The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1924-01-23
CURSE FOLLOWS
LE0pOLD'S Line
Pronounced by Witch Doctor Be-
cause of Misrule in the
Belgian Congo.

Berlin.-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 misrule in
Congo atrocities has come to a
matrimonial shipwreck-as have all his
daughters.
ITO the tenth generation you and
yours will suffer-" cried the Infatuated
witch doctor, "sorroW and death shall
be your share. AS our people died
your slaves, SO 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
tives because they could not gather
enough rubber, came true almost as ut
tered. Death, sorrow, disgrace-every-
thing imaginable has happened to the
family and descendants of the bewhis-
kered king.
The list Is long. There was Louise
of Tuscany, his daughter-desperately
unhappy in her married life. There Is
Louise, who at the age of sixty-four,
has been forced to leave her Hungarian
husband, a 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 a
good business man, though a rather In
different king and family man. His
rubber plantations in the Congo annu-
ally netted him a fortune. But the
joy was taken out of it all when pub
licity 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. It
was then the witch doctor pronounced
the curse.
Apparently it worked. Leopold and
his queen ha 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
lie scandal. Rudolph sought distrac-
ton elsewhere-with Marie Vetsera,
his mothers lady in waiting. The
couple went to the princes hunting
lodge at Meyerling-it was evening. A
gay party followed and the next day
the world was amazed to learn that
Rudolph's brains had been crushed out.
apparently with a bottle, and that
Marie Yetsera had been shot and
killed.
The mystery of their deaths was
never solved. Innumerable stories and
rumor as to how they died have been
printed. One, told in a book issued re
Gently in Vienna, appears the most rea-
sonable. The author holds that Ru-
uolph, Who was a phiIanderef, sedGced
a girl he had met the day of his arrival
at Meyerling-the daughter of a forest
guard. The father, so the book tells,
caught the girl and prince together and
killed the prince, not knowing who he
was. Then Marie Vetsera ended her
life.
Princess Leaves Court.
Stephanie. the widow, and one of
the most unpopular princesses In
Austria-Hungary, was made so uncom-
Portable at the court of the Hapsburgs
that she returned to her home zeal
Brussels. Her mother had died in the
meantime, and Leopold, free to enjoy
life, had gone to Paris. There he met
n nrattw ond not
averse to the attentions of a wealthy
old gentleman.
Out Of the strange union of the ell
derby king and the young and beauti-
full ~laundress resulted a tangle which
busted the courts of Belgium for many
a day. After having two m by the
young lady, now the Baroness Vaughan
Zone of the sons is dead, the king
married her on his deathbed, leaving
his fortune to her. The
daughters of royal blood contested the
will-there was litigation extending
over years and then the courts held
the Baroness Vaughan entitled to ev-
cry penny of Leopold's money.
In the meantime Louise had married
Geze Won Mattachich, a Hungarian
noble. For a time they lived happily.
Then came near-poyerty, the war and
now the princess has followed in
the footsteps of her sisters In the line
of marital infelicity.
Young Baron Vaughan has an imped-
iment in his speech. He resembles his
royal father greatly. He has a vast
fortune. And he is anxious to marry
American girl-he has said so
repeatedly. What his fate will be
whether the curse of the Congo will
also fall upon him-only time will tell.