Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-16

MONG the "unwritten laws" one
~ of the most notable is that which,
especially on the continent of
Europe, requires that the indignity Of
fered to a mans wife, his sister, his
daughter or his mother shall be pun
ished by him without having recourse
to legal proceedings, cntailing a pub
licity calculated to still further distress
the victim Of the affront. Anyone who
fails to fulfill his obligations in this re-
spect exposes himself to the contempt
OF his fellow men and to an ostracism
which is worse than death. Moreover,
few juries could he found to convict
man who, in obedience of obligations of
this kind. has had occasion to intlict
serious or fatal injuries upon the Of
fender.
Among the several stories current
concerning the mysterious tragedy of
Meyerling, which robbed the venerable
emperor of Austria of his only son,
the most generally accepted version Ia
that he was slain by the unCles of Bar
oness Marie Netsora or else that he
was subjected by them to such bodily
injuries that he blew his brains out,
the men having learned of the princes
intention to- cut adrift the girl in COM
pliance with his pledge TO his parents,
instead of marrying her after securing
phanie.
one of the uncles perished at Meyer
ling at the time Of the death of the
crown prince and Of the baroness. But
no attempt was ever made by the au-
thorities to follow up those who par
tlcipated in this shocking drama. And
the surviving relatives of the girl, even
with the imputation resting at their
doors Of being responsible for the death
of the heir to the throne-that is to
say. of Il crime construed by the code
as high treason-suffer no social let
or hindrance it being assumed that If
they are guilty of what is ascribed to
them by popular rumor they merely
acted in accordance with the dictates
of "unwritten law" failure to comply
with the provisions of which would
have branded them with disgrace.
Nor is this by any means the only
instance where a royal death has gone
unpublished because of it's having been
inflicted in obedience to the dictates of
unwritten law. Duke Eugene of Wur-
temberg, whose widow is a sister Of
Queen Olga of Greence, is generally un-
derstood to have been killed in 1877 by
the husband of a lady OF rank who
after being betrayed, had been so
shamefully abused by the duke that she
appealed to the man whose name she
bore for protection.
1t is added that the lady in question,
when she saw the duke PROSTATE on the
ground in death throes, followed the eX-
ample of that Countess Won Platen who,
$50 years earlier. had stamped on the
face of Count Philip Koenigsmarck
when he was expiring from the wounds
inflicted by assassins in the royal pal
ace of Hanover on emerging from the
apartments of Queen Sophie Dorothea
of England.
The name of the slayer of Duke Eu
gene of Wurtemberg was a matter of
common gossip, not only at Stuttgart,
but likewise throughout Europe at the
time. But he was never called to ac-
count for any share that he might have
had in the matter, it being assumed
that he had acted in accordance with
the dictates of "unwritten law" which
required the defense of his honor More
over, the fact that he lived happily with
his wife afterward and that neither
suffered any loss Of social prestige goes
to confirm the report, according to
which the lady was an unwilling VIC
tim of the royal Don Juan.
In Brussels, in the Avenue Louise,
ton herewith, and remained a re-
serted house where Prince Baldwin of
Belgium, favorite nephew of King Leo
pOld ana nelr apparent 10 IHe lHrOHe,
was killed by an indignant husband of
princely but not royal rank , In this
instance however, the tragedy was fol-
lowed by a separation of the noble
couple involved.
Baldwin of Belgium, in spite of his
popularity, was universally regarded as
having received his deserts, and his as
sailant was looked upon as only having
complied with the requirements of the
code of social ethics. Nor was he ever
troubled by the authorities in connec-
ton Herewith, and remained a re-
spected member of his class and of the
community in general and of society,
both at home and abroad.
When the late Edward Parker Deacon
of Boston found a. Abeille a French
clubman and race horse owner, in the
apartments of Mrs. Deacon at night in
Il hotel at Nice and shot him as he en-
deaVored to conceal himself behind
sofa, he acted strictly in accordance
with the demands of the unwrittten
law, and it may safely be assumed that
if he had been a Frenchman instead
of a foreigner, and an American at