Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Johan Jakob Ankarström (original) (raw)

​ANKARSTRÖM, Johan Jakob, the assassin of Gustavus III., king of Sweden, was descended from an honourable family, and was born in 1759. After having been for some time at court as a page, he entered the army, but left after a few years with the honorary rank of captain. He is said to have been concerned in some treasonable projects, and to have been pardoned by the king, but the story has not sufficient authority. The Swedish nobles were about this time violently opposed to the king, who, by the aid of the other orders of the state, had wrested their power from them, and was now ruling despotically. This dislike was increased by the coup d'état of 1789, and by the king's known desire to interfere in favour of Louis XVIII. of France. Ankarstrom, a man of strong passions and violent temper, resolved upon the assassination of Gustavus, and communicated his intention to the disaffected nobles, and among others, to Counts Horn and Ribbing, who would willingly have undertaken the deed themselves. After some ineffectual attempts to seize the king's person, a favourable opportunity offered itself. A masked ball was held at Stockholm on the 16th March 1792, which the king attended, though he had been warned against doing so by an anonymous letter. By a preconcerted signal, Count Horn indicated his victim to Ankarstrom, who fired and inflicted a mortal wound. The murderer was identified by the discharged pistol, thrown down in the ball-room, and was arrested. He did not attempt to deny his crime, but declared that he had no accomplices. After a long trial he was condemned, was publicly beaten on three successive days, had his right hand cut off, and was finally beheaded and quartered. He endured his sufferings with the greatest fortitude, and seemed to rejoice in having rid his country of a tyrant. His principal accomplices were imprisoned for life.