The fourth, outgoing, item

This card is the first – and so far the only – item provably sent by pneumatic mail from the Kriegsministerium. It features in Rundbrief 117 of Arge Feldpost Österreich-Ungarn, page 19; and I am most grateful to their editor and its owner for permission to reproduce it.

The card has the standard Büchse folding creases. The cancellation is 1/1 WIEN 25 / -2.VII.14 6²⁰ / d which would be Stohl 6t20 if he were to list it. The card was sent to office 13/2 WIEN 89 which at that date was at Penzing, Hauptgasse 61 and a sensible office from which to deliver to Jenullgasse. Its cancellation is Stohl R0047b, although his earliest date is 1915. A time expressed as 6²⁰ is in the afternoon: 18:20. The message summons Major Zemlicka to attend the arrival of the Imperial Corpse.

This is of course Erzherzog Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand, whose coffin en route from Sarajevo left Triest at 10:05 on 2 July 1914 and arrived at Sudbahnhof at 10pm that day. It was taken in ceremonial procession early next morning to the Hofburg; lay in state for 4 hours; and was taken overnight via Groß-Pöchlarn to Schloss Artstetten. A Requiem Mass was celebrated at 11am on 4 July and the body laid in the crypt. That’s 7 days from assassination to interment! Conspiracy theorists assert that the protocol had been prepared months earlier, leaving only the dates to be added.

[The message side is shown cut away; the black border has been added for clarity and isn’t on the original.]