The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-05
Widespread Ignorance Re-
garding Hapsburg Success
sion Excuses Attention
Paid Various Rival
Representations.

i jevo on Sunday last should
have given rise to all sorts Of
extraordinary stories concerning the
succession to tho throne of the Dual
Empire Is not surprising when the
Ignorance which prevails about the
matter, even In the Hapsburg monarchy
Itself. is taken into consideration. II
is an Ignorance which must serve as
an excuse for the attention accorded to
Count Adalbert Won Sternberg's claims
In behalf OF young Duke Macmillan OF
Hohenberg, the twelve year-o old eldest
son of the murdered heir apparent by his
morganatic wife; claims that have even
been made the subject of serious dis
cussion on several occasions in the ma
tional Parliament OF Hungary.
Were II not for this ignorance moth
Ing but derision would be accorded TO
the pretensions of tho young woman,
Mrs. Haync, who has induced a num-
per OF credulous people here in New
York actually to believe her assertions
to the effect that she is a daughter OF
the late Crown Prince Rudolf and Of
baroness Marie Netsera, and that her
little boy IL therefore an Austrian
Prince and one OF the heirs to Francis
Joseph's throne.
Not that Mrs. Hayne is alone In her
absurd pretensions. During the last
twenty years We have received liter
ally hundreds of letters from persons
not only here in America but also In
Belgium. England, France and Italy
declaring themselves children OF Crown
Prince Rudolf some OF them even claim
ing to be Rudolf himself or the missing
Archduke John Salvador; these letters
usually containing requests for money
ana invoking interest In the writer's
case, as we'll as the furtherance Of his
or her demands. Some OF the writer's
are marifestly frauds. but the majority
seem 20 be cranks whose lack OF mental
balance has resulted in their deludiny
themselves into the conviction that
they are really the persons, or rather
personages, whom they allege them
selves to be. They are afflicted with the
form OF alteration known as the mania
des grandeurs.
Mrs. Haynes Strange Claim.
With regard to the woman divorced
some years ago by the New York courts
from George Osborne Hayne Of New
YORK city. who named as correspondent
Justin b. McDougald. son OF a wealthy
COBALT mine owner making his home at
Montreal. she has. to the best of my
knowledge, no vestige OF a right to
style herself Baroness Alma Vetsera,"
nor yet Princess Vetsera." nor yet
Princess Alma OF Austria" Several
OK these titles were mentioned In con-
nection with her when she last came
into the limelight In New York city in
some police court proceedings.
Baroness Marie Vetsera, whom the
woman in question alleges to be her
mother and who died with Crown Prince
Rudolf at Meyerling on the 3Oth OF
January. 1889. left no child born to her
infatuation for the only son of the EN-
peror and Empress OF Austria. This is
a matter OF such common and positive
knowledge to every one of any stand
ing in Viennese society and in the
Austrian official world that IL Is diff
cult to understand how any woman in
her senses can have put forward pre-
tensions to any such parentage. may
add that | speak from personal knowl-
edge. For ] knew Crown Prince Ru-
dolf. and also Baroness Vetsera's father.
"a very handsome. charming and popu-
lar mani very we'll indeed-though not
his wife and daughters from whom he
was separated-and I was thoroughly
acquainted by him and by others with
all his many family SORROWS and
troubles.
Under the circumstances, it would be
interesting to learn whether or not Mrs
Hayne furnished any affidavits as to her
alleged imperial parentage when she
brought habeas corpus proceedings in
the Canadian courts to secure the liber-
alton or young Justin b. McDougald.
the correspondent OF her divorce case.
from the sanitarium near Montreal to
which he had been committed by his
father on accouL. of his infatuation for
her Her application was defeated on
several grounds. one of which was the
fact that Justin McDougald was still a
minor. George Osborne Hayne, when
seeking a divorce from her in the State
Of New York. VIC ld have done we'll TO
make sure that she really owned the
name under which she married him and
that the parentage which she gave in
I the certificate and in the maria ge
/ license was correct, since II this were
not so. the union would have been In
validated by fraud.
OF course the claims put forward by
/ Count Adalbert Won Sternberg In behalf
OF young Duke Macmillan OF Hohen-
berg are OF an entirely different charac'
ter. since there is no doubt as to the
parentage Of the lad. who Is the eldest
son OF the murdered Archduke Francis
Ferdinand and OF his morganatic con-
sort. who fell last Sunday by the hand
OF the same assassin. Not that the con-
tention of the Count can be admitted
But 1t has some apparent foundation
being based upon a misconception oi
Austrian and Hungarian law and upor
a misunderstanding of the statutes gov
erning the succession of the crowns o.
the dual empire.
The Claim for Young Duke.
The Count, who is an extremely vel
born but also exceedingly wroni
headed man Of remarkably stormy ante
cedents, insists in tho first place tina
Hungarian law does not admit that an,
marriage can be morganatic, and that 4
a marriage is real II entities the woman
to all the rights and prerogatives of 1
Iii 80 . l..