The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-22
THEY HAD WHEELS
Sovereigns Who Think They Arc
Storks, Oats or Donkeys.
Weird Scenes In Their Asylums - OnA
King Would Wear Only Petticoats
and . Queen Rode Hobby
Horse In . Theater.
COPYRIGHT. IsA.l

king who lost his reason and was
"'driven forth from among men to
dwell with beasts of the field and to
eat grass as oxen" has not one but
number of countcrparts among nine
teenth century royalty. There are at
the present moment no less than four
monarchs besides many other princes
and princesses of the blood who have
been driven forth from among men"
and are confined in prisons of more
or less gilded character in consequence
OF their having become insane. In only
a few cases, however, does the lunacy
affect the peculiar form of Nebuchad
nezzar. Whereas, the latter imagined
himself to be an OK, walked on all
tours, dispensed with clothing and
browsed in the ordinary fashion of cat
tie, the present king Of Bavaria is con-
WINGED that he is stork. At one end
of the big dining-hall at the palace Of
Furstenried, where he is kept under
restraint, he has built on the parqueted
floor a big nest of sticks, twigs and
straw, in the center of which he either
crouches or stands by the hour, first on
,one leg and then on the other. His
beard reaches down to his waist, his
hair is thick and bushy, and he invari-
ably wears a long black Prince Albert
coat, the skirts of which he flaps from
time to time in guise of wings; the
spectacle which he presents would be
ludicrous were 1t not sad one.
Decisions of this kind are by no
means SO rare as one might be tempted
to believe, although know Of but two
other cases among royal families,
namely, the imbecile Infsnta Christina
of Spain, who now and again imagines
herself to be a cat, and rubs herself
against the walls and furniture of her
apartments, purring loudly all the
time. The other is prince of one of
the petty sovereign families of Ger
many who, quite as firmly convinced
that he is donkey, goes down on his
hands and kicks up his heels when any
one approaches him whom he dislikes,
displays an inordinate longing for car
rots, though not for thistles, and occa-
sionally brays in a most sonorous and
truly asinine fashion. st. Anne, and the
Salpetriere, the great state asylums for
the insane at Paris, have among their
patients a considera BILE number Of un-
fortunate creatures who are under the
delusion that they are dogs, snakes,
horses and even llamas. while only the
other day the will of Mr.. French, one
Of the territorial magnates of the
county Of Essex, was set aside by the
English courts on the ground Of his
lunacy, evidence being adduced to
show that he considered himself to be
an owl and was wont to rise in tho
middle of the night, to squat on the
foot Of his bed or on the window-ledge,
and boot.
Other monarchs under restraint il
consequence of the loss Of their reason,
are the ex-Sultan Murad of Turkey, the
Empress Charlotte Of Mexico and tho
queen of Sweden, while Queen Eliza
beth Of Roumania has Just returned
cured to her adopted country, after be-
ing out of her mind and confined in
one of her brothers palaces in Ger
many for close upon three years. Sui.
tan Murad's demeutia Is believed to
have been due to the tragic and san.
culinary circumstances Of his accession
to the throne. His uncle, and predeces.
sor on the throne, was deposed and
killed, no one to this day knows by
whom; the official report being TO the
effect that he committed suicide during
fit Of temporary insanity. And,
shortly after becoming sultan, several
of those statesmen who had raised him
to the TIN one were murdered in his
ante-chamber by an aide-de-camp OF
the dead padishah. twas not long be.