Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-11-22
lEMrERoR FRANZ JOSEF Is DEAD.

No render Of the tragic chapter of European royal
HISTORY brought 10 j close ly the death Of e aged
Emperor Franz JOsef cor Francis Joseph. 10 use the
English spellingj of Austria can help but feel some
sentiRents Of pity.
Vel. this death. which all but completes ihr dis
solution Of the Stiflproud house Of the HapsbuTgs,
Is nlintrinsic part Of the story of moral decay
which has been the scandal Of Europe and Europes
most corrupt courts. for longer than generation.
= The death of Francis Joseph is IA remarkable
climax 10 the long list Of tragedies in the Hapsburg
Family last unparalleled in any other rpigning
houses in Europe He dies in the.midst of the worlds
greatest war which he himself largely brought about
BY his determination TO arenge the act of assassina
ton of his heir the Arehduke Francis Ferdinand
MS thSresult of alleged Serbian conspiracy, while
on Htate visit 10 Bosnia June 2S. 1914
in 1853 the list of tragic incidents began with an
attempt upon his own life. In 1861 his brother, the
Archdnke Macmillan. after three years experiment
as Emperor of Mexico was captured by the army Of
the patriots and condemned 10 death by a court mar
tial whose sentence was executed notwithstanding
iniercesson in his behalf by The governments of the
United States, England and Prussia.
There followed the burning TO death of niece in
Vienna; sister met similar fate in Paris; and a
cousin drowned himself in Stahpnberg Lake. Yet
these were but minor tragedies in comparison with
that which beel the ancient house of the Hapsburgs
in 1889 when Rudolf the imperial prince upon whom
the .iustrans pinned their hopes, met death in a
mystery which ia this day is not cleared.
CIohded in still deeper mystery, if possible, was
the disappearance that same year of Francis JOS
ephs fayorite nephew, the .irchduke Johann Saliva
tor Heir TO thr-tirrone at the death of Rudolf he
renowned all his imperial dignties and fled the
country as John Ortiz captain of a merchant ship,
never TO he heard of again. The next of kin, the
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, who became heir pre-
sumptiye added a further burden to his uncles
heart by morganatie marriage to Sophie, the eoun
tess Of Chotek II was he and his wife who were
assassinated at Sarajeyo in June, 1914.
Butlitis doubtful if any or ain of these reyerses
weighed more heavily upon the emperors heart than
the tragedy at Geneva, when the Empress Elizabeth,
who fad been called the most beautiful woman in
EUROPE, stabbed TO death by man. Italian
anarchist in 1898. True she long had been estrang
ed from the emperor. but he had never ceased to
fFAct and adore her. When a courier brought him
the news of the crime he explained "Alas, nothing
can u spared me, nothing
nzAftpr each blow he renewed his devotion TO the
ktsfe lhis only solace being in harder work. HeI
laborSd prodigiously He was beloved for his kind
iinesS his modesty and political recttude, and his
high moral courage made it possible for him to hold
Unleash the Czechs, the Poles the Serbs the Ruthen
ians and the Bulgars who made up the mosaic Of
Municipalities in his dual empire
1t Is perhaps a tribute to the emperor's character
that pny one scandal concerning his own private
life ever continued in circulation This was his in
timacE with Katherine Schratt. an actress Of much
talent who after the Empress Elizabeth had be- /
come lestranged from his consort appeared as the
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