THE KILLING OF JULIUS CMSAR "LOCALIZED}' l6j 



evening paper, and the only one in the city, and getting at least twelve hours 

 ahead of the morning paper boys with this most magnificent " item '"' that ever 

 fell to the lot of the craft. Other events have happened as startling as this, but 

 none that possessed so peculiarly all the characteristics of the favorite "item " 

 of the present day, magnified into grandeur and sublimity by the high rank, 

 fame, and social and political standing of the actors in it. 



However, as I was not permitted to report Caesar's assassination in the regular 

 way, it has at least afforded me rare satisfaction to translate the following able 

 account of it from the original Latin of the Roman Daily Evening Fasces of that 

 date — second edition. 



" Our usually quiet city of Rome was-thrown into a state of wild excitement yesterday by the 

 occurrence of one of those bloody affrays which sicken the heart and fill the soul with fear, while 

 they inspire all thinking men with forebodings for the future of a city where human life is held so 

 cheaply, and the gravest laws are so openly set at defiance. As the result of that affray, it is our pain- 

 ful duty, as public journalists, to record the death of one of our most esteemed citizens — a man 

 whose name is known wherever this paper circulates, and whose fame it has been our pleasure and 

 our privilege to extend, and also to protect from the tongue of slander and falsehood, to the best of 

 our poor ability. We refer to Mr. J. Csesar, the Emperor-elect. 



" The facts of the case, as nearly as our reporter could determine them from the conflicting state- 

 ments of eye-witnesses, were about as follows: — The affair was an election row, of course. Nine- 

 tenths of the ghastly butcheries that disgrace the city 'now-a-days grow out of the bickerings and 

 jealousies and animosities engendered by these accursed elections. Rome would be the gainer by 

 it if her very constables were elected to serve a century ; for in our experience we have never even been 

 able to choose a dog-pelter without celebrating the event with a dozen knock-downs and a general 

 cramming of the station-house with drunken vagabonds over-night. It is said that when the 

 immense majority for Caesar at the polls in the market was declared the other day, and the ciown 

 was offered to that gentleman, even his amazing unselfishness in refusing it three times was not 

 sufficient to save him from the whispered insults of such men as Casca, of the Tenth Ward, and 

 other hirelings of the disappointed candidate, hailing mostly from the Eleventh and Thirteenth 

 and other outside districts, who were overheard speaking ironically and contemptuously of Mr. 

 Caesar's conduct upon that occasion. 



" We are further informed that there are many among us who think they are justified in believ- 

 ing that the assassination of Julius Caesar was a put-up thing — a cut-and-dried arrangement, 

 hatched by Marcus Brutus and a lot of his hired roughs, and carried out only too faithfully according 

 to the programme. Whether there be good grounds for this suspicion or not, we leave to the people to 

 judge for themselves, only asking that they will read the following account of the sad occurrence 

 carefully and dispassionately before they render that judgment. 



"The Senate was already in session, and Ctesar was coming down the street towards the capitol, 

 conversing with some personal friends, and followed as usual, by a large number of citizens. Just 

 as he was passing in front of Demosthenes and Thucydides' drug-store, he was observing casually 

 to a gentleman, who, our informant thinksj is a fortune-teller, that the Ides of March were come. 

 The reply was, ' Yes, they are come, but not gone yet." At this moment Artemidorus stepped up 

 and passed the time of day, and asked Caesar to read a schedule or a tract or something of the kind, 

 which he had brought for. his perusal. Mr. Decius Brutus also said something about an 'humble 

 suit ' which he wanted read. Artemidorus begged that attention might be paid to his first, because 

 it was of personal consequence to Ca:sar. The latter replied that what concerned himself should 

 be read last, or words to that effect. Artemidorus begged and beseeched him to read the paper 



