Evening star., 1923-07-29
GUILTY PRINCESS
MILDLY PUNISHED
Republican Germany Lenient
With Marguerite for Aid
ing Ehrhardt Escape.
BY MAyIMILLIN HARDEN,

BERLIN, July 2S.-A princess-not
akin to those who sing and dance and
otherwise exploit their titles-but real
princess of house nearly 1000 years
DID, Marguerite Victoria. princess of
Hohenlohe. has just faced a Judge on a
serious charge. Her family, which en-
joyed a position of great power in Fran
coma while the Hohenzollerns there
were still petty vassals, never before
saw one of its members sunk so low.
The court condemned the princess for
completely in preventing the arrest OF
Capt. Hermann Ehrhardt. n leader in
the Kapp revolution, and for perjury
This was done in a trial where she was
addressed regularly as princess" in
stead of the usual form, accused" The
extreme penalty was ten years in prison,
but she was sentenced to only six
months. which probably will not be
served to the end. She also loses no
civil rights. So the serene skeletons of
the princes and princesses of Hohenlohe
may rest easy. Their descendants are
treated more mildly in republican Ger
many than in the days of the empire.
Sought Fame variousIy.
The Hohenlohes have sought fame and
money in many different departments
of life. A Hohenohe set the Saxon
duke Henry on the German king s
throne and thus helped to change the
eastern Frankish kingdom into the Ger
man empire. One Hohenlohe was
known as miracle man and cured Ba-
yarian peasants by prayer long before
Christian science was known.
Members of the house of Hohen-
Iohe have been verything-Prussian.
Bavarian and Austrian premiers,
ambassadors, viceroyS of Alsace, car
dinals. chancellors and business men.
prince of Hohenlohe- -Oehringen
and the duke of Ujest converted his
upper Silesian coal mines. zinc mines
and Smelters into corporation and
formed with the still richer Prince
Fuerstenberg the so-called princes
concern, which neither brought last
ing profits nor had a pleasant odor.
Even then the dead Hohenlohes
conceirably turned over in their
graves, but how they must have te-
volved when the news penetrated
their sarcophagi that a real Hohen-
lobe and a girl stood before re-
publican court charged with crime,
In the castle of her uncle, the
Princess Marguerite learned to know
and to love Capt. Ehrhardt. the wild
desperate leader of the free corps
formed to protect German territory.
Ehrhardt was married and the
father of several children. At the
order of his chief, Gen. Won Luettwitz,
he co-operated in the Kapp "putsch''
In 1920, and when that failed. placed
himself at the disposal of Gen. Won
Seeckt, who still was commander-in-
chief of the reichswehr. Over two
years ago this general in a public
decree expressed his thanks to and
confidence in Capt. Ehrhardt and as
sured him that warrant for his
arrest. which had been issued by the
government. would not be executed
warrant by mail to this friend, into
whose military camp no civilian dared
go. The warrant did not prevent
him from remaining a further six
months in the service and pay of the
German republic against which he
was fighting.
Concealed Him I'm House.
In \the spring of 1921 the writer
recommended amnesty for all politi-
cal Offenders, including Ehrhardt
Ehrhardt wrote this correspondent
an effusive letter of thanks, which he
signed as Imperial Captain" and ex.
pressed contempt for his "pitiabl,
cowardly' comrades who urged him
to act and then abandoned him. He
wrote that he desired no amnesty. bui
wanted a trial before the suprem
court He further expressed sadness
At being so long separated from his
wife and children, but even then he
stood in intimate relations with the
lowed him to Berlin and then to
Munich where she concealed him in
her house. And after she had been
Informed of the consequences of per-
Siio SWole the
magistrate that she did not know
Ehrhardt.
Meanwhile Ehrhardt had become
the head of all the organizations
formed for revolts and murders, but
simultaneously the hero and the
demi-god of the nationalist masses
and even a great part of the students
When, finally, after three years. he
was arrested, the writer's assertion
Of July, 1921, was confirmed: the
authorities feared a trial because it
might bring out unpleasant dis
closures. In prison all sorts of con-
sideration were shown him He es-
capped and was enthusiasticall lily
praised by his followers. He also
could truthfully declare that he would
have appeared before a competent
court, but not before an unconstitu-
tional court arbitrarily constituted by
the government.