Jean-Baptiste Victor Sipido (20 December 1884 – 20 August 1959) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

who became known when he, then a young tinsmith's apprentice, attempted to assassinate the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

at the

Brussels-North railway station Brussels-North railway station (french: Gare de Bruxelles-Nord, nl, Station Brussel-Noord), officially Brussels-North (french: Bruxelles-Nord, link=no, nl, Brussel-Noord, link=no), is one of the three major railway stations in Brussels, Bel ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

on 5 April 1900. Accusing the Prince of causing the slaughter of thousands during the

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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 was 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

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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

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in the Department of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, ...

in France.Alexandre Notebaert in ''Biographie nationale'', vol. 42 (1981), p. 678.

Notes

References

*Brust, Harold, ''I Guarded Kings: The Memoirs of a Political Officer'', Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2005 (reprint of the 1936 edition published by Hillman-Curl Inc, U.S.A.). Available on

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. *Notebaert, Alexandre, in ''Biographie nationale'', vol. 42 (1981), pp. 662–679. *Speyer, Dr Speyer", no given name appears in the journal "The Legal Aspects of the Sipido Case", ''Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation'' 1900, pp. 434–439. 20th-century Belgian criminals 1884 births 1959 deaths 1900 crimes in Europe Belgian anarchists Belgian assassins Failed regicides Anarchist assassins 1900 in Belgium Edward VII {{Belgium-bio-stub