The Washington herald., 1911-06-28
KING LEOPOLD,S WILL.

But he kept all that he had made dur
ing his long life by investing their in
heritance.
In November, 1909. believing that he
had successfully concealed his financial
! trickeries. the King went to France to
pay visit to his baroness ut Baling-
court, where he remained three days.
Five days after his return to his sum-
mer palace at Lacken he was stricken
with partial paralysis, whereupon his
daughters hastened to the dying King.
All were denied admission save Clemen-
tine. who at the time was not yet mar
ried to the Bonaparte prince.
On the 18th of December, Leopold
had misgivings as to the completeness
OF his disinheriting provisions. Then and
there the dying man made sixth will,
endowing the various trusts with
| "A, 900, 900 francs, which after all was only
part of his gains from draining the
Congo. Even on the operating table,
when the surgeons were ready to try the
last hope, the moribund sovereign gave
evidence Of his malignity. He gasped
out to Baron Cofflnet: Inventory every
thing else; open the armories, visit the
| stables, the kitchens; they mustn't have
a thing"
I!
! Snoy and Pochez and hade them take
three trunks to the bank Office. but said
! nothing of their contents When the
| time came the King gave his confidential
valet a written order to take the trunks
from the bank office and deliver them to
a woman who would meet him on the
! road. AS he rode with the trunks the
/ valet accidentally looked over the
schedule, or inventory, of the trunks con-
| and stock. Presently the woman met
! the carriage; she was in the royal auto
! mobile and proved to be Baroness
, Vaughan. The trunks were delivered to
her and whisked away over the French
border.
During the recital Of this stiffness the
court room was like a theater, for people
| arose to get a view Of the witness and
| hear his extraordinary disclosure. He
spoke Of the woman always as Mile.
Blanche de la Croix,' though the Arch
bishop Of Malines has declared that a
marriage rite was performed between her
and the monarch shortly before he died.
A few days after the Kings death
! there were reports that mysterious car
| goes had reached Balincourt, but in spite
OF the utmost exertions OF the French
| law nothing definite could be proven
against the baroness. She had a right to
| receive whatever the monarch sent her,
and the Belgians are now curious to
learn whether, even when proven that
the dying King dispatched her 81, O,OOO, 900
in stock, she can be dispossessed.
The contention is that these values
were the rightful heritage Of the daugh-
ters. 1t appears that Louise wasn't
~ he f-s.-
| ways since her divorce led the world
to believe. Warned OF the purpose of
her father. she had managed to keep an
eye on his doings both in love and
| finance. Baroness Vaughan, however,
having the rights of a legitimate wife,
| may claim certain dover right in some
| OF the millions the King conveyed to
her. Who knows but ii was to fortify
| herself for the struggle with the per-
| sistent Louise that the baroness, a few
| months after the Kings death, married
Frenchman OF high character to act as
father to the Kings children and to
safeguard some OF those millions for
their future. The church having sane
toned the union between Leopold and
the baroness, some future day may see
those sons pose as pretenders to the
throne of Belgium.
Wonder what the present King of the
Belgians, Albert. thinks of the unkindly
| character which his late uncle IL de-
| veloping under the searching questioning
| OF the lawyers. He had never inter-
| vened to effect compromise in the mat
ter, as royalty generally does at what
ever cost. 1t is true he never was
on intimate terms with his uncle but
kings, as a rule, dislike disclosures that
tend to- bring discredit and disrepute
upon monarchs. FLANEUR.
Copyright, 1911, By Court Gossip syndicatel