SCANDAL REVIVED

Evening Post, Volume 148, Issue 148, 20 December 1923, Page 7

SCANDAL REVIVED

NAVAL OFFICER'S DEATH

ON CRUISE OF HOHENGOLDER

EX-KAISER WINS LIBEL ACTION.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION, COPYRIGHT.) (AVBTRALUX-NEW ZEALAND CABLS ASSOCIATION".) {Received 20th December, 10 a.m.) LONDON, 18th December. Sensational evidence was produced in the case before the Portmund Court at the ■ hearing of the ex-Kaisgr's charge of libel against Herr yon der- Heydt, editor of the "Dortmund General Anzieger," which published in 1922 sensa^ tional articles entitled- "From the Life of a Crown Lunatic," attacking the ex^ Kaiser and the Crown Prince. Hew Halm, the ex-Kaiser's counsel, said that the case was instituted finally to contradict allegations concerning the death of yon Hahnke, a young naval officer, during the Kaiser's tour of Nor. way in 1897 in the yacht Hohenzollern. Pauli, a German ex-officer, said in evidence that his brother, now dead, to]d hira that yon Hahnke's fate was common talk among naval men during the Norwegian cruise. The ex-Kaiser, one day the worse for drink and behaving most freely, appeared tickling yon Hahnke, with whom he was most intimate. You Hahnke playfully retaliated by slapping the ex-Kaiser's "face, injuring an eye. The ex-Kaiser's attitude instantly changed. He s"prang to his feet and left the room. The same afternoon a court of honour ordered yon Hahnke to atone with his life for the insult to the Emperor. Yon Hahnke immediately left the Hohanzollern, took a cycle'to the top of a cliff, and allowed the machine to carry him over the edge. He was dashed to pieces. Count Klatamgall Armund, formerly of the ex-Kaiser's personal staff, gave a denial to the allegation?. He declared that a falling spar injured the exKaiser's eye, and added that yon Hahnke's death was accidental. The exKaiser erected a memorial on the scene of the tragedy, and attended the unveiling, making a speech, which was an extraordinary mark of favour. The officers of the Hohenzollern also gave evidence that the death was accidental. The Court fined yon der Heydt 300 go|d marks, or, in default,'" a month's imprisonment.