The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-08
In Gutenberg, Once Favorite of
Emperor William,
Taken Into Custody ON a Charge
of Perjury.
TAKEN TO A HOSPITAL
From His Castle Where He Was
Confined by Illness.
Accusations Result From Trial
of Editor Harden.

Berlin, May S.-Prlnce Philip Zu
Gutenberg was today placed under
actual arrest. The crown prosecutor
took this step as a result of the testi-
mony given by two. men at the
princes bedside yesterday to the eff
feet that Prince Zu Eulenoerg had
been guilty of wrongful actions with
them rs years ago.
Prince Zu Gutenberg was involved
in the court scandal in Berlin that
grew out of the charges brought by
Maxmilien Harden, editor of Die
Zukunft last summer At the Sec
ond Harden trial the court declared
that all the charges made by Har-
den were absolutely without founda-
ton. After the termination of the
started proceedings against Eulen-
berg and the arrest of today is the
outcome. The prince was taken into
custody at his castle at Liebenberg
and brought in an ambulance auto
mobile forty miles to the Charity
ing a further investigation of a
charge of perjury, made against him.
The princes arrest is taken to
mean the irretrievable ruin of this
brilliant man, who was at one time
a confidential friend of Emperor
to his majesty during the greater part
of his reign than any other German
subject. He might have been chan
cellor of the empire if he had not re-
fused the responsibility incident to
this post. This he did, possibly be-
cause stories of secret misconduct
nave long been circulated against
him, so that he has lived on the brink
of disclosure for the past ten years
He voluntarily gave up the position of
German ambassador at Vienna in
l902 because, as was commonly gos-
siped at the time, a group of his
enemies threatened him with ex-
poSure.
After resigning at Vienna the prince
returned to Berlin, where. he was often
Prince Zu Gutenberg advised the en-
peror in political matters has been
made by men who sought to displace
the prince in the imperial confidence
by intimating that there was danger
to the state in the alleged fact that
the emperor turned from his consti-
tutional advisers to a friend behind a
screen who was responsible to no one
but his majesty himself This con-
stantly repeated statement never has
been confirmed, but everybody in Off
cial life has known that Emperor Will
lam was delighted with the compan-
ionship Of the prince whose conversa-
tiOn was always charmful. full of wit
anecdote and dramatic climaxes, nat
ural and easy, and touched, now and
then, with graceful and sentimental
expressions. His epigrams We're more
feared than those of any other tongue
about the court. The prince is a gifted
writer, and is the author of no less
than eleven volumes of fairy tales,
short stories and poems and seyeral
plays which he published under the
name Svenson.
The princes charm of manner did
not desert him today. He is a sick
man and the joints Of his legs are
swollen from neuritis. but when a
physician, representing the examining
judge, informed him that he was well
enough to be taken a prisoner to the
hospital, he quickly called his valet,
who dressed him with difficulty, the
princes amiable talk being interrupt
ed every now and then by grimaces of
pain.
AS the prince in the second Harden
trial at Berlin swore to his innocence
of the practice insinuated by Harden in
Die Zukunft, the presentation against
him is based upon the charges of per-
jury. Police agents watched him
through all last night, standing in a
room adjoining his sleeping apartment
and keeping him under observation
through an open door. The prince was
restless until about midnight, from
which hour he slept quietly until long
after daybreak. One of his sons who
has been his constant companion re-
Gently accompanied him to the door of
the hospital 1t is possible that the
prince will be released in $3.50, 900 bail.
Prince Zu Gutenberg is presumed to
have in his possession a great many
letters, possibly more than one hum
dred, from Emperor William contain
ing expressions of the imperial estimate
of leading personages in Germany and
of some European sovereigns. The re-
ports concerning these letters probably
are exaggerated, but even so there
would appear to be enough truth in the
rumor to place it within the princes
power to create much embarrassment
by their publication.