the most
remarkable men of his time. but it led
to the accession of Alexander the
Great, an event which very likely
would not have taken place at all had
Philip continued TO rule and had him.
self selected the successor 10 his throne.
Philip of Macedon then was at the
height of his power, ahu tns 5Sttle OF
Chaeronea had made him the undisput'
ed master of Greece. When leaving
the theater in which his sister had been
united in marriage TO Alexander, king
of Epirus. man sprang toward the
ruler and thrust sharp. short sword
into his side. As the assassin ran to
ward Il swift horse his sandal caught
in a vine stalk, and his pursuers killed
him with their suears and tore him to
pieces.
Olympias. his former wife, was said
to have aided in he conspiracy. This
assassination. one of the earliest in
point of time, bore a strong resem
blance in its surroundings to that
which claimed President Abraham Lin
coins life. In both cases there was "a
individual murderer, the scene was 9
theater. the act was done with incredi
bic audacity in the presence of large
concourse of people, and the murderer
was crippled by misstep after the
fatal blow
In the history of ancient Rome there
stands out one political assassination
| which marks the first occasion on rec
| ord in which the conflicting economical
interests of different classes in re
| public were settled by resort to The
| weapon of the assassin. This was tn,
murder of Tiberius Gracious. which
| soon was followed by the enforced sui
eide of his brother, Caius Gracious
This deed was tie direct result of the
formers attempt to enforce an agrarial
law passed as an act of justice to tn,
poorer classes of Roman citizens.
In the turmoil that attended the vot
ing of the tribes Tiberius was strucl
| down to death by one of his own col
leagues. a tribune of the people. Thi.
! chapter of death was written in Il,
| 3. C. History has dealt at length witt
| the assassination of julius Caesar OF
| the ides of March-the 18th of til,
month-in the year A &. c., and of til,
import of this event in the history o
ancient Rome.
At the time of the assassination o
julius Caesar the Roman people hat
reached a degree of perversity and de
generacy almost impossible of modern
comprehension. His death had a mos
| demoraliZing effect upon the people
, The hand of the master who nigh
have controlled the unruly masses anC
restrained the degenerate nobility la.
palsied in death. Later events la,
their handspring from this source, an,
the years from 81 to cS \. d. wer'
marked by the assassinations of Tibe
I RUS, Caligula. Claudius and Nero
New York Herald.