DUMMY KINGS AND REAL ASSASSINS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIII, Issue XXIII, 2 December 1899, Page 1017

DUMMY KINGS AND REAL ASSASSINS.

While the detestation in which exiting Milan is held in Servia is sufficient to account not merely for one but dozens of attempts upon his ignoble life, there is reason to believe that the latest endeavour to assassinate him was bogus. There is little doubt that it formed part of a conspiracy concocted by himself to afford him an excuse for casting into prison a number of his political foes and personal opponents. That such is the case is asserted in leading European capitals, even in Vienna, in spile of the fact that Milan is the champion of Austria’s interests in the dominion of his imbecile sou. Further corroboration is given to the story by the continental correspondents of the London ‘’Times’* and other English papers. Bogus attempts upon the lives of rulers of the Old World have often been concocted by the secret police and by Government agents for the purpose of reviving the waning popularity of the sovereign or chief magistrate in question. In France, for instance, an affair of this kind takes place almost each year when the President drives in state to the Grand Prix. There is never any damage done, and inasmuch as after the arrest of the alleged assassin nothing .is ever more heard of him or of his punishment, the French, ever disposed to be sceptical, have come to regard the incident as one of the regular features of the day. got up by the police for the purpose of giving a sort of fillip to the President's popularity, and only calculated to take in greenhorns.

Only on one occasion was the customary attempt on the French Chief Magistrate’s life not down on the police programme—namely. when President Carnot met his death at the hands of the Italian anarchist. Cesario. Even on the occasion of the recent assault by aristocrats upon Loubet, which was genuine enough, the police were not surprised. Sometimes these bogus attempts on the lives of sovereigns are organised not by their own police but by tho agents of foreign governments, not with any idea of endangering their lives, but solely for the purpose of furthering some political design.

Thus it is well known that Bismarck was cognisant beforehand of the intention of the Pole to fire a shot at Alexander If. of Russia when driving back from the review at Longchamps, in Paris, with Napoleon Ilf. The French authorities are convinced to this day that Berezowski. who is now insane and a convict in the penal settlement of New Caledonia, was incited to commit the deed by German agents.

At any rate, it had the effect of preventing Russia’s intervention on behalf of France in the war of 1870, the Czar and bis sons having quitted Paris with feelings quite the reverse of pleasant toward the country in which they had been subjected to this scare, even if one does not call it by a harsher name. Planned or not, it worked as Bismarck wished.

The same Czar escaped another and this time perfectly serious attempt upon his life in 187 S, or 1879, in a very singular manner, which is not generally known. He had lost his nerve, and had announced Io his entourage that he had made up his mind to give up the custom of his daily drive through the streets of St. Petersburg on the ground that he hated driving, hated saluting, and hated being stared at.

Count Alderberg. who was at this time his chief confidant and most intimate associate, represented to him

how unwise it would be to disappoint the ]M‘ople. Finding the Czar obstinate, he conceived the idea of a waxen figure made in the likeness of his master. with practicable joints worked by interior mechanism. It was so constructed by an English firm that when wound up it turned its head slowly from side tu side, with a slight bend of the body, raising its hand in salute. It was an admirable likeness, though the Count used subsequently' to declare that the face of the dummy was just a little bit too distinguished looking. At any rate, it was sufficient to deceive the subjects of the l-zar. especially as the imperial carriage was always driven at a tearing gallop, almost surrounded by an escort of Cossacks.

It was this dummy that took the place of the Emperor in his daily drives, and it was this dummy that received, fair in the breast, the bullet of the pistol fired by the would-be assassin Solovieff. An inch lower down, it would have smashed and stoppud the meehauism. As it was, the dummy continued to bow and salute, just as if nothing had happened. and Reuter’s correspondent, in describing the affair for the foreign press over the wires that evening, wrote as follows: —

“Luckily, the Emperor, who was ac« eompanied as usual by Count Alderberg, was untouched. As so often happens in such cases, the assassin, doubtless through excitement, entirely missed his aim. The remarkable thing was the coolness and courage displayed by the Emperor. So far from evincing the slightest alarm, he continued to salute the crowd on either side, smiling as ever, as though nothing at all had happened. Nor was his drive in any way’ curtailed. Later in the afternoon, when the news had spread, a vast crowd of people collected in front of the Winter Palace. and the Czar, in answer to their continual cheers, at length appeared upon the balcony and bowed repeatedly.”

Of course it was the Czar in flesh and blood who appeared on the balcony.

The only sufferer, therefore, in this whole affair was the would-be assassin. For not only did he get no credit for his coolness and courage and the excellence of his aim. but he suffered death on the gallows for. after all, having done nothing worse than shoot at a dummy. Brit it would have been impossible to let him off without revealing the whole truth.