BERTHA KRUPP, MILLIONAIRESS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12001, 19 October 1906, Page 4

BERTHA KRUPP, MILLION AIRESS.

Fraulkin Bertha Krupp, who has just been married to Herr von Bohlen-Halbach, has been described as the most desirable matrimonial prize in Europe. There may bo girls in America who ar« -wealthier, but there are none who rule over so large a community. r She is the sole proprietress of the famous Krupp Steel Works at Essen, and, indeed, of the town of Essen, with its 250,000 inhabitants. The great Krupp Works, which supply Germany and several other countries with guns and armour plate, employ upwards of 30,000 men, upon whom some 200,000 persons aro dependent. Apart from this huge concern, the young millionairess owns 547 iron mines, situated in different countries, three coal mines, and numerous quarries, so that altogether she is estimated to control the destinies of 300,000 people. Her grandfather started life as a humble blacksmith, and to-day her income is quite =£1,000,000. Though the works are conducted on humanitarian lines, and she ta*es the greatest interest in the welfare of her employees, she is in constant danger, and has to be well guarded. A special bodyguard of detectives protect her from the attacks of Anarchists and discharged employees, and the works and her house are guarded by a special body of men, 900 strong, drilled like soldiers, and well armed. As may be easily imagined, there were numbers or suitors for her hand, including many of high rank, but she declared she would marry the man she loved — and she had her way. Herr von Bohlen-Halbach is a penniless young nobleman who occupied an insignificant post at the Legation at the Vatican. His blood is very blue, but otherwise he was not regarded as a suitable husband, for the heiress. Herr von Bohlen-Halbach will be, in the opinion of a French journalist who went to Essen specially to interview Fraulein Krupp, merely the Prince Consort in the State. His life's work will not be diplomacy, but looking after the interests of the army of men 1 in Essen. His wife has always preferred smoky Essen to Berlin. She has not been spoilt by wealth,and she has declared that she and her husband will devote themselves- to the "welfare works," as they call them in America, established for the benefit of the workmen.