The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-17
THE HAPsBURG TRAGEDIES.
One After Another Has Followed in
Emperor JOseph's Family.

Emperor JOseph's Family.
New York Herald
Again fate has dealt a heavy blow to the
houses OF Hapsburg and Wittelsbach, add
ing another sorrow to that heavy burden
Which has borne down 10 despair the an
Gent rulers of Austria and Bavaria. The
them for its own and to have played with
them in order to drive its lessons deep into
the hearts of men. The fate of the EN-
press of Austria is but the climax of life
overfiowing with heart burning and trag-
edy. Chief of the recent tragedies of the
house of Hapsburg was the supposed sui
eide in 1889 of the Archduke Rudolph Fran
els Charles Joseph, son of the Emperor and
heir to the throne, the one on whom all the
hopes of the imperial house had rested
This affair is now known as the Meyerling
drama. Several versions of the tragedy
have been given out, but the facts in the
case probably never will bel known to any
one outside the royal house.
The archduke was deeply infatuated with
the charms of the Baroness Vetcera, a
beautiful young girl, who returned his love-
He wished to be united TO her by morgan
attic marriage, but his father would not al
low 1T. On the evening of Jan. % the arch
duke met the baroness in a gamekeeper's
house not far from the castle of Never
ling In the morning both were found dead
lying side by side. 1t was asserted that
the baroness had taken poison and that the
prince had shot himself
Another story is to the effect that for
ester went to the house where the prince
was staying in order to ask the gamekeeper
for some instructions regarding the hunt
that was to take place He knocked loudly
at the door A window was opened and
ester aimed and fired. The fugitive fell, and
when the forester walked up to him he rec
ognized, to his horror, the crown PRINCE
who had tainted. The shot had entered the
princes shoulder. The forester called Tor
help, and, with the assistance of man who
ran to his aid: carried the prince into the
the prince in a faint and bleeding from
wound in agined that he was dead. She
pulled out a phial Before she could be
prevented she drank its contents and fell
dead upon the floor.
Soon afterward the crown prince came to
Castle of Meyerling. Here he ordered his
valet from the room into which he had been
head and fired a fatal shot Letters of the
prince and of the baroness. found after
the tragedy. tend to disprove this version,
and indicate a premeditated suicide on the
part of both parties Then there were sew
eral witnesses who declared that they had
seen the bodies of the prince and the baron
ess lying side by side Immediately after the
tragedy.
A man by the name of Johann Tran
CULLEN, known by the sobriquet of Baron
Schau" who died on Wards island after
a career of dissipation in the United States
asserted that he drove the crown prince to
Meyerling on the day of the tragedy, and
told a very different story of the princes
death He said that he drove the prince and
a jolly party of friends to Meyerling. No
served in the Castle of Meyerling and dur
ing the festivities the Baroness Vetcera
suddenly made her entrance into the sup
per room and with flashing eyes asked the
prince if it was true that he had renowned
her. The prince, after a silence. answered
that his father would allow no further re-
lations between himself and the baroness
The latter then drew revolver and fired
at Rudolph.
The bail wounded him but slightly, and
he caught the Infatuated woman in his arms
She managed. however, to turn the pistol
against herself and inflicted mortal
wound A relative of the baroness then
sprang up and brought a champagne bottle
with all his might upon the head of the
prince, who sank upon the floor and died.
The lovers were then laid side by side upon
q couch. and all the witnesses to the scene
were sworn to secrecy. The court, of course
hushed up the affair as much as possible.
and so the story of the princes taking on
has never been authoritatively told.
Another cruel blow to the Hapsburgs was
the death of Macmillan Of Mexico. who
gave up the command of the Emperor
navy in order to found an imperial throne.
The overthrow of the alien ruler and his
execution by those whom he had tried to
subdue are matters of history. Added to
this was the insanity of his wife. the EN-
press Carlotta, and the scandal attaching
to the spending of her fortune by another
royal parsonage.
The disappearance of the Archduke John
after he had contracted a marriage with
pretty little Austrian singer another
cause of grief. He had been one of the bril-
liant members of the Hapsburg family. but
his waywardness led to the taking away Of
his titles. He would not bow to the Emperor,
and finally, when he had been banished
from the court he bought a merchant YES
sci and started out in life for himself. The
vessel is supposed to have been lost at sea.
kindred soul was Archduke Henry,
youngest son of the late Archduke Rainier,
viceroy of Lombardy He was general in
the army, and While stationed at GratZ he
made the acquaintance of F'raulein Hof
Manu. singer at the theater, with
monthly salary of fifty forms. She was by
mo- EiT1crp Tor Ia oil xxDc
that of Pamela, in Fra Diavolo," but she
was pretty quick-witted, the very type of
a Viennese girl. and, above all, irreproach-
able in her conduct and manners. The arch
duke paid court to her. and when he was
obliged to take the field in Italy he prom
ised that he would marry her If his life. was
spared and this promise he faithfully kept
The Emperor stormed, fumed and did all in
his power to reclaim the prodigal, but all
his efforts were in vain. Archduke Henry
had vowed to be true to Fraulein Hoffman,
and not all the powers in Christendom could
persuade him to abandon her.
AN Francis Joseph could do was to de-
prive the archduke of his military rank and
expatriate him. The marriage took place on
Feb. a. 1868. and not until 1889 did the EN-
peror show any signs of relenting. In the
latter year he allowed the archduke to pre-
sent his wife and daughter to him, and thus
the family quarrel was ended.
The troubles of the imperial house were
enlarged after the death of Prince Rudolph
by the difficulty of finding a successor to
the Emperor. Charles Luis. his brother was
~, though endowed with low cunning He
did not seem the one that could grasp the
problems of the Austro-Hungary empire. He
resigned his claims in favor of his son
Francis Ferdinand, however and thus re-
moved one embarrassment only to bring on
another, for Francis Ferdinand. it is feared
is ignorant. deficient alike in heart and
head Scandal has followed him throughout
Austria and Hungary.
In Spain has been found another cause
for gloom. There the Queen Regent. daugh-
ter of the Emperor Francis Joseph. has
been compelled TO see the fairest portion of
the heritage of her son taken away and has
lived in fear that the Spanish people them
selves would rise against her and sweep her
and her child from ail power.
These are some of the things which en-
FILTERED the days of Francis joseph and
which brought into the life OF the Empress
Elizabeth much of the sorrow which
weighed her down in her late years.
Wanted Open Confession.