The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-28
New Queen Of GypsIes.


The queen Of all the gypsies viii be
crowned next month, and the capital OF
these picturesque nomads will be trans
fered from Austria 10 the United States.
And such tirne as there will be. The
| coronation will take place in the suburbs
/ OF Topeka, Kan, and the ceremonies VIII
last during the entire week beginning
May p. 1t viii be a sight worth seeing
This will be the. second gypsie corona
ton to take place in this country, and the
| Romantics viii be there in full force, Last
January Queen Sophia Friar died In Au-
stria, after wise and prosperous reign
of sixty-two years. or one year longer
than Victoria has ruled over great Brit
ain. As soon as the news OF the death
/ Of the old queen came a conference was
! held among the leaders OF the homanY
| tribe, the new sovereign was elected, and
| Topeka chosen as the place in which the
| coronation should be performed. The
queen elect is Molly Friar, daughter OF
the late queen and next in line of success
sion. There is a rule among the Roma
MES that queen must be twenty years of
! of age, and Princess Molly was but nine
teen. She is now in mourning for her
mother but on May %. which is her birth
day, she Will don the royal robes and
gown.
Miss Minnie Youngs of Chicago. a cou-
| sin to the queen elect, has been in Austria
purposely TO get the massive solid gold
crown which is Molly's heritage. 1t is
studded with great Bohemian garnets, and
when altered to suit the new sovereign
will contain several brilliant diamonds,
Miss Youngs will have the honor Of plac-
ing the crown. which is more than one
hundred years old. upon the head Of the
queen. For the last six week Princess
Molly has been engaged in making her own
coronation robe. The dress will be an
elaborate Oriental affair. full of bright
bits of color Each band of the Romany
| tribe will contribute beads and jewe!ry.
The princess is a typical gypsy girl. She
has a dark olive skin and brilliantly fash
| in black eyes. Her hair is long. thick and
Jet black. and her face is round and laugh
ing. She IS shy and retiring before those
whom she knows only slightly. but full Of
fun and life when with her friends. She
/ is excessively fond Of trinkets and inery.
ard she wears many valuable rings and
| necklaces. A waist of bright scarlet and
a graceful skirt, which is short enough to
reveal her shoe tops and her shapely, well
clad feet, make her princess charming.
indeed.
Father Belah Metrovitch. who lives in
Chicago and is the only Romany priest in
America. will conduct the elaborate cere-
monies incident to the corona ton. He
will have full charge of everything. and
will go to Topeka the first week in May
to arrange the program. Sixty Romantics
| Of the princess own band have been work
ing ever since her election to make the
coronation a success.
The princess came to this country al
most year ago Five months later she
was married to Gustave Stanley. an Au-
stralan gypsy, who had happened TO join
the band. Louis Stanley, a brother of
Gustave, has received a good education in
the American schools. and handles most
of the general business of the Romany
tribe.
Gustave is fairly we'll educated himself
He is an exceedingly handsome young
man, and is devoted to his royal wife.
who. on her part. is very much attached
to him. The Stanley's, including Louis
Stanley's wife, travel together and camp
apart from the main body CT the band
They are we'll to do gypsies, and though
they live in true Bohemian style. their
tents, wagons and furnishings are larger
and better than those of the poorer classes.
Molly Friar is a real Romany. She has
travelled in gypsy fashion all over the
world and speaks fourteen different Ian
guages. When she was little girl. romp-
ing around the camp, she fell into a fire,
and this has left a scar on her left cheek.
She is greatly attached TO her mottled
Shetland pony. which she rides grace
fully, for she herself is of small frame,
and 1.-the.
The Romantics are the oldest and proud
est of the gypsy tribes. over a thousand
years ago they made their first appear
ance in Europe For many hundred years
Austria has been their headquarters. but
if Queen Molly remains in America, as
she declares she viii, the Romantics CAPT
tai will be here also.
The gypsies believe themselves to be
Egyptians, whence their name. The best
authorities, however, agree that they were
originally outlawed Hindoos of high caste.
Many Romany words are identical with
the Sanscrit, and any one familiar with
modern Hindoostanee can easily make
himself ineligible to a gypsy.
The Romany language is remarkable in
that without a literature or without
grammar it has preserved itself for humid
reds of years live and unchanged ton
que, while Latin and Hebrew with their
gigantic literatures and armies of schol-
ars have ceased to exist spoken Ian
guages.
At the conference that was held At queen
Molly's band when the news of the death
of her mother was received, Molly, as
lawful heir to the crown, was unanimously
elected queen. A spot north of Topeka
on the border Of a forest was selected for
the coronation ceremonies, and work was
at once begun to get the place in readiness.
Father Metrovitch was invited to conduct
the ceremonies. The Stanleys have been
making elaborate preparations to have
this coronation the biggest and grandest
one in gypsy history. Some new tribal
laws were propounded, which have found
favor with the new sovereiTI.
There are ten thousand gypsies IN the
United States and their various camps
are now a-bustle preparatory 10 the an
nual summer pilgrimage. Soon their car
avans viii be struggling along our north
ern highways and giving life and roman
tic color to our bits OF woods. An win
ter long these mysterious wanderers have
been camping on the outskirts OF our pop
ulous towns and villages Of the middle
south. few have brayed the season as
far north as New Jersey and southern
Ohio. Most of the eastern gypsies. how
ever, have spent the winter in their tents.
which they have pitched along the pic
turesque little clumps OF trees that dot
Maryland. the Virginlas. the Csroliuas and
Tennessee, Colorado and Kansas have
been the favorite resorts for western
bands
on the outskirts Of Elizabeth. -. J.. is
famous gypsy camp. Chevodine Lowell
the grand old man OF the gypsy race. is
king OF the tribe OF which the occupants
Of this camp are members Lowell Is a