A SOLDIER’S LOVE

Southland Times, Issue 19099, 17 November 1923, Page 5

A SOLDIER’S LOVE

NEARLY PRECIPITATES A WAR. SERB AND BULGARIAN SUITORS. (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, November 15. The Sofia correspondent of the Daily Express says a servant girl’s love affairs nearly caused a Balkan war last week. This is established by an official inquiry into the attack on Colonel Krastitch, of Serbia. The Colonel’s soldier servant was fond of a maid employed in a neighbouring house. She had two other lovers, both Bulgarians. The three rivals met in a wine shop, where the Serb boasted he had won the girl’s affections, which decided the Bulgarians on revenge. Later, when the three were not over sober, they went to Colonel Krastitch’s house. While the Bulgarians were attacking the Serb, M. Krastitch arrived and was struck. In the general scuffle the assailants disappeared. All sorts of theories, based on high politics, have been advanced to account for the outrage against the Colonel. The most popular is that it was an attempt by Bulgarian agrarian Communists to make trouble by embroiling the Government with Jugo-Slavia. The case will shortly go to the International Court at The Hague, which has to assess the damage Jugo-Slavia suffered.