Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 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-
vorcng his wife and marrying the baroness, even
though that involved renunciation of his rights to
succession and even has 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 thai meeting
nobody will ever know; the secret is buried with
him.
Rudolph, using a gobetween countess, got
Marie away from the Vetsera palace that fatal
January 80, 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 Batazzi brothers
Here, in brief, is Leopold Wolflings 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. A discussion
between him and the two Baltazzis degenerated
into q violent quarrel champagne bottle was
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
smoke. The ex-archduke's story states that when
the princes body taken to Vienna fragments
of the broken bottle still sticking in his SKULL
AS to the effect of the affair on the Emperor
Francis Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth, the
author tells Of the first family dinner after the
tragedy
"At the table sat the emperor and the empress,
a brother of the emperors. the old Archduke
Albrecht, the Hungarian Archduke Joseph and
the author himself Neither the emperor nor the
empress spoke a word. They did not touch a
single dish The empress was dressed in the
deepest mourning and wept softly. We waited
breathlessly 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 Meyerling affair from his father the
Grand Duke of Tuscany who had it from the en-
peror himself
None of the persons connected with the tragedy
was ever punished. The two Baltazzi brothers
disappeared for several years from society," but
later reemerged. A similar exile inflicted
upon Count HOyOs adjutant to the crown prince,
and today probably nobody with a f1rst-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 part of the tragedy. Count Stockau and Alex
ander Baltazzi, uncles of Marie, were taken to
Meyerling In the evening in a large closed car
riage The chief of the secret police sat beside
the coachman The uncles were taken into the
linen room where Maries body had been hidden
In a basket. They were informed that the corpse
was to be fully dressed and then her body was to
be taken to the carriage. "You to support
the body" they were told, ain such a way as to
make it appear that the baroness still lives"
The unces 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