The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-18
FRANCIS JOSEPH,
 PASSES s4 TO-DAY

Francis Joseph. Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. when he re- ceived the news that his nephew and heir had been shot down by an as- sassin.
 And it was true-this despairing cry of the old monarch who immediately set in motion the machinery which he must have realized would plunge Europe into war.
 Tragedy, disappointments without number. scandals. revolutions, sudden death. have marked the career of the Emperor. who was born eighty-four years ago. August Is. 1890. the son of Archduke Franz Carl, second son of Emperor Franz I. of Austria
 It was in that troubled year of 1s48. when the thrones of all Europe were tottering. that Francis Joseph. a youth of eighteen, was called to the throne His uncle. Ferdinand T.. had abdicated, and his father had re- nounced, his rights to the throne.
 From the first Francis Joseph showed that the quality of mercy did not dwell in his heart. With an iron hand he suppressed the Kossuth i'm surrection which was raging when he aseended the throne. An incident of that period gave rise to the "Hapsburg curse" whicih the expectations be- neve was responsible for all the evils which have afflicted the Emperor. The Countess of Karolyi appealed to had been convicted of compltcity in the rebellion. All the tears and plead ing of the stricken mother fell on deaf ears. Suddenly rising from her knees. and pointing an accusing finger at the stony face of the boy king, she shrieked:
 s'NEay heaven call down curses upon yout May you live to see those you love dead or disgraced, may all your children be stricken with peatilence, may they wallow in shame. and may you be spared to dring to the dregs from the cup of sorrow and shame and loneliness.p
 Almost from the beginning of his reign the Emperor began to reap a harvest of bitterness. but the great est tragedies of all were the death of his son and the assassination of his wife.
 Of the real facts connected with the death of the Archduke Rudolf. the Emperor's son and heir. the world knows nothing. That it vas sum ciently shameful to satisfy even the vengeful spirit Of the Countess there ia no doubt. Rudolf married Prin- cess stephanie of Belgium, and then amused himself with various light O. loves. In 1887 he met a viennese girl, Baroness Maraie vetsera. for whom he formed genuine attach ment. In 1889 the Archduke Rudolf was found dead in a hunting lodge. with the body of his sweetheart by his side It was said that he died of apop1exy. but this was obviously a. lie. Scores ef explanations of the tragedy ly accepted being that the Archduke in it of drunken rage. shot the Ba- roness, and that the guests beat him to death with wine bottles.
 Long before that the Emperor had known much grief His brother Max inilian. to whom he was deeply at tached. was shot by the Mexicans af- ter his failure to establish a New World empire. His cousin, Archduke Johan Salvador. married an actress and. under the name of Johann orth. sailed away to the southern seas and was never heard of again. The lat ter's brother. Archduke Louis. also married beneath him and became an exile. The Enperor's wife. the Elm press Elizabeth. was slain by an Ita1- ian anarchist in 1898. The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Rudolf. shot her husband when she discovered him in an intrigue. The Archduchess Louise. who married the Grown Prince of saxony. eloped with a 1nu- sic teacher. Another Hapspurg. Leo pold Salvador. married first an actress and later the daughter of horse trader. Scores of other members oi the Austrian royal family have been involved in tragedies. scandals. mes alliances and tntrigues, which have
 embittered the life of the old Elm