The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-12-05

Crown rrincesr stephanie's Indorss-
ment FORGED ON Princess
Loaise's Promises to Pay.

| . i +
| A settlement satisfactory to Prin-
cess Louise Of Saxe-Coburg's cred
itors has beer made at Vienna, and all
proceedings in the civil and criminal
courts have been put an end to. The
nominal value of the notes alleged to
bear forged signatures was $4,000
gulden, or nearly 100000, but as they
were money lenders notes, and court
influence was brought to bear in hush
ing the matter up, the sum paid in set
tlement was probably much smaller.
Strangely enough, the person who
represented the princess in the trans
action was her wronged husband,
Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg, her IA
ther, the king of the Belgians, having
refused to interfere in any way.
The story of these notes, as told in.
the Berlin Borsen-Courier, on what 1t
asserts TO be high authority, is as fol-
lows: In June year ago outstanding
notes of the princess to the amount OF
100000 guldep fell due, and her credit
ors presented them for payment.
Their dealings had never been with
the princess personally. but always
with a certain lieutenant, who pro-
fessed to represent her, Lieut.. Mat.
tacio. with whom she eloped. On this
occasion he asked the creditors for an
extension of time and for further
loan of 275,O00 gulden. They held back,
but offered to lend the money If all the
paper was indorsed by the emperor
of Austria or the king of Belgium.
Later they agreed to accept the in
dorsement of Crown Princess Ste
phaniS instead. Notes with her in
dorsement and bearing high rate of
interest were thereupon given to
them.
One of the money lenders happened
10 look into shop window one day,
and saw there picture of the crown
princess, with her signature under
meath. 1t struck him that the hand
writing was not the same as that on
his notes, and to clear the matter up
he made inquiries at the crown prin-
cess palace Though not admitted to
her presence, he obtained from her an
explicit declaration that she had never
signed promissory note of any kind
in her life. He went straight to the
police with his story, and the police
informed the court chamberlain. In
answer to his inquiries, the crown
princess repeated her assertion that
she had never signed any form of
note.
By this time Princess Louise and her
lover had reached country seat near
Agram, in the course of their journey,
and the police set about separating
them. The lieutenant was decoyed to
Agran, on the preteXt of medical eX-
animation being needed for an appli-
cation for sick leave he had sent in.
AS he was known to go about armed,
the police waited til he was stripped
before the doctor before arresting
him. Meanwhile the princess was car
ried off to Vienna on special train.
and confined in private asylum,
where the doctors are to watch her
for six months before deciding on the
question of her mental sponsibility.
There she declared that she had never
troubled herself with business mat
ters, that she knew nothing Of Crown
Princess Stephanie's Endorsements,
and that she did not understand why
the crown princess should be dragged
into her affairs. and, moreover had
never heard of the notes.
THESE statements gave promise of
lively lawsuit. Her family. however.
had come to the conclusion that Prin-
cess Louise had attained sufficient
notoriety, and that the case must be
stifled. On King Leopold's fiat re-
fusal to intervene, Prince Philip, the
husband, reluctantly stepped in and
has closed that phase of the scandal.
IN. Y. Sun.