The St. Charles herald., 1922-10-07
THE LOST GRAND DUKE


THOSE familiar with the pomp and
= ceremony which hedged in the
former court Of Austria have always
maintained that the tragic disappear.
ance Of Johann Salvador, archduke OF
Austria, prince Of Hungary and grand
ducal prince Of Tuscany, cousin OF
Francis Joseph and son of Leopold II,
was due as much to his radical tend
encies and the fact that he persisted
In airing his views In print as to his
infatuation for Ludmilla Stubel, the
beautiful daughter of q Vienna shop
Keeper In furtherance Of this opin-
Ion, they advance the unassailable evi.
dence that Kaiser Wilhelm insisted
upon the punishment Of Archduke
Johann when the latter urged an ALL
ance between Russia and Austria In
order to curb the threatened domi-
nance Of Germany in European poll
tics. >
Whatever the cause, the young arch
dukes reaction to the discipline in
f1icted by his royal cousin was to re-
sign all his honors, strip himself Of
his titles, convert a large portion Of
his estate into cash, and, as the crown
ing insult to his relatives, to elope
with Ludmilla Stubel, whom he had
met incognito some months before.
According to all available reports,
there was no doubt of Ludmilla's
beauty, but a. marriage between an
archduke Of the royal blood and the
daughter Of poor shopkeeper was
too much for the high-spirited Haps-
burgs to swallow without struggle.
Johann, however. informed all who
brought him messages from his titled
kinsmen that heswas no longer Of the
royal house-that he had renounced
all his claims to the honors which
were his by right Of birth, and that
henceforth he could be nothing more
than Johann Salvador, private citi-
zen Of the world.
When it became known that he
really intended carrying Though his
wild plan, even force was resorted to
In order to prevent him from contract
ing what was recognized as mesalli-
ance, but he concealed his identity un-
der the name of John Orth-the name
which he had used In counting Lud-
milla Stubel-and the pair were has
tily married, and then escaped to Lon
don. Here, still retaining his adopted
name, the archdukc chartered the bark
Margharita. signed up captain and
crew and sailed for South America,
where the ship had formerly been en-
gagged in the nitrate trade.
The Margharita's usual course was
between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso,
and, after making several successful
trips, she finally left the former port
on July Is, 1S90-and vanished as
completely as IL the sea had opened
and swallowed her. Despite the most
diligent searches, undertaken at the in
stig8kion of the Austrian government,
nothing definite was ever heard of the
ship or the members Of the crew,
though rumors that Archduke Johann
had been seen at many times and in
many places have been current from
that day to this. The most credible OF
these reports is that made by an off,
cia1 investigator cf the Uruguay gov
ernmenr who secured affidavits to the
effect that the Margharita had put
in at a lonely place on the coast
Of that country, where the name had
been painted out and she had then
sailed up the Uruguay river. "Orth."
the report stated, had then paid off his
crew, and with the help OF two or three
Of his intimate companions had set sail
further inland-but here the trail was
lost. never to be rebound.
During the Chilean war Archduke
Johann was reported to be fighting on
the side Of the congressionalists, and.
some ten years later, the SON Of the
president of Argentina stated that he
had made the trip from Brenos Aires
to Cherbourg with a man who was
none other than the 3former archduke
Of Austria. In addition the lost grand
duke has been located" In California,
has been fdentified'' as Admiral Yama-
gaia of the japanese navy. and was
recognized" by reputable witnesses in
several engagements of the World war.
Evidently the emperor Of Austria never
placed full credence in the story of
his death, for in Francis Josept's will
was clause to the effect that the
estate of some $10.0OO,OOO
was TO be held intact until something
definite was learned about his fate-a |
point upon which the memoirs Of the |
Iormer kaiser mar eventually throw
yome light. Until this the mystery Of |
he lost grand duke must remain as
me Of the unsolved riddles of history. !
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