The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-23

, reigned In the state department. Lud- wig would receive none of his ministers, and what little business he consented to do through the medium of few
 menials. The King gave his commands
 from behind closed door, the person
 receiving them signifying that he under
 stood by scratching prearranged signal
 on the woodwork.
 There were rare occasions when Ludwig would admit outsiders to his presence,
 and the persons had to enter his room stopping and refrain from looking at his face. Silence was imposed on an and those who communicated with the mon- arch had to do so by signs. It was about this time that Ludwig used to go abroad dressed in the costume of Louis XIV, and with an ermine lined pur- pie robe around him and the Bavarian
 crown cooked upon his head One day he
 summoned Privy Councillor von Lohr and communicated to him a desire that a kingdom should be obtained in which
 Ludwig alone should be absolute, and it { is related solemnly as fact that the councillor entered into correspondence
 with the Sultan of Turkey as to whether 1 the Ottoman monarch might not be dis
 posed to exchange the Island of Cyprus I for the Kingdom of Bavarial
 | It was Ludwigs indebtedness which | contributed largely to the catastrophe of | 1886. The finances of the royal household | had been put in order in 1884 through a | loan of $l,S75,000, but before the year was | finished Ludwig had accumulated fresh
 debts amounting to sl.625,oOo. The Kings | passion for building was responsible for
 most of these debts and 1t was his won't
 to say when he spoke at all that building !. was his sole pleasure, and If it was pre- !: vented nothing would be left to him but 1 death or to leave "the wretched country 1 Pressed by debts, Ludwig ordered agents l to go to the capitals of nearly every coun- 1 try in Europe to negotiate loans. He ] sent them even to Turkey and Persia 1 and Brazil. He went so far to com mand the organization of 8 band of royal ! highwaymen to replenisn his exchequer. ] The King was devoted to inanimate ob- ! jects, and there was 2 tree on the shores 1 of Lake Starnberg which he never passed ], without raising his hands in a gesture 1 of benediction. There was q marble pill ! lar in the Castle Linderhof which he
 never passed without caressng it. He 1 made persons in his entourage follow his ] example in these fances, and Hessel- l schwerd. the court quarternaster, was ! compelled to kneel before the portrait 1 of woman that is believed to have been | a likeness of Marie Antonette. That 1 Queen and Louis XIV. were Ludwig's 1 favorite historical idols and in his imag
 ination he would entertain them sumptu- ously.
 , Toward the last the Kings treatment !, of his servants was brutal, A stable boy /, whom he hurled against a wall is believed | to have died of his injuries.
 l study of Chinese ceremonial led Lud- | wig to make 1t part of his daily life ] so that servants who offended him were 1 compelled to prostrate themselves on their l faces before him.
 l The madman had strong antipathy 1 to the German Crown Prince, and outlined ' a scheme to Hesselschwerd to commission ] band of robbers to kidnap the prince. | imprison him in a cave and there feed | him on bread and water. This was in 1 1884, and in that year Hesselschwerd also l was commanded to put War Minister | Meiliger into ta castle dungeon and think | out some terrifying mode of punishment ! for the minister of finance bcc4nse of l his reports on the royal indebtedness. 1 Two instalments of these revelations concerning Ludwig have appeared thus far, and the remainder of the seras is awaited with interest.