The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-03-24

Lusignan died in poverty at Milan, leaving only
son named Michael. Michael earned precarious
living as waiter at Milan and Florence. and
repeatedly endeavOred to ameliorate his lot by
marrying some rich woman. About ten years ago
he addressed to the head of the marriage-license
bureau at the New York city hail. remarkable
letter inviting the assistance of that official in
securing a rich American wife for ''a prince Of
royal blood, Prince Michael de Lusignan. Prince
OF Armenia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem; COmte de la
Marche, ffty-seven years OF age, and without
fortune" His matrimonial designs were as fruit
less in America as they were abroad, however,
and he died in October, 1912, at PetrOgrad in the
ObOukofsky hospital. in the utmost poverty and
obscurity, and without leaving any heir.
With him there disappeared the sole and only per
son who in modern times has ever been officially,
if enormously, recognized by any foreign govern
ment as entitled to bear the name of Lusignan.
More than questionable was his status, he
never tired of denouncing the soi-disant
Prince Guy de Lusignan of Paris, and the latter's
son Leon, as utter frauds
With regard to this Prince Guy de Lusignan,
who persuaded a number of credulOus English
and Americans into a belief IN the authenticity
of his Claims and induced them to accept the
bogus orders of knighthood which he conferred
upon them, his real name was Kalfajan. He was
the son Of an Armenian stone mason, and was ed
ucated by public charity at the Armenian mon
astery of San Lazzar0, at Venice
In Paris he first gave out that he grandson
of the great NapoleOn's famous Mameluke,
ROustan, and subsequently blossOmed forth as Guy
de Lusignan, King OF Jerusalem, Cyprus and Ar
menia. 1t was previous to this that he had sue
ceeded in winning the hand and fortune of the
wealthy widow of one of the great French art
dealers After her death, he married rich Eng
lishwoman named BrOadley; and it on the
strength of the money thus acquired that he
adopted his royal titles and founded his ridicu-
lous orders of knighthood. These last the
Order of Melusine, named after the legendary
ancestress of the real .Lusignan family and the
Order of st. Catherine of Mount Sinai, which was
restricted to women, and which this Self-Styled
King of Jerusalem had the impudence to confer
upon Miss Clara Barton, then head OF the Ameri-
can Red Cross.
No sketch of the Kings OF Jerusalem, past and
present bogus and authentic would be complete
without a mention of the dethroned Kaiser's extra
ordinary pretensions to the title He boldly as
sumed it on the occasion Of his theatrical entry
into Jerusalem In 1898, when he rode into the Holy
City arrayed in the white mantle of the crusader
sovereigns and carrying their emblem, a cross.
In the almost blasphemous sermons that he
preached on the Mount of Olives and in the
Lutheran church at Jerusalem, ne emphasized his
claim to the kingly title once held by Frederick
II of the old German empire. At home, how
ever he never included il in the official list of
his multifarious honors as German Kaiser and
autocrat of Prussia.
The former Kaiser was not content to ascribe
his rights in the matter to descent from one OF
the medieval rulers of Jerusalem. He goes back
TO an epoch much more remote-tO King David
of the Old Testament, whom he claims
cestor Hanging in a conspicuous position in his
vorkroom in the Neues Palais at POtsdam is, or
was a huge and beautifully framed genealogical
tree showing the name of King David at the root
and that of the Emperor William at the top Ac
cording to this tree, the dethroned Kaiser is de
scended from King David through the eldest
daughter of Zedekiah, who, with her sister. fed
to Ireland in charge of the Prophet Jeremiah, to
be married to Heremon King Of Ulster.
This genealogical tree is the work Of clergy
man of the Church of England, named Glover
who devoted most his life TO the study OF gene
aIogy In 1869 he wrote to Queen Victoria, inform
ing her that he discovered her to be descended
in an unbroken line from King David. The queen
sent for rim to come to Windsor, and TO his
amazemei.t informed him that what he thought
he had been the first to discover had been known
10 herself and to her late husband, the Prince
Consort, for many years
If is quite natural that Victoria's grandson, the
former Kaiser with his intense, If somewhat curt
GUS religious ideas. should have been deeply in
terested this family tree. Soon after his &C
cession tosthe throne Of Germany ne requested
his grandmother to let him have a copy which
was sent to him handsomely engrossed and gorge.
ousy framed Its contemplation naturally tended
TO increase his belief in the DIVING origin OF his
sovereignty.