The Philipsburg mail., 1899-05-26
KING rs IN A SCRAPE.
BELGIAN RULER IN ANOTHER
SCANDAL.
May Figure in the Courts Leopold
Creates New Sensation by Protecting
Hells.
Especial Letter.l

There never was "A fairy book kin!
who was such a picturesquely wicked
old monarch as is Louis Philippe Maria
Victor Leopold H., king of Belgium
sOtereign of the independent ConA
stStes, duke of SaXony prince of SAKE
Coburg and Gotha, colonel of the
Twenty seventh regiment of imperla
lnfantry, German empire; chief of the
Royal Prussian dragons, squadron IA;
Golden Fleece, and Knight of the
Black Eagle. Besides these things he
has benign, fatherly beard and a rec
ord of scandals that would make even
the Princess Chmay blush. And now
there is chance that he may add to
the crowning glory to his worthy
career by being tried on criminal
charges. At any rate, if he is not
tried, it will be only because the Grim
lnal courts dare not prosecute him,
Leopold'S weakness for dancers and
other charming and entertaining but
expensive luXures and dissipatiOns has
been keeping him hard up for many
years, His greed and need for money
led him to go into the gambling hell
business with the devOut hope OF
knocking out his royal colleague in
the south of Europe, the prince of
Monaco But something has gone
wrong with the old mans calculations.
His wonderful manipulation of the af-
fairs connected with the gambling
places has raised such a storm about
his ears that a deputy has announced
that he will lay the case before the
criminal authorities and hale the dear
Iold royal offender before a court to
,anSwer charges of fraud and bribery.
IT all began with the kings chaste and
Ip1ous efforts to make Ostend, the fam
Gus watering place, a resort equally
famous for its gambling facilities.
With the delightful complacence which
is his popularity he used the city prop
erty for the erection of the dens, and
they have municipal protection in the
shape of policemen, who are posted
before them night and day like sem
tries. The gambling places have been
enormously popular, so much so that
Leopold has found it possible to add
several choice scandals to his collec-
tion, which already was more complete
than that Of any other potentate. The
favorite game is Les Petits Chevaux
Little Horses which generally man
aged to get large horses on the persons
who staked their money. The man
who held the government leases for the
gambling privilege was a Frenchman,
Baron Delloye. He is a particularly
warm friend Of the king, and sus-
pieious persons have said for years
that the two were in partnership. Del
loye was paying 363, 600 francs an
nually for the privilege. This was
known to be a ridiCulously low rental,
as 1t was understood that his profit
was ten millions a year. When his
lease ran out, a few months ago, the
municipal council Of Ostend. which
has to take the first action on leases
OF this kind, declined to renew at the
old figures. Deloye generously offered
to pay 900 francs. But the coun-
Gil was bullish, and demanded 100000
francs. Delloye made a kick. That
was foolish. Up bobbed another phi
lanthropist who was willing to pay
100000 francs year for the Chris
tian privilege of winning the money of
his fellOwmen and women. He pro-
duced excellent security for his offer,
but, to the surprise of all innocent folk
In Ostend, the virtuous city fathers de-
clined to consider the offer. The ex-
cuse was the rather lame one that it
would never do to accept so high a
rental, as it would shock public opin-
ion to let 1t go abroad that the gam
bling privileges were worth so great a
sum. Then there began a fight be-
tween the rival gamblers, and the mat
ter was dragged before the house of
representatives., which has jurisdiction
over the acts of municipal councils. |
The house ordered that the council ad- |
vertise for bids The council said il
would be degrading The house an
nounced that it would not let Ostend |
gamble at all then. The council he
gan to cajole, threaten, and, members
OF the house say, to offer bribes. But !