Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-10-01
KING LUDWIGS ROMANCE.
STRANGE STORY TOLD BY ONE OF
THE KINGS BODY GUARD.

NOT do Any OF the FOOLISH Ahing'
Charged to Him, and, Instead of Sui
Gliding, Was Murdered.
The mysterious circumstances surrounding
the death of King Ludwig Ii of Bavaris
would be mysterious no longer II the story OF
Mr.. } Erlanger, OF Forbes street, this city
Is accredited This man was for nearly fouI
| years King Ludwigis private body guard
He claims that during all that time he was
never over an hour away from the royal per
sonage, and he asserts he can make an afh
davlt to all he says. Granger was born II
| 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 sin
gled him out from the regiment to attend
upon him at his castle near the Lake OF Staru-
berg. Mr.. Granger 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 wts He was the soul of goodness.
It is true that he withdrew from the society
Of the world and preferred to live by him.
self. 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 Of a hired
murderer
THE CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE
"The cause Of all this trouble can be traced
back TO two pointS-he was an enemy Of Bis
marck, and he refused to marry woman
who had been relegated to him by royal rela-
tives. He was in a constant controversy
with the ministry OF war in Berlin. Various
innovations were proposed by Bismarck to
be introduced in 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 be-
cause King Ludwig refused to be 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 sur
rounding the king by Prussians Then a
physician was obtained to examine the men
tai condition of the king. Nobody had ever
before thought such thing necessary, but
his enemies succeeded, and doctor, forget
his name, pronounced Ludwig II insane. The
next move was to have him placed in a
1unatic asylum. The plans had been well laid
The carriage which was to carry him to the
doors Of the asylum got within gate Of the
royal castle, when the plot was discovered
and the king refused to 60 out. l remember
the day well. Several Of us were standing
around his jesty when the announcement
was made that the carriage was awaiting to
take him for a drive But no sooner had the
door closed again than Baron Won Zecklngen
the kings second physician, came in. He i'm
plored Ludwig not to go out, and revealed
the whole plot. The king arose and quietly
walked over to one of us, saying: Command
that carriage to be taken away again, do
not care to drive today
THAT settled it, The evil had been avert
ed 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 l know to have been in
the pay of Prussia. How he succeeded the
world knows, but nobody thought the willy
baron meant to drown the king. However,
the facts are these:
son the morning Of the fatal day on which
the body of our beloved king was drawn
from the lake, Baron Kudder gave this order
to the guards: Unless the king makes spe-
go unaccompanied on his walk through the
grounds.
''Of course we obeyed The king went out
never to return alive. l 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 ard his
face was scratched in several places All this
pointed to the fact that severe struggle
had taken place. You must remember that
the king was a very strong man. He meas
ured six feet and four inches and weighed
215 pounds No sooner had we seen this sight
than we knew that there had not been a sui
eide or an accidental death, but foul assas
sination.
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 at
tendants were Immediately discharged. A
few days after the catastrophe a number of
US were sitting in beer garden, 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 warning to the rest, and
we escaped. ] left the country without
passport. We had at first intended TO make
the whole thing public, but, knowing thas
we would all be imprisoned without gaining
our point, we abandoned that plan"
But you have not explained to me why
the king so strenuously refused to marryf'
simply for this reason: The king was in
love with miller's beautiful daughter, and
he would not give her up to please even his
mother. His family wanted him to marry
the Princess Won Darxes, lady Of the royal
house of Bavaria, but be did not want her,
and that settled it
HIS LOVE STORY.
'Do you know anything about his rela-
tionship with the miller's daughterl"
Il know all about it Often have | 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 Bavarlan Alps Her father /
had a windmill on the top of hill, abou, /
five miles from the Starnberg castle. He vas 4
lame and walked with a crutch, so we called /
him the Crooked Miller The young lady .
was born May a. 1864. She was tall and
dark, with deep, dreamy, black eyes. She 4
had remarkable gift for writing poetry .
and had a whole volume Of verses writer .
by her. The king was passlonately fond Of I
her, and had it not been for the fact that be /
would have angered all the crowned heads Of /
Europe be would have married. Her first .
name was Ellapenia. / do not remember heT
other name, because we always called her
Fraulein Elapenis.
"Al the stories that have been told about
King Ludw1g's ecceusrbciI.ss are faise he
never ordered the Royal Opera company II
Munich 70 pay bafore him alone. he never
ordered them - come 10 els castle IN the
middle OF the night, and he never asked them
a ACT hefnra -. il. ~ nudity