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The Brutal Bon Vivant. The next assassin did better. Jacques Mornard was one of those dedicated Stalinists who were willing to devote a lifetime to one shabby crime (he was released from a Mexican prison in 1960 and returned to Russia for his reward). Mornard began his well-laid plot by courting a homely girl from New York who served as a courier for Trotsky. He played the part of a bon vivant, showed no interest in politics and got the bemused girl to marry him. The first few times his wife visited Trotsky, Mornard tactfully waited outside. After several months he was finally invited in. He turned out some clumsy Trotskyite pamphlets and gained Trotsky's confidence.
One day, when Trotsky was feeding his rabbits, Mornard caught him alone. He pulled an ice ax from his coat and drove it into Trotsky's head. Mornard had expected to kill him instantly and make a getaway. But the old man gave a mighty curse, threw books, inkwells, a Dictaphone at his assailant and grappled with him until help came. Trotsky died as he had lived—fighting fiercely but in vain.