The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-06
MYSTERY OF DEATH OF GROWN PRINCE RUDOLPH OF
 AUSTRIA STILL UNsOLVED.

For quarter of a century the thirtieth of January has recalled bit ter memories to the Austrian royal family and the loyal subjects of Franz Josef, for 1t marks the anni- versary of the mysterious, tragic death of Crown Prince Rudolph, the emperor's only son. who supposedly committed suicide in his hunting box at Meyerling. tSupposedly,'' for the circumstances of his death are known only to the inner circle" of Aus trian royalty. All that the world at large knows in that the heir to the throne of the rual monarchy and his beautiful mistress, Marie Vetsera, with whom he was desperately in- fatuated, were found dead together in room of the hunting lodge. It Is known that the room was spattered with blood. Beyond that the world can only guess as to the details Of this imperial scandal and tragedy.
 Only three persons, it has been all feged, were acquainted with the actual facts connected with the end of Rudolph and his sweetheart. These were the emperor, Cardinal Rampol- Ia, and Count Hoyos. It was the lat ter who told Franz Josef the details of the tragedy, and. after the grisly recital had been finished the count was dismissed, and was never again permitted to come within sight of the
 emperor.
 Prince Rudolph was the son of n1ismated parents, and shortly after his birth the Empress Elizabeth left her husband. Until her tragic death at the hands of an anarchist at Geneva. the empress spent little of her time in Austria. Rudolph's mother was eccentric to the point Of l madness, and the crown prince, all
 though possessed of marked artistic and inte1luctua1 gifts, was also wild and peculiar by nature. He married Princess Stephanie of Belgium, but 1 it was purely union of convenience.
 In 1887 the prince met and fell wild ly in love with the Baroness Marie Vetsera, a, Viennese girl just out of a. convent, and all the tongues of Vienna were soon wagging about this ! royal scandal. Their relations con- tinued for about year and 8 half, when the world was startled by the tragedy at Meyerling.
 It was officially announced that the latest victim of the 'tcurse of the Hapsburghs" had died of apoplexy, but this was a barefaced invention, l and did not account for the presence
 sweetheart. The court soon aban- 1 doned the appoplexy version, but re- l fused any other explanation, except l that the prince had committed sui-
 eide.
 1 Hundreds of rurnors about the
 tragedy have gained circulation. The
 version most generally accepted is l that Rudolph was told by the enn- peror that he must give up his sweetheart, and, rather than do that, had killed the girl and himself. An
 other story that is accepted as au- 1 thentic by many Austrians Is tf=at an l uncle of the baroness killed both the | girl and her royal lover, in order to 1 avenge his niece's honor.
 1 These are the most commonplace
 of the various versions of the tragedy. l One account, given wide publication l in the European press, alleged that | the prince invited a company of gay
 men and women to the hupting lodge,
 and that the prince, in a fit of drunk en rage, shot the baroness, where l upon the guests beat him to death with wine bottles. Still another ru-
 mor said that the couple were shot by a forester whose daughter had been ruined by the prince.
 After the death of Rudolph the I hunting lodge was torn down and the
 trees in the park were fe1led. Marie Vetsera's body was buried, secretly at 1 midnight in the cemetery of a
 monastery. The girls mother was in