The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-02-03

the emperor himself, who had set his mind on
healing the breach between Rudolph and his wife.
When Rudolph announced his intention Of di-
vorcing his wife and marrying the baroness, even
though that involved renuncfation his rights to
succession and even his archducal rank, the en-
peror saw red.
Two days before the tragedy at Meyerling the
emperor and the crown prince had long inter
view What was said is not known but it is
believed that the old emperor commanded the
crown prince to drop the affair with the baroness
Anyway, Rudolph planned another meeting with
Marie. What he intended to do at that meeting
nobody will ever know; the secret is buried with
him.
Rudolph, using a go-between countess, got
Marie away from the Vetsera palace that fatal
January 30, and the same afternoon the young
couple left for Meyerling. Rudolph had invited
a party OF gay friends to join him at the hunting
lodge. Among others were the Baltazzi brothers
Here, in brief. is Leopold Wolfing's story of the
tragedy:
The baroness though in the lodge was not
present at the dinner. After dinner the men
drank deeply. Rudolph could never carry his
liquor and early lost self-cOntrOl discussion
between him and the two Baitazzis degenerated
into a violent quarrel. champagne bottle
flung across the table and the prince dropped
dead, his head terribly crushed A moment later
the alarmed baroness entered the room. One of
the brothers shot her and she fell dead beside her
lover amid a scene of blood, broken glass and
smoke. The ex-archduke's story states that when
the princes body was taken to Vienna fragments
OF the broken bottle still were sticking in his skull
AS to the effect of the affair the Emperor
Francis Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth, the
author tells of the first family dinner after the
tragedy
cat the table sat the emperor and the empress
a brother of the emperOr's, the old Archduke
Albrecht, the Hungarian Archduke Joseph and
the author himself. Neither the emperor the
empress spoke a word. They did not touch
single dish The empress was dressed in the
deepest mourning and wept softly We VOTED
breathlessIy while this depressing ceremony should
be over and the emperor dismiss u.s.
The ex-archduke says that he learned the true
story Of the Aieyerng affair from his father, the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had it from the en-
peror himself
None of the persons connected with the ira gedy
was ever punished. The two Baltazzi brothers
dfsanpeared for several years from society, hut
LATER re-emerged. A similar exile was inflicted
upon Count Hoyos, adjutant to the crown prince
and today probably nobody with a frst-hand
knowledge of what happened at the Meyerling
hunting lodge is among the living.
The story of the burial of Baroness Marie is
known in all its gruesome details; it is properly
a mart of the tragedy. Count Stockau and Alex
Meverling in the evening in a large closed car
rage The chief of the secret police sat beside
the coachman. The uncles were taken into the
linen room where Marie's body had been hidden
in basket They were Informed that the corpse
was to be fully dressed and then her body to
he taken to the carriage "YOu are to support
the body" they were told, sin such q way as to
make it appear that the baroness still lives
The uncles were forced to take part in dressing
the dead. Her hat and veil were placed on her
head and then the body was set in a chair while