Assassination Attempt at the Rothschild Bank
In August and September 1895, the Rothschild Bank in Paris came under attack. First, a letter bomb sent to Alphonse Rothschild’s home and taken to his office injured his principal secretary, Bernard (Isaïe) Jodkowitz (1841–1921). On 5 September, the anarchist Léon Bouteilhe walked into the bank with a bomb that failed to explode when he lit the fuse.
On 31 August 1895, The Graphic commented: “One of the fixed ideas of the Socialists of every variety of tint is that the Rothschilds are the supreme embodiment of the Capitalism and Individualism on which contemporary society is founded. Given this principle, given also the existence of Anarchists who believe in the Propaganda by Deed, given furthermore a continuous output of incendiary literature pointing to the Rothschilds as the chief source of every social ill, and, on the other hand, a not inconsiderable band of reckless exaltés ready at any moment to throw bombs in vindication of their delusion, and the only wonder is that the explosive letter sent to Baron Alphonse de Rothschild in Paris last Saturday, should have been the first attempt to execute Anarchist justice on the arch-millionaire. The probability is that it was not the first enterprise of its kind, for the Rothschilds are so obvious a quarry for the thunderbolts of the Catastrophists, that it is difficult to believe that no Anarchist has hitherto attempted to get at them. … The letter bomb used in the present case is a comparatively new device, and illustrates in a striking manner the readiness of the Anarchists to adapt themselves to the restricted scope forced upon them by police vigilance. The placing of infernal machines inside or outside of public buildings is no longer an easy matter, and hence the manufacture of the epistolary bomb and its transmission through the post.”
Published in Le Petit Journal. Supplement Illustré, 8 September 1895. Fortuné Louis Méaulle (artist); (original size: 31 x 45.2 cm).
Antique print from the book: Jews in Old Postcards and Prints
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