El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-21
An Eccentric Monarch
Alleged OF the Emperor Williams Establishment
Which Reads Attack of Disappointed
Serving Woman
WRITTEN FOR THE HERALD.


peror William, all we have been told
about his .vaR aries, his pompousness,
and his iniirmities; all that has been
limited about the penury and meanness
of his court under the outer gliding, and
last, but most important, all that has
been whispered about the manifesto
ton of hereditary insanity in the Kali
ser-all prepares us to some extent Tor
the astonishing revelations embodied
in q book soon to be published in Phila-
delphia.
The title of this extraordinary book
10 1.-The Private Lives of Emperor
William II and Consort." It 10 by
Henry W. Fischer, and is based upon
the diaries and. correspondence of Coun:
tess von.Eppinghoven. formerly dame
du palais to her ma esty the empress.
How Mr.. Fischer obtained the material
he has used here is an interesting story
in itself
In the first place it should be said
that Eppinghoven is q fictitious name
used by the author to shield his in
formant, for, as the reader will readi-
ly believe when he has read some OF
the disclosures made in this book, the
countess (she is nstruth q countess OF
a very distinguished family could not
retain her liberty an hour after the
volume reached Germany. Suffice it
to say that the source of Mr..
Fiscber's information was, up to about
the date of the coronation of the czar,
hofdame, or lady in waiting as she
would be called at an English court, in
the personal service of the Kaiserin.
She wassin most intimate relations with
the empress and speaks throughout
from personal knowledge and first
hand informs alton.
Mr.. Fischer, in the capacity of a
newspaper correspondent, was in
Moscow at the time of the coronation
of the GEAR, and he there met the
Countess.'von EppinRhovep," who had
just parted company with the empress
after q squabble of some Kind, the ma
turo of which cannot now be told.
The countess talked readily of her
late employers. and the correspondent,
seeming copy, asked why she did not
put her "reminiscences of more than
ten years service at German court in
to print.
No, the countess could not do that.
She was afraid to do so, and che did
not know how to write a book, she
said. But she would turn her mat
erial over to Mr.. Fischer and he could
put it into shape.
A bargain WAS struck forthwith, and
when Mr.. Fischer returned to this
weeks with bundles of notes, letters,
and diaries, the contents Of which he
has translated and put into orderly
form. But it would not be fair to leave
the impression that Mr.. Fischer is
merely q translator. He is responsible
for the historical references and paral-
lels that bring out most strongly such
portions as those referring to the Kai-
ser's peculiar traits, and for q great
deal of original matter concerning the
royal Hohenzollerns from the days of
Frederick 1, and earlier, to the present.
That the Countess Won Eppinghoven
was not disposed to hold back any dis
agreeable inform atien she possessed is
very evident, but that she speaks the
truth no one can doubt. A consistent
falsehood two octave volumes in length
10 an impossi bility. So much for the
origin of these astonishing volumes.
Our Information thus far has come
from the author himself, those details
not being given in the book.
That the Kaiser's "ear trouble" is q
manifestation of the fatal disease,
hereditary in the Hohenzollern family,
| the disease that killed his predecessor
months, no one can doubt-sfter he has
read this book. The emperor's left
ear, we are told, sis regularly treated
with antiseptics to arrest pusrefactton,
seemingly indicating tie presence of
gangrenous inflammation"
With the shortened arm of which we
have heard, the Kaiser can hold the
reins of his horse but he cannot guide
1t. He can grasp an object. but he
cannot lift it, however light it may be.
When he walks it is with great effort
that the deformity or weakness of his
left leg is concealed, and, standing, he
is apt to fall II he is not closely watch
ed by his attendants.
The examples given here OF the En-
1
hypocrisy, and that NerO-like quality
that requires that everyone in hearing
must laugh at his obscene jokes, ad-
mire his ''painting," go into ecstasies
over his musical compositions, and
allow him to win all the horse races
| and fencing bouts and kill all the game
on hunting OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of
these traits are numberless.
Despite every allurement employed
| by the Empress, William cannot be
| induced to remain in her presence a
minute longer than courtesy demands.
| The emperor takes himself of to the
| billiard room, where he sits for hours
| when he is supposed to be racking his
brains for the welfare of the empire),
while bis attendants and guests enter
| tain him with limitations of music hall
and circus people, small talk, and
stories of the coarsest grain.
| And the Kaiser does not reserve his
witticisms OF this sort for the billiard
room. At public reception he des-
cribed lin tones loud enough to be
heard by all around him) the aigrettes
worn in the hair of a lady present as
sym ols of the horns that she had put
upon Count , her husband. And
his ''jokes' of this nature, accompani-
ed by loud laughter, ARE to be expect
ed on every occasion when The All
Highest is in q good humor. Three
quarters of the time when the public
imegInes William to be wrestling with