HEIR TO POLAND'S THRONE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12408, 28 August 1918, Page 2

HEIR TO POLAND'S THRONE

REFUSES KAISER'S OFFER. , ■The following story relating to a Polo -mho is alleged to be the lineal heir to the throne of Poland appeared in ;i recent issue of the San Francisco .“Chronicle'’’: — “ I am too democratic to he king. I monk! rather shovel American coal than the Emperor of Poland—and vassal of Germany. 1 ' Such_ mas the declaration of Peter J. Sobioski, lineal heir to the throne of Poland, mho mas discovered living at 730, Apgar Street, in Oakland. Sobioski explained his reasons for refnsiim to accept the Polish crown, mhioh he says mas proffered him InEmperor Wilhelm of Germany tmo years ago. “I prefer my independence here, where I can honestly look (‘very map in the eye,” he said, “but a vassal of Germany?. Never!’’ Sobieski is living tb e life of an ordinary American citizen, working at odd jobs—a. locomotive engineer- one clay and a fanner the next—instead oi being his Royal Highness King Peter 1., ruler of millions. Sobioski says he is a descendant o! John Sobioski. known to tho world .as Xing John FIT. of Poland and a .national Polish hero. WILHELM MAKES PROFFER. Emperor Wilhelm, tmo years ago. proffered the Polish throne, after reestablishing the Polish kingdom, to' John Sobioski, or any of bis family. John Sobieski, having arrived at the ago of eighty-six *;years, refused the kingdom because ho mas too old. ami forwarded tho offer to Peter Sobioski, now of Oakland. Peter Sobioski, before coining to Oakland had a varied career, filled with adventure. Aside from being a locomotive engineer, a fanner in Canada, a trapper and hunter, a United States marines, a Russian army officer and an exiled Russian political prisoner in Siberia. Now ho is making application for a position in the United States Secret Service as, a special Government emissary to the "Russian people. BORN IN UKRAINE. Ho mas horn in .Umanj, Ukrainia, mas educated at, Kieff and mas graduated from tho Russian high school course. In its efforts to carry out ins mar plans, Germany placed' certain papers of a. revolutionary character in his home. Tho papers mere seized by the Russians, and Sobieski mas courtmartinllcd and condemned to servo fifteen years at hard labour in Siberia. After tmo, years’’ confinement, he made his escape and walked 3000 miles through ■'Siberia, China and Manchuria, where li? hoarded a vessel and worked his may to Japan and finally to the United States, arriving in. San Francisco iu 1907,