demolina: On this day in history, 10th September 1898, Elisabeth of Austria is murdered by Luig
demolina: On this day in history, 10th September 1898, Elisabeth of Austria is murdered by Luigi Lucheni at Geneva, Switzerland.Accompanied by Irma Sztaray, as always dressed in black, her fan in one hand and the parasol in the other, ¨Countess von Hohenembs¨ walked to the landing stage, only a few hundred meters from the hotel. And it was along this path that Luccheni was lying in wait. When the two ladies came abreast of him, he threw himself at them, cast a swift glance under the parasol to make certain, and stabbed. He had earlier consulted an anatomical atlas to learn the precise location of the heart. His aim was accurate. Elisabeth fell on her back. But the force of the fall was broken by the weight of her heavy, pinned-up hair. The assasin fled, was captured by passerby, and taken to the police station. At first it was not realized that he was a murderer; for the foreign lady got to her feet immediately after the fall and thanked all those who had helped her, speaking in German, French, and English. Her clothes were dusted off. The hotel porter, who was a witness to the deed, begged the two ladies to return to the hotel, but Elisabeth refused. She wanted to get to the boat. Walking quickly, because little time was left before the ship’s departure, the ladies went to the landing stage. Elisabeth, in Hungarian, to Countess Sztaray: ¨What did that man actually want?¨ Countess Sztaray: ¨The porter?¨Elisabeth: ¨No, the other one, that dreadful person.¨¨I do not know, Your Majesty, surely he is a vicious criminal.¨¨Perphaps he wanted to take my watch?¨ the Empress conjectured. The ladies walked about a hundred meters from the site to the ship. It was not until they were on board the steamer, just departing, that Elisabeth collapsed. It was thought that she had fainted as a result of the fright she had endured. It was only when her bodice was unbuttoned so that her chest could be rubbed that a tiny brownish spot and a hole in her batiste camisole became apparent. Only then was the extent of the tragedy evident. The ship’s captain was informed - he was unaware that the Empress of Austria was one of his passengers. The boat turned around and sped back to Geneva. A litter was improvised from oars and velvelt chairs; the Empress was bedded on it and returned to the hotel as quickly as possible. There the doctor could do nothing but pronounce her death. — Brigitte Hammann, The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria -- source link