The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-01-04
CURRENT TOPICS IN PARIS
Herr Frederick Krupp, the Late Steel King Of Europe
His Peculiar Disposition and SinguarI nclinaions
BY PIERRE ROSTER.

crowd over to serenade him. that II Prin-
eips does TO the choristers of some Italian
comic opera. The Capriotes used to hail
MIN Excellency, Sgnor Grouppo with
was. lie was always in good humor
with them, and made them the objects of
profuse generosity. The islanders related
what BENEFITS Signor Grouppo had con-
ferred on the island. He gave the syndic
ample funds to make a road round 1t ac-
cording to a plan he drew. He paid bancs
to play every evening on the piazza and
the piazette The band master and his
musicians being out at the elbows Krupp
set them all up with new suits. He paid
church organist and never passed a
beggar without giving aims If a band of
beggars or mountebanks amused him,
they at once became richer by $780, to
say nothing of the gold coins that he
slipped into the hands of the most impu-
IDENTIFY droll rascals.
His opera comique encourage consisted
of players on stringed Instruments and
| young fishers with tuneful voices who
| used, while rowing him from one head
land to another. to sing barcarolles and
hymns to Santa Lucia, Resale and other
| celestial patronesses of the Neapolitans
| The musicians. habited in fantastic SUITS
went about with him on land. or gave
| concerts for which invitations had not
been Issued. in his apartments in the
lated wink, with separate entrance and
awide terrace that looked down on the
| sea. The musicians boosted at Naples
| ftheir luck of being employed by the
rich Signor Grouppo. All the buffoons
| of Santa Lucia and the Chiaia wanted
to pick up the crumbs that fell from the
modern Vulcan's table. He does not
! seem to have admired the damsels of
Capre or the actresses or songstresses
of the Neapolitan theatre. Each act of
profuseness, however, called forth host
of enemies. They put the worst con-
structian on Signor Crouppo's actions,
and ended by comparing him to Tiberius
who certainly was not an amiable bon
vivant. The parallel seemed all the closer
from the fact of Krupp having bought
a property on the site of the gardens
of that taciturn emperor.
suppose he liked the situation, and the
land happened to be In the market His
evenings spent as a jolly frar In grotto
under the Carthusian convent seemed al
most blasphemous to pious Capriotes
Music. of course. had a principal place
in the entertainment and enhanced the
parody of religious life In the olden time
<rupp could not live without music. and
he thought German composers not In their
place at Capri. 1t pleased him to be the
benefactor of the island, and he showered
his benefits without ostentation, and in a
of the Neapoitans raised him out of his
state of chronic lassitude and depression.
1t was asked why he kept company with
the low people He might have answered
because they amused him. He felt under
no obligation to stand on ceremony with
him. II their Jokes tired him, he could
dismiss them with guerdon and send
them away rejoicing. They had the effccS
on him of incarnate sunshine. He had
looked for companionship to the English
and Germans at the hotels of Capri, he
would have been bored to death and per-
haps intruded upon. Had he not right
to make presents of new and safe boats
to poor and light-hearted boatmen, or
nice light carriages to the drivers of these
old rafting vehicles that overtaxed the
strength of their little mettlesome horses
of Capri?
Krupp for some years before his death
did not encourage strangers to visit Es-
sen. Some Frenchmen had OWNED there
a process that improved steel and applied
1t at works near L4ongwy. witch is now
the centre of furnaces and FORCES In
former times the visitor was taken about
in private carriage and lodged and
boarded at the hotel at Krupp's expense.
But Krupp personally stood on the reserve
with strangers and hardly ever asked one
to his house. He lived at Essen In
plain manner, and would not have en-
joyed grand style. Frau Krupp distin-
guished herself as a housekeeper. She
had the reputation of making the best
chocolate souffles in North Germany
Krupp had great contempt for nobility
distinctions, and begged the German en-
peror not to press on him. He expressed
frequently and emphatica1ly that it would
be better for captains of industry and in
surance companies, to spend money in
providing workmen with healthy houses
than In providing hospitals for tubercu-
loss.