New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-05-04
COUNTESS lARiSCH.

have precipitated the crisis by her ac-
uvity.
COUNTESS LARiscH.
The Countess Marie Larisch, born
Baroness Won Wsllersee. was the daugh-
ter Of Duke Ludwig OF Bavaria and his
morganatlc wife. the beautiful actress,
Henrietta Mendel. The duke was the
brother of Elizabeth of Austria, of
Sophia, ex-Queen of Naples. and Of the
Duchess Of Alencon. who persisted in the
charity bazaar fire in Paris. These Illus
trious women were, therefore, aunts or
his only child by his actress-wife, whom
all the members Of the august Hapsburg-
Wittelsbach connection highly respected
and treated as an equal. In fact, accord
ing to the countess's autobiography, My
Past" Gust published in this country and
copyright 1913. by G. p. Putnam's Sons
the Empress Elizabeth CAunt Cissie,' as
she called herr took her up when she was
fourteen. and made her her conhdante
two years later.
The book, whose subtitle is "Reminis-
censes of the Courts of Austria and or
Bavaria. together with the True Story
Of the Events Leading Up to the Tragic
Death Of Rudolph of Austria is, in It's
ultimate intent, an explanation by the
countess of the utterly innocent and in
voluntary nature of her connection with
the Meyerling tragedy. One Of her sons
killed himself after having read the DARK
stories that are told of her share in the
double tragedy. Therefore, in order that
her surviving children may know that sne
was guiltless. she has written these
pages. She was, she explains, made
cats paw by her INSCRIPTIONS COUSIN
Rudolph. and by the little Vetsera. she
believed that she was aiding in bringing
about a separation between these two
about whom all Vienna was talking; they,
encouraging her In this belief, spun the
web into which she stumbled, and used
her TO bring about the final meeting from
which there was no return. The countess
does not, therefore. explain away the es-
tabnshed facts She puts upon them an
entirely different, and, as she afilrms' the
only true Interpretation.
A CHRONICLE OF SCANDALS.
But most Of the way her pages are an
amazing chronicle of imperial and royal
two august houses to which she is relat-
ed. Francis Joseph. Elizabeth OF Aus
tria, Rudolph, his wife Stephanie OF Bel
GUM, Louis of Bavaria, Edward VII
when Prince of Wales, the members OF
the noble circles in which she moved
none is allowed to escape her vitriolic
PEN She outdoes the ex-crown princesses
Of Saxony in her vindictiveness, until at
last she stands forth, by her own show
ing, as the only normal and innocent
member of q group OF well-born degen-
crates. sinners. plotters, unnatural par
ents and children, without honor or sense
of obligation.
Especially does she turn against her
benefactor. the Empress Elizabeth OF
Austria, whom she describes as in her
earlier years a selfish woman OF the
world. who used her as a shield for her
own nirtations, to put It mildly, who
taught her a cynical philosophy OF life,
and who having used her for her own
purposes. and married her off TO a man
she did not love. abandoned her when she
had served her turn, and refused to hear
her after the tragedy whose consequences
reached so far.
Those who remember the gossip OF
Europe OF thirty years and more ago will
find much OF 1t put down here for preser-
walton Just as II was beginning to be for
gotten. Here is "Nicky" Esterhazy,
whom the Empress forbade Marie to
marry with warmth of resentment that
puzzled the young girl Here Is Captain
Middleton, who made Elizabeth cry when
he suddenly left Vienna to return to Eng
land. One wonders why the circus d.
rector. oscar Carrie, who trained the EN-
presss horses. has been omitted from this
venomous chronicle. He, too, wore an
aureole OF gallantry in the late 7os, placed
on his head by the gossip OF the time.
ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA.
According to Countess Larisch, Eliza
beth hated her children. with one excep-
ton. the reason for which she takes the
trouble to make Enthusiastically plain. And
among these children Rudolph at least
ho,ed his ,nother az bitterly In return.