The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-17
BAVARlA'S MAD KING OTTO.
Reported to Be Nearing End Of His
Unhappy Life.

Cable news has il that King otto o
Bavaria is nearing his end at F'uer
stenried. one OF the royal castles of tn
South German monarchy. He has beef
hopelessly insane since the summer o
1884. and his aged uncle, Prince Luit
pold. is the regent Of the kingdom. we
the royal title is still vested i'm the use
less piece Of clay surrounded by a hos
OF lackeys and drones, who approach
and serve their insane master with al
signs of homage and respect
while they and all the world know OF
his utter decay-for he is the king, says
the Philadelphia Times.
From an American point OF view II
would make no difference whether a
king or somebody else is crazy. for we
have learned long since that an insane
person is a patient and not a criminal:
that the morbid fancies and crazy an
tics of such an unfortunate being
should be covered with the cloak of
charity rather than exposed to the pub
lie gaze; but in the case of King Otto
the Bavarian government ignores the
fact Of intellectual death and insists
that the mere animal body which re-
mains is sacred. 1t is this fact which
makes King Otto's ailment and his an
tecedents a legitimate subject for pub
lie view.
1t will be surprising to most Amer
lean readers to learn that the present
king was "A demented person when he
succeeded his brother. King Ludwig H.,
who died June 70. 1856. but who also
had been declared insane two years be-
fore his death. This Ludwig was for
mally deposed three days before his
end, which he sought himself. dragging
with him to the depths of the Starn-
berg lake his physician and true friend,
DIR. Gudden.
T. ---a
cousin Of these two kings. Empress
Elizabeth of Austria. has been for years
the talk Of Europe on ccoun OF her
eccentricities. Charity has II that she
became deranged on account Of the
tragic death of her son. Archduke Ru-
dolf, in 1889, and charity may prevail
in this case.
The royal house Of WitteIsbach is one
Of the oldest of the old noble families
Of Europe. the first Wittelsbach on rec
ord being Margrave Luitpold. who died
IN August, 907. more han a thousand
years ago. The Hapsburgs of Austria
antedate this redoubtable M%argraVe
only by eight years, so far as the rec
ord shows; the Hohenzollerns Of Prus-
STA were not heard from until 1908 in
Burgraye Conrad of Zollern: the
Guelphs. who now furnish British kings
and queens, came upon the worlds
stage In about the year 1000 i'm Mar
grave Hugo of Este; the present Ro-
manoffs of Russia do not go back far
Their thar 1896, to Michael Foodoro-
witch: Italy comes upon the scene i'm
1892 with Count Umbertus OF Savoy:
the Victim family Of Saxony dates from
Thiadmar i'm 919: the Suabians appear
i'm Conrad of Wirtemberg in 1851. and
the un~speakable Turk broke into the
present Anatolia under Soliman i'm 1925.
The Swedish royal house is a creation
of the present century, Charles XIII.
adopting B~ernadotte, n OF the first
Napoleon's field marshals.
Polite history always has some ex-
cuse for the erratic conduct of the great
of the earth. Thus, in the case of King
Otto'S predecessor on the Bavarian
throne, ii is said that he was a man Of
romantic nature, an artist, with very
fantastic ideas of his personal dignity
as a king and rather capricious opinions
concerning political questions. Courtiers
say that his insanity was caused by the
rupture of his engagement to Princess
Sophie Of Bavaria, who afterward be-
came the Duchess of Alencon and per
i'm the holocaust in a charity ba-
gar in Paris last year. ;
Plain truth IS that the father Of both
brothers, Macmillan H.. was insane
and that the faint, probably long ex-
In a latent form i'm the house of
- WI HAN'tAA oA liitI fAlt4- J
riages. descended to Otto and Ludwig
from him. This Macmillan. q son Of
l., was treated by his father
In a name so severe that the young
prince at one time escaped from Mu-
nich, bought a residence i'm the vicinity
Of Hamburg there led a life Of alb
s'ipte abandon. When Macmillan as
sumed the reign. in 1S4S. upon the abdi-
cation of his stern parent. he stiIl con-
tinued what i'm this country would vul-
carly be called his "sprees' periodically.
lie finally developed the idea that both
sons, Ludwig III, born in 1915. and
the present Otto, born in 1S4S. amid the
thunder Of the great revolution. had
from him that faint which
you'd Ultimately call down upon them
The curse Of mental death.
The court physicians as well as emil
nent celebrities called in by the court
'lique sought in vain to dissuade Maxi
milan from this horrible idea. The
curse Of events has shown that Maxi
Million H., i'm the inner consciousness Of
his guilt and shame was correct.
II was probable this awful v~indicatIon
" orthodox Mosaic law that caused
1aNimilian Harden In his kukunft arti-
lie To say about the time when King
Dtto's father assembled the throne: The
'oyalESts in the land ~sniggered into their
,eard. rubbed their hands in glee and
whispered 10 each other grinningly;
Now We have what we want: now can.
Is in times of yore. a maniac wear the
'Town.'"
OF the unfortunate king Harden saws:
Prince otto is since Il years king Of
Bavaria. He knows il not. His mind
: benighted, was surrounded even with
mpenetrable darkness When Ludwig
i. sought and found death and left the
'rown TO his younger brother. The pen-
BE were spared the horrible spectacle to
a maniac in the purple. to see the
mounting golden circle over the dome
4 "A destroyed brain. The walls Of
\~ymphenburg. Schleissheim and Fuer-
tcnried have shielded the unfortunate
rom the gaze Of curiosity. ONLY All
Of rumors penetrated the cracks
ma grew apace. The unfortunate man
sunk To the lowest forms of bestial-
~: no longer any restraint al wild a.