The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-08-17
Pronounced by Witch Doctor Be-
cause of MiSrule in the
Belgian Congo.

Berlln.-The curse of the Congo
witch doctor still works
Princess Louise, daughter OF Leopold
Of Belgium, cursed many years ago
because of her royal fathers mlsrule In
the Belgian. Congo, with its attendant
Congo atrocities" has come to n
matrlmenial shipwreck--as have all his
daughters.
"To the tenth generation you and
yours will suffer-" cried the infuriated
witch doctor, sorrow and death shall
be your share. AS our people died
your slaves, 60 shall your people live
In sorrow. As my people wept, so
shall yours suffer"
That curse, uttered because Belgian
commanders, at the alleged behest of
Leopold. cut off the hands of Congo ma
enough rubber, came true almost MS ut
tered. Death, sorrow, dlsgrace--every-
thing imaginable has happened to the
damily and descendants OF the bewhis-
kered king.
The list Is long. There was Louise
Of Tuscany, his desperately
unhappy In her married life. There Is
Louise, who at the age of siXty-four,
ptas been forced to leave her Hungarian
husband former captain of Hussars
IN the army Of Francis Joseph,
Witch Doctor Curses Leopold.
To begin at the beginning, Leopold
was immensely wealthy, for he was
good business man, though a rather in
different king and family man. His
rubber plantations in the Congo annu-
ally netted him fortune. But the
boy was taken out of II all when pub
2icity was given to the horrors perpe-
trated upon the natives who could not
gather the quota of rubber assigned to
them by their Belgian slave drivers. 1t
was then the witch doctor pronounced
the curse.
Apparently II worked. Leopold and
his queen had violent disAgreements.
His daughter, Stephanie, married Ru-
dolph, crown prince of Austria-Hun-
gary. 1t was not long before they dis
agreed and private gossip appeared
ready to burst into the flame of pub
lic scandal Rudolph sought distrac-
ton elsewhere-with Marie Vetsera,
his mothers lady in waiting. The
couple went to the princes hunting
lodge Mt Meyerling--it was evening. A
gay party followed and the next day
the world was amazed to learn that
RuSo,ph's brains had been crushed out
apparently with bottle, and that
Marie yetsera had been shot ard
killed.
The mystery of their deaths was
never solved. Innumerable stories and
rumors as to how they died have been
printed. One, told in book issued re-
Gently in Vienna, appears the most rea-
sonable. The author holds that Ru.
dolph, who was phllanderer, seduced
girl he had met the day Of his arrival
nt Meyerling-the daughter of forest
guard. The father, so the book tells,
rarght the girl and prince together and
kiRed the prince, not knowing who he
was Then Marie Vetsera ended her
life.
Princess Leaves Court.
bteIfnanle, lne WluoW, anu oHr VI
che most unpopular Processes in
Apstria-Hungary, WINS made so uncom-
Portable at the court Of the Hapsburgs
chat she returned to her home near
Brussels. Her mother had died in the
meantime, and Leopold. free to enjoy
life, had gone to Paris. There he met
q laundress-young, pretty and not
rverse to the attentions of wealthy
old gentleman.
Out of the strange union Of the el-
Gerly king and the young and beauti-
rul laundress resulted tangle which
rusied the courts of Belgium for many
o day. After having two sons by the
young lady, now the Baroness Vaughan
Zone of the sons is dead), the king
married h,r on his deathbed, leaving
his enormous fortune to her. The
n ~.