CROATIAN LEADER

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 10 August 1928, Page 5

CROATIAN LEADER

HIS DEATH ANNOUNCED. AUTHORITIES REAR OUTBREAKS. NECESSARY MEASURES TAKEN. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph t opyriglit.) (Australian Cress Association.) BELGRADE, Aug. 8. M. Stephan Raditeh, the Croatian leader, who was. wounded by a revolver shot in the Chamber, is dead. His condition was complicated by diabetes, but lie appeared to be recovering slowly. M. Raditeh was able to receive seme supporters and to transact business. He was normal at 8 o’clock in the evening, but at 8.50 he suffered a heart attack. Doctors were hurriedly summoned, but their efforts were- unavailing. The news of his death spread like wildfire. Stephan Raditeh was born of peasant parents. He was a bookseller in Zagreb, where he became the leader of the Croatian Peasants’ Party and the stormy petrel of politics. He first created a sensation by refusing to take the oath of allegiance' to the Serbian King, and was imprisoned. When released- he later made a speech comparing the Queen of Jugo-Slavia with Madame Pompadour for her extravagance. _ .. Other outbursts occurred in Parliament and elsewhere, till m-attens came to' a climax in Parliament when Raditeh was shot at and wounded by a Montenegrin deputy named Raoliitch, one 3hot killing Paul Raditeh, who attempted to shield his uncle. Stephan, after a period in a hospital in Belgrade, insisted on returning to Zagreb. His iournev through Croatia was marked by scenes of intense enthusiasm. His illness had been watched with anxiety, the authorities fearing his death would accentuate bitterness and lead to an outbreak of Croatian anger. <■ It is known that the Government has taken all the measures it considered necessary for any eventuality, and it is hoped that order will he preserved. The latest reports -state that no demonstrations have occurred, and that grief is the predominant note of the Crnntinns.