LIBEL ON EX-KAISER.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1923, Page 5

LIBEL ON EX-KAISER.

A SENSATIONAL STORY, NAVAL OFFICER’S DEATHSLAPPED KAISER’S FACE. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright London, Dec. 18. Sensational evidence was given in a case at Dortmund, where the court was hearing the ex-Kaiser’s charge of libel against Von Der Heydt, editor of the Dortmund General Anzeiger, which published in 1922 sensational articles entitled “From the Life of the Crown Lunatic,” attacking the exKaiser and Crown Prince. Hahn, the ex-Kaiser’s counsel, said the case had been instituted finally to contradict the allegations concerning the death of von Hahnke, a young naval officer, during the Kaiser’s tour in Norway in 1897 in the yacht Hohenzollern. Pauli, a German ex-officer, gave evidence that his brother, who is now dead, told him that von Hahnke’s fate was common talk among naval men during the Norwegian cruise. The ex-Kaiser one day was the worse for drink and was behaving most freely. He appeared to be tickling von Hahnke, with whom he was most intimate. Von Hahnke playfully retaliated by slapping the ex-Kaiser’s face and injuring his eye. The ex-Kaiser’s attitude instantly changed. He sprang to his feet, left the room, and the same afternoon a Court of Honour ordered von Hahnke to atone with his life for the insult to the Emperor. Von Hahnke immediately left the Hohenzollern and took his cycle to the top of a cliff and allowed the machine to carry him over the edge. He was dashed to pieces. Count Klatamgall Armund, formerly of the ex-Kaiser’s personal staff, gave a denial of the allegations and declared that a falling spar injured the ex-Kaiser’s eye. He added that von Hahnke’s death was accidental. The ex-Kaiser erected a memorial on the scene of the tragedy, attending the .unveiling and made a speech, which was an extraordinary mark of favour. The officers of the Hohenzollern also gave evidence that the death was accidental. The court fined Von Der Heydt 300 gold marks, in default a month’s imprisonment.