The Washburn leader., 1908-05-29

Concorde draped.
Then, at the very moment when It
seemed that England would be COM
PEELED to beat back an invading army
from her shores there came an unex-
pected lull. The British press had
been predicting declaration of war
within "a hours, when the change took
place. At the first days delay the
we'll informed wondered, and when
two days had passed, and finally three,
it became certain that some very un.
usual event had taken place in Ber-
lin.
Rumorss began to creep to London,
to Paris, and soon the whole world
knew, despite Germany's attempts to
keep the matter secret. that on thu
very eve of a crisis the kaiser, the
most dominant figure in Europe, had
disappeared. Nor was that all.
AS if to emphasize the fact that It
could have been through no mental
alteration that he had gone, the chan
cellor of Germany had disappeared at
the same time. That something mex
plicable had taken place was known
within a few hours after the kaiser
and chancellor were last seen. On
the night of their disappearance they
had been closeted together with the
/ most trusted military adviser of the
empire. This latter officer, fatigued
, by duties which had tried him beyond
his years, had left the consultation
at midnight. In the room where it
was held there was telephone used
only by certain privileged ones who,
by means of a stated signal to the
switchboard operator, could gain COM
munication. Who these were none but
the kaiser knew.
This operator told the secret service
men of the empire that a few minutes
past midnight he had answered call
and received the. password which
caused him to make the desired con.
nection with the emperor's telephone,
and conversation of some minutes
ensued, which, owing to the arrange
! ment of the instruments, he was un-
able to hear.
| The guards of the palace were
called to the council room and in
structed by the kaiser in person to adj
NIT man who would present plain
card within few minutes. They re-
ported that a carriage drove up to the
outer gates and gentlemanly appear
ing stranger who spoke perfect Ger
man handed out slip of pasteboard
on which nothing whatever was
printed or engraved. Fearing, despite
their masters instructions, that the
man might be an anarchist, the guards
had hesitated, whereupon the visitor,
reading their suspicious, told them
that they might search him If they
wished, which they did. This was
carried out with even more than Or
binary care, and the man was found
to have absolutely nothing in his pock-
cts. He was dressed in the regulation
dinner suit, as If he had lately come
from some club.
Still suspecting something unusual
in such singular visit and admission
at this hour of the morning, the guards
escorted him to the council room and
waited at attention in the doorway
when his presence was announced. To
their surprise the emperor smiled as
If in recognition, bade his visitor
Good evening" in English, and dis
missed the soldiers. Reassured by this
action, the men had resumed their &C.
customed posts, thinking no more
of the matter, and regarding it simply
as one of the unusual appointments
which are made in such troublous
times.
D. In less than an hour, during all of
which time the guard at the door had
heard voices in seeming conversation
participated in by the three persons
with the room, he heard the emperor
and the chancellor burst into most un-
usual and hearty laughter. A few
minutes later he was surprised when
the emperor came from the room and
went to his dressing chamber, from
which he emerged in the plainest OF