Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1916-01-15
Stories of the War
Last of House of obrenovi.oh.

Last of House of Obrenovitch.
The last of the house of Obreno-
witch, the murdered Alexander. lies in
little chapel in the Belgrade ceme-
terry, forgotten by conQueror and con-
quered alike. Beside him rests Queen
Draga, the woman for whose sake he
broke off relations with his father and
whose influence upon him undoubtedly
led to the sordid tragedy that extin-
guished this royal line.
The chapel stands in the center of a
neglected graveyard. 1t is a primitive
building, larger sample of the typi-
cal Serbian PEASANTS cottage, without
ornamentation of any kind. 1t is of
brick, rudely plastered on the outside.
Only a cross carved into a tablet CIV
ing the date of erection shows that it
is not an ordinary house or even a
substantial barn. Bullets have bored
neat holes through two of the plain
glass windows. and have made blisters
in half dozen places on the plain
| sneet-iron doors The street fighting
was half mile away, but the modern
infantry rifle has a long range, and
the chapel stands on ground elevated
somewhat above the scene of the street
| battles.
A few Hungarian soldiers are quar-
tered in a building a hundred yards
away from the chapel None of them
| had any idea where the key to the
| chapel was to be found. The Associa-
| ted Press representative finally crawl
| ed through a small hole in the wall,
a shell which failed to explode. Scat
! tered bricks and mortar lay on the
| floor inside.
The scene was depressing. In the
middle of the floor lay a box contain
| ing books, dust-covered and in disar-
| ray. The high altar had been showed
back into small anteroom. The sa-
cred vestments. some of them torn and
muddied, were strewn about the floor
and on the altar. A picture of saint,
| its protecting glass spintered, lay
| face down. A bullet had found its way
into one of the crude mural paintings.
| Mortar dust lay deep over everything.
The correspondent had been in
formed that the murdered king and
| queen were buried in this chapel, but
there was nothing in sight even re-
motely resembling royal tomb. Near
one corner was plain lettered slab
| thanked by two wooden crosses. In
| Cyrillian letters on the slab were the
names of two of the older members OF
| the Obrenovitch family. Right and
left stood a crude Roman cross OF
wood. On the crossbar of the cross al
| the right was rudely 1ettered ALEX
ander Obrenovitch." The correspond
1 ing bar on the cross at the left bore
the name 'fDraga Obrenovitch." There
! was not another letter on either cross
no date Of birth nor death, no word to
4 indicate that the persons buried here
had once been king and queen of the
| country.
In the more than thirteen years that
have elapsed since the murder, the
crosses have not even been set up
right. They are simply leaned against
| the whitewashed wall A nickeled
candlestick stands near the sQualid
tomb; at the other side is tall, cyl
indrical sheet-iron stove, sole means
| Of hoo he oh al IT. ~ ,-r,i
| separates the tomb from the place oc.
cupied by the worshippers.
The mean tomb in the little chapel
recalls the regicide that stirred all the
world-with the exception, according
| to the contemporary reports, of Serbia
accommodating for years at the Serbian
court. Alexander had alienated his
father Milan and offended various Eu-
ropean courts by marrying Draga
Maschin, widow of an engineer and g
1 former lady in waiting of Queen Nata-
lie. Nepotism and general favorites
still further embittered the old court
party at Belgrade. Particularly wa.
there wide disaffection among the
army officers.
| growing conspiracy against King AL
exander was his act in suspending the
constitution on April Z, 1908, declaring
void the mandates OF the senators and
councillors of state, dissolving ths
Skupshtina and setting aside various
laws, including the press law and the
election law.
Late in the night Of June 10, 1909
a band of conspirators, chiefly official:
and army officers, and including Colo.
mel Maskin, brother Of Draga's deaf
husband, overpowered or shot dowr
the weak palace guard and forced
their way to the door Of the roya
apartment. This door was blown dowr
with dynamite, and the king and queer
were shot and stabbed to death, and
their bodies thrown out the window
into the small garden surrounding the
palace.
Contemporary reports describe tht
murder as taking place in the OLE
! Konah- The correspondent was told
here in Belgrade, however, that the
tragedy occurred in small warden
house which stood midway between
the old and new Konahs. This muir.
der house." as 1t was termed. is said Il
| have been torn down at the order OF
King Peter, who did not care to have 9
perpetual remainder Of the tragedy be.
fore his eyes.
The mutilated bodies of the muir.
dered king and queen 1t was reported
at the time, were thrown into rudt
wooden collins. carried to the chape
on the handcart Of sewer cleanel
and buried unceremouiouely O few
hours after the murder.
Thus ended the rule and the line o.
the Obrenovitchs, 35 years to da.
i after the greatest of the line, Prince
Michael, had been murdered. in tn,
Topcider Park west Of the city. Prince
Alexander of the house OF Karageorge.