New-York tribune., 1903-06-12
THE SERVI4N TRAGEDY.

Poor Alexander The of infamous
father and of a bad mother. in boyhood raised
to disputed throne as King of turbulent and
lawless people. and surrounded constantly by
unscrupulOus enemies, he has ended his life in
a climax of tragic horror of which few equals
are TO be found in all the blood stained history
of European thrones 1t is impossible TO regard
his fate without pity. True, his character and
career were not admirable. He had his weak
nesses and his vices and he did not always
rule with justice. But he might have said to
those around him what his father once said on
a notable occasion: Gentlemen, am what you
have made me-" He was the creature of his
surroundings great might have risen
superior to the evil influences of Belgrade.
But the son of Milan ObrenOvitch and Natalie
KechkO was moi a great man. He meant well,
but heredity and environment were too strong
for him. He drifted with the stream Of cor
ruptfon and crime which flows strongly in
Servian politics. and, if ever he strove to stem
it. it was in q way which set the example and
gave the provocation for his own taking off.
For he has perished in coup d'etat and he
himself pffected more than one coup d'etat
The first Just ten years ago, when he IN
vited the regents. ministers and other notables
of his kingdom TO a banquet in his palace, pro-
claimed himself-revolver in hand to be of age
locked them all in the room and gave them their
liberty only their acquiescence in his arbi-
trary ac1. Again. only few weeks ago, he ar
hitrarily suspended the constitution until he
could dictate such changes i'm it as he desired
for his own purposes.
In these and similar acts. have said,
he SET the example which n murderous sOdiery,
prompted by unscrupulous aspirant to the
throne. has acted upon with dreadful ef-
feet But there We're other reasons for AleXan-
ders unpOpularity. His wife, Queen Draga,
who has shared his tragic fate. was not Of royal
blood but was n commoner. as his mother
Queen Natalie had been. That fact was often
sive 10 many Servians. who thought their king
dom the peer of any and thought their king
should have been able to wed q princess of
Germany or Great Britain. But Draga was not
only a commoner She was ambitious and her
relatives ambitious. Her relatives as
sumed the airs and dignities of princes and
princeSses of the blood royal and thus gave
further offence Finally. when no direct heir
to the throne was apparent Draga began plan
ming to have her brother. Lieutenant Nico-
deinus IunievitZa declared heir preSumptive
II was 10 enable that to be done that the King
effected the coup d'etat few weeks ago That
proposal was intensely offensive TO the military
party AT Belgrade and also to many influential
civilians When it was first made, DR. Futch,
the then Prime Minister, offered his reslgna-
ton rather than approve If. But Alexander
seemed determined to fulfil the scheme. There
was really no reason why Lunjevitza should not
be proclaimed heir presumptive. He was not
of royal blood. But neither was the first
Obrenovitch. nor was Black George, the swine
merchant whose descendant now becomes
King Lunjevitza's grandfather was rich
-l<1r hoIr IA
fortune for fitting out troops in the Servian war
of independence. and his father was an eminent
government official; and the family is OF was,
one of the best in all Servia.
The chief factor in the case, however, was
doubtless the pretender, Peter Karageorgevitch.
That willy intriguer has for many years been
working 10 get the Servian throne. To further
his interests he has made himself a protege and
practical vasSal of the Russian Gar and he is
a son-in-law of the Prince Of Montenegro. q
close friend of Russia. Russian influence has
therefore been largely exerted in Prince Peters
favor Prince Peter. whom we may now speak
of as the new King of Servia, is probably no
more estimabe in morals than the Obreno-
witches have been. But he is a man of much abil-
ity and great wealth. He was educated at the
French Military College Of st. Cyr. and served
with credit captain in the French army
in the war with Germany. He is possessed Of
great personal courage, and viii probably make
a strenuous and self willed king. II is noted as
striking coincidence that King Alexander was
murdered on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the
murder of his great-uncle. Prince Michael
Obrenovitch. Ii is equally interesting to recall
that the father of Peter Karageorgevitch was
convicted Of completely in that former murder
as an accessory before the fact
The effect Of this startling and most brutal