New Britain herald., 1921-12-14
YANKEE WOMAN
 KNEW EMPEROR
Wife Of Mexican General Was
 Friend Ol Mayimilian

Mexico City, Dee. 14,-O}y Assoc:- atcd Press.> A shrirolcd, gray-hau-
 cd little woman. almost blind and
 living wholly alone, sits all day in her chair before the window of her dGE apartment in Mexico City and dreams of the days Of the Mexican Empire when the Austrian Archdukc Maxi milan ruled the dcstini"s of the ua- ton from 1894 to 1867. She IS Sen ora Marie Othelia Jordan de DegoI- lado, member Of d family famous in Mexican history.
 During the three tragic years of MaXimiian's reign she was lady in-Waiting to Empress Charlotte, the sad Princess of Europe, and to the correspondent she recently recalled some interesting memories of ,uurt days during the Mexican empire.
 MaXimilan, the ill-fated Austrian prince. who was set up as head Of the empire by Napoleon III in 1864, and | three years later was shot as 1n
 usurper, by order of the Mexican l President Juarc2, was described hy i Sonora Degolado as "a beautiful character sympathetic and capable DiL lOO dlll llldblt lO SONtll II tl lltllloll VI malcontents.'
 Empress Charlotte, daughter of Leopold |, King of the BelEians, who | is still living in Brussels, according to | Sonora pegollado, was "an ambitious , genius who was always striving to adl vance her husband and whose mInd
 became unbalanced when she found | the path blocked" Sonora Degollado 1 has never seen the Empress since she | departed from Mexico City in Jury, 1 1866, to plead the cause of the Em- ] pire before the French monarch, and | later to go to Rome to attempt to SC
 cure the good offices of the Pope. 50 | far as she knows no direct word has
 been received ip Mexico from Char
 lotte in more than 3 years, and that
 only an incoherent note to the wife Of ! q former high Mexican official "The Empress left hurriedly on her European trip" said Sonora Degol- | lado, who despite her S0-Odd years,
 retains a remarkably clear memory | 'and was accompanied only by her personal maids For many days prior | to her departure there were evidence of her failing reason, and we were not surprised to hear of her acute attliCtiOn several months later. l am positive that there is absolutely no | truth in the reports that she was | poisoned before she left Mexico. And
 the Emperor! He was possessed Of 1 every kind element of nature. He
 was too good. He listened to treach- crous advice and was shot. That uaY n aK-il MANirn
 Sonora Degolado was in Mexico | City when MaXimilian was shot in Queretaro, and although she had an l opportunity to view the body before
 it was shipped to Vienna she declined l preferring to remember him as she knew him. Within few days after
 the Emperor's death, she and her | husband fled to Guatemala. where
 they lived for several years, until
 Porfrio Diaz became president of
 Mexico.
 Born in Norfolk, Va, Miss Marie | Jordan went to Washington with her
 father during the early days ot the Civil War, and there met Mariana | DegoHado, who was attached to the | Mexican embassy. They were married 1 in Washington and later came to Mex
 ico, where her husbands father, Cen
 eral Santos Degollado, was one of the
 most prominent men Of the day. A
 street and plaza in Mexico City StiIi l bears his name.
 Sonora DegOllado believes that she
 is the last survivor of the court favor
 ities fthe Emperor MaXimilian. ]