Assassination Attempt on Napoleon III After thorough testing, Taylor provided the bomb to Orsini and smuggled them into France disguised as "gas machinery." Taylor later claimed that he thought the device was a genuine piece of explosive ordnance of a novel design. The bomb was originally created in an attempt to kill Napoleon III in 1858. This act and the design of the bombs may have been inspired by a previous attempt to kill
Napoleon I in 1800 with an improvised explosive. Orsini created 12 bombs for the plot. The plan was that he and three accomplices would throw four bombs at the Emperor when he emerged from his carriage, but they all missed their targets. However, they did still manage to kill 10 and wound 157. A description of the plot written by a participant was found and said: "My grenade contained 4 pounds of
powder. All the conspirators had their respective posts previously assigned to them. Four hand-grenades were to be thrown by Gomez, myself, Orsini, and Pieri, respectively. ... throwing my grenade right under the fore part of the carriage, and dropping myself among some dead horses and struggling men, I watched the effects of the explosion. The horses and the driver were instantly killed[.]"
Liceu bombing The Orsini bomb was later used in several plots by
anarchists, when they could not obtain
dynamite. It was also the bomb used in an attack during
Gioachino Rossini's
William Tell opera at the
Liceu Theater in
Barcelona in 1893 by anarchist
Santiago Salvador; resulting in the death of 20 people and wounding 30, though only one of the bombs detonated. One of the unexploded bombs was preserved at the
Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA) and later lent to the
Van Gogh Museum in 2007 for an exhibit on late 19th century Barcelona. (Coincidentally, the Emperor Napoleon III and his wife were on their way to see the same opera when Orsini had made the attempt on their lives over 35 years earlier.) == Citations ==