Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-08
BAVARIA's NIADMAN.
Made a Womao-HatePT Through Jeai-
ousy of Groom.


PARIS, June 19.-Since the post-mortem
examination of King Ludwig's body has
been made / wonder at any one feeling
pitv for him because his life wss cut short
in the waters OF the lake he loved so well,
and on the shores of which he took delight
in hearing melodies OF Wagner sung by
musicians in barges. His life was spent
in artistic eccentricities when pore at
once the stamp Of greatness aud ot ~
tility. had be lived he would nave lallen
into a state OF lguOble ldiocy. lhere was
r touch OF romance in the Wind up Oh
lie which mad been on the whole failure.
The end OF King Ludwig is slightly Veiled
in mystery. tie may have been Try
ing to escape, or he may nave
fancied that some hero OF Nag-
ner's operas was bockomng TO MN
from the midst OF the laEe' lot
he was subject TO Authorizations. Herr
Beckmann leans toward this nypothesls.
BE thinks it also pOas bic that he ordered
Dr. Gudden not to dog him in the grounds
of the palace, when was to have been ms
prison. ana that when the latter refused
made up bis mind 10 drown him ana 10
SWIM away. There was a dealn struggle
on walk at the foot OF nil ana Iaclhg
a gap in tall, thick hedge. Inc coat Oh
the King was not, as Herr Beckmaun re-
found in ribbons. The shirt also was
torn. In the uncertain ana slippery loot
ing which the bottom OF the lake turnlsht q
this struggle would not have been
possible, aud the more especially
as the water would have almost
covered Gudden. Ludwig also probably
held down bis keeper under water until
he was asphyXiateG, and then swan out
into the lake. As he had just dined and
his brain was weak and stomach de-
ranged from chronic Oat&rrh, he was
seized at some distance from the shore
with bit OF apoplexy aud sank. He was
very good swimmer, but latleriy mad an
aversion to cold water unless in 50 lar as
It WAS scenic. This nOn-rabld hyurOpnO-
bia arose from the break down OIL ms
nervous system, which bad no longer
power TO react against the inner conges-
lions which surface cold gives rise to.
Herr Beckmann knew the King of Ia
varia when be was a young man. lie
WAS. he says. haudsomer than Apollo,
and looked every inch u hero OF romance
of the kind traJ used early In the century
to be subjeCtiVely evolved from the moral
consciousness Of nOVelists and young
ladies' brought up in idleness and refine
ment. Els forehead was white, glossy
aud of bold chronological development.
Had the brain not been a great deal
smaller than the skull, he must have been
genius of prOdigiOus creative power.
The upper part OF the forehead projected
Ike Charlotte BrOnte's and the under
part was not poorly developed. But
this was deceptive for the anatomical
reason given above. 1t was lucky for
his people that his madness altogether
ran in an artistic current, and that
herIett to the BaYarlan Chambers the
whole duty OF saying what ministers
ought to do.
4ludwiK was popular sovereign. The
only time that Munich ever grew surly
Whh him was when he had Wagner living
there. The musician, who was push
iB&;self-assertiye man, too readily awaited
hims Of LudwIg's permission to use the
familiar ''tnee" and thou" in speaking
to him, while the monarch humbly called
Lle other MASTER" Wagner saw that il
was not prudent for him to stay at Mu-
nich, where he might be treated as Lola
MonteZ had been quarter of century
etitiier. He was constantly visited by the
eccentric King at his place on the Lucerne
lakaRnd at Bayreuth.
fine alliance between Bavaria and Aus
tEsajn 1866 was made Independently OF
NeR Ludwig. He was then in love, once
and for a wonder The object OF love was
sister OF the Emperor OF Austria-the
DuchCsse IL AiencOn, daug hter-in-law Of
the Due de NemOurs. He and she were
bStrOthed in that year; but the engage
lpent was broken of, owing TO the King
having seen the Princess, whom he mad
aone to see disguised as an itinerant mu-
RicIan belonging to a band, sitting on the
knee Of a stableman and stroking him on
the head. Ludwig got into state of
jealous frenzy, broke of the engagement,
plunged lutO the depths OF despair, be-
came more allenated from the human
race than ever, and mysogynist. HIS
hatred of women was 80 utter that
his own motber, VINO had been
Inc one sweetening influence OF
his childhood, was no exception.
He later was brought round a little by
the Empress of Austria, who strUVe TO
draL hun from his retirement after his
cousin, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, mar
ried her daughter Gesela. The King al
lowed this Princess to see him in the
midst of his artistic creations. But lat
terly he showed an aversion for her and
said she was no better than the rest OF her
sex. 1t is believed by many that it was
an agent of Prussia VINO got the groom to
make love to the Duchess Sophie, and the
King to 20 in incognito to play before her
when she and the sLableman were sure to
be in loving conversation. Americans
will think it strange that a Princess, one
Of whose sisters is kaiser's wife, and
another relgned at Naples, saOuld permit
the lalnllidTtlleb Oh young lti-
low belonging TO the news of
her father. But all the six daughters
Of bluff Duke Max OF DeuX Points, in Ba-
varia, were reared in the most uncOnven-
honal way, and passed much more time
when girls in the stables than in the
school room. The Empress of Austria
speaks Tattersall English aud no other,
because, as she told Lady Bloomfield, she
learned most of her English from groom.
She despises society at Vienna because
Jews are edging their way into it, ana
vet her dearest and most intimate friend
is Eliza, the circus rider.
After the romantic King discovered that
his Queen of Hearts as foollng him and
loved the groom fORdly ii not wisely, he
became a satellite of Prince Bismarck and
cast aside his aversion for poli,cs 10
force Bavaria out OF the Austrian orbit
and to bring il into that OF Prussia.
The ingratitude OF artists, courtiers,
tradesmen, whom he had treated with
chivalrOus delicacy, fayOriies (mauy OF
whom were Jews) threw the King into a
state OF permanently violent mtsauthrO-
by. he was unaccustOmpd 20 rude truths
and he heard plenty Of them after be he
came virtually a bankrupt. He came
here several times TO try and negotiate
loans. old Queen Isabella, who tell ~
love with hlm--but iueHectuaily-leui
him heap Of money sue had got hold of
md once proposed a marriage pro fOrmy
between MIN aud ner eldest daughter