THE-LAST WORD

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1933, Page 6

THE-LAST WORD

A HABSBURG MYSTERY

DEATH OF AUSTRIAN HEIR

OLD LOVE TEAOEDY

Has tlio final curtain fallen an the great Mayerling mystery of tho death ot" Crown Prineo Eudoli; of Austria-1 Hungary and Baroness Mary Vetsera? It may well bo so, for the opening of the sealed official police records in Vienna has failed to shed any fre,sli light on this great-sensation of. Jannary, 1889, .says a- 'writer in the "Daily Mail." !For my part, I should havo boon greatly surprised had they done so. I. always understood.that Kudolf's papers and all contemporary documents concerning tho tragedy hud been handed over to the Emperor Francis Joseph at his peremptory command. What more lilcoly than that the Emperor, when he felt his own end approaching during the Great War, should have supervised tho destruction of, all secret evidence bearing en this, the greatest of the long list of Habsburg tragedies" And, after all, was there really a mystery? Tho world has thought so ever since, more than 44 years ago, it was convulsed by the news pf the greatest royal love tragedy of modem times; but many of the most highly placed people of Europe have never admitted that there was any Mystery of Mayerling. For them the facts of the tragedy were"'those: EMPBEOR INTERVENES. At tho age of 29 the Crown Prince Rudolf, son and heir of tho Emperor Francis Joseph and husband of Princes Stephanie of Belgium, was carrying on a liaison with tho 20-ycars-old Baroness Mary v Votsera, an incomparable * beauty in a city of beautiful women, ■After many unsuccessful attempts had been made to break up tho association, the Emperor, in a scene of great violence, warned Rudolf that ho must break with the 3'oung baroness under pain of being disinherited ii' he refused. Rudolf, in 'deep distress, communicated the Imperial commands to Mary/) who pleaded for a last meeting with the Crown .Prince at his shooting-box at Mayerlin'g, in the- Wiener AVald. 'A small party gathered there, consisting (in addition to tho lovers) of Rudolf's friend Prince Philip of Coburg, Count Hoyos, and n. Viennese' chorus' girl, 'Dinner was served, nnd an orderly, pleasant'-nipal was followed by v little music, after ivhicli.tho members of tho party dispersed to their rooms. Next 'morning Baroness Alary Vet; sora was found shot dead on her .bed, her body/ buing surrounded by roses. Rudolf-lay dead on the floor of the room with abullet in his hoad and a cavalry pistol by his side. Before shooting himself, after a. night of anguished watching, Rudolf wrote a lonjj lutter to his mother,, the Empress Elizabeth, which began: "I no longer Jiavo the right to live; I have lullod." > SUICIDE PACT. This was tho account of tho tragedy related-in Coui't circles by the Empress Eugenie-of Prance, who. said it was the result of a despairing lovers' suicide' pact. No loss a personage than Frinco Bismarck of Germany flatly disbelieved1 it, and held that the Crown Prince had been assassinated. Crispi, tho great Italian statesman, was equally sceptic cal. Ho was sufficiently interested in the tragedy to make his own investigation, as the result of which, he found that -Rudolf was capying on ot,her love intrigues nt tlio time.' Ciispi concluded that the Crown Prineo was hot so madly in love with tho baroness that he would have been likely to kill himself after a suicide,pact:.' If. Such great statesmen would not accept .the- Empress's version—which wa»V -jylso the official' one—still loss, -would the gossips of tho Courts, salons,.:and'.ca.fcs of the Continent. The number '. of "only authentic stories" of tho tragedy that were circulated throughout the world became countless. Even today some are being offered, for publication. One account was that a rival for Mary's affections murdered 'the couple, Another that the baroness's guardian slew Rudolf and that Mary, committed suicide, yet an-other''that'tho"-Archduke Johann killed Rudolf (Johann was stripped of his rank and went into exile as John Orth).. Countess Mario Larisch, a niece and confidante of Rudolf's mother, related in her Memoirs that Mary survived her. wound alid was still living, terribly'disfigured, in a Bavarian convent, ..■■'■ \ ■••. OTHER ACCOUNTS/ Another Habsburg, the ex-Archduke Leonpoicl Ferdinand (who .adopted the name of Leopold Wilfling), supplied a version in his Menioirs which found credence at one time. , According to this account, two Greek brothers, Hector and Arijitides Baltazzi, attended tho Mayerling party. Rudolf, who was tinder the influence of wine, quarrelled with tho brothers, one of whom hurled a champagne bottle at him. Tho Crown Priucc.was struck on tho head and fell dead with shattered skull. The baroness entered the room a few minutes later,, and one of tho enraged brothers shot her. Even those who were prepared to believe that Rudolf and Mary ahmc figured in the final scene were ready to disclose details of a drunken orgy at tho shooting-box; other "authorities" professed to bo able to show that Rudolf was unbalanced by a suicidal mania. And so books, pamphlets, and articles on tho. tragedy have been showered on the world for more than forty years. Still the mystery, if mystery there is,'remains. Who still survives to tell tho "real story"—to what Court memoirs can we now look for j further "revelations" about a scandal already drenched in inkf

.Coin collecting is the favourite indoor hobby of. King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. He has one' of the finest private" collections in the world. .