The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-01

 tent schooling and religious practices Even her material fondness. however, recoiled at some of the boys acts, and at his ugliness. which increased with his years. His hair grew down on his forehead, tapering to a point only an inch above his nose. A partial bald ness over the temples served still fur ther to give this wedge of hair proni- hence. To prevent it hanging down into his eyes. Alexander kept it always as closely cropped as conyict's. But the solieitude of his mother had little if any effect upon him, and often in church he would arouse her from her deyotions by a loud snore. King Milan was a coward. and when he saw that his vices had involved him so deeply that there was no escape, he laid down the crown in 1889 at the feet of his thirteen-year-e son. The next two years of the lads life are said to have been most wretehed. The government was ruled by three regents. He was, in fact, no more than a hostage. His palace was little better than prison. There was not soul in all Belgrade to whom he could turn for comfort or sympathy. His father and his mother were exiles, and he was not allowed to communicate with them. The first morning after the regents took hold he rose from bed and started to leave the palace for fayorite came. The sentry at the door stopped him.
 But I'm not going to eat alone" cried the youth.
 You cannot pass the gates" was the reply.
 Stand back or I'll choke you!" ex- claimed the lad. as he drew back to spring on the soldier. 4 bayonet drove him back into the palace. After that he ate alone.
 The courtiers who surrounded him of ten treated him with insolence. They did not lower their voices in his pres ence, and often fell 10 retelling stories of his fathers debauches. One day some remark about ex-King MiIan's profigacy in Paris came to his ears, and he said:
 Stop talking about my father. He is king no more. am king now
 And who are you?" interrupted a young army afficer. Did not your an cestor, Milosch, kill Black George. who gave the peasants their iberty?"
 Alexander sprang at the officer, but the crowd pulled him away. The next morning he found at the bottom of his coffee cup closely folded paper. He opened it and read:
 The spirit of Black George will kill you.
 Ten years later this prophecy came true. Peter georgeyitch, who has been proclaimed king, is the descendant of the Black George whom Milosch brought to death.
 Threats on his life were frequent. Several attempts were also made to kill the boy. and on one occasion he nar-. rowly escaped death. On the evening of March 25. 1ssas he was exercising in the military academy. when his suspi- cious eyes noticed some one whisper into the ear Of his tutor With few hasty words the tutor excused himself and the boy was left alone. Though it was not his usual hour to end his les sons, and though his riding master said he would return Immediately, the youth felt that something was wrong and left the school. Ten minutes later the building was wrecked by an explosion. The force of the explosion would have killed company of soldiers had they been drilling there Yet no attempt was made to capture the would-be as- sassins. The friends of the Obreno- witch family said the plot had been matched by the Karageorgevitch party.
 It was doubtless this utter lonesome ness that made Alexander such an easy victim for the wiles of Madame Draga Maschin. A mere child, he craved the sympathy os one older and stronger than himsels. Even before his father had abdicated, the prince had met her as lady in waiting to his mother. She was the daughter of a cattle dealer named Lunjevitza When seventeen she had married Colonel Maschin. an engineer in the Servian army, who later obtained a divorce when he learned of her relations with the child prince. After Alexander became king it is told how he was wont to slip away from the palace at night and secretly visit Mad anne Draga at her home.
 On the night of April 13, 1893, the