The Washington herald., 1911-11-05
LassaIIe, Princess Hatfield,
and Helene Won Doenniges

say, Helene won Rackowitza-is dead
More than that, she is a suicide, despit,
her old age. This woman, whose nam,
was byword in all Europe In the early
7Gs, of the last century; she for the love
OF whom the great LassaIle threw ava,
his brilliant career by consenting to that
duel with Janko Won Rackowitza: she
who had inspired burning love in more
than one man. at last paid the penalty
by being unable to survive the death OF
4 her last "sou mate" A brief paragraph
in the presk of Europe the other day
simply recorded the fact that Helene vor
Doenniges committed suicide at Munich,
the very city that had seen her greatest
] triumphs and her-yes, her damnable be-
| trayal Of the most gifted Jew of modern
times, and that she was Inferred CLAN
destinely," her church not permitting
suicides to be buried In the sacred ground
Of Catholic cemetery.
Time was when Helene shared with the
sprightly Muncheners the fame OF Lola
Monies, the seducer of a king. the bal
lerina who swayed the political system
| OF Bavaria. But. though Lola succeeded
In beguiling a monarch into ways that
brought on a revolution, she never fig-
ured with such absorbing interest as did
this Helene, who outdid anything any en-
chantress ever achieved, when she ended
the career of Ferdinand Lassalle, the
forerunner of Benjamin Disraeli. Who
that knew the woman, "Iassalle's Hell
ene," as We were wont to call her In
those long past days, would ever, could
ever, have thought that she would end as
suicide, as IL wearied of the publicity
that had centered upon her personality,
that had made her the most talked OF
woman In European society for years.
dying without the accouterment, the mis-
en-scene Of a final pageant of her 50
often broken" SO often mended heart.
1t almost incredible that this woman,
for whom the great Lassalle sacrificed
his glorious mind, would take her out
ward self on because her last affinity (the
third or fourth had passed away. She
had held the center of the stage so long
that she dreaded the loneliness and OBJ
scurity OF old age. During more than
forty years the idyl of LassaIle and the
lovely countess has been talked OF as
the most conspicuous love tragedy of
modern times. 1t is even the motif of
George Meredith's romance, THE Tragi-
Comedians"
more than ready for his fascinating the
ories as the first apostle OF that mysticism
OF those days which now is known as
socialism He began with the reaIiza-
ton of his mystic mastery in speech, con-
WINGED that he was preordained to undo
all that had grown up in wrong. He set
at the mission of re-making the social
system. He felt sure Of an unconouer-
able force within himself, and he had
proof that he wasn't self-deluded by the
tmplicitness with which the millions ac-
cepted his explanations. First he had con-
ceived the career OF a scientist; he had
mingled assiduously with the learned Of
his time, Humboldt among others. He
had won their ear, and, by a work on
Heraclites. an essay on THE System Of
Rights" convinced them that
genius OF the first order was among them.
Hailed as an inspired thinker, buttressed
by immense study and research, his path
way to the head Of the philosophic world
Of his day seemed assured, when he
strayed, or, perhaps, was pushed by over
governing impulses, into the sentimental
orbit that was to I'LL his being until his
spectacular ending. .H
Just as he was on the high road to |
fame as a peoples guide and constructive |
idealist, a leader OF the Berlin high life |
the Princess OF Hatzfeldt, as the victim |
Of a hateful and cruel husband, attracted |
a great deal Of attention at the German |
capital, then only the capital OF Prussia. |
II is a fact that the princess had the |
sympathy Of all. and it is, |
therefore, but small wonder that the |
man whose heart bled for the woes Of |
the neither strata Of mankind in their |
bondage and who by nature was very
should go out to her.
Lassafle constituted himself her counsel,
FOR he had mastered the law as well, and
he counseled the princess to escape from
he sequestration imposed by her tyrant
husband. When the case came before the
the oratory Of the young cham
1ion broke the austere reserve of the pc
iantic Prussian routiniers. Berlin juris-
,onsults had never before listened to such
mpassioned periods, such Mirabeau-like
lpostrophes to sentiment. poetry, and
ogic in defense of a forlorn aristocrat
whose fortune and person were the sport
II a Hbertlne. The fame of Lassalle's
,leadings for the Princess Hatzfeldt made
lis name known. He was the curiosity,
he marvel of the German people. At a
,ound he had achieved the leadership
4 the masses and became their spokes-
nan.
Writing to a friend, Lassalle describes
he situation: Then arose, an i'm
,uissant young Jew" Volumes
ould not paint the man more exhaus-
lively. What he had undertaken was {
impossible. Its very impossibility was ,
he inspiration that moved that wonder
ul man to undertake the task and gave
i'm the force to win.
The Countess Helene, in her retrospect
( half a century. several years ago,
ould make but futile attempts to re- {
i've before her minds eye the giant she ,
ad in those days met in Berlin society. ,
1hich by this time had begun to lionize !,
.assalle. Apparently to the day Of her
cath she was governed by egotish,
in the consciousness that her {
wiles, paired with her incon- c
estible charms-she had the light blond I
air land such hair), Of the daughters =
the Vikings Of old, set or gloriously
18th pair of eyes OF the deepest azure.
creature made to love and to be loved.
ad undone the mightiest man that the
eople had claimed as their own since !
ne days Of Jefferson.
She was the daughter Of a Bavarian c
tate-Councillor of Munich. She and S
assalle met under the gaze of high I
ociety. They both knew that they were '
en- scene" but the astonishing outcome O
either appeared to anticipate, for while s
Of endeavor in any dIrec- c
on was immanent in Lassalle, he could a
ot gauge the fimsiness OF a coquette's Il
18th. Her family refused him. She de- a
daI \ - l.