Evening star., 1924-07-06

Ferdinand. When he committed the
crime" he was nineteen years old
He was born in Grahovo. on the
Dalmatian border. little mining viii
lage shut off from most Of the outer
world by range of mountains The
stock from which he sprung is
known as the most nationalistic,
patriotic of all the old occupied prov
inces. AS small boy he tended
sheep on the hillsides and learned
from the highland peasants about
h Hn the old Serbian folk songs and
the Hories of Serbia's past glories.
The name Princip is not Serbian. II
| probably shows descent from a cele-
brated Montenegrin family who took
their name from the old Latin prin-
! ceps, meaning leader. GavriIo Prn-
Clip was a born leader
| When he was six years old his
brothers sent him to the neighboring
town Of Dvar to school and there
he obtained the rudiments of an edu-
cation. His brothers started wood
business. but. being ignorant men.
decided that Princip must be the edu-
Gated member of the business and so
sent him at the age of thirteen TO
school. He was a clever pupil and
easily first in his classes
1T was while he was in this school
that he saw Zerajic make his unsuc-
cessful attempt to shoot the Austrian
general, Varesanin. Inspired by this
incident he left the commercial school
for the gymnasium-the classical
high school-and determined to study
and work for the liberties of his peo-
pie. He was Zealot and dreamed
in his early boyhood of sacrificing his
whole life for the liberation of his
country.
The gymnasium in Sarajevo at this
time was center of revolutionary
enthusiasm. Pupils were constantly
in correspondence with patriotic
youth in other high schools in the
occupied provinces and with revo-
lutionary organizations which had
their headquarters in Belgrade. Prin-
clip was soon one of the most promi-
nent leaders among these schoolboy
rebels. He led student strikes.
joined the secret organizations, dis
tributed propaganda and was ready
for any dangerous enterprise.
He began to attract the eye of
the Austrian authorities and at the
age of fifteen suffered his first ar
rest. He was taken into custody
after revolutionary demonstration
of Croatians which was repressed
with bloodshed, but the police had
no proof of his part in it and he
| was released. little later. when
| one of his friends was arrested for
distributing revolutionary literature
he was again seized. and again proof
was lacking. But his name was on
the list of suspects and he was ex-
PEELED from the gymnasium.
His means were practically moth
ing; he was often hungry. Empty
stomachs breed revolution. Then, too,
he was influenced by the press, which
was always in conflict with the Aus
| trian misrule.
When expelled from the Sarajevo
gymnasium he walked to Belgrade
| to continue his studies / first me,
| him in 1912, one of the poverty
stricken Immigrant students" who
| 1ocked into free Serbia to pursue the
| studies that were denied them under
Austrian rule. He slept in the parks.
Often for several days he was with
out 1000. his cnltI Qlel was DTeau
and milk.
But he studied continually, chiefly
Serbian history and economics. and
became a leader among the students
for scholarship.
= = x
WHEN the Balkan war broke out
Princip tried to enlist, but was
| too weak. He was refused by the
very man who later furnished him
| with the gun with which he killed
Franz Ferdinand. 1t was blow, but
it hardened his resolution.
One more trip to Sarajevo in 1913.
| There he saw the Austrian military
governor close all the schools to Ser
| bian youth, calling education the
breeding ground of revolt. Princip
WAS essentially a student; with the
| schools closed he stayed only long
| enough to join a Bosnian group of
| terrorist revolutionaries. In this So
| ciety he met several youths who
were his accomplices in 1914.
The fateful morning dawned. Two
hours before Franz Ferdinand ar
rived in Sarajevo all the twenty-five
conspirators were in their allotted
positions, armed and ready. They
were distributed 500 yards apart over
| the whole route along which the
| archduke must travel from the rail-
road station to the town hall.
! When Franz Ferdinand and his
retinue drove from the station they
| were allowed to pass the first two
| conspirato tors. The motor cars were
| too fast to make an attempt feasible
and in the crowd were Serbians:
| throwing a grenade would have killed
| many innocent people.
When the car passed Gabrinovic,
| the compositor, he threw his grenade.
| 1t hit the side of the car, but Franz
Ferdinand, with presence os mind.
| threw himself back and was un-
injured. Several officers riding in his
attendance were injured.
The cars sped to the town hall and
the rest of the conspirators did not
interfere with them. After the re-
ception in the town hall Gen. Potio-
rex, the Austrian commander, plead
ed with Franz Ferdinand to leave the
city, as it was seething with rebel
lion. The archduke was persuaded
| to drive the shortest way out of the
city and to go quickly.
The road to the maneuvers was
shaped like the letter V, making a
sharp turn at the bridge over the
River Nilgacka. Franz Ferdinands
or,i1