Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1911-01-05

This Is story whose chief events
are still well remembered: the tragic
romance of a depraved Balkan king
and the ambitious daughter Of a Ser
Wan cattle dealer.
Servia is little country on the Bal
kan peninsula. Once 1t belonged to
Turkey. Since winning freedom it has
been jealousy watched by Austria and
Russia. 1t is buffer" state, from a
political point of view and is inhabit-
ed by crude, primitive, semi-O Oriental
people. Its history for the past CEN
fury has been of a comic opera sort,
interpreted here and there with hor-
rible tragedies. Nearly every ruler
has been murdered or deposed.
| In 1859 King Milan came to the
throne Of Servia. He descended from
peasant and was one of the most
dissolute men in Europe. He gov
erned abominably and maltreated his
queen, Natalie.
Alexander, who next was proclaimed
king, was brave and of powerful build,
but he was as wicked as his father
and far more ignorant. When he was
III. c..u. little more than
Dealers Daughter. the influence of
Draga Maschin, a beautiful and fasci-
mating woman, who was double his
own age and only two years younger
than his own mother. Draga had be-
gun life with small prospects but
boundless ambition. Her father was
a cattle dealer named Lunjevitza
When The girl was II she married
Col. Maschin of the Servian army.
Next, she managed to win the favor
Of Queen Natalie and became one Of
her ladies-in-waiting. That was how
Draga happened to meet Alexander.
From the first she set herself, heart
and soul, to win the hayward boys
affections. She succeeded, and &C.
Quired a mastery over his mind that
made him obey slavishly her lightest
within. Thus began In 1891 a 12-year
romance that was the scandal Of Eu-
rope. 1t was finally Draga Maschin,
not Alexander, who really governed
Tor misgoverned) Servia.
During Alexander's boyhood the az
fairs Of state were managed by a
council Of regents. One night, when
he was II, Alexander invited these re.
gents to dine with him at his palace
In Belgrade. After dinner he rose and
announced that henceforth he would
not require their services, but would
rule Servia to suit himself. The re-
gents protested. Alexander had them
arrested on a charge of treason and
proclaimed himself king. The trick
amused the Servians and they stood
by the plucky boy, not knowing the
whole Idea was Draga's. But his
mother, Natalie, realized this and,
seeing how dangerous an influence
Draga had gained over the young
king, begged Alexander to Danish the
woman from Belgrade. He refused.
Draga. hearing Of the request, easily
persuaded him to order his mother
out Of the country.
With Natalie no longer near, Draga
ran affairs as she chose. Through her
meddling Alexander won the Ill will
Of the army and managed to grow
daily more and more unpopular with
his people at large. To make matters
worse, Col. Maschin, in grief over his
wife's desertion of him, committed sui |
eide. His brother, Alexander Maschin,
swore revenge. The climax Of the love |
story came in 1900. when Alexander
formally made known his betrothal to |
Draga. The Servians we're furious. |
But, on August IL Of that year, the
marriage occurred. Alexander loved |
Draga madly and was wholly under |
her spell. Moreover (ike Napoleon |
m.), he could find no European prin-
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