Morning journal and courier., 1886-06-14
@ew garem @ailg ggurming gunrnal amd Gunrier.
THE MAD KING OF BAVARIA.

A Soprano Singer Made To Sing Three
 Hours At Midnight On a Shallow
 Lake And Then Left To Wade Ashore
 And Die of Pneumonia.
 LONDON June 13.-The attempt to throw veil of romance over the crazy antics of King Ludwig of Bavaria is regarded as anus ing by those who have known of his mad brutalities for the past ten years. He was no devoted student of art with his mind finally overthrown by the excess of his d evo- tion. He was simply man of com monplace mind whose god was himself. It is merely the case of man who in addition to his ab- solute 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 are all under the pressure of the monarchies in which they are published and the hideous and selfish character of the incidents are glossed over. One story that has never been in print is as follows: The King sent for a new soprano who had made wonderful success at Munich to entertain him with her singing at his cas- tie at Hohenshwangan. When the singer arrived the King told her that he wanted to hear her singing on the water just at midnight They proceeded to shallow lake in the castle grounds and King Ludwig produced gaudy pleasure boat with model somewhat between canoe and gondola. He seated the singer in the bow of the boat and placed himself on lux urious pile of cushions in the stern. The little craft was propelled by one oar which was skillfully yielded by the King. There he kept the poor artiste singing for fully three hours. At last she begged to be allowed to stop, saying that she had already contr acted B severe cold and was really unable to con- trol her voice. The King sternly ordered her to proceed, but she could not. Then tine King said he was going home and he sup posed 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 artiste staid in the boat fill ed with despair. For the first hour she thought the King would surely send some to her rescue. But no came and after two hours of waiting she waded ashore. She went to the castle, but nobody there knew anything about her and she turned away as an impostor. She started to walk to Munich notwithstanding that her clothes were soaked with water and bedraggled with mud. For tunately she soon overlook a hackney coach which took her to her apartments. She immediately summoned a doctor, but the fatal mischief had been done and she died within week of pneumonia. The King sent al extravagant sum to pay for 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 circles. Another series of his madcap brutalities was riding at midnight over the snow and mountains in luxurious sleigh drawn by four of the finest horses in Europe. He was snugly ensconced in null titude of furs and the sleigh was brilliantly lighted by electricity. He always commanded his driver to drive at breakneck speed and he took no notice of the sufferings of the caval ry guard always in attendance in their efforts to keep up, although their horses were no match for those of the King and the poor uni form of the guards was a shabby contrast to the Kings furs. Almost every night some horse was foundered or some guardsman killed, but the King cared nothing for all this as long as his craving for selfish enjoy ment was gratifed. In the same way every act of the King which is described in the pa pers, although spoken of as royal pranks, kingly eccentricities, etc, will be found to be caused by his majesty's unbounded self ishness and bristling with acts of brutslity