Evening star., 1926-05-23
ATTACK ON MJSSOLINI
EMPHASIZED HIS POWER
Thrilling Incidents of Day When Premier
Was Shot Showed True Significance
of Revolution and Fascist Movement.

himself. the house to which he had
been taken after the shooting and in
which he was now meeting his
friends.
Rome Rising i'm Tumult.
l wandered to the Capitoline and
clambered up the marble steps Of the
great war memorial. Now l looked
straight down into the broad stretch
of the Piazza Venezia and up the
long Corso. Behind me the old Roman
forum slumbered in the sun, inhabited
only by ruins and American and Ger
man tourists, who, Baedeker in hand,
were studying ancient Rome, while on
the other side modern Rome was ris-
ing in full tumult.
Already a great change was begin
ming to take place In the square. AS
far as l could see in all directions
troops were moving in, regular troops
with bayonets, lining the sidewalks,
carrying their guns at the uncom-
Portable position, which in our army
manual we call ready" Never have
1 seen more soldiers in any city since
the memorable May l. 1919. when the
Reds of Paris announced that they
would parade and Clemenceau an
nounced that there would be no
parade and brought a certain num-
Der of thousands of troops in from
the old war zone. There was no
parade.
Between these lines Of troops, too,
one could now distinguish marching
lines. 1t was as If all the male-and
a goodly part Of the female-popula-
ton of Rome had begun to march.
Wheeling in from side streets they
came thronging In regular lines.
again and again raising their left
hand in the Roman salute, cheering.
not violently, but steadily. the vol
ume of thousands of voices mount
ing steadily, the cheers occasionally
being drowned for a moment by the
wild bursts Of the Fascist song sung
also by thousands.
Disorders Begun.
SO far the whole demonstration had
been more or less orderly. It was
spontaneous. it obviously disclosed a
violent emotion, but it had been in a
sense canaliZed. But now, from an
other direction. huge motor lorries
began to arrive carrying scores of
youths wearing the inevitable black
shirt and waving in their hands the
equally inevitable clubs. They were
arriving from the scene of the first
considerable explosion of wrath. On a
nearby street they had suddenly in
vaded the Office of the opposition
newspaper, the Mundo. thrown all
the furniture into the street, gutted
the building and burned the wreck
age in the street while the solemn
policemen and the equally impressive
soldiers had stood stolidly by. totally F.!
oblivious to the destruction which !
was going OH about them
Coming down from the Capitoline !
/ crossed the square and the broad
street running at right angles to the
Carso, along which the marching
thousands were moving off to the
river. Now the noise had become
deafening, thousands and more thou !
sands were marching. row and then
the line of men was broken by a
detachment of women and always one
had sense of rising passion.
Back of me under his windows one
man stood watching. Suddenly a
dozen men sprang from a lorry. dash (
ed up to him. seized him and start.
ed to draw him away. Never have | !
seen such a sudden, abject. completely |
paralyzing fear as the mans face /!
showed. Was his flag too small, hung |
wrong, had he otherwise offended. I /
do not know, but 1 do know he was |
scared into pitiful appeal, and when |
at last he was released, unhurt, he !
leaned against the wall weak with |
fear.
Workers Made to Stop. /
Elsewhere l saw men who had con- /
tinued working-although orders had !
gone forth that the rest of the day I
was to be holiday, a time of thanks !,
dnd 70
tools" and join in the demonstration. !
Houses were invaded by still other |
delegations, and what was done be- !
hind the walls / do not know, but |
of sporadic acts of violence there GER |
tainly were many.
Presently / took a cab and tried to |!
drive up the Corso to the Chigi |
Palace, but the crowds had become so i
dence in the narrow street that prog !
ress was totally impossible and l |
had to dismiss the carriage. Coming !
back into the Corso by a side street l |
found the troops drawn up along |
both sidewalks. They checked me and ;
refused to let me enter a shop, where !
I had been intending to make pur- |
chase earlier in the day. After much |
protest they finally consented and |
crossed the street. AS l entered the
shop there was a new burst Of shout |
ing and confusion and looking back |
ward I saw the crowd trying to |
break through the Gordon ard noted |
that the troops were now formed |
across the street to close it to all |
traffic.
While this was going on q motor car |
came laundering through the crowd, |
half a dozen men on the running |
board, pushing it's way recklessly for
hn nvxyI
machine goes through field |
of grass. Once more the soldiers !
stood firm and tried to halt the car, |
but they were swept away, the car |
crashed onward and the troops en-
deavored to form again. But the |
crowd was following fast behind the /
car and the troops had a rough time |
of it. Several people were knocked |
down and / saw one boy, selling /!
newspapers, thrown violently to the
ground and his papers scattered to
the four winds.
Bayonets Halt Crowd.
Then the soldiers drew their broad |
knife bayonets, rested the hilt against |
their body. and pushed the point out |
ward, making a formidable wall of
cold steel. At last, before this bar
rier Of bayOnets, the crowd halted. BY |
this time, too, the shopkeepers were
patiently becoming alarmed and were |
pulling down the heavy iron shutters
before their windows.
1t was evident, too, that something |
now was about to happen. for behind
the cordons the crowds were gather i
ing ever and ever more densely. There
were now many thousand people In
the crowd and every moment more
oroat motor lorrieS We're halting in |
the square about Trajan's Column
and discharging loads of black-shirted
and shouting youths.