The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-18

| fred was promenading in Berlin, establish
! ing there seraglio of his own.
AS yet, however ne was still the novice,
| intorerably impecunious at that. To his
aid came Jews and princes. The former
/ brought money, the latter advice. To each
| ne helped himself SO literally that by
jumps rather than gradations the Guelph
disappeared, and the Romanoff emerged.
| Like mis- mother, Alfred wanted to be first.
/ He wanted a court of his own, and the
Jews and princes ministering ne got il.
! But it was a court not after his mothers
heart. 1t was not like his sisters either.
What it suggested most was the one mis-
( father had heldin Bohemia. 1t was court
made up of viveurs, over all Of whom he
/ took precedence. For Prime Minister
there was the Prince of Meiningen, for
/ Lord Chamberlain there was the Duke
Gunther of SchlesWig. Each Of these
gentlemen as a brother-in-law Of the
Kaiser, both are orgiac in the extreme.
The spirit of the martinez already men,
toned has never passed, and presumably
never yill pass into them. No, nor of
the archangei either. Under their influence
Alfred, who had already show pretty
taste for maids Of dishonor, took to cards
-
surprisingly, hunted like mad, and in the
Thiergarten Strasse, the Belgravia of Ber-
lin, held a court which, more modern than
that of Darmstadt and less Oriental than
that of Bucharest, was tolerably open and
entirely free.
From it early one morning young man,
a trifle tipsy, reeled in the uniform which
Prince Albert wore as lieutenant Of the
guards. But his face was not very martial
and the uniform did not fit. Watched and
followed he turned out not to be not a
young man at ali, but a certain Miss Iona
Barrison, of whom we have all heard
since and whose fame began that morn
ing. The crime of which she was guilty
in not very prevalent, and elsewhere might
have been condoned. But not in Prussia.
There the uniform of an officer is a sa-
cred thing. A report of the episode reach
ed the Kaiser, and the young person was
ordered from Berlin.
So far. so good. Here the plot thickens.
A month later, in that court on the Thier-
garten StrasSe, a vaudeville show was
given, a (which the Kaiser consented to
assist After the curtain had gone up
once or twice twent up again, and there,
circuled by her immaculate sisters, in i'm
prOpria persona, Iona Barrison sat. Then
with that smile, or rather with the mimic
OF one which she afterwards exhibited at
Roster & Balls, she stepped to the foot
lights and began TO sing. At sight OF her
the Kaiser had arisen, but Immediately
his brOther-in-law, of Slesvig, was at his
side, explaining rapidly that the girl had
really gone. her sisters, too; that what
seemed to be the latter were dummies,
and what seemed to be the girl was Prince
Alfred in false va, a false bosom, in
presumably false skirts, and singing false
at that. The Kaiser, Modified, resumed
his chair. But instantly he was on his
feet again, ordering that his carriage be
summoned and calling for his aids. The
song which was Issuing from that false
bosom was not of a nature for ears i'm
perial, or even for ears polite. 1t was of
a variety known as the brothel class. There
is no excuse for this, nor could the Kaiser
find any, not even indeed in the manifest
fact that the decadence of a Romanoff
had begun.
That decadence eliminated last week.
Meanwhile the court in the Theirgarten
Strasse had become difficult to maintain.
Instead of courtiers there were creditors
The Jews were not offering money any
more; they demanding it. To satisfy them
Prince Alfred it is alleged, associated
himself with a gang of card sharpers that
were headed by Count Klaus Won Egg
gloffstein, and in connection with whom,
it is added, he provided in the Tniergarten
Strasse not only vaudeville, but baccarat.
There, last summer, Baron Won Goertz, a |
young officer, lost a fortune. There also |
Baron Won der Planitz lost another. In |
each case there were circumstanc not |
readily explained. Charges of cheating en- /
sued. To whitewash the Prince II was !
announced that he, too, had lost a fortune. |
But the announcement fell fiat. The Prince |
had no fortune to lose. He was challeng- |
ed first by one baron, then by the other. !
The Kaiser intervening, no duel occurred. |
By way of compensation Won Eggloffsten /
was arrested, Won Goertz was cashiered. |
Won der Planitz dismissed and Prince Al
fred invited TO leave Berlin.
Three weeks ago Prince Alfred was as
sisting in his future duchy at the silver
wedding of his parents. His health ap-
parenty left nothing TO be desired. In
manner and speech ne differed>bu little
from the harum-scarum who a few years
bCAOAC 44eill a4S4ASN 4lAS SlSttlS III TIE NuNfA
of his tnoGaokriw. DO arrcpeta ejao ia e
of their fun. On the morrow came a mes
sage from the Potsdam. What the mes
sage contained one may surmse. yet per-
haps never know, 1t is reported-though I!
whether rightly or rongly is uncertain al /
so-that an inquiry which in the interim /
was going on regarding Won Eggloffstein's /
affairs and operations had resulted very /
to the Princes discredit. Be 7
that as it may instantly it was given .
out that ne had developed symptoms Of /
insanity. and as fast as a train could carry /
him ne was bundled to the retreat in the /
TyroI where last week ne died
In a matter of this kind assumptions are
not worth arc of pins. Yet # the facts
be as they are represented IL i entirely
parmiss Die 70 infer that the statement .
regarding this wretched boys insanity was ,
prompted by the unnatural hope that i /
might serve TO render him legally iTrs-
spansible for such charges as might be
laid al his door. How grave these char=-
e are may be gathered from the fact -h1t
the Kaiser neither attended the silver We'd
ding in the duchy nor permitted himself
10 be represented there. And how great
Was The fear Of these charges may b. gatE-
cred from the further fact that had me
Prince been really insane To announce