Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-07-12
EUGENE, WIDOW OF NAPOLEON
III, DIES AT MADRID,
AGED 81.
HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
FRANco-PRUSsIAN WAR
Resentment of BoIdness of NAPOLEON
Said to Have Won Eugene Throne
Worked for Victory ofn,AlIies
During World War Interesting
Story of Romantic Life. o. y

..
She was exceptionally we'll Saturday
morning. At midday she lunched
heartily. A short time later she be-
came i'll, experiencing severe abdom-
inal pains. DR.. Grenda, physician to
King Alfonzo. was, called and a
specialist and also two other ply
sicions. They were, however, unable
to reliee the patient.
Empress Eugenie seemed conscious
that death was approaching, and
those who stood by the bedside said
she appeared glad to die in Spain, her
native country.
The body was embalmed today in
preparation for it's transportation to
England. where Eugene will be bur-
led at Marlborough.
Paris, July 12.-Eugenie, widow
OF Napoleon III, and last empress
OF France. died at her home in Ma
drid, Spain, Sunday at the age Of
81.
| Death occurred shortly before 8
o'clock from acute intestinal inflam-
nation. She passed away quietly in
the presence only of her lady-in-
waiting. Her nephew, the Duke OF
Alba, at whose residence she died,
was in France. and the other men,
bers Of the family were absent
| Full imperial honors will be ac-
corded at her funeral.
Queen Victoria Of Spain Is Eu-
genie's godchild and judging from
\ repeated utterances of the former
empress, will be the chief beneficiary
Of her will. Eugene was one Of the
wealthiest women in Europe. Her
fortune is estimated at 10000, 900
married Napoleon Ill she was COM
paratively poor.
Romance, tragedy, drama and his
tory--each played it's role in her life.
This once daring beauty, for whom
crowns were lost and wars waged,
dies at the beginning Of a new age
when dynasties are waning in impor-
/ lance and blue blood" is enlivened
with red,
She, who in August, 1870, boosted
with proud sparkle in her eyes that
the Franco Prussian war is my lit
tie war" lived to help take care of
British soldiers wounded in another
war which had it's primary causes in
events caused in no little part by the,
ambitious empress in the days Of her
j youth.
/ On the day France declared war on
Germany the aged empress stood in
a window in Paris and watched the
armies she loved marching to battle.
4 ':The day Of my revenge has ar
rived" she exclaimed bitterly
And all thru those agonizing days
Of August and early September, when
the Gefanan armies swept into France
4 and to the very gates of Paris, there
was no heart in France that beat
more periodically than that Of Eu-
genie.
Blindness Threatened.
Lame, bent and white-haired, the
former empress was often called "Eu-
ropes queen Of sorrow" She was
quoted always as praying that oeaIn
might end her sadness and bring her
to her husband and son. In the
Tuileries Gardens in Paris the stern
visaged gendarnies looked the other
way when Eugene was plucking
flowers.
Some time ago Eugenie lost the
sight of one eye. and was fearful of
becoming blind. With the desire
again to visit her native country,
Spain, she begged that she might be
taken there before she became sight
less. Her wish was gratified, and last
April Eugene again saw the beauties
Of Spain, and especially of Andalusia,
where she was born.
Despite her ninety-four years, she
displayed notable vitality, and ex.
pressed warm hearted gratitude Over
the way in which she was welcomed
by the people of Spain. During her
travels in Andalusia the former en-
press was described as having peen
almost childish in her jopousness in
again visiting the scenes of her child
hood.
Seer Promised Her Throne
When the empress was an infant
an Egyptian fortune teller prophe-
sled that she would one day be a
queen. At a cost almost as great as
Macbeth paid, the prize came to her.
This same Egyptian, it has often
been recalled by her friends during
the last ten years, said that this sa-
gacious lady, who, after winning Ma
poleon, gave his chief orders for ann,
would live to be 900 years Of age. u
I little more or less"
She nearly approached that span
| O until har. },
enigma to those who knew her and
studied her as she was to the seer,
who, when asked to specifyd further
the thrilling adventures awaiting her,
replied quietly: II cannot tell, for she
is a woman, a Spanish swoman and
a princess of fortune"
There are two distinct legends con-
corning the birth of the empress Eu-
genie, both surcharged with romance
and intrigue. "The Spanish adven-
turess," she was called by the ladies
of the French court when the second
empire began to fade and Maxi
milians downfall came in Mexico.
One story Is that she was the
| daughter Of Christine, whose father
was Francis Of Naples. Christine,
it is related, had been secretly mar
ried before she became the fourth
wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain,
to an English painter named Ward
Eugene was supposed to have been
one Of the three children Of that
match.
The official story accepted by the
| more conscientious historians, begins