Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-21
MIND IS CL0UDED
PATHETIC END OF THE GOOD
QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
THAT TERRIBLE B0ER WAR,
One of the Causes of Her Failure
Old Age Must Take Its
Course.

New York, Jan. PA dispatch to
IKE World from London says:
Your correspondent has obtained from
source within court circles the first
comprehensive and actual account of
the queens illness that has been given
out The facts given place the hlhesS
of the queen in a startling ana pathe'N
fsht They show that her MN" mas
heen failing for many months, even be-
fore her visit to Ireland. whenever IL
was officially announced that she made
felicitous responses to speeches at pub
lie functions. it is a matter of cold taet
that the poor old queen was in such
daze that all she could say to her COM
panions was, Where am Il?
Several times when she has APP
peared in public during the past SIX
or eight months she has fallen asleep
Had it been anyone else but the queen
OF England. it would have been pam
long ago that the malady was senlle
decay. And that truthfully is what al
ficts Victoria. But for her physical
breaking up Of the past Week-an at
tack of pal alyss in the left side-h
would have been possible for the court
and the royal household to have Kept
from the British public the knowledge
of her mental decay for an indefinite
period. fog the queen had lapses of in
tellectual vigor, but these We're more
distressing to her than her periods OF
mental density When her brain was
Clear she Immediately reverted TO the
horrors of the war in South Africa.
Again and again she harped upon the
war. This war. which she strove with
a
hours of England's queen. who Ieigned
happily longer than most men live.
most wretched and miserable. In her
lucid intervals it haunted her inces-
sanity. The queens strong constitu
ton manifested the first symptoms of
serious decay during the stay of the
court at Windsor in November and De-
cember, 1899. when evil tidngs of the
South African war. which began the
previous October, began to arrive in
rapid succession. The queen did not
look for any serious disaster to her
army. She expected nothing but q
series of quick, easy victories. Instead
disaster followed disaster every few
days. Gen. Butler. before leaving Eng
land for the South African campaign.
assured the queen that the wa would
he difficult but not dangerous" In
verses came to her with added severity
She felt that she had been deceived
and never forgave Butler. When his
name was submitted to her for a visit
to Windsor after his return. she stroked
1t through with, her pen. She had fits
Of crying in an aggravated form, which
Immediately preceded her present crit
zeal illness. The assassination of the
king of Italy last July shocked her
deeply.
The news of the illness of her eldest
child. Empress Frederick, added greatly
t. her distress and the fact that she was
practically unable to visit the empress
and see her before she died made her
nervous and excitable Later came the
dc ath of her second son. the Duke of
SaXe-Coburg and Gotha, which in few
weeks was followed by the death of her
grandson, Prince Christian Victor son OF
hsr daughter Helena, wife of Prince
Christian Of Schleswig-Holstein.
The prospect Of an indefinite proonga =
ton of the war was a trial under which
her health again began to sink in No
Nember last. Her spirit remained UNI
daunted and when it was reported that
President Kruger had said the war would
claim her as one of it's victims, the
Kruger won't kill me-"
In December her feebleness RAPIDLY in
creased. Sleepless nights We're passed
in prayer and tears. causing the most
profound anxiety to her encourage.
The queen lost her appetite and began
to shrivel, presenting all the charac-
ttristics of senile decay. The excitement
Incidental to her visit to Ireland. which
despite everything stated to the con.
trary, was her own idea, seemed to re.
Vive her, but before the visit ended a re.
action had set in. The public, however
was hoodwinked by the accounts of he,
majesty's doings and sayings given to
the press by her household. In reality
the queen lived as in a dream For in
stance, she was reported to have made
an animated reply to an address pre-.
scented toher at the Mount AWHILE con.
vent in Dublin. whereas all she said was
dazed inquiry: Where am II"
This happened not once but severa
times. When she went to Balmoral. he,
highland home, her spirits revived under
the influence of Gen. Roberts brilliant
achievements in the South African war
but the Improvement was short 1t hat
always been source of wonder to he
physicians that, with her great appetit,
and physique, she had escaped an apo
ple ptic stroke, but about this time there
was falling away of her left side, ac
companied by "a loss of power in her lef
arm and left leg. These symptom
caused apprehension of approaching pa
ralysis. So alarming was her condition
that the royal family abandoned all ide
of making trip to the continent, which
II has been hoped, would revive tn
queen mentally and physicaiiy.
tufavorable war news and reports q
The acute suffering of her dying daughte
Empress Frederick, affected the uuee
keenly. She suffered with increasing fire
quency from fits of depression and cry
Ing. She referred constantly to the deaf
OF the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg and Goth;
(Edinburg), and expressed wish to Sc