CROWN PRINCE AND HIS SON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14223, 20 November 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

CROWN PRINCE AND HIS SON.

WILD MOTOR JOURNEY.

The German Crown Prince was deer-stalk-ing in Pomerania when news of the "birth of his third son arrived. Orders were immediately given for his high-power motorcar to be prepared for a fast journey to Berlin, 200 miles away. It was hoped to cover the distance in four hours.

His Imperial Highness, accompanied by two adjutants, started at half-past eight o'clock, counting on reaching Potsdam soon after midnight. The night proved unexpectedly dark, however, and the car had not proceeded more than 60 miles when it encountered muddy roads, and a long stop was necessary. ■ , The two chauffeurs being unable to move the car out of the slough in which it had sunk, the Prince and his adjutants took off their top-coats and put their own shoulders to the wheels. Little . progress, however, was made. Then the Prince sent a chauffeur to a group of farmhouses, where the services of a score of peasants and live horses were obtained. • ' •

As a result of the efforts of this rescue party, it was possible to get the motor-car on to dry roads, arid the journey to Potsdam was continued. The Prince urged his chauffeurs to drive at break-neck speed in order that he might reach his wife's bedside at the earliest possible moment, and the 90-h.p. car careered at a wild pace across the country. At 3.45 o'clock on the Friday morning the Prince arrived at Potsdam to receive from the lips of the Empress, his mother, the tidings that both the Crown Princess and the new Hohenzollern Prince were doing well.