“HE WILL DIE”

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 18

“HE WILL DIE”

King Alexander Fated

The day before King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated in France Voislav Maximus Petrovitch, the mysterious Serbian ex-diplomat, who was found dead in a room in Soho, met a friend in a reading room of the British Museum. “King Alexander will never reach England,” said Petrovitch. “He will die before he leaves the soil of France.” This conversation was revealed to a representative of the “Daily Express by the friend to whom Petrovitch spoke. He is a man who has held high positions. He met Petrovitch in London ten years ago. “When I met Petrovitch in the British Museum,” he said, “I told him that I would be one of the first to send my greetings to King Alexander when he reached England. The King had been my commander-in-chief during the war. “I was startled by Petrovitch’s words. I asked him what he meant. “He replied, ‘Just that! You see, I cannot help hearing what they arc saying.’ “Petrovitch, I am convinced, gave no impression of being an assassin or the companion of assassins. “But he certainly knew more about secret societies connected with the Balkans than any man in Europe. “His inside knowledge of the Serajevo assassination in 1914 was amazing. He also knew a great deal about the activities of the Black Hand of Serbia. “I frankly suspected that he was a member of the Black Hand Society. “After the war he fell out with many powerful people in Serbia, and came to England as a refugee. “I don’t think he ever left our shores again. "He used to tell me that he would be

dead within twenty-four hours of setting foot in his own country. “Petrovitch was one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. He spoke English perfectly, his German was excellent. his Italian first class, Spanish fair, and he was fluent in Croatian and Russian, in addition to his native Serbian. “He told me that the British Civil Service was employing him to translate Russian and to correct and examine in Russian.

“Petrovitch always seemed to have plenty of money, and he spent freely. He lived up to every penny he earned. He knew many beautiful women in London.

“He lived an adventurous, colourful life, but he always feared that his enemies would kill him. “His father was a Montenegrin; his mother, who is still alive, was a Serb. “He adored her. He said it was his greatest grudge against the rulers of his country that he could not return to Belgrade to see her. “Five years ago he wrote to King Alexander of t Yugoslavia suggesting that his services might be of value to his country. He asked that he might: be reinstated in the Diplomatic Corps and be stationed in London. “That letter was triplicated. It was sent to three trusted people in order that the King himself should see it.

“But there was no reply. “Petrovitch became very bitter. Then came the second blow —an order that he must leave England. “He loved this country. He said it was the only place where freedom really existed. He had intended to spend the rest of his life here. “The man was ever in dread of the Ogpu of Yugoslavia. He said that if he went to any country on the Continent they would get him. was his only refuge.”