The Washington herald., 1911-06-19
PLOTS AGAINST ROYALTY.

Il r.
and source Of intense anxiety to the
police Of Europe, and 1t adds also to the
cares and worries Of royal parents. Very
few imagine the fear which haunts- the
Car and Czarina, the King and Queen OF
Italy or King Alfonso and his Queen
Victoria OF Spain. In countries of great
unrest plans OF kdnappers of royal chill
dren have TO be guarded against as much
as plots OF assassins, and trusted servants
are on guard over them night and day.
BY stealing member of reigning
| house political agitators may succeed in
| changing dynasty. So was the unsuc-
cessful attempt on King Alfonso, when he
was child of four years, the plot of the
more daring members OF the Oarlist party,
| who believed that byscarrying of the lit
tie fellow and holding him as a hostage
they would be able to induce his mother
to surrender in his name the Spanish
| throne to the Legitimists.
One OF the most daring kidnapping
plots was that which resulted in Prince
Alexander OF Bulgaria being seized on the
night Of August n, 1886, a year before he
abdicated. and carried off into Russian
| territory, until the protests which were
sent to the Gar from nearly every court
| in Europe led him to order the release of
| that prince and to give him safe conduct
ping was to be found in the fact that
Alexander, who owed HIS election as ruler
of Bulgaria to the influence of Russia,
declined to redeem certain ante-electiOn
promises which he had made 20 Gar
Alexander III and his government.
Doubtless II was hoped to. force the prince
to keep his word by a period of captiv-
ity; or, again, he might have "disap-
peared," not unusual mode of proceed
ure adopted in Russia, Turkey, or the
Balkans. The fact is that it has been
stoutly maintained, and is to this day by
the Sublime Porte, the former suzerain
OF Bulgaria. that Prince Alexander's alb
dication year later was because of a
pledge extorted of him while in Russian
captivity.
Prince Alexander was succeeded by
Prince Ferdinand, who also on two occa-
stons has been in danger of being kid
mapped by plotters among his own sub
jects, who, dissatisfied with his rule, ar
ranged to seize him at night and carry
him to the Businesses of the Macedonian
border mountains, there to compel him
TO abdicate his throne.
Failing in this, they endeavored to steal
his children. In 1900, when the Crown
Prince Boris and his brother Cyril were
six and five years old, respectively, a de-
termined attempt was made to kidnap
both from Sandrowo, the country seat of
Prince Ferdinand.
The little boys were at play when sud-
denly there appeared on the scene some
men In Macedonian garb, who seized the
children In their arms and rushed toward
the hills. But the attendants were quick
ly in pursuit and the men were compelled
to abandon the little fellows before they
Tnanhnd ha nf hn
One of them was shot. and from him the
details Of that conspiracy were obtained.
A remarkable story of how Fenians
plotted to kidnap Queen Victoria on the
occasion of her visit to Ireland in the au-
tumn of 1s49 was revealed at the trial of
John O'Leary, the noted Fenian leader,
who died at Dublin only a couple of years
ago.
The plan was to kidnap the Queen while
she was visiting the country seats Of the
Duke of Leinster and other Irish noble
men, to carry her of into the Businesses of
the Wicklow Mountains and to hold her
there until she would order her govern
ment to grant home rule to Ireland. 1t
may have been a wildcat scheme, but
II would have been carried out, and
perhaps even might have succeeded. but
for the unexpected serious illness of one
Of the leaders Of the plot.
Ludwig II. King of Bavaria, and the
predecessor OF the present insane King
Otto, in 1886 conceived a plot for the kid
mapping Of the present King of Italy.
The Kings plan was to capture the
youthful crown prince (as he then was)
and to carry him of across the border OF
Italy to some remote castle of the Tyrol
and to keep him there in captivity until
his father, the late King Humbert, con-
sented to restore Rome to the papal re-
gfme and to withdraw with his court
from the Eternal City back to Turin, the
former seat of his government.
1t was just about at that time that the
Bavarian government considered it its
duty to place King Ludwig under re-
straint. 1t was declared that the ruler was
music and opera mad. The fact IS,
King Ludwig did spend fabulous sums on
Wagner and Wagnerian operate crea-
tions. The old "Schloss" at Mnnich is
filled with paintings "aI fresco," where
the walls OF room after room salon after |
salon, have paintings of the leading
scenes in the "Rheingold," ''Siegfried,"
or the ''Gotterdammerung," interspersed
by legendery, pictures OF the "Amelun- |
gen" and 'Nibelungen"
More than that, that spendthrift King |
actually had part of the upper portion |
Of that castle converted into a lake in !
order to have the Swan Song" of ''Lo- |
hengrin'' performed in drastic reality, |
with himself as the sole audience. The |
loyal Bavarians might have overlooked |
all this extravaganza on the erection of |
perfect gems of architectural art in out |
of-the-way "waldschloesser," but when |
the plot of mad Ludwig to kidnap the |
crown prince OF Italy In his frantic effort |
to please the Pope Cthe Wittelsbach
house Is strict Catholic) became known |
and King Humbert demanded an expla- |
nation the Bavarian cabinet was forced |
to act. Fortunately. King Ludwig and |
his attendant a prominent alienist, were |
accidentally" drowned in Lake Stark |
emberg. / remember well that accident" |
and the official investigation that fol- |
lowed to spare that country the stigma of |
a kings suicide. For 1t was nothing else. |
the physician being dragged down to his |
death by the madman, who was deter |
mined upon suicide.
Sledmere House, the famous seat. and |
the East Riding. of Yorkshire, of Sir |
Tatton Sykes, baronet, which recently |
was DESTROYED by fire, causing the loss of |
the fine library, with its unique and valu- |
able collection OF decorations and carv- |
Ings, contained priceless paintings and |
y was saved. The mansion was in the I
best style of Georgian architecture and |
was erected in 1850.
The family pictures by Romney and |
rarities by Walker and Sir Richard /
Grant. as well as the famous Adam fur |
nfture, the great Apollo statue, Weighing |
more than ton, and rare miniatures, /