THE' TIGER'S ESCAPE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16472, 15 March 1919, Page 12

THE' TIGER'S ESCAPE.

ATTEMPT OX CIJLMEXCEAU-S LIFE. SOME FURTHER DETAILS. {Hydney "Sun"' Calilea.) PAKIS,. Febrnarj' 20. Tiie shot vliicli v/cunded M. Clenienccaa passed throngh tho casliions of ?iis car. Two othere also penetrated tlio tar v.-ithocrt wounding the Premier, and tr.-o lurlleta remained in h:s ovcrcoat. A bulletin issued yesterday stated chat the wound Loioir the sliouldc-r-blado v/as in n.~ccl!ent condition. Xeithcr ilm lunga xior the spinal coin inn liad boeit 1 touchod, though tho ballet was very close. I suw Cottin nt the Prefoetr.ro. A; c;reut- _iao)j of'dirty-coloured hair hung over his face, vrhich was bud!v battered, and blood sLill slreamed from liia unre- 1 pcutiint eyti'. He 6fiid thut ho hatf studied Clemtaceau's methods, and had jiisiduoiisiy pruct:s<jJ rerolver shooting. Tho police found a quantity of anarchist litorutrrro at Cottin's JIOUSC, though tlwro was nothiJr« connecting him with Germany or Rr..-.si;:-. lie is a well-1 knovrn aniirchit':. a carpenter by trade,and has L\:on tires times in gaol for inciting soldiers 1j disobedience. He \ra;i recently ;:rnst-cd for shouting " r l>cath to Clemencoau!" b'.'.t was releastxt. Cottin yard that dining tho morning of the crime ho practised: i into a mirror. He told the■polieo that all peoples wore brothers, but Clemenccnn was a. tyrant, and he hoped he had killed hhn." 'The TimeV' staff reports: M. Clemuncean had tho I'arrowest possible oscape from death. A French anarchist. giving tho name of Emilc Cottin emptied a Browning automatic pistol into the Premier's car shortly before 9 o'clock. One bullet Iric M. Clemencoau m the right shoulder, entering high in the 'front of tho body and emerging obliquely at tho back. The attempt was evidently well studied. The assassin hid behind an iron urinal,, where* a motor necessarily s!ow3 down as it turns tho narrow corner, 3r. Clenienceau had secret sorrice cyclists in front oi the cur. The first shot strnck him, and the chauffeur gut on fnii speed, but the assassin ran after the Premier, tearing along behind the car until his revolver wn3 emofy. Then he turned and fled, but < was grabbed I °i r ] a- barber's assistant, who Incked him heartily. The police rescued Cottin from the angry crowd, who tried to lynch the Bolshevik. One of the shots, ricschetting on the shuttered wind screen, wounaeti a pOiiceman in the eye. Another shot wounded the chauffeur, who made a tietour at fnll speed and re-entered Clejnencean's courtyard. The old man, who had attempted to Icava tho car in order to chase his assailant stepped from the car, said': "It's nothing!;' and *val!ced into his house on his orderly's arm. Meamrhilo Cottin, who described himself as an anarchist from Mflntrouge, an anarofiist part of Paris, »was eayin" tliat ho intended to kill Clemen-1 cean because ho was an enemy of the workers.

'Pl ' s esca Fe was miraculous. I here were nine neatly-punctured holes in the car, and the tenth shot destroyed the wind screen. It is too- early zo assign responsibility for the crime. A section of the Press has been f>ublishinc incendiary Bolshevik articles, but tho people detest every manifestation of Bolshevik anarchy, and nothing is more likely to .cnhance Clemencoati*3 hold orer tho country than tho event. i President Poincare, .Mr Balfour, JColoiiel House, diplomats, members of i raaßßes °f people visited the street and sent in messages o£ cpngratulation on his -escape. Ileuter's correspondent at Paris states that fuller details of the shooting of M. Clemenceau show that tlio Premier was driving through the streets, when Cottin, tho would-be assassin, suddenly sprang from n public convenience, in which ho had heen waiting, and fired five times. The shots pierced the hood of the car, but only one hit the aged Premier. The police seized tho assailant, tut not before he had firod faro shots at them, wounding two. The crowd wonlu have given him a bad time had not tho police got him i off quickly. The Premier's chauffeur! "was slightly wounded. . Cottin is a native of Compiegne. M. Pichon (Foreign Minister), de-' scribim? the attack, said: "After the first shot M. Clemenceau ■ exclaimed. 'He's missed met' But he Knew that other shots might be fired. It was. indeed, a later -shot' which struck him. Several bullets lodged ia the Premier's overcoat."

TJiq pcene of the outrage is only CO fr r ra Clemcnccau's house, whither he walked. It appears that Cottin is a studious youth a 'teetotaller, and a 'ncm-smoker, and belonged to a group of anarchists supposedly of a harmless ard oratorical order. Apparently he had no accomplices, though n man wan arrested for nrotestJnpr tr> the crowds which attempted to lynch Cottin.

The Kov. F; B. Simpson, late chaplain to the forces, vicar of St. Peter's, Harrow, England, 1 has introduced a shortened church service for Sunday niorninjr, lasting, with the sermon, juat ■under threo-quarters of an lionr. He ,has made it, he says, almost identical with the army parade servico. In a not to the congregation Mr Simpson says:—"Our experience in France has been that three-quarters of an hour for one sorvioe is a most useful limit." .The Bishop of London gives his emphatic approval to tfyo arrangement.