The Republican journal., 1922-10-26
HISTuRY'S
EKEES
THE LOST GRAND DUKE

rHoSE familiar with the pomp and
/ ceremony which hedged in the
.,-,,er court of Austria have always
.satrtalned that the tragic disappear
once Of Johann Salvador archduke Of
.petria prince of Hungary and grand
d,col prince of Tuscany. cousin of
yr,,cie Joseph and son of Leopold III,
ras due as much to his radical tend
o,c,es and the fact that he persisted
n airing his views in print as to his
,,fotuatlon for Ludmilla Stubel, the
heoutlful daughter of a Vienna shop
teeper. In furtherance of this opin-
-, they advance the unassailable evil
sorce that Kaiser Wilhelm insisted
r,on the punishment of Archduke
Iobann when the latter urged an alli-
o,ce between Russia and Austria In
dor 70 curb the threatened doml-
nance of Germany in European poll
ties.
whatever the cause. the young arch
arte,s reaction to the discipline in
e,c,ed by his royal cousin was to re-
.,0n all his honors, strip himself Of
hIs titles. convert a large portion Of
hxestate into cash, and. as the crown
inc insult TO his relatives, to elope
ri,h rudmilla Stubel, whom he had
mot incognito some months before.
According to all available reports
S,bere was no doubt of Ludmilla's
heautv but a marriage between an
h1And and tho
daughter of a poor shopkeeper was
zoo much for the high-spirited Haps-
burqs 10 swallow without struggle
rohann however. informed all who
bronghf him messages from his titled
tlnsrnen that he was no longer of the
roval house-that he had renounced
oil his claims to the honors which
. were his by right of birth, and that
henceforth he could be nothing more
than Johann Salvador n private clti-
zen of the world.
When II became known that he
really Intended carrying through his
wild plan. even force was resorted to
In order to prevent him from contract
ing what was recognized as mesalll-
anee hut he concealed his identity un-
der the name of John Orth-the name
which he had used In courting Lud-
milla Stubel-and the pair were has
tlly married. and then escaped to Lon
don. Here still retaining his adopted
name the archduke chartered the bark
Margharita. signed up a 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
hetweea Ruenes Aires and Valparaiso,
and after making several successful
trips. she finally left the former port
on Julv -13. 1S90-and vanished as
eon,nletely as If the sea had opened
ana swallowed her Despite the most
duoent searches. undertaken at the in
s,,eation of the Austrian government,
nothing definite was ever heard of the
shin 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,
cial investigator of the Uruguay gov
eminent. who secured affidavits to the
effect that the Margharita had put
IN at 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 lnland-but here the trail was
lost. never to be rebound.
During the Chilean war Archduke
Johann was reported to he fighting on
the side of the congresslonalists, and,
some ten years later, the son of the
president of Argentina stated that he
had made the trip from Buenos Aires
to Cherbourg with a man who was
none other than the former archduke
Of Austria. In addition the lost grand
duke has been located" in California,
has been identified" as Admiral fama-
gata 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 or
his death, for In Francis Joseph's will
was clause to the effect that the
archduke's estate of some S10OO,oOO
was to be held intact until something
definite was learned about his fate-a
| point upon which the memoirs OF the
former kaiser may eventually throw
some light. Until this the mystery OF
the lost grand duke must remain as
one of the .unsolved riddles Of history.