The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-26
Monarchs and Their Murderers
BY LADHRokE BLACK.

ment. The chance meeting of these
men produced the first spark which led
to the final confiagration.
have Indirect evidence to show that
the designs of these plotters in the
three capitals were known to, and fur
thered by, the anarchists. Whether
that mysterious body-the central
| committee of combat" whose exer-
tons are supposed to be limited to
Russia, but who actually are leagued
against the world-directly concerned
Itself with the attempt remains to be
seen; but that members of the an
archist circles aided and abetted the
attempt appears to me to re beyond
dispute.
Dom Carlos will cease to reign in
Portugal before the coming of spring"
an Italian anarchist remarked to me
/ just before Christmas. 1 pressed him
to explain himself His only answer
was a cryptic smile.
! Twice since then the same remark
has been made TO me by avowed an
archfsts, and in both cases the wording
of this sinister announcement was the
same.
The conjunction of the anarchists and
| extreme republicans in this brutal plot
was revealed to me subsequently-to he
quite accurate, on the Wednesday be-
/ fore the committal of the crime. l was
| talking to Portuguese gentleman in
London, who made no attempt to dis
guise his republican sympathies.
II have been told he said, solemn
| ly, that Dom Carlos will cease to
reign before the week is out, and be-
| lieve it."
| He did not suspect assassination, out
| he limited that if the revolution which
| q IN 10
partially successful that might be the
result. The plot, he said, had been
| Matched abroad, but for some months
! the conspirators had secretly invaded
Lisbon, and were there carrying out
the finishing touches of their plot.
Every day they met. so he had been
told, in an inn in Lisbon. Here they
received information from the country
districts, and issued their secret prop
uganda The greatest care was pre-
| served to keen the police in the dark
an elaborate system of sign and coun-
tersign being employed to distinguish
friends from foes.
The fact that the tragedy was fore
Swallowed both by anarchists and re-
pubiicans proves that these two bodies
We're working together, unconsciously,
perhaps, as far as the latter group
were concerned. 1t must be distinctly
understood, of course, that the ordi-
nary moderate republicans had no
share or knowledge of the atrocfty and.
in common with the rest of the civil
lied world, deplore the horrible crime.
Something OF the plot must have
leaked out. for both King Edward, the
personal friend of the murdered mon
arch, and the king of Italy are said to
have written to Dom Carlos warning
him that serious attempt was to be
made upon his life, and begging him
10 take every precautiOn. But Dom
Carlos light-hearted and good-na-
tured, Wearied of living forever on the
''qui ViVe," and finally determined to
entrust himself unguarded amongst the
people he loved. 1t was the opportuni-
ty-the loophole-that the plotters had
been waiting for and they struck at
once.
1t was barbarous, brutal outrage,
resembling in its politacI aspect-for
the assassins were not anarchists. but
the extreme wing of the kings political
opponents, the violent Republicans
the murder of the late king and queen
of Servia.
Like Don Carlos, King Alexander of
Servia endeavOred to alter the consti-
tutional system of his country. He de-
stroyed the liberty of the press, re-
voked all the radical legislation of his
previous parliament, abolished the bal
lot at elections, and dismissed ten
judges. His marriage with his unfor-
tunate Queen DrOga established his
unpopularity. A conspiracy was
formed against him in the army. On
the night of June 10. 1903, that con-
spiracy came to a head.
The palace was surrounded with SOL
diers. party of officers attempted 20
force an entrance. They found the
doors closed. With the aid of a dy-
Mantle bomb they made an entrance.
General PetTOvitch, a faithful servant
of the king, was ordered to conduct
them to the presence. Wishing to gain
time, he replied that their maiesties
were hiding in the cellars. There, by
the light of candles-fOr the bomb ex-
plosion had destroyed the electric light
the party of assaSsins searched. Find
ing that they had been deceived, they
killed the faithful old general and pro-
ceeded TO ransack the palace
Meanwhile. King Alexander and
Queen Draga had taken refuge in the
little closet in which the queen kept
her dresses. Here they We're eventual
ly found. The towards emptied their
revolvers into the queen, and as she
Jay upon the ground. still alive. ripped
up her body with their swords, COM
pleting their cruel mutilation by cut
ting off her fingers.s Then, with their |
swords and revolyers, they dispatched
the king and, Selling the bodies flung
them, as if they We're the carcasses of |
two dogs, out of the window into the |
courtyard below.
Terrible though It may seem, this !
CHASTITY murder of a defenseless man
and defenseless woman was received |
with applause in the capital of Servia |
The city was adorned as if for a festi- /
val The head of the Servian church |
held a service of thanksgiving in ;he |
cathedral, and the vile murderers
themselves were hailed by the Servian |
parliament as the saviors of their |
country.
These two cases afford examples OF |
the dangers mOnarchs run from a mere |
ebullition of popular feeling. More |
dread and, from the standpoint Of the |
monarch himself, more nerve-ra cking 1
are the dangers he must apprehend |
from the silent, secret intrigues of the i
anarchists. In my next articles ! shall |
endeavOr TO make my readers realize /
the grim terror of these subterranean /
forces which are ever at work seeking |
the lives of kings and rulers.