DRIVEN TO SUICIDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 24

DRIVEN TO SUICIDE.

THE TRUE STORY OF LIEUT. YON HAHNKE, OF THE GERMAN NAVY,

AND THE EVTPEROR WILLIAM.

For blackening Emperor William's eye young Lieutenant yon Hahnke, of the German navy, disgraced in the eyes of all his fellow-officers, has committed filicide, and one more scandal is added to tbe already long list of tho r e which Lave mae'e Wilhelm's reign the most notorious in German history.

This is not the lirct <imß that the Emperor has caused the suiu-ide of a German officer. Wheu he was still Prince William he had a violent quarrel with the lieutenant of a regiment quartered in Potsdam.

Furious with anger, the Prince struck the officer. The latter could not retaliate in kind, but Bbnt a challenge. The Prince refused to fitibt on the plea of inequality of rank, and the officer shot himself.

The atory of the Yon Hahnke episode is one of studied concealment on the part of the official chroniclers of court news. The black eye of his Mnjesty, so it is given out, was merely the result of the bursting of a cable with which he canio in contact. Yon Hahnke, so they have told us, is dead, sure enough, but the poor fellow tumbled off his wheel headlong over a cliff, and they produced a bicycle at the top of the cliff to give plausibility to the yarn.

THE KAISER RECEIVED HIS BLACK El'E on board his yacht, the Hohenzollcrn, while voyaging through the Norwegian fjords last July. Soon after it was announced that one of his adjutants, Lieuteuant yon Haboko, was mysteriously killed. The official papers at the time had their explanations ready — " The Emperor was struck by the end of a cable Hnapping in two," and " Hahnke lotb his bal&uce while bicycling on the edge of a torrent and was drowned."

_ The latter story received a number of elaborations during the following wicks. "The Emperor w*s deeply affected by his young frier da misfortune," wrote the Imperial Gazette, " and In order to lojafce the body "used & dammv figure to be dropped into (be

torrrnfc where he fell. It was drawn out afterward, torn in man} pieces, and scarcely holding together." That appeared two weeks ago.

Lately it haß been given cut that Hahnke's body has been recovered from the falls, »nd that, by a miraclo or something of the sort, it showed no marked disfigurement after floating among the ragged rocks for 20 days or more.

THESE EXPLANATIONS WERE ACCEPTED with more or less credulity in the FfttLerlaud, for in Germany, where on an average 14- years of imprisonment is meted out week by wec-k to editor* and others found guilty of " insult to his Majesty," it does not pay to bs inquisitive. However, the true story of William's black eye and poor Hanhke's suicide are gradually leaking out, and incidentally one learcs a thing or two about the causes that forced William to limp and grow a bsird upon his return from former Northland trips.

The information comes from the officers and crew of the Hoherizjlloru, which is now in German waters, aud partly from poor Hahnke's family and friends.

The late lieutenant's father, as is well known, is General yon Hahnke, chief of the Ka : s-'.r ? 8 military Cabinet, and ojther members of the Hthnke family hold high positions in the army and Governmeat service. It is therefore not likely that tbese people would give credence to any story that contain* grave charges against their master, the Emperor, >f they ha ot every reason tor regarding it with the utmost confidence.

The Journal correspondent had ti conversation with, a coumii of the lalo Lieutenant H«hnke, who gave the facts of his death as follows -.—. — "Ou July 10, while the Hohenzollern was anchoring in the neighboutbeod of the Landveu Lake, the Kiiser c-ime on deck while { "HAHNKE WAS JUDING ItOUKD ON HIS ! bicycle, ; a practice which, though forbidden by the commander of the yacht, had been permitted to the younger officers on board by his Majesty himself. "The Kaiser on that morning had evidently forgotten thi«, f-nd when he saw Hahuke ho called out, ' G^t off that wheel, lieutenant, and report lo the captain your breach of discipline. You will remain in your cabin for the next three d&yp.'

" This rebuke was given in the presence of several officers and in front of a line of soldiers.

" Hahuke did as he was bidden, dismounting with the customary words, 'At your Majesty's orders. 7 But as be ascended to tbe bridge to report himself to the captain, hia Maj.-s-ty ca-11-d out imperiously, • Dare not mount thor-e fet-ps. They are reserved for the Kaiser. You are not worthy to crawl where the chief war lord walks.'

•• Hahnke turned as if stung. He was white with rage. 'lam an officer like your Majesty,' he said, ' and allow no one to insult me. I will report in your Majesty's cabin presently and demand satisfaction.'

"With that ho started to go below, the Emperor, following. 'You lifc'l* upstart,' cried Wilhelm, • I will have the epaulette* torn from your shoulders and your sword broken as an ungrAttful and mischievous servant.'

'• * Servant ! ' cried Hahnke, and with that his right arm shot out and hia fist laneled on the Emperor's left eye. Then he threw himself upon William's staggering form and wos about to hurl him to the deck, when the witnesses of the affair grabbed him and bore him off.

" The Kaiser was helped (o his feeb and carried to his cibin.

" THE GREAT WAB LORD

was indeed a sorry spectacle. His eye was bleeding snd he frothed at the mouth, while crying for Hahuke's blood. He ordered a court-martial to be held immediately.

" Hahnke was roughly bandied by his brother officers on being dragged to bis cabin, but his comrades soon recovered from their first anger »nd held a h&sly council of war, in which it was decided that he should be pub ashore at once so as to give him an opportunity to escape an ignominious death and military disgrace, for it is a capital offence in Germany to raise one's hand aga-iust Royalty, let akne blacking the Emperor's eye. "So poor Huhnke, after giving up his sword to the captain and donning civilian drens, was hustled into a steam launch and landed at the shore of tbe lake.

"'That,' concluded tho poor lieutenant's founin, • was the last the officers of the Hohenzollern saw or heard of him. They h-id his word of honour that he would do away with himself, and implicitly trusted him, txpeefcing soon to be informed of the discovery of Lis bsdy in the neighbourhood.'"

WHEN THE KAISER RECOVERED

from the sh< ck of this extraordinary affair he was dispesed to court-martial the captain and his entire staff of officers for allowing the criminal to escape, but after a while he was persuaded that the couise taken was the best one after all. Upon the captain* advice, Hahnke's bicycle was brought ashore during the sight and thrown over the rocks at the falls. There ib was discovered next day by the native*, and thus the storythatthe yourg man met with a bic) cle accident gained credence.

Ab a matter of f kc 1 ; j oung Hahuke lived ten days after leaving the Hoher zilkrn, Bta3iog at a peasant's hut in the neigbb of the lake. During that time he wrote letters to his relatives and friends, in which he told them that he had engaged himself on his word of honour to corrmit suioi 'c, while guilty of no offt-nee in the e-yes of the world at large. He must have drowned himself aboub the 22nd or 23rd of July, or shortly after that, and, to make certain his drowning, weigUti d his pockets with lead and also hung a piece of lead on his neck.

A similar version of the .story is circulating in naval circles in Kiel, and the Kaiser's provoking attitude toward Hahnke is there characterised as his usual " midsummer madness."

" These Northland trips," said a well-known naval eurgeon to the New York Journal correspondent, " are undertaken for a specific purpose.

THE KING'S PHYSICIANS think his peculiar derangement, reappearing every year in July, might be cured in a cold climate, and it has actually abated to some extent in the lasb few seasons Of course there is no way of guarding against sudden outbreaks, and the crew of the Hohenzollern is therefore made up of old and tiied men, in whom perfect confidence is placed, while all the offkora and members of the suite are bis MajVsbj'g personal friends. This was young Hahuke's first trip in attendance upon the Kaiser, and for some reason or other he had not been iuformed of what might be expected of William at any time. If he bad known the facts he would have treated the insult offered him with perfect indifference, as the other officers on the Hohorzollern do — and would be alive to-day."

Further inquiries developed the fact that the injury to the Kaiser's leg received on bis Northlaud trip of 1894 was ■ the result of a fall incurred while chasing Count Philip Eulenburg, now Ambassador to Austria, sword in hand. On that occasion he fell down the salon steps.

On another trip he was forced to let his beard grow, as for two weeks nobody dared approach him while he was suffering from

".dementia of persecution." Whe-n he recovered he found that the beard suited him, and let it grow. •

It is said thnt THE KAISEIt KEAIXT SEEMS TO DKEFLY KEGBET the sorry circumstances of Hahnke's death. He has been more attentive and kinder to tho general, the lieutenant's father, than ever, and haa promised his victim's uncle on his mother's side, General of Cavalry yon Buelow, the post of Imperial Chancellor after Prince Hohenlohe's retirement.

In conclu ion, it may be said that the dummy story, so assiduously circulated by the official press, was invented to account if necessary for Hahnke's entire disappearance. It was thought possible thdt the youi>g man might change his mind and choose to go to some foreign couutry under an astuoaed name. In that' case — that is, if bis body were not recovered — the theory that it had been completely undone upon the recks and twepb away by the torrent was to be advanced. — New York Journal.