Alfonso Often A Target.

New York Times 100 years ago today, April 14, 1913:
Yesterday's Was the Eighth Attempt to Assassinate the Young King.
    The Spanish people may well be fearful, when they recall the many attempts that have been made upon the life of their young King, Alfonso XIII., that he is destined to die by the hand of an assassin.
    Since the assassination of José Canalejas, the Prime Minister of Spain, on Nov. 12, 1912, however, extraordinary precautions have been taken to frustrate any attack that might be made imperiling the life of the King. The shots fired by Allegre yesterday constituted the most violent attempt to kill Alfonso since May 31, 1906, when a bomb was hurled at his carriage while he and the Queen were returning to the palace at Madrid from the church where they had just been married. Eleven persons and two of the horses drawing the King's carriage were killed.
    The bomb was concealed in a bouquet and was thrown at the carriage from an upper window of a private house. It struck the ground and exploded to the right of the royal carriage, at a point between the hindmost pair of horses and the front wheels. It would have struck the carriage and undoubtedly have killed the King and Queen had it not been deflected by an electric wire. The carriage was undamaged except by splinters. The King and the trembling Queen were escorted to another carriage and were driven swiftly to the palace.
    Mateo Moral, the man who threw the bomb, escaped justice by committing suicide. He was said to have been protected by Francisco Ferrer, director of a well known Anarchist school, but Ferrer was acquitted of this charge, the verdict being "Not proven." Ferrer was later implicated in the Barcelona rebellion and was condemned to death. Great pressure was brought to bear upon the King to pardon him, and his refusal to do so more than ever embittered the Anarchists against him.
    Exactly one year before a bomb was thrown at King Alfonso in Paris. As the King, accompanied by President Loubet, was driving away from a gala performance at the opera an Anarchist threw a bomb at the royal carriage. It struck a trooper of the cuirassier escort on the shoulder end exploded without injuring the King or the President, who continued their drive. Several soldiers of the escort were thrown from their horses and injured, while fragments of the bomb struck a number of persons in the crowd.
    The King, noticing confusion among the members of the escort, said: "Calm yourselves, gentlemen. This is nothing." Then, turning to the frightened crowd, he called out: "Reassure yourselves, gentlemen. This is nothing."
    Five men were arrested on suspicion of being connected with the outrage, but they were all acquitted.
    The most recent previous attempt upon the King's life occurred on Jan. 5, 1911, at Malaga. He was en route from Madrid to Melilla, Morocco, and was accompanied by Premier Canalejas, the man assassinated last year, and two other Cabinet Ministers. They were met at the railway station by a great crowd, which followed the carriage as it was driven toward the palace of the Governor General. As the King entered the palace there was an explosion in the crowd, injuring two persons. An official account of the incident was that a man had dropped "a pistol inclosed in a box," but most people believed that another attempt had been made to kill the King.
    A lunatic fired a shot at him on June 18, 1903, as he was returning from church with his mother. In January, 1904, a bomb was found under a bench outside the palace, and in November, 1905, cartridges were exploded in the Church of San Pedro, Madrid, while he was attending service there. In 1908 a bomb was thrown at him in Barcelona.