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SHOT BY MOTOR-CYCLISTS. ESCAPE OF MURDERERS.
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telegraph.co.uk/frontrow-nl
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. MADRID, Tuesday night. Señor Dato, the Spanish Prime Minister, has been assassinated. The attack upon Señor Dato was carried out by three men on a motor-cycle and side-car, who fired some twenty shots at the automobile occupied by the Premier. Senor Dato died a few moments after reaching the hospital to which he was driven by his chauffeur immediately after the attack. The assassins drove away at a great speed, and escaped.
At the moment when the shots were fired the Plaza de Independencia was completely deserted. So far the police have been unable to discover any trace of the murderers, but it is believed that they came from Barcelona, and that the plot was organised there.
The death of Senor Dato will cause serious complications in Spanish politics. Don Eduardo Dato was born in 1856, and as a statesman has more labour legislation to his credit than any other Spanish politician. All the measures that were favourable to the workers were due to his initiative. He was one of the best and kindest hearted men in Spain. He was not despotic in the least degree, but, on the contrary, was of an extremely benign character. His death is deplored by everybody, as even his political opponents loved him for his kindly nature. The Allies have lost in him the most faithful of their friends. Señor Dato’s wife and two daughters arrived at the hospital just after he had expired, and a very painful scene ensued when they learned of their bereavement.
MADRID, Wednesday.
A servant who was in the motor-car with Señor Dato was seriously wounded by the assassins.
It is stated that Señor Dato received on the 6th inst. a telegram from Paris informing him that a plot was being engineered against him in France by Spanish subjects. The Spanish Ambassador in Paris, Señor Quinones de Leon, has been able to ascertain that the outrage was a reprisal for the repression of the disorders in Barcelona. A cordon of police has been placed upon all roads giving access to the capital, with strict orders to repress any sign of disorder, and all trains leaving the stations were detained until the passengers had satisfied the police as to their identity, and their reason for leaving the town. This examination caused a delay of more than an hour.
Eye-witnesses of the assassination declare that the motor-cycle was an “Indian,” and carried three persons, one driving, one mounted behind, and one in the side-car. The occupants of the motor-cycle fired Browning pistols with both hands, and immediately profited by the general confusion which ensued to escape without being pursued. It appears that the Premier was hit in six places, but so far the physicians have simply announced the death without details. The car shows the marks of twenty-seven bullets. The private secretary of Señor Dato states that the crime had been planned some time in advance, and, as a matter of fact, last Saturday, when Señor Dato was returning home, at the moment when his car was traversing the Plaza Independencia, a motor-cycle followed the vehicle, accelerating its speed until it was side by side with the Premier’s car, and at the same time a motor-cycle going in the opposite direction also drew up level with the car on the other side. The occupants of the two motor-cycles were seen to make signs to each other through the windows of the car. The secretary states that he and Señor Dato both commented upon the incident.