A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 6, 8 January 1891, Page 3

A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.

John Orth, the Ex-Archduke,

A Strange Story.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, November 28. The mysterious disappearance of the Austrian ex-Grand Duko John Orth, who lefb Buenos Ay res several months back in a small barque, which has nob since been heard o f, is a general topic just now on the Continent. He had plenty of money wibh him, and likewise a lady, intimacy with whom had cost him much, so that ib is jusb possible he has baken up quarters on Borne Pacific isle. The more general theory, however, is that the vessel foundered off Cape Horn in June or July. A Vienna correspondent writes :— In the halls of Cascle Orth, on an island in the Lake of Gmiinden, an aged mother is weeping over the only too probable loss of a favourite son. The widowed Grand Duchess of Tuscany, when in the summer she saw one of her grandsons wedded to bhe Emperor's youngest daughter, began to hope that her darling, her son John, would be again received into the Imperial family, and reinstated in his titles and honours, Eate willed it otherwise, and ib must be painful indeed to the House of Habsburg that this once promising scion should have perished ab bhe age of thirty-eight in the fulfilment of self-imposed duties, in a foreign sea. Eor it must be remembered thab about fifteen years ago. the Archduke, John, then the intimate triend of the Crown Prince Rudolph, was the one above all others who represented talent and free thought in Court circles. The two cousins were then enthusiasts. They dreamed together of successes in literature and art; and bogebher rebelled againßt many an antiquated notion and old institution, deemed invulnerable by those who bad an interest in maintaining them. Two young apostles of enlightenment, they sought to dispel darkness and ignorance. Ib was in this spirit they conceived the plan of exposing the spiritualist Bastien, although bhey knew well bhab bhey would thereby offend many a high-born believer in the occult art. The exposure tookplace in the Archduke John's palace in the Wallzeile, where a trap had been prepaied by two folding doors which moved on slides, and could be closed by merely pulling a string. It was the Archduko who gained the spiritualist's confidence, ly posing as a believer; the Crown Princo had declined to be even so far deceitful. When Bastien had escaped bareheaded and without his boots the two young archdukes sat down to write an account of the whole successful scene for the papers. It is to be imagined that this kind of thing was nob much approved of in Court circles, which had been tolerant aa long as the Archduke John came before the public only as a composer. Three of his valseß published under the name of "John Orth" were danced to during a whole carnival, and a ballet of his composition " Die Assassinen " was per : formed at the Imperial Opera House. But suddenly he turned his attention to more serious subjects. He objected to the military system in Ausbria, delivered lectures to the officers which in the ears of EieldMarshal the Archduke Albrecht were high treason, and published his observations and ideas in an essay called t Drill or Education,' which brought him into much illodour. Still the Emperor forgave him, and he was appointed commander of the divi eion at Linz.

A violent quarrel with the Crown Pnnpe put an end to their friendship, and death anticipated a reconciliation. The Archduke was leading a reckless life and his debts rose beyond his indulging mother's power to pay them, ior the Toscanas are poor. The Emperor, who is like a father to every member of his house, anxious to free him of hjs embarrassments, summoned him and asked' him whether he would begin life afresh if his debts were paid. When promises had been given, the Emperor aaked the amounb of what he owed. The Archduke saw nothing but kindness in the Emperor's face, and the Emperor gave him a cheque. He paid his debfca and put the rest by as a nest - egg. Shortly afterwards he left his post for England without leave, and when deprived of his command cried oub against what he called injustice. The reasons for depriving him of his honours and titles, with which he lost his income of 30,000 florins a year and the right of calling himself an archduke (a fact wi" cn was believed to be an impossibility until it appeared in the Court calendars), have not been given, but the Emperor would not hastily have resorted to such severe measures. Since ]iis only son's death, the monarch's character has acquired a mildness and lorgjvingjiess which naakea him grieye whenever he. has to do anything out give and forgiye. Even when he found himself under the necessity of degrading a member pf his own family be did it in the gentlest form possible. He allowed Archduke John to renounce his rights of his own free will. John Orbh's financial embarrassments did not end with his descent from his high social position. Before he embarked he mortgaged bis only property, the Castle of Orth, in which his mother is residing,