New Britain herald., 1915-12-30
MOST DRAMATIC
 FIGURE 0F WAR
King Peter Second European
 Monarch Without a Throne

Correspondence of The Associated Press)
 Vienna, Dec. 2S-There is a sec- cnd king in Europe without a king dom, as result of the war. Peter of Serbia is today no better off than the King of the Belgians. Karageor- govitch is d fugitive before the ad- vance of the Central Powers and Bulgarian troops. His two capitals. Belgrade and Nish, are in the hands of the invaders For time King Peter travelled in special train At krusevatch he had to abandon his movable court As he stood in the station building of that town and waited for the autorno obile that was to take him to other parts, tears stream ed down his cheeks. One of his dwindling entourage murmured a few comforting words, to these King Peter merely nodded. Today he is said to be in Italy
 In many respects King Peter is the most dramatic figure of the European war. Two regicides are intimately connected with his history the mur~ der of his predecessor, Alexander Obrenovitch, and his Queen. Draga, and the assassination Of the Arch duke of Austria, the Dual Monarchy's: heir presumptive. There are those who claim that King Peter knew Of the two plots, that, indeed. he was the lnstigator of the former How true this is would be hard to say in the absence of more evidence than has so far be-, produced Certain it is only that King Peter showed no inclination to be severe with the re- gicides in either case. He even man aged to be on good terms with Ma ior Misitch, arch william of the crime in the old Konak of Belgrade thir- teen years ago.
 Predecessor FoulIy Murdered.
 Peter karageorovitch never forgot, and never was permitted to forget. that he had taken the place of 2 man who had been foully murdered. Only few sovereignS consented to meet him, and he was always so ill at ease in the presence of strangers that he usually summed them.
 King Peters family, it is said, is of Gypsy origin. The original Kara georovitch. or ''son of Black George" however was a shepherd. King Peter himself spent much of his life in Switzerland. where the summons 10 serbia's ill-fated throne reached him.
 In League With Russia.
 Shortly after his election to the kingship, Peter entered into close relations with the Russian crown A large annual revenue was settled up- on him with the understanding that in all matters affecting Serbia s for elgn policy he was to keep Russia's interests on the Balkan Peninsula in mind.
 The attitude of the Serbian Liberal party made such course by Russia advisable. This party had favored the establishment of a republic in Serbia after Alexander and Drasa had been murdered. This. and tre fact that the Liberals in those days were not the ardent pan-Slavists which they became later, recommend ed the reinforcement of tho Serbian crown financially. Tn Petrograd it was felt that Russia needed a re- liable agent in the Balkans. nor could it be overlooked there that experi- ments in republican government by Slav people were not calculated to make life for the Romanoff dynasty easler For twelve years, Peter are" his Russian revenues. and, it IS asserted here. never lost an op- portunlty to serve in return. The arrangeme ent made Serbia a verita ble appendix to Russia. and so far as the european war has now progressed. proved Serbia's undoing. Whether or not King Peter will ever rule in Ser nla IS nara to say at this moment; in the central Powers the belief, of course, Is that Serbia and it's king are no more.