The Washington herald., 1911-08-28

II George Guelph. as he calls himself,
and who lives quietly among the placid
Brooklynites. in reality believes that he
has a better right to the British throne
than the George who has been crowned
recently, he has at least had the good
sense to say nothing for publication
about his being the true heir Of the late
King Edward. His claim may or may
not be founded. but being poor and ap-
parently a castaway without any proof
to substantiate his tale. he has done
well to drop 1t and remain quietly in
his obscurity.
II this Brooklyn pretender will cast
his eye over the romantic adventures
that befell another man. born to a
crown, but fated for misery, he ought
to be happy that his present lot Is no
worse
We all know the history Of the French
Dauphin Duke Of Normandy, known
to the world as Naundorff, who, his
followers aver. was cheated not only
out Of the crown, but of his parentage.
and lies buried in an unknown grave in
Holland. But there are others:
{ 1t was in January, 1917, that the
coronation of Philippe V. of France,
brought the French peers to the an
cient city of Rheims, where. for a mil
lennium and longer the holy oil has
been guarded In the cathedral where
with the anointed of God were anoint-
ed by the church. 1t was the custom
then for the Kings mother-in-law 10
aid the great mobiles in holding suspend
ed the crown over the head of the
new monarch. But a large number OF
the grandees refused to take their
seats beside that lady, the Countess
Mahaut d'Artois. They asserted pub
licly that the countess had poisoned
the predecessor of Philippe. the good
King Louis X, known as Saint Louis,
owing to the fact that 1t was he who
had brought about the first crusade of
the Christian knights to the Holy Land
to wrest Palestine from the unspeak-
able Turk.
1t was broadly alleged during the coro-
nation ceremonies that Countess dArtois
had played the part of a Borgia for the
purpose of seating on the throne Of France
her daughter Jeanne, the wife of the Due
de Poitieres, brother of the King. But
her dastardly scheme and deed came to
naught by the statement Of the court
physician that the widow Of the late
King Louis. Clementine, Princess OF
Hungary, would be delivered for p child
in due course Of time. The Duke d'Ar-
tois was appointed regent. On the 5th
of November. 1916. the duchess brought
forth a son, who was proclaimed Jean L.
The crime seemed useless, for her
daughter couldn't reign with a male
heir in sight But she wasn't easily
put down. 1t was her right. as the first
lady OF the court. to hold the infant
in the baptismal font. That very night
the infant prince died. Then the story
arose that In holding the nursing to
the font, the countess had either broken
its tiny bones or run a bodkin into its
tender flesh.
This was the reason the grand
seigneurs refused to join hands with the
in right, mounted the throne. But
Philippe was bound to take cognizance
of the dreadful charges, for they made
him owe the throne to a double muir
der. To get out of the difficulty as easily
as possible, Philippe agreed with his
mother-in-law to form a commission to
investigate.
The only testimony produced, as no
body cared to risk royal vengeance,
was the allegation of two "sorcerers,
who averred that the great lady had
sent for them and bought certain poi
son, the decoction OF which they alone
knew There was no post mortem over
the Kings corpse to find whether poison
had been administered, and the coun-
tess found 1t easy to refute the mere
word Of common folk. She even sue