The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-24
VISIT OF Won NTIELER
HOW GERMAN MINISTER, REPORT
ED KILLED AT PEKIN, SPENT
A DAY HERE
MISSED wEsTBoUND TRAIN
And Spent the Day in His Private
Car Speculatdng on How He
Could Catch the Boat
at Vancouver.
-Nfz y Fs @ess =

at Vancouver.
There are several newspaper men in
st. Paul who are taking an unusual in
terest in current events in China, and
more especially in the reports of the mur-
der Of the German minister 10 Pekin,
from the fact that the kaiser's envoy,
Baron Edouard Won Ketteler, is num-
bered by them as an acquaintance if not
a friend. A little more than year ago
the distinguished German diplomat made
a visit to st. Paul under peculiar and
wholly unintended circumstances. The
visit was afterwards turned into a prac-
teal joke upon a distinguished German
American citizen of St. Paul, and while
at the time he implored that 1t be given
as little publicity as possible, the facts
leaked out after a time and cccasioned
him no little embarrassment.
Baron Won KetteIers late service as
the representative of the German kaiser
in Pekin is not his first experience in
the Celestial empire. More than ten
years ago he finished an extended term
as minister to the Chinese court and at
it's conclusion was the recipient of dis
tinguished honors from his own govern
ment for services performed. He was
then transferred to the City of Mexico
as the official head Of German interests
under the Diaz government, and after
a term of eight years service which ex-
pired IN April, 1899, received urgent mes
sages instructing him to proceed with
all haste to Pekin, to again assume his
old position in the empress dowager's
court
1t was early in May of last year before
the baron's party left the City of Mex
leo for the new post in the Orient. They
proceeded first to st. Louis, where Baro-
ness Won Ketteler spent a few days,
while her husband made a flying trip to
Washington to confer with the kaiser's
minister there. The party then went to
Chicago and started for st. Paul on
the first stage Of the trip west to China
in a private car Of the Michigan Cen
trail The Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul brought the car into the Twin
Cities, where connections were to be
made with the Soo-Pacific route in order
to get the party into Vancouver in time
TO catch the Empress of India, sailing
in very few days for China and Japan
ports
Some one in Chicago blundered and the
car was sent over an indirect route and
with the least possible dispatch. The
mistake brought the party into st. Paul
early on the morning of May 26, fifteen
minutes too late to make connections for
the West. This accident made 1t i'm
possible to make connections at Van
couver, and Baron Won Ketteler spent
the day in his car in the depot yards,
alternately expressing candid opinions
of American railroading and soIacing
himself with strong cigars.
1t was in his private car that several
press representatives found the baron
and his wife that afternoon, and .enjoyed
an informal talk which broadened out
into a conversation and then into
friendly conference which lasted the
greater part Of the remaining time in st.
Paul 1t was during this interview that
the baron for the first time in nine years
consented to be interviewed by the Amer
lean press, and during the interview.
also, that he created an impression
which marked him as both a diplomat
and scholar, and withal a most con-
genial and accomplished entertainer. The
impression which Baroness Won KetteIer
created was scarcely less favorable.
One who will picture a slight little Iady
with stlVery gray hair a perfectly modu-
lated voice, graceful and unobstrusive
manners, the sweetest smile in the world
and little touch of motherliness in her
ways, will gain the leading charac acteris
tics of the woman who has played a de-
termining role in the making of her hus-
bands fame. She is dstingu shed in ap-
pearance, rather than handsome, though
it is easy to see that in her younger
days the charm Of her manner was ac-
companied by no less attractive attrib-
utes of personal beauty.
Baron Won Ketteler's appearance and
personality is distinctively aristOcratic
In his ways he Carries the marks of
long line of blue blooded ancestry and
a thousand mannerisms bespeak the man
of politics, large affairs and diplomacy.
Standing more than six feet tall, broad
shouldered and erect, he is a man of
physique, and a slight i'm
periOusness in all his ways is token of
will which brooks no obstacles and a de-
termination which cannot be swerved.
Baron Won Ketteler is forty-nine years of
age, and in his early manhood was an Of
hcer in the Prussian army. He still
holds the rank of lieutenant colonel of
the imperial reserves
In connection with events which are Of
recent date, several strange condolences
have arisen since the baron's enforced
visit to st. Paul. In the course of his
famous diplomats and
statesmen of this and other nations were
referred to. Mention was made of Bis
marck, of Gladstone, of Jefferson and
others, and the talk turned to men of
more recent prominence. Baron Won Ket-
teller sat in an easy chair and little by
little drifted into a brown study as the
progressed. Finally, as ST.
lence came, he turned to a newspaper
man, sitting near, and remarked:
There is one man of whom I have
been thinking for the past few minutes
yhn cfn 1e. acffr %i~v,
the shrewdest, most hard-working and
ablest statesmen with whom 1 have ever
been thrown in contact. 1 refer to Count
a Russian, who works like a
machine, depends on force of will to main
tain his vitality and burns himself to
white heat continually as he carries on
the affairs which come to his notice. I
said to him once: You are a machine.
No one but a Russian would work as
you do. You will die some day, the
victim Of your Unsuitable passion for
work and excitement. Take rest and
exercise. Be strong as l. He laughed
at me. You, who are strong, will die
first said he. I responded: Not 1, but
you. Two years and you will be among
the dead "
The barons prediction came true only
the other day. His friend of many
years, the Russian of whom he spoke,
was stricken with apopIeXy WhlIe drink
ing his morning cup of coffee, and died
alone before aid could be summoned
Speaking again Of affairs in China, the
German diplomat made prediction
which in view of the present crisis in
China and the future prospects of the
empire was almost prophetic, though
given merely as an opinion.
II have seen much of China and the
Chinese" said he. II was previously sta
toned at Pekin, and was then in close
....,,, 18th The commercial reIirinn1S ed1,