The Minneapolis journal., 1906-09-30
DEATH SOON WILL END
MISERY OF CAnLOTTA
Insane consort of Maximilian
:
Dying in Castle She =
. So. -. '.- '''.. ..~or,,
Rules as Empress. ..

Special Cable to The Journal.
! Brussels. Sept. 29.-King Leopold
has made haste to deny the reports
that have been current for several
weeks regarding the alleged death of
his sister, the insane Empress Carlotta-
widow Of the ill-fated Emperor Max
imilian of Mexico. Tho some persons
do not hesitate to cast doubt upon his
| horitatively that the empress is not
dead. But she is so ill just now that
only faint hopes are entertained OF her
| recovery. t.~ --..- .-
| ;; The story of the poor, insane empress
has often been told, but the trag-
edy Of her life is so interwoven with
one Of the most thrilling chapters Of
new world history that it will bear a
repetition at the present time, when it
haps days, until her earthly miseries
are relieved by death.
Born a; princessy: and educated to
wear crown, Carlotta has passed
forty Of her sixty-fve years within the
walls of an asylum for the insane.
Married at II, queen at "a, a lunatic
at 26, she was bereft Of father, hus-
band, empire and reason in the short
space of eighteen months, and then, by
the irNm Of fate We
almost kinetoscopic in the rapidity of
it's changes ges-promising in it's inception.
magnificent in its rise, pathetic, dra:
matte, tragic in it's decline and fall.
Belittled in History.
Altho Carlotta was more potential in
Mexican history during her short reign
in that country than was her imperial
husband himself, the records of that
TIME ignore her efforts, belittle her
> achievements and refer to her endow.
ments Of executive ability, political
womanly character in the most imper
sonal and incidental manner. AS d
matter of fact, it was her. regal train
. ing, her dominant spirit, her constant
insistence, which prevailed over the
weak, vacillating, easily Influenced anc
. almost effeminate character of thu
Emperor Maximilian. - "a. +!
Carlotta was exactly "a years of age
Maximilian 80, when their eyes behelt
for the first time the land across tn
nation. Their entry into the Cit,
!, Of Mexico was a triumphal one. TIL
. splendors of their court were unprece
de1ted, for Carlotta knew we'll how t.
e fought braveiy for their freedom, tn
s United States interfered, and Nap(
i leon was ordered to withdraw hi
S troops. Here again Carlotta wa
+ dominant. She would go herself t
d France and intercede with the Empero
6 g Pleads Her Cause.
,, What could be more pathetic tha
\. the girl empress pleading with tn
l. emperor Of France and the pope 9
Rome for the means me- and soldiers t. t
! band. at a time when Macmillan ha
y. been already many weeks dead Ca
- lotta's ambition and pride wer
y crushed, her heart broken. Young
@ beautiful, ambitious, loving, on tn
!. very threshold Of youth and hope, sh
- was seized and torn from the world b
# the relentless hand Of unreason, an
~ cast into the midnight Of utter blanl
For forty years she has been bal
ished to an oblivion that is worse tina
death. Those who recall her. to min
- as a proud and inlperious beauty, woul
fail to recognize her today, all bent an
= broken, her snow-wbite hair framing
IS deeply furrowed with lines Of pain an
:, . grief. 49, n
:, She resides in the old royal castle {
. Bouchout, few hours drive fro
- Brussels Since she entered this r
J. treat she has been seen by no one on
: side Of her household, which is co
lducted in an imperial manne
EverYamonth Of the year Carlot1
holds mimic court. She presents I'll
rne1glh hers OF her household with gift
III which are Formally received pi
,rsl lures taken from the walls ,of II
a palace aro presented, and then the II
loving day are restored to their plac
to- merely to indulge her dement,,
i'd fancy.
Spacious grounds surround the pala
e. and here the insane empress driv
about frequently in her coach of stat