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Show PREFECT IS HGOTED FOR BOY'S ERROR Lad Hoisted Italian Flag at Half Staff When Francis Joseph Died. MISTAKE CAUSED A RIOT All Sovereigns Looked Alike to the Governor's Little Servant; Got "In Bad." Rome. Strangely enough, there was a city in Italy where a flag was hoisted half staff on the prefect's residence as a sign of mourning for the death of Emperor Francis Joseph. This city was Ascoli Piceno in the Marches, where the prefect, or governor, Is one of the most intelligent and patriotic officials in Italy, one who advocated Italy's war against Austria from the very beginning and sent his two sous to the front, where one of them was killed. Obviously the prefect had no reason to regret the death of Italy's hereditary heredi-tary enemy, Francis Joseph, and yet his palace was the only building in Italy where a flag was hoisted half and he rushed out and told his friend : "You see I was right. The prefect said that it was not necessary to ask such a question." And within a few minutes the flag was out half staff and a crowd collected outside hooting and jeering at the prefect, whom they called "a dirty Austrian." Naturally the flag was taken away, the prefect was furious, the smart office of-fice boy was kicked out and the government govern-ment had to issue official statements explaining how the mistake occurred. Cardinal as Censor. Another incident in connection with Francis Joseph's death occurred In Rome, and in a way it is equally amusing. amus-ing. The editor of the Osservatore Romano, the official organ of the Holy See, was instructed by the cardinal secretary of state, Cardinal GasparrI, to write an article regretting in mild terms the death of the Catholic emperor. em-peror. Pie was warned to be careful about the censor, and accordingly wrofe the article emphasizing the deceased's de-ceased's religious faith and his attachment attach-ment to the Holy See. Then he submitted sub-mitted the article to the censor, who passed it for publication. Owing to the Vatican's neutrality of course It was only natural that the official offi-cial organ of the Holy See should ex- staff. The prefect risked losing his post, too, and It took him some time to Justify himself and explain the mistake. mis-take. Because, of course, It was all a mistake, and this Is how it happened : Early one morning a telegram . reached the prefect from Rome with the news of the emperor of Austria's death. The telegram was given to theJ prefect's servant, or office boy, to file, and as office boys all the world over are generally very smart this particular particu-lar office boy when he read the telegram tele-gram came to the conclusion that It was his duty to put out the flag in sign of mourning. Sovereigns Are Sovereigns. It is true that we are at war with Austria, he explained to a fellow servant, serv-ant, but sovereigns are always sovereigns sov-ereigns in fact, they are each other's cousins and when they die official mourning is indispensable. The fellow servant was not convinced and warned the smarter one to be careful. He suggested that before putting out the flag he had better ask the prefect. So the oflice boy knocked at the prefect's door and asked: "Must we put the flag out at half staff for the emperor's death, sir?" The prefect was busy at his desk, but when he heard the question he turned around and sternly looked at his office boy, Ironically saying: "Do you think that it is necessary to ask such a question?" "All right, sir. Please excuse me for troubling you, sir," said the office boy, press regret at the death of a Catholic Cath-olic sovereign. The censor explained this to the editor, who was encouraged to ask whether there would be any objection ob-jection if the paper came out with a black border, as was the custom on the death of a Catholic sovereign. The i censor said there would be no objection, objec-tion, as he had nothing to do with the makeup of the paper, but only with what was printed in it, and he added : "You can have as wide a border as you please." The editor rushed to the cardinal secretary of state with the proof sheets and Informed him that the censor had not only passed the article but th6 black border as well. To his surprise Cardinal GasparrI Insisted that the black border should be removed. "We have to regret the emperor's death," he said, "but we are not bound to go to mourning for him as he was so bitterly hated in Italy that if the paper came out with a black border the people are bound to wreck your office." The editor naturally obeyed and the Osservatore Romano was not In mourning mourn-ing for Francis Joseph. Everybody, of course, assumed that the black border bor-der had been censored by the censor, but the editor made the mistake to explain ex-plain that it was Cardinal Gasparri, j who censored It, with the result that the cardinal's ;.opulrity Increased considerably, while in all probability Austria will protest that the Holy J See's neutrality is not comylei i. |