The San Francisco call., 1910-12-11
ARCHDUKF Death
CAUSES A RUMPUS
Application for Registration Is
Met With New Stories
of Disappearance

The application that has been lodged
in the high chamberlain's court in
Vienna for the registration of the death
of the Archduke Johann Salvador is evil
IDENTIFY going to cause more trouble to
the legal authorities than they had any
reason 10 anticipate. The summons TO
"au persons having knowledge OF the
archduke" to inform the court of the
fact has already brought forth two
witnesses; and their stories which. If
they are nothing more, are interesting.
so far confirm each other that they
will require careful investigation be
fore the court can come to any de-
cision.
The arehduke, at the time of his dis
appearance. was a man OF brilliant at
tatnments - soldier, scientist. author
and musicians years OF age. He had
abandoned the Austrian court to live
In seclusion on the island of Orth. In
Lake Gmunden-SOme said from a dis
taste for the world; others because he
mad been refused the viceroyalty OF
BOSNIA and Herzegovina-and when he
came from his retirement he composed
ballet, fell in love with MeIH Stubel.
the premiere danseuse who figured in
IL; married her in a London registry
ONCE; and then took her 10 sea on his
tramp Santa Margherita and dfsap-
peared entirely, after resigning all his
titles and adopting the name OF Johann
Orth. says the London News
The Santa Margherita was an iron
sailing vessel OF 1900 tons. The owner.
after sailing from Chatham with a car
go Of cement for South America. had
trouble both with his crew and with
MS officers; obtained a new crew and
assumed the command himself at Bue-
nos Aires, and the ship left there July
u. 1880, ballasted with sand. to sail
through heavy gales around Cape Horn
TO Valparaiso, and has never been
heard OF since.
The fact that no member OF the crew
has ever been seen or been able to
communicate with his friends has sup
ported the theory that the ship went
down with all hands; but there have
often been wild stories, Incapable OF
proof, that the archduke was not on
board. and was now living the life of a
hermit somewhere on the South Amerf-
can continent This theory Is repeated
again in the "evidence" OF the two wit
neSseS who, seeing the portraits Of JO-
hann Orth published in the Austrian
papers, have prOfessed to recognize in
them man whom they have seen since
the presumed date Of the shipwreck
The first of them-an engineer named
Renaux-tells, with wealth OF detail.
now he met Johann Orth at BuenOs
Aires. and with him saw the Santa Mar
gherita sail away to her doom. Then
he assisted the stranger man of
| distinguished appearance, with a fair
| beard and a German accent. who de-
scrtbed himself as a member Of a noble
family-to find an "estancia" in the
disputed zone between Chile and Ar
gentina, and afterwards visited him
there several times. His name was then
Don Juan. and he had intrusted NJ
Renaux with q number of letters to
post for him in Europe A weak point
In the story is, OF course, that no re-
/ cipient OF any letter has come forward
/ but IT is believed by many people that
/ the late Austrian historian, Helfert,
| was IN communication with the miss
i Ing man, and the papers that he has
| left will. no doubt be carefully eX-
amined. The situation of this 'estan-
cia' is said to be in the region of
\ Cordoba. some is miles from a place
called Las Perdrices.
/ The second witness is Belgian ex-
plorer and scientist. III. G. LecOinte. who
commanded the Belgica in the expedi-
/ tion to the Antarctic in 1899 On his
return from the southern seas. he saws.
he started TO make his way into Pata-
gonia, and on the slopes of the Andes.
far away from any other habitation. he
met a solitary European. living alone
with his horses, his dogs, and his books.
/ This man, he declares. was OF distin-
| guished bearing, though it was evident
that he had been leading this solitary
/ life for some years; and he spoke
French, English, Russian and German
\ but his accent was that of a German or
Austrian. NJ. Lecointe spent eight days
with the solitary and. at later period,
three days more. He took a photo
/ graph of his host. but had the mfsfor-.
tune to get his photograph outfit
smashed IN his journey across the Pam
pas, but the recently published portraits
of the missing archduke are, he says,
/ 'incontestably those of the man with
whom I-spent several days in the winter
of 1S99"-more than nine years. that is.
after the Santa Margherita was lost at
/ sea.
/ Both in their description OF the
i stranger and in the place OF his retreat
-One finds him long way farther west
/ than the other an interval OF nine
years, but still in the same region-the
/ two travellers agree; and the stories
/ they have to tell viii be interesting
when further details are extracted from
them. whether the stranger proves to
/ be Johann Orth. or. as is stiu more
probable, some other misanthrope who
has found his happiness far from the
haunts of men.