The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02

J the aJIEDUdnIS We're SlIlEllN tlJDintu II
seize any White Lady or other intruder
that might be detected prowling about the
building. Evidently the Emperor is not a
But whether William III is or is not suffi-
GENTLY strong minded TO set aside the
traditional scarecrow of his family and dis
courage the perpetuation Of approximation
the appearance of the White Lady is IN
canny and prophetic.
Lady has been associated with the history
of the HohenzollerEs, and. singularly
enough, each visitation of this gruesome
spectre has been closely followed by the
death of some prominent member of that
family. For 200 years the wrath confined
her appearance TO Bohemia. whence the
Hohenzollerns originally came, but in 1893
she for the first known occasion appeared
in the royal palace at Berlin. Albert Fred
month from the day the ghost walked"
Albert Frederick became insane and was
declared incapacitated for governing. He
was succeeded. by his 5rother-in-law John
SigismUnd, and everything went well until
1919, when one afternoon in broad daylight
the White Lady was discovered rocking
the cradle of the infant Albert and jang-
ling 4 bunch of ghostly keys in her hand.
The nurse making the discovery promptly
tainted and when she recovered her senses
the Lady had vanished. Two weeks after
that Sigismund died. In 1861 she came
Wilhelm, and in 1858 she promenaded
through the salons and over the roof of the
palace the very night before the great
%elector, Frederick William, breathed his
last.
Then there was an interregnum until 1910,
when she called again a week before Fred
erick William III died. She remained away
ten years more or until 1880, and then was
found one evening strolling past the bed
chamber OF the Prince of Prussia who died
a few days afterwards. In 1879 she antici-
pated the death of Prince Waldemar by
just fifteen days. and it was stated at the
time, although the report was suppressed,
that she was seen in the palace shortly
before the death OF both the Emperor VIII
liam and Emperor Frederick. Who is
| Threatened hU the nraxanf visitation II iS
impossible to say, for while it has been
a summons for the ruling sovereign in the
majority OF instances, it has not invariably
been so and victims of lesser consequence
have several times been warned of their
danger.
Whatever may be the explanation of this
strange occurrence, whether it be due to
mischievous earthly creatures. as the En-
porer evidently believes. or whether it is
in reality the materialized spirit of an an
cestor. the fact has not yet been disputed
that the manifestation has invariably pre-
quence.
As with all instances from legendary or
romantic history where the central figure
Is shadowy rather than material. the origin
OF the tradition of the White Lady has al
ways been in dispute. There are several
tragic stories serving as a basis for the
sanguinary and plausible TO be true.
The best authorities on the subject say
there are two White Ladies, both Of them
remaining quiescept for periods varying
from twenty to a hundred years and then
visiting Berlin as a warning of approach
Ing death. The first of these interesting
females was. in her lifetime. Countess
Agnes, of .Orlamunde, a very beautiful
woman, with a moral obliauity that
shocked even the free and easy principles
of the fourteenth century. 1t might be
supposed that a social condition permitting
his newly-born girl baby under the excuse
that there were too many girls and girls
were not much good ANYHOW. would have
sanctioned any eccentricity of the human
mind. But Countess Agnes went slightly
beyond the limit of mediaeval endurance
and was horribly punished for her au-
dacity.
Countess Agnes began her questionable
career by becoming the mistress of a Mar
grave OF Brandenburgh and the mother of
three sons. So long as the wife of the
Margrave lived matters appear to have
progressed satisfactorily to the unfaithful
husband and the indiscreet Countess. But
in due time the wife of the Margrave
died, and then Countess Agnes naturally
thought that the man with whom she had
But the Margrave, for some reason,
thought differently, and yet wishing TO
spare the lady the modification of feeling
That his refusal was based upon her per-
sonal record, he made an excuse that ii
would not be convenient for him to adopt
her three sons Prompt to meet all emer-
gencies Agnes administered a dose OF cold
poison to the boys. and after they had
gotten over the contortions of death she
laid them out in a row and called the
Margrave in to satisfy himself that that
obstacle to their union was done away
"l1As oI1O 0AlolClN " IN III size
lived in an era when men were at a
premium II these children had been
daughters no doubt the incident would
have been passed over without omment
but men were wanted for fighting pur-
poses, and the doing away with three pros
pective warriors was too mucn for the eco
nomical sense Of the Hohenzollerns so Ag-
mes was found guilty of murder and buried
alive in a vault beneath the palace. Some
what distressed at this fate that overlook
her and feeling reasonably displeased with
the Margrave, Countess Agnes swore a
in the vault that she would be in at the
death OF the Hohenzollerns forever after.
The oath she appears to have kept, ac-
cording TO tradition, and just before any
important member of the family breathes
his last, the Countess Agnes is found wan
dering about the palace.
same story says that Agnes fell in love
with Prince Parma and killed her two
daughters because the Prince objected to
them. OF course. Agnes was not put to
death upon this mistake Of hers, but was
mildly .censured and doomed to walk the
is the more popular of the two.
In ghost stories as in politics and other
lmportant AFFAIRS there Is always an OPP
instance sets up Bertha Won Rosenberg as
the original and only genuine White Lady.
upon the integrity of the royal family ii
Is pot widely quoted. Bertha. 1t appears,
left a iarge sum of money the income
year among the poor. An impecunious
Hohenzollern appropriated the whole
amount to his own usage, and so the poor
of Berlin have been struggling along dur
ing the past four hundred years without ii.
The knowledge of this so preyed upon the
mind of Bertha in her grave that she
comes out every once in a while TO look
for the cash. She also dresses in white
and has a bunch of keys dangling at heI
belt. The last time she was seen was In
1879. and the sentinel TO whom she APP
peared was so alarmed that he dropped
his musket and fled to the guard room
where he was forthwith arrested for de.
serting his post
The incredible element in this legend is
that although these ghosts have been fe-
males they have only been known to speaB
twice in four hundred years. the first time
in Bohemia at the Castle of Neuhau
when the White Lady met a princess and
said to her: AT 10 O'Clock" At that hour
precisely the princess died five weeks after
The second observation made by this lady
was In December, 1923. at the palace a
Berlin. when she said in Latin TO Some one
who understood it: Il wait for judgment
Thus it is that the temperance of the
White Lady has caused CONSERVATION in al
the faithful followers of the reigning house
of Germany.