The Washington times., 1920-12-19
Prince Il
entered.

fortunes TO the Hapsburgs, and by THE att'-
tude Of mind they helped to bring about
those nisfortunes. For instance, q de-
scendant Of the murdered Count Karolyi
became frst Premier OF Hungary after the
downfall OF Austria. and no doubt his be-
lief in the force Of ais greatgrandmother's
curse impelled him to action against bis
hereditary enemy.
met many members Of the imperial
house Of Hapsburg at Vienna and othe.
places. and always found that they had
the air OF facing some horrible fate. They
were strange. nervous creatures. Their
faces were unsymmetrical and unnatural
always the projecting Hapsburg underiip
and usually some other peculiarly, such
as q retreatlng forehead or . receding
chin. Their fingers moved continually and
they ran them up and down their cheeks.
They drank to excess and under the IN
iuence OF champagne behaved nadly.
All the Hapsburgs were more or less
mad They inherited one stain Of In
sanity from an early Spanish, ancestor
"the mad Joanna"-snd with the strange
pride Of royalty they had cultivated and
Increased this madness by intermarriage
for centuries.
The first great misfortune that happened
to the Emperor Francis Joseph, after his
cons death, was the murder Of bis beau
tiful and romantic wife. the Empress Eliza-
beth. by an anarchist. She was entirely
out OF sympathy with her gross and SEN
sual husband and spent large part Of her
life away from him, travelling In disguise.
/ was informed by my Austrian friends
that the Empress Elizabeth really intro
To hAr ht ahap tho Kafff
SchEstt with whom he spent the better
part Of his E,c in q state Of domesticity.
The Empress felt that her husband was
Infinitely beneath her In every way and
thought It bsst 70 provide him with
suitable compspfou.
The Empress seemed more like char
actsr VI ancient legend than . moder,~
human being, J Was introduced to her
while she was staying incoxnito at Cannes
and caught glimpse Of her strange exist
epee. She lived FOR the cultivation and
giorifcsti0n Of her beauty and her body
Those WHO Yielded sufficiently worship
full adorstoo OF her wses admitted to her
In youO To Dmprsss had been beloved
BY King Lu1wig - Bavaria, the great
patron Of Rchar6 Wagner. She returned
his devotion. but was forced by her fam
lily TO accept the powerful Emperor of Aus
ended his life by isaping with his keepe,
into the Lake Of 6tafnbers. The Empress
believed that his spirit returned 10 visit
her and she spent hours In conversation
with the dead King.
Alone of all the royalties I knew EN-
press elizabeth fulfilled the old<ashioned
American conception Of these beings. The
Others were often extravagant aud intern
psrste, but they only behaved ~ ordlnAy
persons might do with too much power
and money. She was like q figure nom =
waKnerian opero. But her romantic tenn
permanent introduced a new element Of
mental instability into the doomed and
tainted Hapsburg family.
The curse pronounced against Emperor
Francis Joseph seemed to reach Its climax
when his nephew and heir. Archduke Fran
CHS Ferdinand WAS asssssinsted ct Sara
jevo In 1914. One heir after another was
doomed and the old Emperor lived through
II all. This time the curse of the Haps-
burgs extended Its dreadful influence to
the whole world.
n must have been msdness which drove
the Austrian Emperor and his heir 20 pur
sue the policy which brought on the world
war-a policy which could only end In
the ruin OF Austria In any event. Old