The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-14

:, WAS IN TINS atmosphere. having to with
,,o,t' ana having everything done to with
~ ms cohhdenceS and his trust from
nCth father and mother. that the solitary
nv u"E grew up and was educated for
nus uiiiicuit role. At the time when Alex
"ttuei was learning to swim. King Milan
accomplished one of the most remarkable
1t'''s III spelbinding that l have ever heard
VI, even III countries where the word OF
nv" sues further than it does in Servia.
Ills oVerdrafts had reached the Secretary
i.oii aiElost every reputable banker and
'io'epu'apIe money-lender in Western Eu-
rope ana they had been formally dshon-
Urea oy the Government. The party in
power was holding Il convention at Nish,
'itu oHe OF It's announced purposes was to
uelouice Milan in unmeasured terms for
MS rep.thehShie conduct and to stiffen the
back OF the Government i'll its determination
I to dishonor the overdrafts
/ IN the eve of the first of the convention,
members met at banquet of some 800 or
7S covers Ill the one hotel of that town,
Which many travellers from the West will
long remember. II they ever entered its
gates After the first course what was the
surprise ana CONSERVATION to see King Mi
iah himself walk in and take his place at
| the table. an unbiddeu and certainly Il most
/ unWelcome guest
Many or the Deputies who were present
| assured me that plates we're thrown at the
| former King. and he was waved and sig
rallied toward the door by hundreds of nap
! kins. be 1t as 1t may. the King sat pat.
ate his swine flesh and drank his plum
brandy, and. when the time for speechmak-
= ing came. he delivered an Grafton which
I shows that. after all, speech is sometimes
soiden. at all events. his speech resulted
: IN his oVerdraftS being honored.
: me picture of his unkingly plight, which
the artful former monarch drew. not only
reduced his skinc!ad hearers TO tears. but
coined money out Of their pockets. a miracle,
! for the Seryian is more canny with his
i sax-pence' than even the Scot.
! QUEEN DRAGA PROSECUTED
| BY SCANDAL MONGERS.
On his visit to Biarritz, where he went to
! see his mother. the former Queen Natalie,
! VINO had found peaceful exile there after
Fer stormy life. the boy King met the
woman who afterwards became his wife.
ana IN whose defense he died. She was the
"iooW OF Servian officer, lady In wait
ing on the widowed Queen and her family
, was quite as good q family as families 20
! IN Serpia, where ali are swineherds or the
sons or the same. as that of the Obreno-
witch.
| After that Queen Draga was prosecuted
| by scandal mongers Of all nationalities Ow-
| ing to the rigid censorship of the press. no
self-respecting correspondent can live for
! long in Belgrade, and the news Of Seryia is
rope through irresponsible. often unworthy,
agents, VINO live in Semlin, the little from
tier town of Hungary, just across the
Danube from Belgrade.
AS to the basis Of these scandalous sto-
ries it is difficult to decide. end the present
writer. fortunately, does not have to.
Doubtless, great number of them were set
in circulation by partisans of the BLACK
George faction. whose head. Prince Peter
Is now preparing to mount the blood-tained
throne. = s;ss 50 Is 'f.es,tsa
1 CHANGED to be in -tns winter city about
this time and found >tfAt THE King remem-
be-ed very pleasantly our swimming les
sons. and introduced me to his Queen as his
American swimming teacher. and would not
allow me to leave his presence until l had
promised to revisit Belgrade soon again as
his guest-a promise which l have postponed
SO often that now it cannot be realized.
1 only saw the lady who afterward be-
came the Queen in the distance. She was
driving with the former Queen, whose most
intimate and bosom friend she then was.
The moment, however, the marriage took
place, or rather the moment when 1t became
probable the Queen mother, basing her
objections ostensibly on the disparity Of
ages Draea Maschin being ten years older
than the King. this friendship came to an
abrupt ending. and the Queen has had no
more bitter enemy than her former friend
and patron, her husbands mother.
SERvIANS STAGGERED BY
KINGS FINAL MANLY ACT.
Through sources of information more sin
cere and reliable than those that pass
through Semlin, have heard that what was
to have been expected had occurred. and
that while much of the viification of both
King and Queen. which has reached the !
Western World. was inspired by political
partisanship. 1t is certain that in recent |
years the Belgrade court has relapsed into !
conditions Of moral and political turpitude, |
in keeping with Its worst traditions.
To US 1t may seem as nothing, to us, in |
land where manhood Is common. and the |
reverse rare, but the political world of Bel |
grade to-day, with its close acquaintance |
With every variety of baseness, is staggered |
by the nobility of the boy King. who, when |
the written promise to put away the wife |
who had blighted his whole life was pre-
sented for his signature, refused to submit |
and-for that refusal and, perhaps only for /
that-was put to death by the human blood 1
hounds, whose lust for indiscriminate |
slaughter has appalled, the world.
During the visit of King Alexander to |
Biarritz. one of the few occasions when he |
was able to absent himself from his intense |
little kingdom, there occurred an incident |
of more than passing interest. which 1
CHANGED to witness. which Will. doubt not,
as she reads the news from Belgrade, |
awaken sad forebodings in the heart of the |
Queen Dowager of Spain.
AT this moment Doctor Riedel, the cele-
brated Viennese accoucneur, who had pre-
sided over the coming into the world of
both Alphonso and Alexander, was in Biar-
ritz, and he determined one day at the
Casino to bring about a meeting between
those whom he called his pair of Kings"
Both the Queen mothers were agreeable,
and the meeting took place most informal
ly at st. Jean. To-day all the dark prophe-
cies as to the little Alexander have been
realized. Only those who are spun by the
fisherwomen of Biscay as to Alphonso, his
host on that sunny day. remain unfulfilled.
AND lost