Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-04
/ THE LIFE OF THE KAISER
us It a Fine Bow" "Victoria. :"

rs It a Fine Boy?" Victoria"
But one person, Major Won Nor
mann, of the First Guards, was pres
| ent, when, on June Is, 1888, at noon
scarcely an hour after Emperor
Frederick had breathed his last,
Kaiser Wilhelm IL drew the above
dispatch from his fathers papers.
What did His Majesty say on
discovering the Queens telegram ?"
asked Normann at the late EN-
peror's funeral.
Not a word; yet he turned a
| shade paler, while his left hand
convulsively closed around the hilt
of his SABRE
When Prussian King Dies
Every time a Prussian King dies.
spirit of unspeakable savagry
takes hold of his lawful successor.
The Empress Frederick, her
daughters, the members of her
Court, her physician, friends, and
servants, were prisoners for many
hours. beginning at five minutes past
eleven o'clock, on June is, 1888.
Until he: son and heir had con-
cluded his investigations and made
all arrangements he intended to eff
feet, no living soul was allowed to
leave Castle Friedrichskron; senti-
Aclo Will lOducu TluSS SLOOQ over
the telegraph operators to prevent
communication with the outer
world, and the telephone was sim
ilarly guarded.
That upon the heel of these meas
ures the newly-made Kaiser invited
Normann to attend him in his search
for state papers and other docu-
ments, of which the one mentioned.
while not the most valuable, was
certainly not the least interesting
shows the extent of his confidence
in this man, then esteemed as a
strict disciplinarian, but in no other
way distinguished.
would not like to assert that the
imperial proclamations to the army
and navy, dated June 15, 1888, were
composed with Won Normann's as
sistance while impatient crowds sur
rounded the palace, demanding news
of the king whom they vaguely sup
posed to be dead;-but these papers
are so full of barrack bravado and
contempt for everything not mill
tary as to strongly suggest some
such influence.
'aThus we belong to each other
1 and the army,-thus we were born
for each other, and thus we will
stick to each other forever, be there
peace or storm, as God wills IT,"
And while the army was honored
and exalted, the loyal taxpavers
had to wait for the customary royaI
greeting and a word of Information
on the issues of the day, until the
18th of the month.
Details of the Kaiser's Birth
But to return to Queen Victoria's
telegram.
1t was dated January 2s, 1859.
twenty-four hours after the eldest
son of Crown Prince and Crown
Princess Frederick-W William had
seen the light.
William was born quite economic
ally, a midwife receiving him, and
Court physician. assisted by the
then highly-reputed Berlin Specialist
for woman's diseases. the late DIR.
Martin, looking gravely on after the
manner of his kind.
In Germany, you must know. a
doctor thinks it beneath himself to
take the child, and is supposed IN
act only in case grave complications
arise; inc times out of ten he CON
tents himself by superintendinR the
arrangements and in seeing that the
sanitary laws are compiled with in
all minuteness; the midwife does
the work.
In the case of the Crown Princess
of Prussia, a Miss Stahl acted as
midwife; at the time of this writing
she was a mother1y woman. and
still continued her visits to the nal
ace; SOL often had occasion to talk