BIG FORTUNE AT STAKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21344, 19 November 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

BIG FORTUNE AT STAKE

FISHMONGER SEEKS £1,200,000 "AN EMPEROR'S SON " TREASURE SHIP'S RICHES Romance, mystery and drama that outrival anything a fiction writer could devise, lie behind a claim of £1,200,000 now being made by a London fishmonger. This man, Mr. William Brightwell, living at Islington, says the Sunday Dispatch, claims to be " his Imperial Highness Franz Rudolph Maximilian, son of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico." If jewels and bullion, at present lying in the wreck of the Merida, which was sunk in 1911 'in 200 ft. of water, are found—a salvage ship is on its way at the moment to try to raise the treasure:—and Mr. Brightwell's claim comes before the courts, one of the most astonishing legal actions ever heard in Britain will bo fought. Tho legal notice sent out by Mr. Brightwell's solicitors to Captain 11. L. Bowdoin, of the Salvor, who is on his way to try to retrieve the treasure, reads: — " Please take notice that our client, Franz Rudolph Maximilian, who claims to be the son and heir of tho late Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, hereby formally gives you notice that he claims and will claim all .or any of the estate of his father as may bo found in the wreck of the Merida, should this bo salved. Our client is prepared to prove his tillo when the occasion arises, but you must not deal with or dispose of such property in disregard of this claim." Over Thirty Fathoms Deep The jewels and bullion are at present lying in 200 ft. of water off the Virginian Capes, United States. Recently an expedition was formed by Captain Harry L. Bowdoin and Mr. Charles M'Cambridge and others, of Cushendall, County Antrim, Ireland. They have chartered the Salvor and are engaged in preparations to salve thin enormous treasure which belonged to the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Tho unfortunate Emperor Maximilian and his still more woe-ridden wife, Carlotta, left no children. But Mr. Brightwell's story, amazing as it may sound, has many contacts with historic tfuth and tells of an heir (himself) smuggled away and secreted for reasons of State. Maximilian, brother of the Emperor Franz Joseph, became Emperor of Mexico with tho assistance of Napoleon 111. of France. Later, after tho revolution of 1867, he was shot by court-martial in a barrack square. Jewel With a Curse When Maximib'an took on his unhappy emperorship he took with him from Austria a marvellous collection of rubies, sapphires and diamonds which one of the ancestors of " The Unhappy Ilapsburgs," Count Hermann, in the 16th century, had looted from the temple of Rama in Burma. These jewels were said to have been cursed by their custodian, the Priest of Rama, and certainly the history of the Ilapsburgs teems with death, disaster and" misfortune.

When the Empress Carlotta arrived in Mexico, she acquired a number of emeralds from the old-time Aztec temple of Quetzacoytl, which were said to be priceless. It was also said that a curse had been laid upon these, should they ever pass out of the hands of Montezumo's descendants.

The Empress Carlotta made her escape to Europe; her jewels and her husband's were confiscated and placed in the Mexican Treasury. There they remained until 1911. Then came another insurrection, and President Diaz was forced to resign. He collected the State jewels and bullion that had once belonged to Maximilian and had them sent to Europe in the doomed Merida. Wife Tries to Save Husband

Although Maximilian and Carlotta aro believed to have been childless, yet for nearly 50 years the man known as William Brightwell, who supplies fish and vegetables to small public-houses in the City of London and who lives in humble circumstances, has claimed to be the legitimate son of Maximilian and Carlotta, and heir to their vast treasure. It is a matter of history that Carlotta hurried to Napoleon lIT. and besought him to intervene to save her husband's life from the Mexican Revolutionists. Napoleon was powerless to act. She then went to Rome and interviewed Pope Pius IX. at tho Vatican, where she broke down, became violently mad, and assaulted his Holiness. So ill did she become that she was allowed to stay in the Vatican for a week. When she .was removed she was hopelessly. insane, and was sent to her relative, the King of the Belgians. Carlotta was later placed in a convent near Brussels, where she lived until her death, four years ago, forgotten by tho world. Mr. Brightwell's contention is that he is her and tho Emperor's son. He declares that he was smuggled into England, where he was found at Christmas time, dressed in very expensive baby linen, on tho steps of a Roman Catholic Church in Kingsland Road, Hackney. Mysterious Foreign Woman Th o . claimant, according to his story, was taken to a home and, a few days later, a Mr. William Brightwell, a greengrocer, was visited by a mysterious foreign woman dressed in black, From her hereceived a very largo sum to adopt the baby.

When Mr. Brightwell, was a young man lie was visited by the Archduke John Salvador (John Orth), who renounced his title to the Austrian Crown and became the master and owner of a sailing ship in which ho was drowned. John Orth told Mr. Brightwell that ho was smuggled out of tho way because of tho insanity of the Empress; a scandal and a political crisis might have risen bad his birth been recognised. In appearance Mr. Brightwell bears a striking resemblance to the late Emperor Francis Joseph when Francis Joseph was 65. which is BrightwcH's ago now.