“NOW ALL IS OVER!”

Wairarapa Age, 4 July 1936, Page 5

“NOW ALL IS OVER!”

DRAMA AT THE LEAGUE ASSEMBLY. MAN IN DIPLOMATIC GALLERY SHOOTS HIMSELF. PROCEEDINGS’ SUSPENDED. (Received This Day, 1.7 a.m.) GENEVA, July 3. While the Spanish Foreign Minister, Senor Barcia, was addressing the Assembly, delegates were horrified to see a man in the diplomatic gallery pull a revolver from his pocket and shoot himself, after shouting: ‘‘Now all is over!” He was subsequently identified as Stefan Lux, employed as a press photographer for the ‘‘Prager Presse.” Though he is still alive, nothing is known of the motive for his act. The proceedings were immediately suspended and delegates crowded around Lux as he was carried from the hall. This is the first time a shot has been flred in the Assembly. The sitting was later resumed in a tense atmosphere. M. van Zeeland announced: ‘‘The drama we have just witnessed has no direct. or indirect connection with the debate,” but those near Lux state that he muttered, as he pulled out his revolver: ‘‘l do this as a gesture. It is the death of the League. ’ ’

Lux was taken to a Geneva hospital, • where the chief surgeon decided that ’ an operation might save his life. Five • letters, found in his pocket, addressed • to King Edward, Mr. Eden. Mr. Avenol, . ‘‘The Times” and the ‘‘Manchester • Guardian,” were handed to M. van Zeeland, who scrutinised them, but did not disclose their contents. The first person to reach Lux as he fell forward from his seat to the floor was Mr. Phillipe Roy, a Canadian Minister.