Evening star., 1923-06-22

1918, it must be admitted that much
or her present penury. as well as her
very Strengthened circumstances, Is
due to the gross dishonesty of GER
tain intimate members of her house
hold and encourage, men and women
in whom she and her husband re-
posed the uttermost trust and con-
fidence by reason of the length OF
their service in the employ of the
formerly reigning dynasty of the dual
empire.
1t may be recalled that the emperor
and empress were taken utterly una
wares by the revolution, that they did
not appreciate it's Importance or its
they made no attempt to fee like En-
peror William, but remained with
their children, first of all at one Of
their country places in Hungary. and
then at one of their castles in Aus
tria. In fact, they remained there
until spirited away secretly and in
the depth of night from their Aus
trian castle, across the border into
Switzerland. by Col. Strut of the
British army and Col. Sir Thomas
Cunninghame. who had been specially
delegated by King George to care for
the safety of the imperial couple and
their children. and to preserve them
at all costs from the horrible fate
that overlook the czar and czarina
and their children. Col. Strut had
learned that an armed attack was
about to be made by the insurgents
upon the castle. and. without giving
Charles and Zita any time TO discuss
matters, got them with all speed out
in behalf of the allies. During the
period which elapsed between the
! outbreak of the revolution and their
establishment in Switzerland on the
shores of the Lake of Geneva the en-
peror and empress had time to collect
nf q
which he had inherited as chief Of
the house of Hapsburg, among them
the great diamond known AZ the
"Florentine." and a superb diamond
necklace made in the early part OF
the eighteenth century for Empress
Maria Theresa. The collection is es-
timated to have been worth from ten
| to fifteen millions of dollars. possibly
more. Som of these jewels were used
as collateral for the loan raised by
Emperor Charles for the first of his
| two attempts to recover possession of
the throne Of Hungary, and when he
made his second attempt in the fall
OF the same year he found himself at
the end of his resources and in
trusted all the remainder of his jew
els to some of his most trusted re-
tainers, for the purpose of negotiat-
/ ing as large loan as possible in
| Paris or in London.
1t may be recalled that Emperor
II.
with, his consort, by the Hungarian
| troops and shipped off on board a
British man. war. down the Danube,
across the Black sea, along the Med
! fterranean and through the Straits of
Gibraltar to Madeira, where Charles
succumbed to pneumonia, leaving his
wife and children virtually pennilesS.
| The agents employed by Charles and
Zita took advantage of the confusion
following the imperial couples cap
ture and deportation to Madeira to
make all sorts of crooked deals with
T. the jewels, which, according to, their
tdeclaration, had realized only s125,000,
alleged TO have been used by the
same agents In paying the debts left
by the imperial couple in Switzerland.
, brother, the Archduke Maximilian,
has taken hold Of the matter ard has
secured the aid Of the criminal au-
| thorities in Switzerland and in
France, with the result that Baron
Bruno Steiner, the confidential pri-
priyy purse of the late Emperor
Charles. and the Baroness Steiner
have been arrested by the police in
Paris on charge of conspiracy with
rial household, some of very high
rank. and with an INSCRIPTIONS in
ternational syndicate of jewel and
precious stone brokers in Paris and
isin London, who have managed to do
away with every one of the Jewels
possessed by the late emperor and by
his wife, now his penniless widow.
Whether any of the gems will ever
be recovered is a matter of doubt.
Possibly one or two big pieces may
greater part have undoubtedly gone
| beyond recovery, and the only salts
faction which ex-Empress Zita can
hope for is that those who betrayed
her trust and that of her husband in
them of all the remnants of their
property should be brought to justice
and held up to international obloquy.