Washington Journal., 1942-01-23
Unkept Rendezvous
With Death
Alois Schmidt Led a Charmed
Life

At N~ordllngen, 1 Swab1a, n
Alois Schmidt recently celebrated
his Dist birthday, having escaped
death three times so narrowly that
he could challenge all but bandits
to dispute his record.
Schmidt is the only known sur
vivor of the Austrian bodyguard
of Emperor Macmillan of Mexico,
who was shot in Queretaro after
the tragic debacle of the French
attempt to re-establish an imperial
throne in Mexico.
Death stalked Schmidt's foot
steps almost from the day he passed
out of his teens. At the age of 20
he was a helper in a brewery in
Dillingen on the Danube. One day
he say a brewery foreman brutally
beat a fellow-workman with a bung
starter for a minor i~nfraction of the
rules. When Schmidt attempted
to come to the aid of his comrade,
the foreman struck him, and in a
frenzy of rage Schmidt seized a
bucket of boiling water and emptied
it over the head and shoulders of
his assailant. In his rage he had
not realized the consequences of his
act. The foreman died in a hospital
soon afterward and a warrant was
issued for Schmidt's arrest on a
charge of murder. Before it could
be served, Schmidt escaped over
the Swiss border.
After a series of hardships and
adventures in eluding arrest and
extradition, he landed in the United
States. For a time he worked in
breweries in various American
cities until, day, he got into a
fight and had to flee to escape be-
ing arrested for breach of the peace.
After a long, tedious tramp over
little-traveled roads he finally
reached Mexico, where he found
work again in a brewery.
In Mexican Service
He was not destined long to re-
main in the service of the legendary
King Gambrinus. 1t was the year
1864, when Macmillan with the
aid of Napoleon III tried to rule
as emperor of Mexico and to estab-
fish a reactionary government over
that politically turbulent country.
The Mexicans no more wanted an
emperor than they wanted the occu-
patton of their land by Marshal
Bazain's army of French red
breeches. The land was ab1aze
with civil war. One day a detail
of Austrian officers appeared in the
brewery and informed the men that
they must either enlist as soldiers
of Maximilian or be shot. So
Schmidt was mustered in as an
Austrian hussar and had to fight
against the Mexicans. Soon he
was wounded during an engage
ment, but presently recovered.
What happened when the French
withdrew their troops is a we'll
known chapter of history. The
Mexicans captured Emperor Maxi
milan and his immediate followers
were taken prisoners. They were
court martialed and summarily con-
demned as enemies of the country,
taken in arms. Macmillan was
shot, with two of his native gen
erals. Every tenth foreigner under
his command also was to be shot.
The disarmed Austrians were
drawn up in line and every tenth
man was singled out to face the
firing squad.
Decimated
The executions took place in a
meadow on the Hill of the Bells in
Queretaro. The slaughter was pro-
ceeding with clock-like regularity
when the group, of which the young
Swablan was a member, was
reached. A Mexican sergeant in
the revolutionary forces designated
another Swabian at Schmidt's side,
the son of a wine merchant in
Stuttgart, to step forward and make
the fatal count. The young man,
pale and trembling, counted down
the line: "Seven-nine-ten!'
"Advance!' ordered the sergeant.
Take off your tunic and accoutre-
ments!' And one after another of
the nine doomed men stepped out
of the line to meet death. Alois
Schmidt, by silent count having
found that he was the tenth man,
gave himself up for lost. However,
the young soldier from Stuttgart
had made a mistake in his count.
In his excitement and confusion he
had skipped number eight, SO the
ninth instead of the tenth man
stepped forth to keep his rendez-