ASSASSINATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 June 1922, Page 5

ASSASSINATION.

THE BERLIN MURDER. AMAZING SCENES. DETAILS OF OUTRAGE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Berlin, June 25. Amazing scenes were witnessed in the Reichstag when news of Dr. Rathenau’s assassination was conveyed to deputies. When Herr Helfferich, who yesterday bitterly attached Dr. Rathenau on the Wiesbaden debt agreement, arrived in the Reichstag with other members of the German National Party, a crowd of infuriated members attacked them. Blows were freely exchanged, and books and rulers were used as missiles. The Nationalists were all driven ignominiously from the Chamber after practically all of them had suffered injury. Herr Bernstein, on the Left, seized Herr Helfferich by the throat, shook him violently and shouted: “You are the assassin! You are the murderer!” The Government has decided to declare martial law in Berlin, and a Nationalist mass meeting has been forbiddenHerr Wirth expressed the Government’s regret at the outrage. Herr Dittman declared that he had proof that the assassination was intended as the signal for a Monarchist upheaval. OTHERS THREATENED. During the scene in the Reichstag General Scheuch, former War Minister, was severely assaulted, after making unsympathetic remarks about Dr. Rathenau. General Scheuch escaped by retreating on his hands and knees under the reporters’ table. A grenade blew off Dr. Rathenau’s left leg. He died in the arms of a housemaid who ran out when the car drew up to the kerbstone after the shots had been fired. Herr Wirth, Premier, states that the murder is likely to cause grave interna! troubles. “Others have been threatened. I am certain I shall be the next victim.” Both wings of the Socialist Party are to hold a demonstration in Berlin on Sunday as a protest against the assassination. A genera! strike for 24 hours has been proclaimed. The police offer a reward of a million marks for information resulting in the arrest of Dr. Rathenau’s murderer. MURDER PLANNED. Dr. Rathenau resided in a quiet suburb, consequently there were only a few spectators of the murder. Several young men in a powerful car rapidly overhauled Dr. Rathenau. The occupants were disguised with motoring goggles and leather caps pulled well down. Three shots went through the victim’s head and his lower jaw was practically shot away. There was also a bullet through his arms and chest, while a grenade lacerated the lower portion of his body. It is a significant fact that Dr. Escherisch, the notorious organiser nf the Orgesch, a secret Monarchists’ society, arrived in Berlin from Bavaria on Thursday with numerous attendants, and quitted Berlin secretly on Saturday. REPUBLIC ENDANGERED. | There is no mistaking the extraordin art' and serious situation the murder of Dr. Rathenau creates. Every Government party is convinced that the Republic is endangered and that Dr. Rathenau was murdered because he was trying to make the 1 Republic a success, and that every earnest Republican leader will meet the same fate. Dr- Rathenau, Herren Ebert, Wirth and other members of the Government, have . daily received threatening letters. Possibly by a mere chance Dr. Rathenau was the first picked. The crimes are part of a di- I liberate action to restore the monarchy by | exterminating men holding the very deli- ; cate balance between the parties forming the Republican Government. Failing a coalition between the Left and Centre Parties, the fulfilment of the Allies’ reparations demand is impossible, and confusion will reign in Germany. The Monarchists see their chance therein. The Socialists have issued furious warnings to all societies to prepare to fight reaction. DR. RATHENAU’S OPINION. AS TO CAUSE OF WAR. New York, June 24. Mr. Hawkins, a New York journalist, interviewed Dr. Rathenau a year ago, and a statement was given him conditionally that publication should not take place until after his death. “Cowardice caused the war,” said Dr. Rathenau. “The Kaiser rattled his sword until he had frightened himself and all his Ministers out of their normal judgment. Herr Bethmann-Hollweg and the Ministers sat all night in fear and trembling, hoping and praying the Czar would succumb to the terms of the ultimatum and that they would escape the disaster into which cowardice had led them. The policy of frightfulness was a policy of cowardice. It was the policy of a man afraid, who makes a great noise in the effort to frighten the enemy, hoping he may avoid fighting. All Germany knows this, and there is no danger of the Kaiser ever returning to Berlin. The German people have for ever been cured of Royalty.