The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-31
BIG SHOCK TO ROYALTY
DUCHESS OF AoSTA ONCE MORE At
TEMPTs TO END HER LIFE.
King Humbert's Niece Found in "A
Bathtub in a Drowning Condition
Her Marriage Unhappy.


Rome are in a fever of excitement. The
Duchess Helene of Aosta. niece by mar
riage of King Humbert, and also niece of
Olga, Queen of the Hellenes, has again
tried to kill herself. The tragic affair oe-
Cured last Tuesday. In the forenoon of
that day she went alone to her bath. An
hour later she could not be found. A
search of the palace revealed nothing.
courier was dispatched for King Humbert
and another for the minister of the house
hold. A maid servant in the meantime
found the door of a small bathroom, re-
mote from the Duchess apartments, locked
from the inside She called the three wom-
en- guards. and they discovered the duchess
unclad, face downward, in a tub half full
of water. She was unconscious, and DR.
Di PaoH, the house doctor, thought at first
that she was beyond hope After three
hours work, however he revived her, and
she is now convalescent.
That is the last chapter in the tragic ro-
nance Of the beautiful Helene of Orleans,
as it is told from the housetops of Rome
to-day by the Socialists, despite the denials
and denunciations of the semi-off1cial press,
and as it is related in Potsdam and the
Wilhelm strasse in this city. 1t has aroused
here the gloomiest apprehensions regarding
Humbert has been laboring for weeks
under the load of menaces which Crispi has
launched at him. IF l fall, you fall, too,
has been the burden of the eX-premiers
constant threat when he has begged for
protection from the political enemies who
are exposing his populations in office.
1 have already told of the unhappy life
and many loves of the beautiful Orleans
princess, who, after having set her heart
on the Duke of Clarence and the present
Car in quick succession, eventually was
driven into a convenience marriage with
King HUNDREDS nephew. 1 have told of
her hopes of the dukes accession to the
throne and her own browning as Italys
queen; of the blasting of those hopes by the
marriage of the Italian crown prince with
Helene of Montenegro, and of the french
girls disappointed cutlery that her nus
band had become hateful to her, and she
would flee from his palace, scandal or no
scandal. Not only were the duchess
trunks packed and ready to go, but she
herself was gone. She had left her nus
band and sought refuge in the house or
q French woman of rank in Rome. She
was found there IN a haI-hysterical STAT
was browbeaten and bulldozed py minis
tiers of state and the King and Queen, and
eventually half carried, half guided back
to her husbands roof.
VIOLENT SCENE
Two weeks later she had recovered from
band. There was a violent scene. The
princess told her husband that she hated
him never wanted to see him again, and
would kill herself if he insisted on infiicting
his society on her. His remonstrances We're
in vain. She grew more hysterical and vio-
lent as the interview went on and hnally,
Selling a penlznife, exclaimed that she
would die then and there and cut her
wrist in an effort to sever an artery After
the duchesss wound had been dressed ana
the rumorS of her attempted suicide had
been hushed three women were placed on
guard over the desperate French girl, NOM
finally to nurse her, but really to prevent
her from again escaping from the palace
or again attempting her Ire.
Yet the will of the unwilling wife FOUND
a way The duchess simulated resignation.
She would be prisoner and martyr 70
the monarchical cause of Italy; she would
not add to the troubles of King HumDert,
whose financial and domestic scandals We're
sapping rapidly the foundations or MS
throne; she would not help the Socialists
point the finger of scorn at the dlScreulted
fabric of the house of Savoy; she would
not like female Crispi, try to pun down
the pillars of the throne that she might
at least die in the ruin OF her prosecutors
Then followed the second attempt at SELF
destruction, above related, and in q day or
so all Europe will ring with the sensatlohal
If to the cloud of financial dishonor now
thickening about the Italian monarch pe
added the steady odium of domestic scahdaI
ana attemDted suicide the Imbrianas and
De FeIices who rage up and down the land
with 100000 Republican followers me Iaoe
Of the house of Savoy will be uncertain IN
deed II was a Marie Antoinette whose I'M
morality was the spark to the pie OF COIL
bustibles that years OF hnanclaI lhIqulty hdt
prepared before the French revolution. II
was a Lola MonteZ whose caprice started
the fires of the BaVarian revolution nearly
fifty, wears ago. 1t was Eugene whose
wiIifuIness let loose the dogs of war and
the commune to the destruction or the laSt
Napoleonic empire. 1t may be TINS heleIls
of Rome whose Whims and m1serles ana
bystericsl vagaries will bring on the col
Ianse of her adopted kingdom betore the
assaults of the Socialists and Repupllcans
There are greater powers than she WORK
ING for this end-the Vatican, the French
nation the great party OF CrlSpl ana tne
whole sentiment of an overtaXed ana down
is and Napoleon of France ana LudWIB Oh
Bavaria, these other powers may put pre-
mare the revolutionary pile, While IL is lett
for a womans hand to touch the match.
OLGA is ALSO DANGEROUS.
Oueen Olga of the Hellenes is a good COM
nanion niece to the erratic Orleans prin-
cess To be sure she is neither capriclous
nor reckless nor bent on overwhelming
her family with the deadly cloud Of domes-
tic scandal yet in her way she is working
10 the same end-estrangement or the.
throne and people and encouragement OF
the revolutionary spirits that only await
the opportunity to send crowned heads and
n,,rnle cloaked shoulders hustling over the
border to make room for the elect of an
upriSen people.
Round this imported Russian grand
duchess centers all the hate that the ATM ATM
enians threaten to let loose upon their
reiening house. Even the pro-Russian
neWsnaDers of Germany admit that she is
nolitica1 milestone on the neck OF King
George Even in her country extremity,
caused largely by Russia, she kneelS daily
at praver on little patch OF Russian SOIL
Imported for her from the Crlrnea,
The Athenian newspapers recall now III
bitterness how she has always appeared IN
state aboard every Russian war snip that
has visited the Piraeus, although IN all ner
long residence in Greece she never mas set
Fon99 On y Greek man-of-war They relate
with bitter soothing how she has danced,
dined and wined with the Russian ohcers'
how she has drunk toaStS TO the last eX-
cess with any princely Russian VINO mas
Joined her encourage for a day or week,
and how she once turned a Greek colonel
ont Of his quarters at the palace to make
room for a common Russian sailor.
Is II any wonder. then, that, Wnen lew
DAYS ago she visited Greek army hospital
and with tardy interest wished an injured
soldier speedy recovery ne answered Lart1
". II Shall recover without your good
wishes: would only that my country could
recover as quickly from the wounds which
Won and yours have inflicted on it. NOT
ie il surprising that another soldier, Gndef
similar circumstances told her Majesty 10
with the hateful Russian name (Constan-
tlneD To Queen Olga's thrift. at Greece's
expense it is due also that king George
has been able 10 save twenty millions from
his civil list whose interest he spends In
his annual summer outings in foreign lands.
II is long score that the people of
Greece have 20 settle with their alien queen
"a score that has been marked up In the