The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-28


Bayou Teche-Wife of Brutal Alex
is-A story of Historic Interest
Actually Stranger Than Fiction.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal
We have had in America royal visitors,
royal exies and pretenders to royalty, but
the most remarkable of the list is one
whose name is known only to the careful
students of history, the Princess Char
otte of Blankenburg.
Charlotte of Blankenburg was the
youngest of three daughters born TO Duke
Ludwig Rudolph of Brunswick, Germany.
Her eldest sister was married to Charles
" of Germany, and was the mother of
the famous Maria Theresa. The second
sister married into the imperial family of
Austria. Charlotte was idoized by her
father and was a great favorite with all
his subjects.
When, in I'll, Peter the Great of Russia,
searching for a bride for his disreputable
son. Alexis, stopped at the schloss of
| Blankenburg, there was great tribulation
among the people. AT that time, although
Russia was regarded as barbarous, the
German Princes were only too ready to
form an alliance, through marriage or
| otherwise, with the powerful house of
Romanoff.
Stories of the savagery and brutality of
the Czarowitz, Alexis, were current in
every court of Europe. The Princess Char
lotte and her father were familiar with
| them II was said the young lady was in
| love with her fathers secretary, but In
| this case filial obedience triumphed, and
| when the great bear, Peter, swore that
| she was just the woman who could tame
| his son and make a man of him, Char
| lotte yielded TO her fathers request,
rather than to any promptings of her own
| ambition Her marriage with the Czaro-
| WITT took place soon after the visit of
Peter and was celebrated with great
| splendor in the kremlin at Moscow
Although but % years of age, Alexis,
| who was a giant in stature and a ruftian
| in his every instinct, had already ran
| the gauntlet of dissipation, and was accus-
| ed of the worst crimes known to the law,
| including murder The hope of the great
| white Car that Charlotte of Blankenburg
/ would soften and refine the character of
| his son was doomed to disappointment
| From the very first Alexis showed the bit
| terest aversion to his beautiful wife. and
| it is known that six months after their
| marriage he tried TO bride his physician
| to poison her. Failing in this. he unsuc-
| cessfuly undertook the horrible task him
| self
| Superstitious as he was brutal, Alexis
| came to believe that his wife had
| charmed life, and so he kept her in seclu-
| sion. Although he so hated her. yet
| strangely enough he was frightfully jeal-
| GUS of her, and more than one courtier
who had tried to defend the unhappy wo-
| man paid the penalty with Punishment
| from the court. Addicted to frightful de-
bauches, Alexis but seldom entered the
presence of his wife unless under the in
| fiuence of liquor On such occasions it
was his habit to strike her and to kick
her with his heavy boots after she had
| fallen.
| One day, when Peter and his rude Scan
| dinavian wife, Katherine, had gone on
| journey to st. Petersburg, which was then
| being built amid the marshes of the Neva
Alexis rushed into the chamber where his
| wife was confined and beat her into insan-
sibility. The poor woman was in a criti-
| cal condition at this time, and as a re-
suit of this outrage a child was prema-
| turely born.
Without waiting to see the result of the
injury he had inflicted, Alexis at once
started off on a journey, with a number
of his dissipated companions. Stories of
the outrages to which his daughter was
being subjected had reached the Duke
of Brunswick, but he was powerless to
act In the matter. few friends who had
followed Charlotte from her native home
to Russia saw in the present condition
an opportunity for a rescue, and determ-
| ined to embrace 1t. Among these friends
was the famous Countess Aurora Won
Konigsmark, a woman famed before and
afterward for her courage and rare tall
ents.
The Countess decided to act at once
and so formed her plans. She dispatched
couriers to the Gar and also to Alexis
| telling them that the Princess was dead
| Alexis hurried back to his palace and
| dreading the anger of his father, he or
dered an immediate interment. Neither
| he nor any of his associates saw the body
| for the coffin was scaled before his return !;
| and IL was inferred in the royal mauso-
| leum with all the honors due the second
| woman in the empire
! News of the death Of the Princess Char
lotte was sent TO all the courts of Eu-
| rope, and royalty went into mourning for
| thirty days. The Duke of Brunswick was
overwhelmed at the loss of his child. and
! ordered a commemorative coin to be
| struck in her memory.
Meanwhile the Countess Won Konigs-
mark carried out her plans. With as
much money, and all the Jewels she could
| collect without detection, she started off
| from Moscow with the princess and a
| single female attendant. To have inform
ed the Duke of Brunswick that his daugh-
| ter was living would have led to compiled
tons of the most serious character, as il
would have been Impossible to keep the
| matter secret. The Countess realized that
| for the present, at least, she must care
! fully guard her secret. for the safety of
| the Princess lay in complete secluson.
The party, after many trials. reached
Paris in safety. Here, through the Count
+, ess Won Konigsmark the Princess became
acquainted with the Chevalier d'Aubert.
The chevalier had been an attache of the
| French embassy in Russia, where he had
| frequently seen the beautiful Princess He
was now en- route for Louisiana on mis-
sion for the King. He was q brave. keen
witted man, and Il would seem that feel
ing higher than mere gallantry possessed
him. The chevalier pointed out that in
Lousiana the Princes and her comnan-