MUSSOLINI ESCAPES.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1926, Page 7

MUSSOLINI ESCAPES.

BOMB THROWN AT MOTOR. FOUR PERSONS INJURED. DICTATOR UNPERTURBEI). OUTRAGE PART OF A P v LOT. By Telegraph—-Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Sept. 12, 5.5 p.m. Rome, Sept. 11. A bomb thrown at Signor Mussolini rebounded from his motor and exploded on. the ground, but Signor Mussolini was unhurt. The Dictator was motoring to the Chigi Palace, at ten in the morning, and was traversing the Pizza Port Apia when an eighteen-year-old country stonemason, named Giovannini, threw a bomb with a good aim, but after smashing the window of the dar it bounded to the pavement. The explosion slightly wounded four passers-by. Signor Mussolini drove on unperturbed, while the detectives following the Premier seized Giovannini, whom the crowd attempted to lynch. Four police were injured in the struggle for his possession. He said he was born in Castelnuovo and had arrived in Rome in the morning from abroad. Signor Mussolini arrived office and attended to business as usual, but the public soon learned the news, and marches of enthusiasts began in many parts of the city to render Fascist homage to the Premier, who is acquiring a legendary reputation for invulnerability. The police complain that Signor Mussolini refuses to allow them to take necessary precautions. He strongly objects to police supervision, and does not even inform them of his movements, and they are compelled to obtain this information from his chauffeur. One police officer persuaded the chauft'eur to vary his route daily, but Signor Mussolini countermanded the instruction. When the chauffeur saw Giovannini throw a bomb, he drove at him. Detectives jumped out and flung themselves on Giovannini, who threw away a second bomb, which did not explode. After his arrest detectives found he was carrying a revolver loaded with dum-dum bullets. The crowd hooted the police car, and the police believe that several men are implicated, as a number of dangerous persons have recently arrived in Rome from foreign countries. Crowds frantically cheered the Premier when he was returning home from the Palace, where already a throng of prominent personages, headed by the Duchess of Aosta, had called to congratulate him on his escape. The news was conveyed to the Pope, who expressed his thankfulness that the Almighty had spared Signor Mussolini and foiled the plot. He sent his congratulations to the Premier. Giovannini told the police that ho waited in a cafe for an hour for Signor Mussolini to pass. The Premier, addressing the crowd assembled in front of the Chigi Palace, began in stentorian tones: “Romans, Black Shirts, in the formidable crisis in which you greet me I feel the plenitude of your faith and devotion. I ask you to remember Gasilini, who fell exactly two years earlier by a criminal hand.”

The crowd, which greeted Signor Mussolini with the greatest enthusiasm, then saluted their dead comrade with outstretched arms.

Signor Mussolini, in a brief message to the Italian delegation at Geneva, barely related the facts, and concluded: “I beg you to prevent the dissemination of exaggerated and distorted reports. We must end these culpable and unheard of acts of violence beyond our frontiers.” The Premier proceeded: “If any value is attached to Italy’s friendship it may be fatally compromised by episodes of this kind.” It is believed that Giovannini came from France. Signor Mussolini stated in his address to the crowd that measures must be adopted to prevent these outrages, including capital punishment, adding that this was not for his own sake, because he loved to live in the midst of real danger, but for the sake of the Italian nation.” I cannot ami must not,” he said, “be disturbed periodically by a gang of criminals.” Indescribable scenes of enthusiasm followed his speech."