The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-01-02
SERBIAN MONARCH SECOND
TO LOSE HIS KINGDOM

TO LOSE HIS KINGDOM
Vienna. Jan. l.-tCorrespondence
of the Associated Press. There is
second king in Europe without Il
kingdom as a result of the war. Peter
of Serbia is today no better off than
the king of the Belgians. Karageorg
oyitch is fugitive before the ad-
vance of the central powers and Bul-
garian troops. His two capitals, Bel
grade and Nish. are in the hands of
the invaders. For a time King Peter
travelled in a special train. At Kru-
sevatch he had to abandon his moy-
able court. As he stood in the sta
ton building of that town and waited
for the automobile that was to take
him to other parts, tears streamod
down his cheeks. One of his dwin-
ding encourage murmured a few en-
couraging words, but to these King
Peter merely nodded. To-day he is
said to be on his way to Scutari,
Albania.
In many respects King Peter is the
most dramatic figure of the European
war. Two regicides are intimately
connected with his history, the muir
der of his predecessor, Alexander
Obrenovitch, and his queen, Drasa'
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 instigator of the former. How
true this would is be hard to say
in the absence of more evidence than
has so far been produced. Certain it
is only that King Peter showed no
inclination to be severe with the
regicides in either case. lie even
managed to be on good terms with
Major Misitch, arch-villain OF the
crime in the old Konak of Belgrade
thirteen years ago.
Peter Karageoroyitch never forgot
and never was permitted to forget,
that he had taken the place of a man
who had been foully murdered. Only
few sovereigns consented to meet
him. and he was always so i'll at ease
in the presence of strangers that he
usually stunned them.
Iy;,z- family IL ic 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 to
Serbias ill-fated throne reached him.
Shortly after his election to the
kingship, Peter entered into close re
lations with the Russian crown A
large annual revenue was settled
upon him with the understanding that
in all matters affecting Serbia's for
eign 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 republic in
Serbia after Alexander and DraSa
had been murdered. This, and the
fact that the Liberals in those DAYS
were not the ardent pan-Slavists
which they became later, recommends
ed the reinforcement of the Serbian
crown financially. In Petrograd IT
was felt that Russia needed re-
liable agent in the Balkans, nor
could it be overlooked there that eX-
periments in republican government
by a Slav people We're not calculated
to make life for the Romanoff dyn-
asty easier. For twelve years, Peter
drew his Russian revenues, and, II
is asserted here, never lost an op'
portunity to serve in return. The
ARRANGEMENT made Serbia a YER
table 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 Serbia is hard to say at this
moment: in the central powers the
belief, of course, is that Serbia and
its king are no more