The Washington herald., 1913-04-10
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

| tIOpNnEnt. lSlo Dg OOurI SOsslp oyHuiCdie-j
Reading in the "Muenchener Neueste
Nachrichten," an account Of how the
aged Emperor Franz Josef of Austria,
was affected when told of the betrothal
! of the hereditary Prince Ernst zu Braun
schweig- (son of the Duke of
Cumberland) to the only daughter of the
German Kaiser, an event that VIII once
more revive the dynasty of the Hano-
verian Guelphs in the direct line which
brought to his mind WILDLY the loss Of his
direct heir, / recall that the true"
story of the tragedy at Meyerling never
has been given to the public. j do not
refer to the many and different accounts
printed-none of them even of versimili-
tude-but to the actual occurrence. Here
is the truth about Crown Prince Rudolf
of Hapsburg's death as 1t was given me
by unimpeachable authority. diplomat
of the highest rank:
The mystery of Meyerling "a hunting
box in the foothills of the Austrian Alps
in the Salz KammerguO is the darkest
page of history in the annals of the Haps-
burgs, and some of the narrowing details
have been kept from the knowledge even
Of some members of the imperial family.
1t was on January 30, 1889. and the court
was in residence in beautiful Schoenprun-
men, when a telegram was received stat
ing that the crown prince had killed him
the Hofburg in charge Of the valet and
was deposited sans ceremony in the IA
nous Capuchine cloister, the tomb Of the
Hapsburgs.
There had been a hunting party and a
chase after the elusive gemsbok Ohe
Alpine mountain goat at the Jagdschloss
of Meyerling, an estate owned by Crown
Prince Rudolf, but never visited by his
wife, Stefanie, daughter of the late King
Leopold II Of the Belgians. The dinner
after the days sport was very uproar-
ious, the archduke and his boon compan-
ions drinking heavily and deep. The
personal valet of Rudolf heard a great
deal of noise, but, being used to his mas
ter's doings, did not pay much attention
until continued loud meanings on the
staircase caused him to open the door.
where to his indescribable horror, he be-
held the bleeding form of the crown
prince being carried upstairs. Those who
bore the body, however, peremptorily or
dered the servant to go back to his room,
there to remain until sent for. This the
man did, and shortly thereafter he was
taken to the bedside of his Inflated mas
ter, who fingered several hours in an I'M
conscious state.
My informant, who, by virtue Of his
high position, saw the body after it had
been removed to the Hofburg at Vienna,
was Mortified to note that the crown
princes skull was fractured in number
of places. and that pieces of broken
bottle glass protruded from them. The
face was not recognizable. and two fin
gers of the right hand had been cut of.
When the undertakers prepared the body
for interment, the face and head were
encased completely in a wax mask, in
order to prevent the curious from seeing
the terrible Disagreement and thus to
realize what dreadful tragedy had been
enacted.
The bereaved Emperor, who was told
as gently as possible under such circum-
stances, the truth about the fatal in
iuries of his only son and heir, sum-
moned a secret conclave, at which che
details of that night'S events were dis
closed None but the men present at that
meeting ever knew what really had hap
pened at Meyerling.
One Of the gamekeepers had been Or
dered at the fatal days chase to appear
at the hunting box on the morning fol-
lowing the tragedy. He did so. but was
nonplussed to find everything about the
place ''quiet as DEATH" Bewildered and
apprehensive of evil, he opened a door
and went into the billiard room. Here
all was confusion. Tables and chairs
were overturned, broken glass was scat
tered on the carpet, and the cover OF the
billiard table lay on the floor.
Rough-house nights being the usual
order OF things at Meyerling, ii can
not be said that the gamekeeper was
greatly astonished at what his eyes
beheld. Still, there was something
uncanny about the appearance of the
fallen table cover, and this arrested
the mans attention. He stopped to
pick il up, when he saw a foot pro-
truding from it. Lifting the cloth, he
was horrified to find the nude body OF
a dead woman, riddled with bullets.
Frightened almost cut of his wits,
he rushed from the room, trying 10
summon assistance. but none was in
sight. Them going up to the crown
princes bedroom, he found the dying
man ard his valet.
The aged Emperor was asked by the