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| | The New Yorker: Fact (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-09) |
 | | Van Gogh was riding his bicycle to work when a bearded young man, dressed in a long Middle Eastern-style shirt, shot him several times. |
 | | Van Gogh begged for mercy, and reportedly said, in a peculiarly Dutch phrase, “Surely we can talk about this.” The young man then pulled out a knife, slit van Gogh’s throat from ear to ear, kicked the dying body, and walked away. |
 | | Friends of van Gogh, meanwhile, organized a raucous party, with a rock band, bottles of champagne ranged around a coffin, and two stuffed goats mounted on a stage, “for those who feel the urge.” This defiance could be seen as typical of cool, ironic Amsterdam. |
| www.newyorker.com /fact/content?050103fa_fact1 (4829 words) |
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