The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-13
Prince Max Is Merely the Kaiser's Man
Marked Strain of
Insanity in Reign
ing Family of Baden
Whence He Comes

died when about fourteen months Old, DuI
who is generally understood to have been
stolen from his cradle by the agents OF
Louis Won Geyer. She was most ambi-
tious woman, determined to secure recog-
milton for herself as Princess OF Baden
and the right of succession to the throne
for the children she had borne to Grand
Duke Charles Frederick in morganatlc
union.
Need to Provide Succession.
As long as he had remained alive she
mad been obliged to content herself with
the title of Baroness Hochberg, which ne
had conferred upon her at the time o1 her'
marriage The disappearance OF Grand
Duchess Stephanie's little boy, Prince
Alexander, either by death or by kidnap-
ping in 1917, rendered it necessary that
some arrangement should be made for the
succession to the throne OF Baden.
In default of his child, Prince Louis, hls
uncle, was brought to the thron'. Phe lat
ter, had several female favorites to whom
he was deeply attached and absolutely re-
fused to sacrifice his happiness to dynas-
tie considerations by contracting love
less marriage with some lady OF royal
birth in order to furnish him with an heir
to the crown. Rather than do this he
Welded to the influence of his widowed
stepmother, Louise Won Geyer, and gave
his consent as sovereign to an arrange
ment whereby she was raised to the full
rank of a royal princess of Baden and her
children at the same time were elevated
to the status of princes and princesses Oh
the blood with the right of succession to
the crown.
On the death Of her stepson, Grand
Duke Louis l., in 1880, her own eldest
son Leopold succeeded to the throne, and
marrying the daughter of Gustavus Nv.
Of Sweden, became the father OF the late
Grand Duke of Baden and grandfather OF
the present ruler of Baden and also OF
Maximilian, the new Chancellor OF the
German Empire.
Lord Rosebery's mother, the brilliant
Duchess of Cleveland, and her father, the
wealthy and immensely clever fOnrth Earl
of Stanhope, were intimate friends OF tho
French born Grand Duchess Stephanie Of
Baden, and interested themselves in the
elucidation of the mystery of the disap-
pearanee of her little boy, Prince Alex
ander. They found that advantage had
been taken Of the temporary absence oil
C1o,lo..o q, Cthctitptn "a DUNG
child, afflicted with smallpox or some other
GisfiglIring element, III the cradle of the
healthy little Crown Prince, who was car
ried away by kidnappers.
Finding Of Kaspar Hauser.
Twenty years later young man was
found fainting with hunger at the gates
of Nuremberg, and when taken to the
police station was found TO be unable to
read, write or even speak intelhgibly.
never having apparently eonversed with
any human being. Lord Stanhope and
the Duchess of Cleveland heard about the
matter, took charge of him, managed to
humanize him and succeeded in collecting
wellnigh incontrovertible evidence to the
effect that kaspar Hauser, as the mystic
rious youth had been named by the police,
was no other than the kidnapped son of
the Grand Duchess Stephanie, and there
fore the rightful sovereign of Baden.
A meeting was arranged between the
widowed Grand Duchess and the young
man at Donauschingen. Lord Stanhope
and the Duchess of Cleveland had the
young fellow in charge. The Grand
Duchess arrived at Donauschingen, ac-
eompanied by Miss Sophia Grevillc, sis
ter-in-law of old Lord Augustus LOTUS,
long British Ambassador at Berlin.
As the Grand Duchess alighted from
her travelling carriage she was informed
that the youth during mere momentary
separation from Lord Stanhope and the
Duchess of Cleveland, few hours pre-
viously, had been mystcriously assassi-
mated, his back and his breast being