Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-06-23
Suicide of Ludwig.

June 11th, Ludwig II, King of Bavaria,
was deposed from his throne on the ground
of bis insanity, his uncle, Prince Luitpold,
being appointed Regent. With some diff.
Guilty Ludwig was persuaded to 20 to Castle
Berg at Starnberg Lake, where on Sunday
evening he committed suicide. During
Sunday afternoon In company with DR..
Gudden the King went for q walk on the
banks of Starnberg Lake. After strolling
aimlessly up and down the path for some
time, the King, affecting to be tired, sat
down to his last dinner. The meal was
soon over, for though morbid gl"ttony
was one Of the symptoms of the Kings ma
lady, he had but little appetite. That
night he seemed to be more resigned and
calm, however, and on his expressing a
wish to take another stroll along the lake
with DR.. Gudden his attendants made no
objections.
1t was GAS when they started together.
No alarm was felt till $3.50, when the
guards, growing uneasy, went out with
boats and torches to look for them. The
search lasted several hours before any sign
of the King was seen, and the guards had
begun to fear he had escaped. The alarm
was given and Baron Washington was tel
egraphed to at Munich for instructions.
At about II one Of the searchers noticed
footmarks on the bank. Soon after a
gamekeeper in the boat with DR.. Oveller
saw two dark objects floating in the lake
in five feet of water forty or fifty yards
from the land. Rowing toward them they
discovered that they were the bodies OF
the King and DR. Gudden. They brought
them ashore, stripped them, and with the
help Of the Kings warden and two gen
darmes, who had once been hospital nurses,
made desperate efforts to restore anima-
ti0n.
Marks Of finger-nails on the doctor
face and the fact that the Kings coat and
| overcoat had both been torn off prove that
a terrible struggle must have occurred
but whether, as was at first supposed, the
doctor. lost his life in trying to save
suspected, the King, in tit Of vengeful
madness, pulled him into the water with
HIM remains mystery.
The exact time of the catastrophe was
| fixed by the mute evidence of the Kings
watch, which had stopped at 6:A
+ When the bodies were landed
Ludwig H., who was born Aug. 25, lS45,
was the son of King MaximilIian II and
| succeeded to the throne at the death Of his
| father, March 10, 1864 Ludwig sided with
Prussia in the contest with France OF
lo|V'1 ana favored the unlncalOn OF d0r-
many. His brother Prince Otto, who
nominally succeeds to the throne, was
born April 81, 184S, but has been an
imbecile for years, and will, of course,
exercise no authority. The mother of the
unfortunate Princes will, it is said, retire
to a convent. She was 10: n Oct. Is, 1925.
Her father and brother died mad and the
same fate has overtaken her unfortunate
sons. Prince Luitpold, the Regent, uncle
of Ludwig and Otto, was born March ~,
| 1921.
| DR.. Gudden, who lost his life with King
Ludwig, was the husband Of Mrs. B. von
EOudden of Oshkosh, Wis, and brother OF
DR.. William Gudden of the town Of Black
Wolf, Winnebago county, Wis. The de-
ceased physician was 60 years old and
visit to the United States during the au
| tumn.