The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-09
Hapsburgs Honor Memory of Murdered
 Empress Elizabeth

members of the imperial family in Vii enna will attend special memorial ser- vices in honor of the Empress Eliza beth, the murdered spouse of Francis Joseph, who was slain by an anarchist s Geneva on Sept 10, 1898. Conspic- dous among the Hapsburgs who have assembled on the anniversary of the tragedy to pray for the repose of the soul of the slain Empress has always been the aged Emperor, whose long life has been embittered by so many disasters. In his heart, on these oc- casions, the sharp teeth of remorse must be gnawing, for there was much in his treatment of the Empress that he must now regret.
 The career of the Empress Eliza beth, which came to a sudden and tragic end eighteen years ago this Sunday, is an illustration of the prov erb that truth is often stranger than fiction
 Elizabeth was a Bavarian princess, the daughter of MaXimilian Joseph of ZweibruckenBir Birkenfeld There had been plans on foot for marriage be- tween the young Austrian Emperor and Elizabeth's elder sister, the Prin- cess Helena. When Francis Joseph paid his first visit to the Bavarian court to meet Helena, he was not fa- vorbaly impressed with that young lady. With the younger sister, the fair Elizabeth the case was different He fell in love With her at first sight, and before he left Bavaria a marriage had been arranged.
 At that time Elizabeth was happy, care-free girl of sixteen, very fond of athletics and with a passion for horses. She was unusual pretty the Bavarians, without great deal of exaggeration called her the most beautiful princess in the world. Eliza
 beth, mere child in years and know ledge of the world, was delighted at the prospect of wearing the crown of a great empire Moreover, she was much smitten with the dashing and youthful emperor. It is probable that she was permitted to become &C., quainted with only the better side of his nature. The ruthless and almost ferocious methods he had pursued in quelling the rebels of Hungar and the other turbulent elements in his patchwork empire were unknown to her, Equally closed book to her were the love affairs of Francis Jo- seph with fair ladies of dubious char acter. To the impassioned young gil the Emperor seemed veritable
 Prince Charming who would bear her away to his palace, where they would
 live happy ever after,
 It was on an April day in 1854, when Francis oJseph was in his twen- ty-fourth year, that Eliza beth of Ba- 1,,;o l-.- of Austria. The Emperor had then
 occupied the throne little more than five years. and in that brief period he
 had brought order out of the chaos into which his empire had been plum ged in 184S. He had restored the old absolutism, abolished the freedom l of the press, and dismissed the con- stitution as "scrap of paper" He had executed hundreds of the enemies of his regime. and had been deaf to all pleas for mercy. He had been stab bed by young Hungarian tailor, Li- benyi, and received wounds so serious | that for time his life had been des- | paired of And he heard, with a
 smile and shrug of the shoulders,
 the curse pronounced upon him by the
 mother of one of his victims. Among | orders of the young Emperor was a l youth of the noble Hungarian Touse 1 of Karoly. The woman, mad with grief, found access to Francis Joseph
 at a grand ball, and shrieked in his
 ears the curse which many supersti- tious Hungarians believe has been re- 1 sponsible for all the tragedies which have befa1len the Emperor:
 I "Mav heaUan and hall cop,hino fo I blast your happiness! May your fam fly be exterminated May you be
 smitten in the persons of those you
 best love. May your children be l brought to ruin and may your life | be wrecked, and yet may you live on in lonely, unbroken and horrible grief
 to tremble when you recall the name l of Karolyi!"
 l The rose-colcred and romantic ] dream of happiness treasured by the
 girl Empress was not immediatel. de-
 stroyed. For time her imperial hus-
 band was affectionate, gallant and at l tentive. The staid and rather stupid | life at the Vienna court soon began | to be irksome, however, and at the l same time the Empress was made to
 realize that her imperial relatives l considered that the Emperor had
 married beneath him. A visit from
 the stork in 1855 added to her happi- | piness. The child was a girl, Sophia, and in 1856 another daughter, Gisela, l was born Little Sophia died at Buda while her parents were making an inn il perial tour of Hungary in 1857. The | grief of the mother was softened in l 1858 by the birth of son, who was
 named Rudolph
 As the years passed the Empress
 became more and more unpopular in | Vienna The Hapsburgs snubbed her
 as much as they dared, and the ham, gerson of the court followed suit Al though beautiful, Elizabeth was con- sidered vulgar by the Vienese. She preferred Munich beer to champagne
 and had no hesitancy in admitting
 and publicly exhibiting her preference for the brew of her native land. She
 smoked cigarettes. which was another count in the indictment against her Her fondness for athletics was looked I upon as unbecomtng a lady and ar I Empress. The Hungarians loved 1 Elizabeth for the very qualities that
 made her obnoxious to the proud Aus.
 trions, but at that period the affection of the Hungarians was of little worth II The Emperor apparently agreed
 with his relatives, and quarrels be.
 tween the couple became frequent
 and soon reached such a point that
 they could not be concealed. Franci.
 Joseph objected vigorously to what
 he considered the eccentricities of hi.