The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-11-14

ticed than Sophia was whisked off to
the Riviera by her parents and the
long arm of the kaiser reached out to
assign Zu PutlitZ to a minor post at
the embassy in Athens
The pair never saw seach other
again. The betrothal of Sophia to a
princely cousin, rich and recently wild
owed, was announced forthwith.
Years passed in her effort to escape
that match-years during which there
was a steady flow of love letters be-
tween Athens and Heidelberg. Sophia
succeeded in getting the engagement
annulled early in 1908, after per-
sonal visit to the grand duke of Sax
ony and many letters to the kaiser.
The previous night Elder zu Putlitz
had put bullet through his brain,
leaving a letter of farewell to the
Princess Sophia
Had Royal Mourner.
One distinguished mourner followed
the body of the young lieutenant to
the grave. 1t was the crown princess
of Greece, sister to the kaiser; and
on that occasion royalty was seen to
weep in public. For the crown prin-
cess had just heard from Berlin that
the emperor would place no further
barriers in the way of the young
couples marriage
The little semi-royal court at Held
elberg, with its meager income and its
ancient dignities, gave no outward
sign. But the Princess Sophia was
fading visibly. Two years later,
among the routine of visitors, Hans
Won Bleichroeder appeared. He was
the youngest member of the great
Jewish banking house which, it is
said, made possible the Prussian vic
tory over France, in 1870. His title
of baron has been in the possession of
the family a much shorter time than
the millions. Every one knew, in
fact, that it had been conferred on his
father because of them. Hans Won
Bleichroeder was ardent, handsome
and intelligent He had vigor that
even Elder zu Putlitz lacked Sophia
fell in love with him straightway.
Again the ponderous wheels of Ger
man statecraft whirred. The BleiCh-
roeder millions would place the
troublesome Saxe-Weinlar family in a
position which the male members
would be less likely to desert-at the
first reckoning of happiness-as pri-
vate citizens The match was sane
toned by the shrewd kaiser, pending
the consent of the grand duke of Sax
ony, head of the house. The Bleich-
roeder clan, elated and breathless,
sent impetuous Hans to New York,
where he passed two years N Wall
street as an employee Of Messrs. Kis
sci, kinnicut & Co, international bank
ers
A year passed, then two. The
young Baron Won Bieichroeder re-
turned from foreign parts-and was
not received by Prince Wilhelm of
Saxe-Weimar
Estranged From Family.
The estrangement from her family
of the Princess Sophia began from
that moment Or September 10
Prince Wilhelm was startled by an
ugly rumor from Paris, whence the
princess and her mother had gone Oh
shopping trip. A gypsy's child had
been killed in the forest of Fontaine-
bleau by motor car belonging to
Baron Won Bleichroeder. The car
had been driven not by the baron,
however, who sat with the princess of
SaXe-Weimar in a rear seat, but by
the Princess Sophia herself,
There is no record of the interview
that took place between Prince VIII
helm, his wife and his daughter, when
the royal ladies returned from France.
The household observed, merely, that
the Princess Sophia kept to her room.