The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-18
QUEER REGAL CEREMONIES.
The Late Empress of Austria to Lie
In Three Graves.

The Late Empress of Austria to Lie
In Three Graves.
From the New York Journal, Sept A.
1t is to-day that the remains of the MUIR
dered Empress Elizabeth will reach VI
,enna and there is every reason to believe
that in spite of the very little sympathy
that existed between the people of this
gay metropolis and herself during her life
time, the mourning of the Viennese will DO
sincere and heartfelt
The unpopularity of the Kaiserin at vi
emma was due to her aversion of all those
state ceremonies and public functions OF
which the Austrians are so fond. The
people seemed to think that they had a
right to exact that she should constitute
herself part and parcel of the imperial
show. and they resented her failure to
comply with their wishes.
She, on the other hand never either for
got or forgave the coldness and lack of
cordially which had marked her reception
by the people, as well as by the nobility of
the Kaiserstadt when first she came to
Austria as a 16-year-old bride.
And, besides that, she detested being
stared at and 1t was impossible for her TO
show herself anywhere at Vienna with
out being stared at, not only in an ordinary
fashion, but even through big field glass
es and telescopes, a horrible ordeal for a
woman suffering from nerves so high
strung as hers.
In Hungary II was quite different There
she was never mobbed, the people possess
ing too keen a sense of their native dig
nifty TO run after her and stare at her in
the rude way of the Viennese. That Is
why she loved Hungary so.
The remains of the Empress will within
the next few days. therefore, be laid in
the vaults of that old Capuchin Church at
Vienna where oil the members of the i'm
perial house of Hapsburg since the days
of Emperor Matthias repose. There are
nearly 1000 collins in these vaults, the
most notable objects being the enormous
sarcophagus which Empress Marie The
resa caused to be made for her beloved
husband herself and her children
According 10 an old custom members
of the imperial family must actually lie
in wood, though the outer coffin may be
of metal. The caskets OF the emperors
and expresses and of their children are
covered with black velvet and gold, while
those of the collateral archdukes and
archduchesses are covered with red velvet
and silver.
Emperor Joseph II ordered that the
cutter collins from his reign onward should
be plain copper shells, with a cross and
an inscription on the lid. and his own is
perfectly plain. The first return to orna-
mentation was made In 1872 for the coffin
of Archduchess Sophia, the Emperor's
mother.
Formerly the males OF the imperial
family were laid on the Gospel side crypt
and the female on the Epistle side. But
this rule was broken through. because
Empress Eleonora Magdelina wished to be
laid beside her husband. Since 1874 the
collins are grouped according 70 families
Pope Plus VI visited these vaults in
1882 Napoleon / likewise visited them
and was so much impressed by the gloomy
scene that he IS said to have exclaimed:
''Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas-hors
la force"
In accordance with the traditions and
regulations governing the obseques of the
members of the imperial house. the corpse
of the Empress will not be laid to rest in
the Capuchin vault in its entirety.
Thus her intestines will be placed in a
gold and crystal receptacle and conveyed
with much religious pomp and courtly