St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-06-26
CRAZY KING LCD

yy,,ds yrn His Eccentric Career BY Iak-s's
a Plunge into Lake Sta rnberg, and IS Ac
COMMANDED to Eternity BY His Eaithfni
Physician, Who VainIy Tried to rescue
Him-Some of His "Eccentricities.
LONDON, June IA dispatch from
Munich contains the startling lotelil-
gence that King Louis, the recently oe"
posed Bavarian monarch, who lelt tle
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 taxing
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 a favorable moment, made dash tor
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 strugglingin
the water. The doctor Sprang into the
lake in hopes of rescuing the drowning
sovereign, and in the desperate struggle
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 a 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 wears. He was no devoted studento of
| 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
a man who, in addition to his absolute
egotism, had wealth and power enough
| to carry out every selfish fancy OF ms
mind. The papers are full of stories of
| his rascallv exploits, but the papers are
all under the pressure OF the mOnarchles
in which they are published, and the
| hideOuS and selfish character OF the III
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 singh on the
water Just at midnight. They proceeded
| to a shallow lake in the castle grounds,
and King Ludwig produced gaudy
! pleasure boat with a model somewhat be-
| tween a canoe and a gOndola. tie seated
|
and placed himself on Il 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 bedraogted with mud. Fortu-
natey she soon met 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 a week of pneumonia. The
| King sent an eXtravagant sum to pay for
her funeral. All these facts We're known
to theatrical and society people at the
time, but the awe Of the King caused the
story to be suppressed beyond those Cir
cics.
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
always commanded his driver to drive at
| breakneck speed, and he took nc 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 tor those
of the King, and the poor unfortunate
guards wore a 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 gratifed. In the
same way every act of the King described
in the papers here, although spoken Of as
royal pranks and kingly eccentricities.
will be found to be caused by his nat
jesty's unbounded sclishhess and bri sting
| with acts of brutality