April 4: On This Day in World History … briefly
On his way to Denmark through Belgium on April 4, 1900, Edward was the victim of an attempted assassination when 15-year-old Jean-Baptiste Sipido shot at him in protest over the Second Boer War. Sipido, though obviously guilty, was acquitted by a Belgian court because he was underage.
1900: Heir to British throne cheats death
Prince Edward, heir to the throne of England, narrowly escaped death when a teenage anarchist fired two shots at him. The Prince and his wife Princess Alexandra were on a train in Brussels railway station when the incident occurred. The would-be assassin is said to have targeted the Prince because he holds him personally responsible for the many deaths suffered in the Boer War, especially under Lord Kitchener.
Belgian anarchist Jean-Baptiste Sipido became known when he, then a young tinsmith’s apprentice, attempted to assassinate the Prince of Wales at the Brussel-Noord railway station in Brussels on April 4, 1900. Accusing the Prince of causing the slaughter of thousands during the Boer War in South Africa, the fifteen-year-old leaped onto the foot board of the royal compartment right before the train left the station and fired two shots through the window. Sipido missed everyone inside and was quickly wrestled to the ground.
The assassination attempt and the following trial is notable mostly for the acquittal of Sipido, his guilt quite obvious, but he was less than 16 years old. The jury ‘held that by reason of his age he had not acted with discernment and could not be considered doli capax‘ or legally responsible. The court did not even detain Sipido in a reformatory. After the trial, Sipido immediately crossed the border to France.
The acquittal caused a very hostile reaction from Britain with the Leader of the British House of Commons calling it a ‘grave and most unfortunate miscarriage of justice’. Sipido ended his working life as technical and commercial director of the General Society of Belgian Socialist Cooperatives, later retiring to Cagnes in the Department of Alpes-Maritimes in France.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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