Last of the Assassins

On a bright sunny Sunday morning, June 28, 1914, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, accompanied by his morganatic wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, drove down the streets of Sarajevo. Soon a bomb came hurtling through the air, crashing on the roadway behind the royal automobile, exploding with a deafening roar.

Reaching the town hall the Archduke walked up the steps in a towering rage. Snarled he to the mayor: "Mr. Mayor, I come here on a visit and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous. Now you may speak."

Leaving the town hall for the residence of the governor of Bosnia the royal car made a wrong turning and while the chauffeur was backing the automobile several shots rang out. The royal couple fell back mortally wounded. In consternation orders were given to drive on to the governor's residence, but before the two-minute drive was over the Duchess was dead. Fifteen minutes later the Archduke died, shot through the jugular vein. His last words were: "Sophie, live for our children!"

A few days later a memorial service was held in the cathedral at Belgrade and was attended by royal representatives and high government officials, despite the fact that it is now generally believed that the Serbian government, if not the actual instigator of the crime, was at least aware of the plot to kill the Archduke and made no effort to frustrate it.

And before 40 days and 40 nights had passed the world was plunged into the greatest war known to history.

In 1917 six of the leading assassins were tried before an Austrian court. Three were condemned to death; three were imprisoned for life, they being too young to get the death sentence. All are now dead.

Last week, as it must to all men, death came to Milan Ciganovitch, 40, last of all the assassins. He is said to have been the protege of the late premier Nikolai Pasuitch, who sent him to the U. S. for a year immediately after the murders. On his return to his native land he received a large grant of land at Uskub, where he lived in affluence until his death. His part in the assassination, for which he was named in the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, was restricted to supplying bombs from the royal arsenal in Belgrade.