Show I 1 J i m 9 1 9 a A i T j L s G h e f t t p 1 I 1 O O 9 I 6 Beautiful Countess Stephanie Driven Mad f I 1 J JI I I Princess Princes Elizabeth Declared Unfit I II II I 1 To Be a Mother to Her Children r il and Little Th II 1 11 Baroness itt t y w 1 Seventy five years ago Countess I it F in her bitter despair over I Ih Marie Almost a f f x t t I wy r r h the stern measures used by h N l F e r i Francis Joseph in subduing the i filled b Hungarian revolutionists offered II I a w P ra 1 the following curse against the t Y V Hapsburg Emperor 1 the Insane h ht hJ t J it r 5 May heaven and hell blast his I a rr vY w S Ss his be sZ happiness May family j ex- ex exI exa di I I a s i 1 Fury iliac r s 4 4 terminated May he be smitten I v j in the persons of those he loves I t p o ot W t c O r sr r Jy May his life be wrecked and his woman Who t children be brought to ruin axe t x The fate the Countess Karolyi Once Love m a J 1 prayed for her enemies has been i fulfilled in almost every grim particular but still misfortune j I jand Her Herand f and disasters continue to over over- L i 4 r H HL WE cruel hand of fate which for THE many years has been blighting the proud and once mighty House of Hapsburg with murder suicide in- in insanity in insanity sanity scandal and ill III fortune of every kind continues to seize new victims Icbms and drag them relentlessly do down n to ruin As in the past the victims of what many insist IS 13 nothing less than a dread dread- dreadful dreadful dreadful ful curse includes not only men women and children of the Hapsburg blood but those who are arc connected wIth them by ties of o marriage cr rr political alliance It is as if the so called caked curse were a contagion that can be bo caught by anybody who ho has anything an ani thing to do wIth one of the ill III fated Ha v Among its ne newest est Icbms are the Princess Elizabeth Wind hose married life has been lust Just one un- un unsavory un-sa un sa savory ory ry scandal after another and her mother the elderly but still beautiful Countess Stephanie whose first husband was as the Hapsburg Archduke Leopold Robbed by death of the dashing young na naval al officer she learned to love better than her d Princess Elizabeth has recently been divorced by Prince tto and branded by the courts as a woman oman too lacking in character to be b allowed ed the custody of her children The disgrace of her daughters daughter's dl- dl di divorce vore vorce coming as the cruel climax to n a along along long series of other humiliations and misfortunes has proved more than the proud and sensitive Countess Stephanie can bear Her lIer mind has given way under its crushing burden of ot grief and Orl pony Y and she ha has become a n maniac mamac Most shocking and pitiable of all IS the report t that through the insanity of Countess Stephanie her little relative Baroness Mane Marie has been brought w within reach of that hand whIch seems e ms to be continually menacing the gs and everybody c e er body connected with Ith them According to the stories that arc are told in Vienna the pretty little w baroness narrowly missed death at the I hands of the countess who once loved her like a but whose hose love madness has WI twined ned into a hideous II hate ate a U The child was rescued before belore the rn- rn s ine alne countess had succeeded in choking out her life but the shock to the girl nerves was as so great that it is feared she may ne er fully recover from It it The Baroness Marie Mane is considered the most beautiful ul gill gal of her age in Europe Prom earliest babyhood hood she has been the special favorite of the tho Countess Steph Stephanie ante anie and since she grew old enough they have been together a great deaL Although related only by marriage mamago they l seemed as devoted to each other as any mother or daughter When the countess mind gave ay aay and little Manes Mane's visits to her had to toi case lease the child was broken hearted She begged so hard see sec her beloved other mama again that one day when hen the countess gangling dangling nerves seem seemed d qUieter than usual her parents Barents consented to take her with them for tor a brief call can They had bad no idea there could be any danger to Marie and they thought the tho sIght eight of her might do Countess Steph Steph- Stephanie Stephanie anie ame some good But HS liS Marl Marl Marh stepped smilingly into the tho room where the countess was lYing the insane woman leaped at her with a spring anda and a snarl like some infuriated beast Bony hands gripped the terrified Irl irle throat th throat oat with the superhuman strength that madness brings and only the quick interference of her parents LL t I I w iris 4 p t ii it a F Fr r b kg j air t tt t t ta a t y tiff f I a sA sAn n d b t tY a ii I II I Y 4 R r d k r rk i 9 d v f w Baroness Marie called the prettiest child in Europe who r ts r rss ss Y narrowly escaped being strangled by Countess Stephanie r c k kr I Io r the woman who before she went insane was as devoted to the o girt as her own mother mow tiYe e and the nurses saved her from Below the late Emperor Elizabeth of being strangled Hungary Austria mother of ill fated v v Emperor Karl probably the last of Those nho ho know even en a small part of the anxieties and sor sor- sor the House of Hapsburg to sit on an winch for clouded imperial throne e r rows ros fears ears 4 y if a the Countess Stephanie's life r ra t are little surprised that she has hast s sr r rt t a at last gone one mad Only a alom won won- loman an of remarkably strong mind tr Nl r l kr fI w s could have brone blone up under them themas y 1 c r ro s as long IS as she she has d p D o ff Aa tv rd c b Z I the rhe divorce ee that ended w A any P yc g s sf sr f r s I hr her daughters daughter's stormy a u fi Py p y f t married life with Ith a i if tv Prince t o r r l Otto proved the final y Y Y Yf f day f blow for tor the unhappy countess The SUIt drag drag- ed falong along in inears in the theand courts Countess Stephanie's daughter Elizabeth recently divorced by her husband I cr fir four our l lin ears an and t the e Otto OUo W m d h graetz b because 0 of f h her er I love ove affair aff air WI th ith itha a nava naval I 0 officer charges which h IC h t the h e and pronounced by the courts unfit t to bring up her children ma made e were t e s mo most t sensational even a Vienna has e ever er er known 1 ay y According to them l tt aG g this fell wife and mother S v fell deeply in m love with witha a a a young lieutenant Inthe in y the Austrian navy nary Egon wr Lerch Lelch by name Soon v ta wr 3 tS S t husband ne began to desert herr her p to husband and children and the the r stately Ined oldcastle old castle where they tr ti tia a lied in he outskirts of Vienna Nto W to c ise roose with her loser lo in inthe it w- w 4 tide city's city cafes They became s a l notorious figures in the gay night life of the Austrian Austrian capital The rr l Lieutenant Lerch but buthis buthis buthis his death could not kill the faithless wife's love for tor him He remand always In her thoughts and she even taught her children to pray every day for the repose lepose of the boul soul of her dead loser lo Although there is no doubt that the princess relations ith i-ith the naval officer supplied Prince Otto with ample fro for a orce dl many think that in m obtain obtain- obtaining ing lag it he did not treat heat his wife e as generously as she once treated him a hen henhe he be was the guilty one Soon after his marriage Otto fell fel In Inlove inlove inlove love with Ith a pretty actress Rumors of this affair reached his wife's ears but for a long time timo she refused to believe them At last however the gossip be- be became became be became came so loud and positive that the prin prin- prin princess princess cess decided to play detective and find out the truth Accompanied only by a trusted ser ser- servant servant servant vant she went sent ent one night to Prince Ottos Ottoe castle near Prague where hel e she he had been told that her husband and his stage beauty were in the tho habit of ot meeting r She found a valet on The now insane Countess Stephanie guard outside the locked Archduke whose first husband Arch Arch- door of nor Her husbands husband's duke Rudolph died with Marie sUIte in the mysterious tragedy Open that doors door at commanded the deter- deter mined wife I am the real mistress of this castle When the valet refused to obey she drew a revolver er from unde under her cloak and seriously wounded him The shot brought Prince Otto to the thedoor thedoor thedoor door As he threw it open his wife saw cowering behind him the pajama clad figure of the very woman she sho had feared she might find there The sight stirred Princess Elizabeth to still more murderous fury She lifted her revolver again and this time it was washer ler Jer husbands husband's companion who fell tell bleed bleed- bleeding bleeding ing to the floor That bullet ended Prince Ottos Otto's love lovo affair with the tho actress Later on his wife Ife took him back to her arms and lip up to the time when Lieutenant Lerch oame into her life they seemed to bo be living qUite happily together l j wt But t friends of the prin prin- princess princess cess declared that t hat she never nevel quite forgot or forgave forgae her herh herh h Husbands Husband's u s b ands and's a earlier faith faith- faithlessness faithlessness faithlessness and that it was the haunting memory of tillS thus w which h I Ic c h helped drive her into the te naval officers officer's arms The Countess Stephanie's life with her fut fist husband Archduke Rudolph son and heir to the throne jt of f Emperor Francis Joseph was almost almost as miser mIser- mIserable miserable miserable able an affair as M her daughters daughter's marriage mar mar- marrIage marriage has proved fi Thirty fire e years ago in his hunting lodge at Rudolph was found lying Jg dead beside the corpse corpe of Marie the sweetheart of ofis Is is bachelor days whose charms he found himself unable to forget after his marriage Whether it was a double murder or a murder and suicide or a suicide pact that killed the lovers remains to thIs day a deep mystery The shock of Archduke Rudolph's death under such circumstances nearly killed his wife Ife It was sears ears before she taus as able to take anything like a II normal Interest in life again agam and it is thought da st IKo 4 that her present condition dates from what she suffered at that time Her lIer second marriage was reasonably happy but she soon seon began to he tor- tor tormented tormented tor tormented by a constantly increasing num- num number number num number ber of worries that had their origin out out- outsIde outside out outside side her own immediate household As Asa Asa Asa a daughter of old King Leopold of BelgIUm she had to face the scandals that arose from his inveterate fondness for barmaids and pretty women of ot the th stage like Cleo de Merode Then there were the tragic mis- mis misfortunes misfortunes mis misfortunes fortunes that relentlessly pursued her Iler sister Princess most ai-most most from her girlhood In more t recent fears ears there were added to all these her daughters daughter's and later dis- dis disgrace disgrace dis disgrace grace and the financial and other re- re rever reverses re reverses ver verses es brought Lv by the war Madness seems to be bo a favorite form of vengeance for the evil fate which so o cruelly follows the House of Hapsburg Haps Haps- Hapsburg Hapsburg burg Scores of the family and mem members members bars bers of it by marriage have gone VIOlently insane just lust ns as the Countess has gone and often with far more tragic consequences In fact medical science declares that hat what the tha superstitious believe to be the working oat o-it of ot a sweeping curse on the family is is only the tho result of a heredItary taint of ot insanity which has grown worse orse with every succeeding generatIon because of intermarriage News of the latest victims of the Hapsburg curse gives fresh interest to the mystery surrounding tho the old and poverty stricken man calling himself John Orth who ho just lust before his death in New York the other oher day confided toh to I h friends that he was the Archduke John who di disappeared appeared from Austria after his brother Rudolph's death at atMe Mel erling Archduke John had hail been one of the most brilliant members of tho the Hapsburg family family- and was relied on to do muck mue toward restoring the family's falling fortunes But after he married II h a pretty little Austrian singer he and the Em Emperor quarreled his titles were taken from flom hun him and he was as bam banished hed from the court couri I He He took the name of John Orth fitter a es cl and is to have sailed away to make his fortune I thirty odd years yearb ago His vessel vessel- IS thought to have been wrecked off the I South American coast and what became I of him after that has never ne ne er been I established I IThe The man who died in III New York the theother theother I other day claiming to be the tho long lost I Archduke John declared that years ears age he wrote out a true account of ot the I tragedy and deported it WIt wilt willa wilta i iII II a lawyer in Rio do Janerio within with in 10 instructions I that it should not be opened i until 1927 1917 I If the dead man men really was the tha Arch Archduke Archduke Archduke duke John and If the lawyers lawyer's vault ArchI It I 1 Janeiro holds what he said the we shall soon be able to fill in the details of what is up to now the most dramatic chapter in the hl history tory of ot the ot of the tho Hapsburg curse r But if the Hapsburg record for mis misfortune fortune holds good there may be a nuin ber of trag tragedies that will quit over overshadow overshadow shadow that memorable one ono in 10 the hunt hunting ing lodge at t r A |