The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-09
WORKING Of 4 CURSE
Seen in the UntimeIy Death
of Princess Sofia.
HANDS FROM THE GRAVE
To Drag Her from Life, the
Hands of StambuIof'

| New Yorw, Feb. THE New York Jour
nal made the following sensational COM
pilation Of the Stambuloff curse in Bull
garia. The first two excerps are old dis
| patches:
"A carriage was procured and Bull
garia's ex-premier was driven slowly to his
home. Physicians were Summoned 1t was
found that the right hand of the victim
hung in shreds, while his head had in
many place been literally deruded of flesh;
there were severe wounds, too,' about the
body. The surgeons found it necessary
to amputate both hands. On July Is, at
$3.50 O'Clock in the morning, Stambuloff
died. dispatch TO the American press
from Sofia, June Is, 1880
Mime. Stambuloff has her husband 5
hands, which We're muulated by the
knives of his murderers and had to be am
putated preserved in the room in which
he died. They are preserved in a glass
case Above this hangs a photograph OF
the mutilated body of the Bismarck of
Bul-aria.
Each day Nine. StambulOff shows this
ghastly momento to her children so that
they may never forget their fathers muir
der and solemnly repeats 10 them three
times as she does SO:
- These hands of my husband and your
father are preserved from the grave to
clutch Maria Louise of Parma and drag
her from happiness and life Vienna
correspondence to the English press, July
4. 1895.
The Journals article then continues:
A widows curse rested on Princess Fer
dinand of Bulgaria, who died on Tuesday
last.
She was an amiable and estimable prin-
cess. We may affect to dispose curses.
But certainly she was the object of an
awful malediction and she died an untime-
ly death.
Her death was the saddest event in a
tragedy Of almost incredible horrors and
bloodshed, which has been enacted in that
turbulent, mysterious corner of Europe
known as Bulgaria.
1t was Madame Stambuloff, widow of the
murdered Bismarck of Bulgaria, who ours
ed the princess. After her husband was
hacked to pieces by his enemies, Madame
Stambulof accused the government of
instigating his murder. In this she was
doubtless right.
But strange TO say, she turned her hatred
most iercely against the wife of the head
of the government. against a good and
well-meaning woman who had been the
innocent cause of estranging the prince
and his minister.
Stambuloff's hands were hacked off by
his assassins. His Borrowing widow had
them preserved, placed upon black velvet
and enclosed in a glass case. This she
hung in the most conspicous place on the
walls of the Darlor of her home Above
the case she paced a portrait of the mutt
lated corpse of her husband. Thus she
erected an alter of vengeance. There were
VOWS to be made before it.
Every day she gathered here three lit
tie children in the parlor and held each up
in turn to kiss the portrait of the murdered
father Then she repeated three times:
These hands Of my husband and your
father are preserved from the grave to
clutch Marie Louise of Parma, and dra-
her away from happiness and life
These facts are vouched for by every
Marie Louise of Parma was the reigning
princess of Bulgaria who has just come to
such untimely death at the age e.
twentv-nine.
What followed the curse?
On Tuesday the princess died in the
height of her youth when she had every
reason TO look forward to a long and
happy life
Her death occurred from pneumonia a
day after she had given birth 10 daugh-
ter in the palace ar Sofia. Her heath had
been robust and excellent. Up to within a
week Of the expected event there was no
cause for anxiety. Then a state of in
huenza or grip set in and terminated short
ly after her confinement in pneumonia.
She was generally loved by the Rulgar-
ians who nevertheless see in her death a
fuidllment of the widows curse-'~To drag
her away from happiness and life"
The princess shared the throne of a man
VINO Is the most mysterious character in
Europe. He is commonly accused of cow
ardice and trickery. He accepted the
throne Of Bulgaria after Prince Alaxan-
der of BattenburE had been kidnapped
and when no other petty prince was viii
Ing 10 take II. Now at the head of the
weakest and most distracted state in En-
rope he dciies the Gar of Russia. and SuI-
tan Of Turkey. This hardly looks like
cowardice. Yet there are undoubte5Iv
many traits about his character that ara
despicable.
When Prince Ferdinand accented the
throne Of Bulgaria. in 1857. h found StaD,-
buloff the great man Of the ountrv He
mad achieved the independence Of The r-tra
state from Turkey and KEEP, Russian out
He was a man Of great courage and force
of character. but very brutal manners
Prince Ferdinand at firet got along very
well with his terrible prime minister. Then
he married in 1>eS. the Princess Marie
/ Louise Of PARMA She was a woman of
refinement and character and was imne-
diateiy offended by the brutal and disgust
ing manners IF S-ambulon. She turned him
out NJ the palace. That began th, dis