The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-29
DEAD ARCHDUKE GREAT HUNTER AND
 TRAVELLED OFTEN
Followed Own Heart and Married Against the Elm per0r's Wishes-Sketch
 of His Life

New York. June 2s.--ArchdulSe Francis
 Ferdinand who was heir presumptive to
 the throne of Austria. was born Decem-
 Der 1s 1883. His father. the Archduke
 Francis Joseph, and his mother was Ma
 ria Annunziata, daughter of Ferdinand
 II of Naples. Francis Ferdinand was a
 boy when his mother died.
 In 1898 his father then past 51. mar ried Princess Maria Theresa yon Gra-
 ganza 1S-year-old daughter of King Mi
 guel of Portugal.
 The new stepmother established an ex-
 emplary home. Ferdinand always held her in high esteem. She and her daugh- ter. the erchduchess Maria Annunziata. were the only ladies present as witness of Francis Ferdinand's morganatic mar riage to the Bohemian countess, zophie Chotek, who later was elevated to the
 rank of duchess of Iiohenberg by the Emperor.
 Francis Ferdinand became their pre- SufflpnNt WntI tilt fNtiOWi + fiNt iNA- Idoiph. the only Son of Emperor Franz
 Joseph. met tragic death in what is
 known as the Myerling tragedy, the re- suit of an uncountenanced love for a young baroness.
 With the crown prince thus removed the first choice as an heir to Francis
 Joseph fell to his brother, the Arch duke Carl Ludwig, but he already was an old man, and he declined the honors in favor of his eldest son, Francis Fer dnand, The title of heir was never hand, but from his twenty-sixth year his training for the throne was carried on.
 Was Much Slandered His escapades had been such as are so often ascribed to royal lads. but it is said that many of the criminal pranks related about him were really those of his wilder brother, Otto. The story was
 once widely printed that in drunken freak he stopped a peasant funeral near
 Prague and amused himself by leaping his horse half a dozen times over the
 bier. This and many such instances were officially investigated by Parlia- ment.and declared to be mendarious slam 1 der.
 1 Francis Ferdinand, according to his ad-
 mirers, has an altogether different per sonality than such stories indicate. He had a very thorough military training extending over 20 years, and in 1891 he was made a general. He reorganized the general staff of the Austro-Hungarian army with such success as to excite the admiration of all Europe. As hobby he took up locomotive engineering, and received a diploma as a full fledged railroad engineer. He was said to enjoy nothing so much as running an engine. He also became recognized as one or the best shots in his country, and the walls of his recent chateau at konopischt were hung with the antlers of some 2ooo stags and chamois as well as the heads of tigers killed in India, the tusks of ele- phants slain in Ceylon, and the pelts of bears in the Rocky mountains. His visit to the United States was made in 1892, at the time of the world s fair in Chicago. He made diary of the trip. which continued around the world, and which is an interesting piece of travel literature, displaying shrewd comments os appreciation of things he saw and did. He thought this globe touring would especially contribute to his education as future monarch. Wrote Poetry
 He also wrote two volumes of Alpine poetry. and put on paper for the first
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