The Outbreak of the War of 1914-18 (A Narrative Based Mainly on British Official Documents‪)‬

On arriving at Serajevo railway station, the Archduke and his consort were received with due state, and, entering a motor-car, set out for the Town Hall, where the deputations and addresses were to be presented. Officers belonging to the Archduke’s staff preceded and followed in other motors. Between the station and the town, in a street running by the River Miliaca, a young man stepped out of the crowd and threw a bomb at the second car. The Archduke had the presence of mind to strike it aside; it fell behind him and in front of the next motor, where it burst, slightly wounding two of his suite. The assassin sprang into the river to avoid pursuit, but he was seized, dragged out, and handed over to the police. The cortege of motors resumed its way after a short delay, and the Archduke was duly received at the Town Hall, where Count Potiorek, Governor of Bosnia, presented to him the Burgomaster of Sarajevo, and other local notables, who made without any contretemps the loyal speeches that had been arranged. The Duchess of Hohenberg also received a deputation of ladies. 

After the ceremony was over, the Archduke proposed to drive to the town hospital, to enquire about the condition of his two aides-de-camp who had been injured by the bomb. No special precautions were taken to safeguard his person; it is said that Count Potiorek remarked (when it was suggested to him that the events of the morning should act as a warning) that he knew the Bosnians well, and that nothing was more unlikely than two attempts at assassination on the same day. At any rate, the Archducal pair started, as in the morning, to motor through the narrow streets of Serajevo. Count Potiorek occupied the seat opposite them in the second car; other officers followed behind. They had not gone far when a young man thrust himself into the front rank of the crowd on the sidewalk, and emptied the contents of a Browning pistol into the Archduke’s motor. The prince himself was hit in the jugular vein and died immediately his consort, who had received a bullet in her side, only survived a few minutes, and expired in the Government House to which she was carried. Count Potiorek escaped unhurt. The assassin, wedged in the throng, was arrested without difficulty, and made no resistance. When the police cleared the street, an unexploded bomb was found on the pavement at some distance from the actual spot of the murder; a fact which proved that at least one other conspirator had been waiting on the route, ready to act if the man with the Browning pistol had failed...