Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-28
A ROYAL ROMANCE.
Facts About the Death of King Lud-
wig of Bavaria Narrated by
HISBODY GUARD NOW INPITTsBURG
he Says the Ruler Was Victim Of Bis.
marck's Revenge.
AMILLER'S DAUGHTER THE KINGS LOVE

ing the death of King Ludwig IL, of Bava-
ria, would be mysterious no longer if the
story of Mr.. j. Erlanger, of Forbes street,
this city, is accredited. This man was for
nearly four years King Ludwig's private
body guard. He claims that during all that
time he was never over an hour away from
the royal parsonage, and he asserts he can
make an affidavit to all he says. Erlanger
was born in the Bavarian mountains. He
entered the Royal Life Guards as private
soldier, but one day on parade Ludwig II.
was attracted by the handsome young
soldier and he singled him out
from the regiment to attend upon him al
his castle near the Lake of Staruberg. Mr..
Erlanger lives on Forbes street, and while
at the house of friend on Gist street last
evening he told the following story:
''First of all, let me tell you that Ludwig
II. was not mad at all. He was as sane as
ever any man was. He was the soul of good
ness. It is true that he withdrew from the
society of the world and preferred to live by
himself But he did not do that because he
hated the world or the people, but because
he had to hide himself to escape the dagger
of some mysterious assassin or the pistol oi
a hired murderer.
SURROUNDED By CoNsPrRAToRs.
s'The cause of all his trouble can be traced
back to two points-he was an enemy of
Bismarck and he refused to marry woman
who had been relegated to him by Royal
relatives He was in constant controversy
with the Ministry of War in Berlin.
Various innovations were proposed by Bis
marck to be introduced into the Bavarian
army, but Ludwig II. always refused to
sanction them. Politically he was always
at variance with Bismarck, and several OF
the pet schemes of the Iron Chancellor had
to be abandoned because King Ludwig re-
fused to be a party to them. For that
reason several conspiracies were formed to
remove the King in some way. At first the
machinery was set to work to replace the
trusty Bavarian servants surrounding the
King by Prussians. Then q physician was
obtained to examine the mental condition OF
the King. Nobody had ever before thought
such a thing necessary, but his
forget his name, pronounced Ludwig IL
insane The next move was to have him
placed in a lunatic asylum. The plans had
been we'll laid. The carriage which was to
carry him to the doors of the asylum, got
within the gate of the royal CASTLE when the
plot was discovered and the King refused to
60 out. / remember the day we'll. Several
of us were standing around His Majesty
when the announcement was made, that the
carriage was awaiting TO take him for Q
drive. But no sooner had the door closed
again, than Baron Won Zeckingen, the
Kings second physician, came in. He i'm
plored Ludwig not to 60 out, and revealed
the whole plot. The King arose and quietly
walked over to one of us, saying: Com
mand that carriage to be taken away again,
1 do not care 70 drive to-day
HIS ENEMIES UNDAUNTED.
s'That settled it. The evil had been
averted that time, but his enemies were not
to be daunted by one failure. Baron Won
Kudder, a Prussian, was next placed in the
palace, and soon gained the confidence OF
the King. The meshes were silently but
cunningly woven by this man, whom 4
know to have been in the pay OF Prussia.
How he succeeded the world knows, but no.
body thought the willy baron meant to drown
the King. However, the facts are these:
'sOn the morning of that fatal day on
which the body of our beloved King was
drawn from the lake, Baron Kudder gave
makes a special request for your attendance
let him 60 unaccompanied on his walk
through the grounds
.'Ot course, we obeyed. The King went
out never to return alive. was at the lake
when they dragged his body from the water.
The Kings hand had strong hold of DR..
Kudder's throat. In addition to that the
lapel of the doctors coat was torn off and
his face was scratched in several places.
All this pointed to the fact that severe
struggle had taken place. You must re-
member that the King was very strong
man. He measured feet and 4 inches, and
weighed 275 pounds No sooner had we
seen this sight than we knew that there had
not been a suicide or an accidental death,
but
A FOUL ASSASSINATION.
The only redeeming feature in the whole
affair was that the murderer had died with
his victim. Preparations were at once
made to have the whole thing kept secret.
The attendants were Immediately dis
charged. A few days after the catastrophe
a number of us were sitting u beer gar
den, when one of our number openly stated
that the King had been assassinated. A few
minutes later he was arrested and has never
been heard of since. This was a warning to
the rest, and we escaped. 1 left the country
without a passport We had at first intended
to make the whole thing public, but know
ing that we would all be imprisoned with
out gaining our point, We abandoned that
plan"
"But YOU have not explained to me why
the King so strenuously refused to marry?''
"Simply for this reason: The King was
in love with a miller's beautiful daughter,
and be would not give her up to please even
his mother. His family wanted him to
marry the Princess Won Darxes, a lady OF
the royal house of Bavaria, but he did not
want her and that settled it."
AK1NG's ROMANTIC LOVE.
"Do you know anything about his rela-
tionship with the miller's daughter?''
ST know all about it. Often have 1 gone
to her house with baskets of flowers, wine,
fruit and other delicacies for the young
lady. She was the most beautiful girl /
ever saw. The King became acquainted
with her while hunting in the Bavarian
Alps. Her father had a windmill on the
top of a hill, about five miles from the
Starnberg castle. He was lame and walked
Crooked Miller The young lady was born
May "a, 1864 She was tall and dark, with
deep, dreamy, black eyes. She had a re-
markable gilt for writing poetry, and had
a whole volume of verses written by her.
The King was passionately fond of her, and
had it not been for the fact that he would
have angered all the crowned heads of Eu-
rope, he would have married. Her first
name was Ellapenia. I do not remember
her other name, because we always called
her Fraeulein Ellapenia.
-"All the stories that have been told
about King Ludwig's eccentricities are
false. He never ordered the Royal Opera