The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1917-10-18
QUEEN OF BULGARIA MAY
HAVE FORSEEN THE WAR.
Recent Death Of the German Flor
enee Nightingale" Recalls the Fact
That She Cancelled Her Proposed
Visit to America Shortly Before
the Slaughter Began.

thc ShooBhtCE DGEahs
Did Queen Eleonore of Bulgaria
have premonition of the great
European war four months before
the Austrian emperor issued his ulti-
matum to Serbia?
This is question which occurred
probably to many persons when the
death of the German Florence Night
ingale" was announced recently in
The Star.
Queen Eleonore, widely known for
her philanthropic work among the
soldiers in the Balkan wars and the
Russo-Japense War, had planned to
visit the United States late in May,
1914. American newspapers carried
dispatches from Sofia for several
weeks prior to her expected depar-
ture, telling of the object of her mis-
sion, the expensive royal suite to ac-
company her and the plans made for
her entertainment while here. She
was to have been the first reigning
sovereign of Europe to visit the Uni
ted States, the announced reason for
her proposed voyage being to study
our hospitals and our methods Of
handling immigrants.
But, after all arrangements had
been made and when society was
agog, the queens visit was postponed
indefinitely. The only explanation,
as given in dispatch from Sofia, da-
ted May 5, was as follows:
In view of events in America,
which Queen Eleonore follows
with especial interes, her males
TVS visit to the United States
has been postponed until the cir
cumstances are more favorable.
What the events were to which the
dispatch referred has never been ex-
planned. 1t is true that an organiza-
ton of Greeks in America had lodged
= protest against the queens visit, be-
lieving that Interior motives had
promted it.. and that she intended to
denounce the Greeks as having been
guilty of inhuman atrocities in the
Balkan War. However, this protest
was given little weight, apparently,
W her emissary, who expressed sur
prise at the postponement Of the visit.
lie was unable to account for it.
Washington and New York society
survived the cruel blow, but when a
few months later the queens coun-
try Joined the Germans, rumor
gained currency that she had learned
Of the possibility of another war and
had, therefore. called off her visit.
In view of disclosures since the
war began and the arparent fore
knowledge by Germany that war was
imminent, strene h also has been lent
to the rumor that the Kaiser of Ger
many may have had hand in the
mysterious postponement of the
queens visit.
Before her marriage to the Car Of
! Bulgaria eight years ago, the late
queen was Princess Elenora of Ruess,
one of those small German states
whose rulers have been there for cen
turtles and have intermarried with all
the great reigning houses. She was
48 years old when she married King
Ferdinand She had lived a semi-in-
dependent life and had been much in
Russia, where she took charge of her
own hospital in the war with Japan.
Queen, Eleonore was lifelong
friend of the Gear and Czarina of
Russia. 1t is an open secret in royal
circles that the Bulgaria ruler had the
match arranged so that he could re-
gain the good graces of the Russian
court, where he had been colby re-
ceived after his acceptance of the
crown.
The poor and wounded soldiers
with whom the queen came in contact
loved her. Sofia society, except those
just around her, did not. She was
never happier, apparently, than when
relieving distress, having given her
private fortune for her husbands
poorest subjects.
The needy-and their tribe is
plentiful now in Bulgaria-have lost
their guardian angel in the death Of
Queen Eleonore, but she has enshrin-
ed herself in their memory, and fu-
ture generations of Bulgarians,
whether it becomes a democracy or
remains under the mailed fist, will
honor her name.