September 10 Saturday – Elisabeth of Bavaria (“Sisi”), Empress of Austria (1837-1898) was assassinated in Geneva by young anarchist Luigi Lucheni, who wanted to kill any royal, and had been unable to find a prince from the House of Orleans. Clemens would write on Sept. 13 to Joe Twichell of Elisabeth as, “That good and unoffending lady,” and that he was “living in the midst of world-history again.”

To have a personal friend of the wearer of the crown burst in at the gate in the deep dusk of the evening & say in a voice broken with tears, “My God the Empress is murdered,” & fly toward her home before we can utter a question—why, it brings the giant event home to you, makes a part of it & personally interested: it is as if your neighbor Antony should come flying & say “Caesar is butchered—the head of the world is fallen!” [Sept. 13 to Twichell].

Sam’s notebook:

K. Sept. 10. In answer, wrote Lt. Col. F.B. Bowyer-Lane [letter not extant] I should be satisfied with any arrangement he might make with Stoker.

Also, I didn’t know whether Stoker had ever consented to act for America, in which case I should be glad if B.L. would take hold of it.

I quoted p.3 of my contract which allows my agent 10 per cent.

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Sept. 10. News came at 6 p.m. that the Empress was assassinated at Geneva just after noon [NB 40 TS 32-3]. Note: F. B. Bowyer-Lane, with the Nimrod Club. See July 6, Sept. 25 entries.