Huntsville gazette., 1886-06-19
CRAZY KING LUD


Winds Up His Eccentric Career BY Taking
Plunge Into Lake Sta rnberg. and is Ac-
companied to Eternity BY His Faithful
Physician, Who vainly Tried to Rescue
Him-Some of His "Eccentricities."
LONDON, June IA dispatch from
Munich contains the startling iDtelli-
gence that King Louis, the recently de-
posed Bavarian monarch, who left the
palace yesterday for Berg Castle on Lake
Sternberg. committed suicide at that place
this morning by drowning.
LONDON, June ia later dispatch
says that King Louis succeeded in taking
his life while his attendants were mo-
mentarily off their guard. The King was
promenading in the park grounds sur
rounding Berg Castle. DR.. Gudden, at
tending physician, was also in the park
watching the patient. The King, await
ing favorable moment, made dash for
Lake Sternberg, on which the castle
grounds are situated, and threw himself
into the water. He was almost instantly
missed by the doctor, who Immediately
gave the alarm and dashed off after his
royal charge. The latter, however, reached
the lake before any one could intercept
him, and when the doctor had reached the
edge of the lake the King was struggling in
the water. The doctor sprang into the
lake in hopes of rescuing the drowning
sovereign, and in the desperate struggl
which ensued both the King and the
physician went down and were seen no
more.
ROYAL ECCENTRICITIES OF THE KING.
LONDON, June 15.-The attempt to
throw veil of romance over the crazy
antics Of King Ludwig, of Bavaria, is re-
garded as amusing. by those who have
known of his mad brutalities for the past
ten years. He was no devoted studento
art with his mind fully overthrown by the
excess of his devotion. He was simply
man of commonplace mind, whose god
was himself. 1t was merely the case Of
man who, in addition to his absolute
egotism, had wealth and power enough
to carry out every selfish fancy of his
mind. The papers are full of stories of
his rascally exploits, but the papers arc
all under the pressure of the monarchies
in which they are published, and the
hideous and selfish character of the in
cidence is CLOSED over.
One story that has never been in print is
as follows: The King sent for new So
pranO who had made wonderful success
at Munich, to entertain him with sing
ing at his castle at HohenSchwangen
When the singer arrived the King told
her he wanted to hear her singing on the
water just at midnight. They proceeded
to a shallow lake in the castle grounds,
and King Ludwig produced gaudy
pleasure boat with model somewhat be-
tween canoe and a gondola. He seated
the singer in the bow of the boat
and placed himself on luxurious pile
Of cushions in the stern. The little craft
was welded by the King. There he kept
the poor artist singing for fully three
hours. At last she begged to be allowed
to stop, saying that she had already con-
tracted a severe cold and was unable to
control her voice. The King sternly or
dered her to proceed, but she could not.
Then the King said he was going home,
and he supposed she knew the way
ashore. He stepped over the side of the
boat into the water, which was not more
than three feet deep, and calmly waded
ashore and walked up to his castle. The
artistic remained in the boat filed with
despair. For the first hour she thought
the King would surely send some
one to her rescue, but no one came, and
after two hours of waiting, she too waded
to the shore. She went to the castle but
nobody there knew anything about her,
and she was turned away as an impostor.
She started to walk to Munich, notwith-
standing her clothes were soaked with
water, and bedraggled with mud. Fortu-
natelY she soon met a hackney coach
which took her to her apartments. She
Immediately summoned doctor, but the
fatal mischief had been done, and she
died within a week of pneumonia. The
King sent an extravagant sum to pay Tor
her funeral. All these facts were known
to theatrical and society people at the
time, but the awe of the King caused the
story to be suppressed beyond those cir
cleS.
Another series of his madcap brutali-
ties was the riding at midnight over the
snow and mountains in luxurious sleigh
drawn by four of the finest horses in Eu-
rope. He was snugly ensconsed IN
multitude Of furs and the sleigh was
brilliantly lighted with electricity. He
al navs commanded his driver to drive at
breakneck speed, and he took no notice
of the sufferings of the cavalry guard
which was always in attendance in their
efforts to keep up, although their
horses were no match for those
Of the King, and the poor unfortunate
guards wore shabby contrast to the
Kings furs. Most every night some
horse was foundered, or some guards
man killed, but the King cared nothing
for all this, so long as his craving for
selfish enjoyment was gratihed. In the
same way every act of the King described
in the papers here, although spoken OF as
royal pranks and kingly eccentricities,
viii be found to be caused by his ma
iesty's unbounded selfshness and bristling
with acts of brutality.