The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-09-26

and the freak which finally decided his fate
was irritation against his imperial cousin
for not advancing him with sufficient rapid
lty in the army.
As the readiest way of emphasizing his
diSpleasure the young Archduke minated
that in future he should drop his title, and
be known simply as Herr Orth-Orth being
the name of a chateau which he owned. He
resigned hiSa commission, and the various
dignities attaching to him as Prince Of the
blood, and lost no time in shaking from his
feet the dust of a land viii eli had treated
him so i'll as TO intrust him, at an age when
most of his cOuntrymen consider themselves
fortunate If they have attained the grade of
Captain with no higher place in the army
than that of MaiOr-General and proprietor
of regiment Of artillery.
Just previous to TeSigning his title he
made his examination in Fiume prelimi-
nary to becoming a captain on the high
seas" and in the spring of 1899 he purchased
the ship Santa Margaretha, through an
agent in Dunkirk.
But there was another reason for giving
up his titles. He had fallen in love with
Ludmiila Stubel, a young danseuse For
months they were together almost con-
stantly. She returned his love and wished
to marry him, although not as Archduke
Johann, for that was regarded by both as
beyond possibility. They remained init
mate week after week and month after
month while the Archduke was deciding
which way he Should choose. He passed
the winter of 1889 on his estate near Gmun-
den in great discomfort. Eventually he en-
gagged himself TO marry the little Stubel and
passed his examination at Fiume, While
the Santa Margaretha was being loaded in
London Ludmilla Siubel crossed the chan
mel from the Continent and became Frau
Ortiz. Her husband sailed without her.
In May, however. she left Genoa to meet
him in a South American port, and sailed
wit hffhnf n Pluta m fhH Sa1afa Nor
garetlla.
G. Modrich, a tourist thus wrote in a
letter dated from La Plata. on July r. 1899:
q" l saw Mr.. Johann Orth at the Austro-
Hungarian Consulate in Buenos Ayres three
days before my departure on June 18th.
HIS ship. the Santa Margaretha, an iron
three-mast-r OF 1000 tons, lay In the new
harbor of La Plata. one hour distant from
the Bnenos AyTeS Railway station. MI
Orth held the post Of first mate; the
man IN charge was Captain Sodich of
Fiume. At this time, the end OF June,
necessary ballast had been taken on,
and was about to sail for Iduique 10 receive
a cargo of saltpeter Then the CAPTAIN in
charge fell i'll of smallpox, and Mr.. Orth
came frequently to BuenOs Ayres to look
after the sanitary affairs of the vessel.
Finally. he resolved to land his captain.
dsinfect the ship and take her out 10 sea
under his own charge"
In a letter to a friend in Vienna dated
July u, 1890, Captain Orth said: my first
captain, Sodich, is very i'll, and must there
fore remain here. OF my other officers l
have decided to dismiss one on account OF
incompetence, and to grant leave to another
for various reasons. | am my own cap
tain, and must undertake, without officers,
the voyage to Valparaiso around tile Horn"
Inquiries of the Austrian Court MarshaPs
office have elected the information that
n OF 1rfh NJ cd for Nnlt, to- fa,,
days after the writing of this letter. With
fair fortune lie should have arrived there in
the middle of September, or, at the least, at
the beginning of October.
For some time it was supposed that Orth
had entered a small haven to escape storm
or to repair his ship. Two vessels that
arrived in Hamburg from Valparaiso
in November, however, brought news
that in rounding Cape Horn they
passed three wrecks, one of which was
undoubtedly the Austrian, Santa Marga-
Tetha. The inevitable conclusion was that
the Santa Margaretha was overtaken by i'll
luck, and that Captain Johann Orth and the
crew did not escape.
This led Eifle 81 Moos, in Hamburg, with
whom he had insured the Santa Margaretha
without cargo for 100000, to give her up as
lost. Besides this policy Captain Orth left
some 100000 and his castle and estate at
Ortb, near Gmunden. The will narrow ~
escaped being burned in the horrible
Fredrich-strasse fire, which DESTROYED the
rooms where, as Arehduke, Orth formerly
met and loved the woman he afIerward mar
ried