230 Wallenstein
was to ensure that there was no noise to disturb the general. Ilow and
Tr c ˇka were another matter, determined fighting men certain to resist
fiercely, and senior officers whose orders and appeals for help the
German garrison troops were likely to obey. Hence the first plan, to fall
upon them in their billets, was rejected. Somewhere more isolated was
needed, away from potential assistance and where the noise of an affray
would not rouse the guard and the town. The castle met those require-
ments, and moreover Gordon had moved his residence there to make
way for Wallenstein on the market square. What more natural than
that the commandant of the town should demonstrate his hospitality
by inviting the distinguished visitors to dinner at his lodgings. They
accepted, Kinsky too, and Captain Niemann, Ilow’s adjutant, was also
invited, although Wallenstein was too ill to attend. At around six on the
evening of Saturday 25 February they arrived, accompanied only by a
few servants.
The assassination squads were already in place. As the guests settled at
the table the castle was secured outside by Macdaniel and his men, while
the servants were led off to a separate room, where they were given a
meal and quietly locked in. The castle’s hall was too large and cold for
dinner for seven – the three loyalist officers and their four victims – so
a smaller panelled room, warmer and more pleasant, had been chosen.
Conveniently, this had two adjoining anterooms in which Geraldine
and Devereux waited, each with six soldiers, weapons to hand but with
no firearms to avoid noise. Suspecting nothing, the guests hung up their
swords and made themselves at home. Wine and conversation flowed.
As they ate a soldier brought Leslie a key, the sign that the castle outer
gate was locked, and he in turn sent an attendant with a message,
apparently to the kitchen. Nothing unusual in these minor matters, and
the guests took no notice of them, but in fact Leslie’s message was to the
officers in the anterooms. It was time to act.
Suddenly the fourteen armed men burst into the room, Geraldine
to the fore shouting – so the reports claimed – ‘Who is a good servant
of the emperor?’, to which Butler, Gordon and Leslie responded ‘Vivat
Ferdinandus’, seized their swords and made to attack their guests.
Kinsky, seated between the table and the wall, was quickly despatched,
but the others, soldiers all, grabbed their own weapons and defended
themselves manfully. Candles and lanterns were quickly extinguished,
and with so many fighting men in a small dark room killing the three
targets was not easily accomplished. The servants heard the tumult
and broke out of their room, at least two rushing to their masters’ aid
and dying for their loyalty. Niemann escaped into a corridor but was