Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-30
ROYAL SpO0K.
The white Lady" of Death and the
Ghost of Royal Line.

ROYAL SPOOK.
The white Lady" Of Death and the
Ghost of Royal Line.
From American Notes and Queries
The white Lady" is a legendary APP
partition in Germany that is said to appear
mysteriously shortly before the death of
any of the royal family to warn them of
the approaching demise.
There is a curious legend, which is very
generally believed, that the White Lady
appeared to Frederick l. of Prussia while
in his late illness. One night he was living
on his bed in weak, half-unconscious CON
dition lamp burning near his pillow, a
valet asleep on a mattress at his feet. Sud
denly he heard the hangings divide, and
by the light of the night-lamp he saw
tall white lady with outstretched
arms and flowing hair, inclining her head
toward the bed, and turning from right
TO left, as though she sought something
under the hangings. At last she discov-
cred the King and her steady eyes looked
at him long in silence. William raised
himself and made a movement. Her eyes
followed him; she was unmoved. At that
moment the clock on pier-table near the
bed rang the hour and stopped. The lady
reclosed the hangings slowly and disap-
peared. At the same moment a violent
crash was heard in the room adjoining,
where were, and now are, placed on
etageres, the plates and dishes used in
the fetes of the Prussian King. All the
silver and gilt and all the bric-a-brac of
horn and of glass shook and fell with
crash to the floor.
The valet awoke; the King cried in &C
cents of terror: There there she went
out there p ard with a bewildered look,
his hand extended, he pointed to the door
of the private room.
"Who " asked the valet, half asleep
''The White Lady, tell you. Go and
see which way she went"
The valet searched all over the palace
and found no other specter than a corporal
in the act of awakening a sentinel.
q | saw the white Lady," said the King,
as though speaking to himself, and COW
cred his face with the bed covering,
Next day he ordered his coffin, and babe
the Queen, his wife, to lie in it, in order
to see if it were of the right dimensions
This was his last piece of cruelty. He
died that evening.
The White Lady of the Hohenzollerns
is by some authorities said to be the ghost
of Agnes, Countess of Orlamunde, who
murdered her children to please her par
amour, Albert Burgrave, of Nurnberg; by
others to be Kunigunde of Orlamunde,
who also killed her children by running a
silver hair pin into their brains, and who
forms the subject of popular ballad But
most accounts make her Bertha, the daugh-
ter Of Ulrich Won Rosenberg, Burgrave of
Bohemia, who captured the Catholic army
levied against the Hussites. OF course,
the identity of names has led
to the adoption of this story.
This Bertha was born between
1920 and 1870. She married John of
Lichenstein, Syrian noble, who cruelty
maltreated her. On his death she
returned to Bohemia to her bro
ther, Henry of Rosenberg, and
devoted her days to care for
orphans. She always wore the then Gus
tomary white mourning habit of a widow
She superintended the building of the
Castle of Neuhaus, difficult and hazard
Gus undertaking, cheering on the workmen
by her kindly words of interest, and when
this was finished gave a grand feast to the
masons, and founded charity for the
annual provision of a similar banquet,
which is still given every Maunday- Thurs
day to the worthy poor. The Rosenberg
family, by the way, is allied to that of the
Hohenzollerns.
There are many correspondence be-
tween this Bertha and the goddess Her
white habit and her care of orphans are
significant enough. At her annual ban
quet the viands are precisely those which
once were sacred to the goddess Bertha,
and which are still eaten in some parts of
Germany at twelfth-nigbt, or epiphany
which is there called Berchtentag, or
Bertha's day.
Popular tradition asserts that one day,
nIghtfall, Frederick the Great was alone
in his library, which is at the extreme end
of the castle, standing before music-stand
which he used when playing the flute The
door opened and the White Lady traversed
the room without looking at him. For a
moment the King was confused. He had,
however, the courage to follow her; he
opened the door through which she disap-
peared, but she had already crossed the next
room, the door closing automatically after
her. Frederick pursued her from room to
room without reaching her, and finally
stopped at the vestibule door. The appari-
ton hesitated a moment, then, vaguely
becIoned him to come on" and disap-
peared. The ruler then locked himself in
| his room, the story goes, and remained
( motionless for long hours. His eyes were
fixed on a corner of the room, while
CLEAN of expectation, not unmingled with
fear, was visible. A few DAYS after this
adventure is said to have occurred Freder-
lex the Great died.
Prince Jerome, son of jerome Napoleon,
former King of Westphalia, once told the
following story of this historical visitant:
lone very dark night, when every enc was
asleep in Stuttgart, a carriage with six
horses ratified over the pavement and
drew up before the palace. The steps
were let down in the sight of the sentinels
who looked down from the galleries; the
White Lady stepped out. The gates did
not open before her, yet she appeared
within, passing through the doors as though
they were nothing but veil of fog She
paced with stately bearing along the
great gallery. The sentinels did not dare
to lay hands on her. What followed?
Duke Ferdinand of Wurtemberg, the
Kings uncle, died January 20, 1884 At
the time when my father was King Of
Westphalia, his Minister at the Court
OF Berlin wrote to him letter, which
have kept as curiosity. No
news he said, AT Berlin, except that the
palace is in commotion because the White
Lady has been seen. However, / think
nothing of that, as every member of the
royal family is now in the enjoyment of