A KAISERIN STORY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 279, 21 August 1919, Page 5

A KAISERIN STORY

DISCOVERED POISON I'LOT. Miss Brcnda Tarkington, an American governess, who was employed ijt the exKaiserin's household, tells in the New "Xork -American" the story nf a visit she has just paid to the formei; German l'impress at Lmstedt. The plight of this woman shorn of her throne is pitiable, writes Miss Tarkington. Siio lias aged beyom'l recognition in recent months. T<vday tier features are haggard an.J careworn. Sho lives in terror of her liio, £'hc stateliness and majesty which made her. such a dignified figuro at court are now gone, and the cx-Knisorin is bent with grief and a broken heart. The ex-Kaiscrin unburdened her eoiil, 'and' tbld me of a conspiraoy which she fears will end her days. Suo said;—" Miss Tarkington,you cannot imagine tho ordeal through which l'havo passed during., tho last four months. I had hoped that tho exKaiser's abdication in Holland would ease matters in Berlin, but things have gene from bad to worse. As I told you in my letter, tho darkest stories reach me every day; indeed, seldom an hour passes that someone does not bring tidings .of a fresh plot." The ex-Empress here burst into tears (says Miss Tarkington), whereupon I offered my sympathy, and did my best to console her in her grief. She went on; "Thero is an cJd saying that coming events, cast their shadows before. Several extraordinary things have happened to )no in recent weeks. One evening towards tho end of the first week in February I was having coffee after dinner. 1' was not feeling very well at the time. After sipping my coffee I would not take any more. Shortly before midnight I was alarmed to hear that the servant was taken ill. 1 sent my own physician to 'ner to find out what was wrong. After administering to the girl ho returned and told mo she had taken coffeo which appeared to contain something with a ( very bitter taste.. An examination of the coffee M as made by tho physician, who found that it was mixed up with several grains of hyoscino. 'Your Majesty has had a narrow escape from serious illness,' was tho polite way in which he reminded ine of a plot to kill me by 6omo cT my servants. I sent for the police, and thrco of my most trusted maids were arrested. Sincc then I have-been most carcfn! not to touch food of any description without tho assuranco of my physician that it is perfectly safe for consumption. These incidents, of course, point to what I have' feared—namely, a conspiracy to kill me, my son, and my only daughter.'*

Miss Tarkington then relates how tho ex-Kaiserin showed "her copies of unsigned letters she had received, saying, "Your days are numbered; no power on earth can save you.'"' Miss Tarkington says she wont to see the Kaiserin at the request of tho cx-Kmprcss, wlho wrote to her from Linstedt. In a letter the Kaiserin says:— "My heart is too full, too heavy, for me to write to you at any length. I am unutterably miserable at the present time Tho most sinister rumours reach mo daily accompanied by anonymous correspondence, containing all kinds of dreadful threats. I had hoped to spend tihe few remaining years of my life in peace and quiet, but the same hands which put the T'snr Nicholas and his family to death are ready when the opportunity offers to remove me and mine also. My life, indeed, is a horrible nightmare. The awful tidings and warnings which come to me at almost every hour of tho day have completely shattered my always poor nervous system. I have not forgotten Russia, and something within mo eeems to tell me that the ex-Emperor and I are doomed to a like fate. I have had grave neire from Holland. Tho exEmperor is in low health, and unalde to rest or sleep. One does not know what the morrow may bring forth. I am prepared for anything." In the train to Berlin on Iher way back Miss Tarkington relates that she met Baron von Beinz, ono of the Kaiserjn's oldest friends, who said. "The Empress is fading to ft shadow."