I Will Wait Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sleeper cells

Assassins were trained in other languages, customs, styles, history, science and philosophy so they could easily blend in where they were sent for missions. They did not always kill, but used intimidation such as leaving a knife on the pillow of a potential victim simply to show that he was not safe anywhere. The original target for the group was the Abbasid Caliphate in power during the 11th century.
Though the adherents, Fedayeen, as they came to be called, were said to use opium and hashish, it was not generally tolerated by their leaders; nor was alcohol.
Sleeper groups were very effective and were among the first to use mirrored light reflection to communicate. The original group remained active until wiped out by the Mongol Empire around 1258 though many similar groups still operate all over the globe, and are patiently waiting for the right moment.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

According to Allan Pinkerton, who wrote "Spy of The Rebellion" published in 1883, Cipriano was a conspirator in an 1861 plot to kill Lincoln in Baltimore. Cipriano was born in Corsica in 1823 and died in Maryland in 1910. He claimed to be a southern sympathizer, and was accused of the plot but not convicted. Pinkerton quotes him as saying of Lincoln, "He must die - and die he shall, and ... if necessary, we will die together." While he waited, others plotted. There was at least one other attempt on Lincoln's life before the final one.

He realised this when he found there were bullet holes in his hat.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

I was part of a small conspiracy that wanted the insolent Napoleon out of France for good. He massacred many of my compatriots in 1795 in this very place, where we know he will pass later today. We have taken great pains to build 'La Machine Infernale', a barrel wound with iron hoops in which we placed gunpowder, flammable materiel and ammunition. We devised signals and set up our trap to look like an innocent young girl holding a horse by his wagon.

Unfortunately, our long range detonation timing was off by only minutes and the target escaped, but not without some of his people being hurt.

The poor girl and the horse were killed. Sacré Bleu, Napoleon used this attempt as an excuse to punish Jacobins and Royalists alike. At least 130 innocents exiled with no trial, others tortured or executed. I myself died the following year.

Answer: Otto von Bismarck

Cohen-Blind was born in Mannheim in 1844, and after completing his studies, he and his family went into exile in London in 1852. The family was opposed to the monarchy in Germany and felt that war was imminent between Austria and Prussia. Cohen-Blind blamed Bismarck for his part in the government and lay in wait for him on May 7, 1866, while Bismarck was walking home from a meeting with King Wilhelm.

The assassin managed five shots with a revolver before he was taken down and put in jail. Bismarck was later seen by a doctor who saw that all five bullets had either grazed or ricocheted from the man's body and no damage was done.

It was later speculated that he may have been wearing a bulletproof vest. While in jail, Cohen-Blind cut his own throat, severing the carotid artery.

He died on May 8.

Answer: Tsarevitch Nicolas II

Tsuda Sanzo (1855-91) attacked the visiting prince with a sabre. Fortunately, Nicolas' cousin, Prince George of Greece and Denmark, was able to deflect the assassination attempt, and Nicolas was rushed to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto to recover. Japan, fearing the might of Russia in any impending conflict, did its utmost to propitiate matters and Emperor Meiji himself visited Nicolas where he was recuperating on a Russian warship in Kobe. Sanzo was sentenced to life imprisonment, but died the same year of an illness. Nicolas was left with a four inch scar on his forehead. Japan went to great lengths to express their grief, banned the use of the name of the would-be assassin, and Nicolas received thousands of good wishes from the Japanese people. One Japanese woman slashed her own throat in public and died in an attempt to make up for the attack on Nicolas.

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907-1944) was born into an aristocratic Roman Catholic family in Germany. During his service in the military, including the annexation of the Sudetenland and the invasion of Poland, he disapproved of the methods used by Germany, and became increasingly disillusioned with Hitler's régime. Members of his family helped to persuade him to join the resistance movement.

He had been wounded in North Africa while fighting for Germany, losing his right hand and three fingers of his left, as well as his left eye.

After three months recuperating, he became more active in the resistance, and was instrumental in 'Operation Valkyrie', a plot to assassinate Hitler and as many leaders as possible with him. While still trusted by Hitler, von Stauffenberg attended a conference in Wolfsschanze, where he was able to place a suitcase under the table with a bomb in it.

He had been unable because of his lack of fingers and the time constraint, to activate a second bomb. He had excused himself from the room and heard the blast as he drove away, thinking that all in the room had died, but Hitler survived. Four others were dead. Von Stauffenberg had stated to his compatriots beforehand that he was going to commit high treason with all the means at his disposal.

He and some of the known conspirators were court martialed immediately and shot by firing squad. Others were tried later, having been ill treated and tortured. They were buried with full military honors, but von Stauffenberg's body was exhumed, his honors stripped and his body cremated. His motives were questioned afterward, but from what he is quoted as saying it appears that he was completely against the Hitler régime and the conditions surrounding it and was willing to give his life to help destroy it.

Answer: Queen Victoria

Edward Oxford (1822-1900) made elaborate plans for his assassination attempt and waited on a footpath near Buckingham Palace on June 10, 1840, as the queen made regular coach trips in the Constitution Hill area. He had purchased a brace of pistols, some percussion caps, gunpowder, and a powder flask.

When the queen's open phaeton came closer he fired both pistols, neither of which hit its target. He was seized and disarmed, but no bullets were found; it is still not known whether he had any or whether he had loaded them. Oxford was arrested and charged with treason, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

He was detained 'until Her Majesty's pleasure be known', which was an indefinite sentence. The queen was pregnant with her first child at the time. Oxford's lodgings were searched and other weapons were found as well as some writings about an imaginary society that he thought he belonged to.

The general opinion at the time was that he was of unsound mind because there were some alcoholics and strange people in his family. Oxford spent the next 24 years in institutions where he was a model inmate who taught himself several languages, read many books and became a competent chess player among other things. On release he moved to Australia, changed his name to 'John Freemont', married and became a warden at the Church of St. James in Melbourne.

Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Izola Curry was born in Georgia in 1916, and moved to the North where she found jobs in various places. She began to develop the notion that people were causing her to lose her jobs and that they were planning to torture and kill her. Curry visited a book signing in Harlem in 1958 and asked the signer if he was Martin Luther King.

He acknowledged that he was and she informed him that she had been waiting five years to find him. She then stabbed him in the chest with a sharp letter opener. After King was rushed to Harlem Hospital for surgery to remove the weapon, Curry was found to be carrying a loaded gun as well.

She was convinced that both King and the NAACP were plotting along with Communists to kill her. She was first found incompetent to stand trial at Bellevue Hospital and later committed to Matteawan State Hospital for the criminally insane.

She was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. King's three hour surgery was complicated by the fact that the blade was touching his aorta, so his chest had to be opened up to remove the blade safely.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

My parents died soon after we settled in the New World and I went to live with and work for my aunt and uncle; they soon died, and left me all their possessions, including a tavern. My sweetheart also died, and I sold my belongings and traveled around the country. President McKinley appeared to me in dreams and visions and insisted I avenge his death by killing his murderer, Theodore Roosevelt. I tracked him to the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee. I shot at Roosevelt as he was waving to the crowd from his car. I aimed for his head but a bystander knocked my arm down and the bullet hit his chest. I was almost killed by the mob, but I heard someone yell out, "Don't hurt the poor creature!" So, I was detained, had no trial, and was sent to a mental institution. For 30 years I had no contact with the outside world, and I died of pneumonia in 1943. Doctors had diagnosed me as suffering from delusions of grandeur, and declared me criminally insane. I had nothing against Roosevelt as a person, but I didn't believe any president should serve more than two terms. Roosevelt was the one who saved my life, and he went on to give a long speech before being seen by a doctor; the bullet had knocked him down but its force was deflected and it was determined that it would be better to leave it where it was.

Answer: Jacques Chirac

Maxime Brunerie, born in 1977 in France, tried his hand at some political alliances, primarily on the far Right. On July 14, 2002, he was waiting in the crowd during the Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysées. When President Jacques Chirac's motorcade was passing, he fired a 22 rifle at Chirac, but was overpowered by police and bystanders after the shots went wide or into the air.

His youth and inexperience were against him as well as lack of preparation. Brunerie had belonged to some radical movements, but was found to be not politically motivated.

He suffered from severe and chronic depression, and felt alienated. It was later determined that his goal was to achieve notoriety by killing an important person and then to commit suicide by himself or be shot by the police, which he hoped to have filmed for television.

It was determined that he had 'diminished responsibility' but was not insane. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, of which he served seven before being released in 2009.

He has written a book called "Une Vie Ordinaire" ("An Ordinary Life"), subtitled "I wanted to kill Jacques Chirac".