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apparent, Rudolph, and his mistress, at Meyerling, and the butchery of King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia at Belgrade. Neither of these has ever been explained, while each was invested with circumstances which seem to suggest some relationship with the crime at Sarajevo.

HOW DID THE ARCHDUKE DIE?

The Austrian Government insisted that the murder of Francis Ferdinand was the result of a criminal conspiracy formed by Serbs and promoted and directed from Serbia, perhaps by the Serbian Government itself. In support of this theory it pointed to the fact that there had been anti-Austrian agitations in Serbia ever since the Austrian rape of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian Government denied that such was the case. The best informed Serbs in private did not hesitate to ascribe the crime to entirely different sources. They pointed out that the murdered Archduke had been beloved by the Serbs, because he had married a Slav and was believed to regard their national aspirations with favor; while he was hated by the Germans of Austria, even by the old Emperor Francis Joseph himself. There was thus no reason why the Serbs should wish to get rid of him, while there were reasons why his removal would be welcome to the Germans, particularly if the responsibility for it could be made to seem to rest upon the Serbs.

The Serbs therefore insisted that the crime was planned and directed by Austrians, probably by members of the Austrian court. Some thought that it was not intended to kill him, but merely to wound him, and thus provide a pretext for a quarrel with and conquest of Serbia. Others, the majority, however, held that it was meant to kill

both him and his wife, and that the German Government at Berlin was privy to the crime. In support of these astounding theories the Serbs were able to point to several well-established facts, showing the devious ways of Austrian "provocative agents."

FORMER AUSTRIAN PLOTS

Some weeks before the tragedy at Sarajevo the "Reichspost" of Vienna, a sort of court organ, printed several articles which hinted that something serious was likely to happen soon in Bosnia. In the same paper a year before there had been similar hints at coming events in Croatia. The sequels to those former hints were the alleged discovery of bombs intended for criminal purposes, and a series of trials at Agram for treason felony. But it was afterward revealed that the bombs which were there used or "found," and which served as the basis of prosecutions for treason felony, had been in fact manufactured for the purpose in one of the government arsenals. They were carried by a government agent from Austria into Montenegro, thence to be transferred to Croatia. At an appointed place and time this agent passed the bag containing them to another person, who was to be the scapegoat, and the latter was presently arrested with the bombs in his possession. Of course, he was surreptitiously set at liberty, while a number of innocent persons were accused of complicity in the plot.

THE BELGRADE BUTCHERY

It has come to be pretty well known, too, that the butchery of the Serbian sovereigns, Alexander and Draga, at Belgrade, was incited and directed by Austria. The affair was not intended to be a tragedy at all, but merely

a kidnapping and compulsory abdication, such as had been successfully forced upon Alexander of Bulgaria many years before. But in attempting to execute that design, passions rose higher than had been expected and got quite out of hand, and the gruesome butchery was the result. So it was meant that the Archduke at Sarajevo should merely be made to appear to have been in deadly peril. That would throw suspicion upon Serbia and rouse Austrian anger against her, and provoke a breach between the crown prince and the Serbs, with whom he was growing too friendly to please the Hapsburg "Ring."

THE ARCHDUKE'S POLITICS

It is also to be taken into account that the Archduke, despite his former anti-Magyar proclivities, which had won for him the hatred of the ruling caste in Hungary, had entered into sympathetic relations with the so-called Hungarian Independence party; precisely, it is suggestively recalled, as Archduke Rudolph did just before the mysterious tragedy at Meyerling. By his attitude at that time toward the Hungarians, Rudolph incurred the bitter animosity and resentment of the Hapsburg "Ring," and the unexplained tragedy which overcame him has by many been regarded as having had a political origin. The fact is that Francis Ferdinand, having recovered from the madness of the days in which he was a follower of the notorious Jew-baiting Dr. Lueger in his "Christian Socialist Anti-Semite Party," and his almost equally venomous anti-Magyar propaganda, had adopted the momentous design of recasting the Dual Realm and of transforming it into a Federal Empire on a basis resembling that of Germany. He meant that when he became Emperor there should be a number of sovereign states. Austria

should have the hegemony of them, as Prussia does in Germany. But there should be several other ostensible independent and equal states, such as Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, and perhaps Moravia and Transylvania.

This design was intensely offensive to the old Emperor and the entire Austrian court, and also to the ruling castes in Austria and Hungary. It was equally offensive to the German Emperor at Berlin, who was cherishing the design, after the death of Francis Joseph, of subordinating AustriaHungary more than ever to German domination.

On the other hand the Serbs, both in the empire and in Serbia itself, looked upon his plans as on the whole favorable to them. The creation of a strong Serb state of the empire, comprising Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, would be for the immediate advantage of its inhabitants and would greatly strengthen their hands for the ultimate revolt against Austrian domination and the recreation of the great Serbian Empire. It was also welcome to them because of the dissension which it would create between Francis Ferdinand and the rest of the Hapsburgs.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRIME

So much for motives and lack of motives for the crime of Sarajevo. Certain indisputable circumstances were strangely suggestive. One was the course which was taken by the driver of the car in which the Archduke and his wife were riding. Instead of proceeding along the chief street of the city, which was simply lined from end to end with police, he suddenly, and without orders, turned the car into another narrower and comparatively obscure street, running parallel with the main street, on which there were few if any police.

It was on this side street that the tragedy occurred. Why that course was taken is a question which has not been and probably never will be satisfactorily answered, but which inevitably provokes grave speculations and suspicions. Nor has it been explained why, just before the murderous attack was made, the driver, without orders, slowed down the car, as if to facilitate the assault. It is said, it is true, that this change in the route was made because of the bomb-throwing in the main street shortly before. But that convinces nobody. The very fact that the bomb-throwing did occur on the main street, and that in consequence all the police of the city had been massed there, is regarded as the very best reason why the second trip should have been made along the same thoroughfare.

It is also pointed out that the murders were committed by a youth who knew something which down to that time had supposedly been known by nobody outside of the imperial household. That was that the Archduke wore a bullet-proof waistcoat, for which reason the assassin shot at his head instead of his breast. How did the assassin get that knowledge?

HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED

The news of the tragedy was instantly transmitted to Vienna, and it was an extraordinary circumstance that practically every important personage of the court, save only the Emperor, was there to hear it, though it was Sunday, and usually they all went out of town on Saturday in summer. No grief, but rather satisfaction, if not exultation, was expressed. The news was sent to the old Emperor at Ischl, and his only comment was, "What impertinence of those Bosnians!" The police of Sarajevo were never reprimanded for not guarding the Archduke

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