AUSTRIAN HEIR AND HIS WIFE SHOT TO DEATH AETER [SIC] ESCAPING BOMB
* * *Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Morganatic spouse assassinated by youth in streets of Sarajevo after infernal machine hurled by anarchistic compositor fails to explode until after they pass.
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Courts of Europe Plunged into Mourning; Aged Emperor May Not Survive the Shock.
Special Cable to The Washington Herald-.
Sarajevo, Bosnia, June 28 - The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungary, and his morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated while driving through the streets of the city this morning. They were shot to death after escaping a bomb that was thrown at their motorcar and warded off by the archduke's own arm.
They were on their way to a reception at the town hall when the bomb was thrown. It did not explode until after the archduke's car had passed and the occupants of the next car, Count Boos Waldeck and Col. Morizzi, the archduke's aid de camp were injured slightly. Among the spectators six persons were more or less seriously hurt.
The perpetrator was a newspaper compositor named Cabrinovitch from Trevinje.
Angered by Attack.
The archduke ordered his car halted, but after he had found out what had happened he continued on his way to the town hall, where the councillors with the mayor was about to begin his address of welcome when the archduke interrupted him angrily saying:
"Herr Buergermeister, it is perfectly scandalous. We have come to Sarajevo on a visit and a bomb has been thrown at us."
The archduke paused for a moment and then said:
"Now you can go on."
Thereupon the mayor delivered his address to the archduke who made a suitable reply. The public, which by this time had heard of the bomb attempt, burst into loud cries of "hurrah."
Shots Ring Out.
After going around the town hall for half an hour, the archduke started for the Garrison Hospital to visit Col. Morizzi, who had been taken there after the outrage. As the archduke reached the corner of Rudolf street two pistol shots were fired in rapid succession by a young man named Gavro Prinzip. The first shot struck the Duchess low down on the right side, while the second hit the archduke in the neck near the throat and pierced the jugular vein.
The duchess became unconscious immediately and fell across the knee of her husband. The archduke also lost consciousness in a few seconds. The motorcar in which they were seated drove straight to the palace, where army surgeons rendered first aid, but in vain. Neither the archduke nor the duchess gave any sign of life, and the head of the hospital could only certify that both were dead.
Feared Second Attack.
The authors of both attacks, who were arrested promptly, are born Austrians. Cabrinovitch worked for a few weeks in the government printing works at Belgrave. He returned to Sarajevo as a Servian Chauvinist and made no concealment of his sympathy with the king of Servia. Both he and the actual murderer expressed themselves to the police in the most cynical terms about their crimes.
It appears that after the first attempt on their lives the duchess did not want the archduke to enter the motorcar again, but the governor of Bosnia, M. Potiorek, said: "It's all over now. We haven't got more than one murderer in Sarajevo."
At this the archduke decided to enter the car again.
Before their departure from Vienna on the journey to Sarajevo the archduke and the duchess went to the chapel in the palace and spent a long time in prayer.
Recently the archduke has declared more than once his conviction that he would not die a natural death.
The mayor of Sarajevo issued a proclamation to inhabitants denouncing the crime and declaring that the confession of the murderers proves beyond all doubt that the bomb came from Belgrave.
Darts from Behind House.
The young Prinzip, who fired the fatal shots, is only nineteen. He fired at the archduke's head and must have been well instructed, for he apparently was aware of the well-guarded secret that the archduke always wore a coat of silk woven obliquely, which no weapon or bullet could pierce. This fabric is used for automobile tires and is puncture proof.
Later, details show that the assassin darted from his hiding place behind a house and actually got on the motorcar in which the archduke and his wife were sitting and took close aim, first at the archduke and then at the duchess.
The fact that no one stopped the assassin and that he was allowed to perpetrate the dastardly act indicate that that [sic] the conspiracy had been carefully planned and that the archduke fell a victim of a political plot.
The aspirations of the Servian population of Bosnia to join Servia and form a great Servian kingdom is well known. No doubt today's assassination was regarded as a means of forwarding this plan.
Another Bomb Found.
The authorities of the city excused the lack of precautions to safeguard the life of the archduke by saying that the visit was of military character and that the civil authorities had not received sufficient notice and therefore did not take the same care as when the Emperor visited the city.
The archduke drove to the town hall today in fulfillment of his expected wish to get into closer touch with the people.
The two prisoners when interrogated after their arrest said they threw the bomb and fired the pistol, respectively, in pursuance of nationalist ideals.
The bomb thrower, Cabrinovitch, after the failure of his attempt upon the lives of the archduke and duchess, ran to Miljachka River and jumped in, in an effort to escape. Witnesses of the crime, however, swam after him, seized him and brought him to the shore where he was turned over to the police after being badly beaten by the infuriated crowd.
An unexploded bomb, which is supposed to have been thrown away by an accomplice of the two men, was found near the scene of the shooting.
A special mourning session of the Bosnian Diet was held this afternoon. Four Servian members attended in ostentatious light clothes.
Both Boast Deeds.
Both assassins when questioned by the police openly exulted over the success of the exploit. The young Prinzip said he had studied for a short time at Belgrade. He stated proudly that it had been his ambition to kill some eminent person to show his disapproval of present conditions in Bosnia. He said he had awaited the arrival of the archduke's car at a point where he knew it would pass. The presence of the duchess caused him to hesitate for a moment, but his nerve quickly returned and he emptied his revolver at the imperial pair. He declared that he had no accomplices.
Cabrinovtich, like Prinzip, is a mere youth. He is only twenty-one. He informed the police that he had procured the bomb at Belgrade from an anarchist whose name he professed not to know. He also denied having any accomplices.
STUDENT THE ASSASSIN
Government Issues Official Statement Regarding Murders.Vienna, June 28. - The following official statement on the tragic death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duches [sic] Sophie of Hohenberg was issued tonight:
"As his imperial royal highness, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, with his consort, was proceeding this morning to a reception in the town hall of Sarajevo, a bomb was hurled at his motor car. His imperial royal highness warded off with his arm the bomb, which exploded after the archducal motor car had passed.
"Count Boos Waldeck and his aid-de-camp of the governor, Lieut. Col. Morizzi, who were in the next car, were wounded slightly.
"Of the public, six persons were injured, some slightly, some severely.
"The man who threw the bomb was arrested. He is a typographer named Cabrinovitch, from Trebinje.
"After the reception in the town hall the archduke continued with his consort on a drive through the town. A student, named Prinzip belonging to the highest class in the gymnasium and a ntive [sic] of Trahovo, fired several shots at the motor car with a Browning pistol.
"The archduke was hit in the face and the Duchess wounded by a shot in the abdomen. The archduke and duchess were taken to the governor's palace where they succumbed.
"Prinzip was arrested. Both he and the man who threw the bomb were almost lynched by the infuriated crowd."
Rumors Spread Quickly.
Rumors of the tragedy first began to spread here about noon. Vague reports flashed through the streets from apparently nowhere that the heir to the throne and his new consort had been murdered. These at first were discredited but soon were confirmed.
The weather being fine and warm thousands had left the city for excursions to the suburbs, but as the news spread the streets became crowded with excited groups, reading the extra editions of the newspapers. These offices were besieged for further details.
A pathetic circumstance of the tragedy is that both the archduke and his wife went to Brosnia [sic] despite warnings of danger. Before their departure on Wednesday the Servian minister here expressed doubt of the wisdom of the journey, saying the country was in a very turbulent condition. The minister added that if the archduke went himself, he certainly ought to leave his wife at home, as Bosnia was no place for a woman in its present disturbed state.
Anti-Servian Riots.
The people of Sarajevo welcomed the Austrian royalty with a display of Servian flags which the authorities with some difficulty had removed before the archduke made his entry late Saturday afternoon after the maneuvers. It is stated in court circles that the archduke knowing the dangers of the trip tried to persuade his wife to remain at home, but she said: "My place is beside my husband in time of danger."
The archduke's children are at Glumex, Bohemia. Relatives already have left to break the sad news to them.
The bodies of the archduke and his wife will not be brought to Vienna until July 6.
Archduke Carl Francis Joseph, the new heir to the throne, is at Reichenau, near Vienna, with his wife and little son and daughter. He is expected to arrive here late tonight.
All public festivities throughout the empire have been cancelled.
Anti-Servian demonstrations took place tonight in the vicinity of the Servian legation, and the residences of several prominent Servians were stoned. The demonstrations became so serious that the troops were called out to suppress the disorder.
It was reported late tonight that several Serbs and Bosnians have been arrested at Sarajevo on suspicion of having been implicated in the plot.
News of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the Duchess of Hohenberg created a tremendous sensation throughout the city.
The aged emperor, whose health has already been rather feeble of late, was prostrated.
"Shall I ever be freed from pain and anguish in this world?" he exclaimed.
This latest addition to the long series of misfortunes which have marked his reign, will, it is fear, have a grave effect on the health of the aged emperor.
