The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-10-15
MANY ROYAL HoMICIDEs.
Series OF Grim Stories from the
COurfs os EurnuP

Oh the DIOOu royal nave
the lives of their fellow men.
1t is always an accident, of course;
at least, so the official journals say, If
they say anything at all.
Only the other day an aged Servian
peasant received an official notice that
his son, private in the Seryian army,
was dead, and that the body was being
sent home for burial.
Nothing was said as TO the cause Of
death, and when the coffin arrived the
old man insisted on having it opened.
On the lid being removed. the soldiers
family were amazed to find a bullet
wound in the body. Suspicious of foul
play were aroused. Inquiries were
made, and at last the truth was drag
ged from the reluctant officials.
An officer, they said had been prac-
ticing with his revolver, and, seeing the
soldier with a cigarette in his mouth,
he had bet that he could knock the to-
bacco ash from the tip of the cigarette.
He raised his revolver, fired-and miss.
ed
who was the officer-the man who
murdered my SOM" the old man asked.
They tried to put him off with all
sorts of explanations, but at last he
forced them to answer his question.
ut was His Highness the Crown
Prince!"
Last July hunting party, which In
cluded the Emperor of Austria, went to
shoot at Mitten Weissenbach, near
Ischl. In a surprisingly short time
they returned to Ischl, one of the party
having been injured.
An inspired" communication was
later sent to the press TO the effect that
Baron Krieghammer. Minister of War
for the Austro- Hungarian Empire, had
fallen while shooting and injured him
self.
The Baron, who was an old man of
10, fingered for some time in great ag
ony. but ten days after the accident he
died
The public accepted the official &c
count of the affair and promptly forgot
about 1t. Some weeks afterward the
facts began to filter through from court
circles, and without it actually becom
Ing public property the real story OF
that fatal hunting expedition was whis
pered cautiously about in Vienna.
The true facts were simply that
about n quarter of an hour after the
party had started, the Emperor's grand
son, Prince George OF Bavaria, fired
the first shot, hitting Baron Kriegham
mer in the thigh. The minister fell tc
the ground with a groan. Francis 10
seph, who rushed to his assistance
found him lying in a pool of blood.
The unfortunate minister was carried
back to Ischl, where attempts were
made to remove the bullet. The Off
cial version of the accident was only
issued when it was seen that the Bar
on's case was hopeless, and that recov
cry was impossible.
If motorist who runs down an6
kills any one may be classed as q muir
derer, then at the present moment 8
murderer sits on a European throne.
While travelling in his motor car al
Pernersdorf the King of Saxony rar
over farmer named Starcke. The
man was killed almost instantly. King
Frederick, who was one of the princt
pals In the most unpleasant royal scan
DIAL of recent years, was urged to grant
some sort of compensation to the deaG
mans family With truly regal mag
Elficence His Majesty generously offer
ed them $50.
The final tragedy of Ludwig III. OF
Bavaria has never been satisfactorily
explained and as both the chief actors
are dead ii must ever remain his
torical mystery.
Briefly, the affair happened in tisis
way: Ludwig had been pronounced
mad. He was deposed and taken by
DR.. Won Gudden, specialist in insan
ity, to the Castle of Berg on the Lake
OF Starnberg.
One evening the King and the doctor
went out walking together-and they
never came back.
Some hours later their bodies were
found floating in the lake. No one
knows how they came there. INSPIRED
communications said that Ludwig ha6
thrown himself into tie lake, and thai
DR.. Won Gudden had lost his life IL
trying to rescue him.
But how, then, can one explain the
scratches on Won Gudden's face and the
bruise, as though from the blow of .
fist? The King must have hated him
for 1t was he who, with diabolical tact
lessness, told him bluntly that he was
mad.
Terrible things were whispered. Th,
story most widely believed was that
Ludwig had drowned his companion
and then, in frenzy Of madness
plunged into the lake.-Pearson's Week
w.