Portuguese President Sidónio Pais was on his way to the Lisboa-Rossio Railway Station after he had dinner at the Silva Restaurant, at the Chiado.

There had been a failed assassination attempt on the President on 6 December and so the security was higher than ever, but that could not spoil ruin the mood as a band played a popular song when he entered the station.

The President did not know that José Júlio da Costa was waiting for him with him a pistol that the assassin had concealed in his Alentejo Cloak.

He was called a true King President and entered the Portuguese imaginary, in particular in some of the most conservative Catholic sectors.

The image of a martyr led to the emergence of a popular cult, similar to what exists around the figure Sousa Martins, who made Pais holy with promises of honours and ex-votos, and it still remains.