KAISER IN A STRAIGHTJACKET.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 53, 8 February 1916, Page 3

KAISER IN A STRAIGHTJACKET.

NEW AND ASTOUNDING PROOF OF THE WAR LORD’S MADNESS. (By Langford Ilcod.) Merely to say he is mad is, 1 admit, a mild definition of the mental state of the Million-Murderer, who, more than any other individual, has involved eleven nations in the most vast and voracious war of all times, and already plunged at lease a million men into premature and nameless graves. But the repeated insinuations about the Kaiser’s lunacy go back much farther than readers are probably aware. Quite recently I was looking through some French journals of aquarter of a century back, when T came across remarkable evidence, showing that even in those days strange stories were in circulation as to the insane state of the then young Hohenzolleru ruler. First of all, let ns briefly examine the family history of William 11. We find that he is directly descended from the deformed Frederick !., the first King of Prussia, who died in The king married his second cousin, and his son, who ascended the throne, immediately after his father s death, was Frederick William J., a violent and dangerous imbecile. A VERY SINISTER RECORD. The grandson of this sovereign was the sensual and cruel degenerate Frederick William 11., whose son, Frederick William HI., was mentally deficient. The king’s son was Frederick W-illiam IV., a paralysed degenerate whose state of mind was such that, in 1858, ho was relieved of his Royal responsibilities, which were assumed by his brother William instead, who was appointed Regent. Frederick William’s niece married the King of Bavaria, and bad two sons —Ludwig 1!.. King ol Bavaria, who died insane in 1886, and Otto, the present mad King ol Eayaua, who for years has heed under guard as a lunatic>and relieved of ail his rsponsihilities. When Frederick William TV. died in 1861. the Regent, his brother William, became King of Prussia, and, in 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, was created German Emperor. His son, the diseased but kindly Frederick [JT., died the same year he came to the throne, in 1888, and was at once his son, the present Fanperor. A more sinister record it would surely he difficult to unearth any where. The following description of the Kaiser is hv the well-known autho, and publicist. Mr Arnold White, who for years has made a study of his character, and has had the privilege of personally interviewing him; A DEFORMED DEGENERATE. “From personal observation 1 would describe the Kaiser as a degenerate. He is of short stature—about five feelfive inches. He wears a restless, nervous, somewhat fierce countenance, and constantly glares sideways at perfectly harmless individuals with a suspicions and sometimes with a menacing expression. He suffers from infantile paralysis of the left arm. and has a discharge from one ear winch seems to keep up a chronic infective meningitis. In cases of this kind the brain cells are frequently damaged, producing the most uncertain iesults.” Since the war. references have appeared in several British newspapers, alluding to the epilepsy the Kaiser is alleged to suffer froth. These references have been vague and indeterminate, hut the substance of them appears to be that the Emperor, in 189‘2, bad several epileptic seizures/ being discovered after one of them, unconscious on the floor of hi s dress-ing-room, by a servant. The French evidence to which I alluded just now is much more definite, and, in fact, points to what doctors would unquestionably regard as a symptomatic chain of mental weakness. 1 cannot do better than quote tho whole storv as it appeared hi the Eclair, for August 16. 1891. That invariably well-informed journal, which prefaces its statement by the assertion that it declined to publish the news until it was confirmed by unquestionable authority, goes on to say; THE KAISER IN A STRAIGHTJACKET. “The night after the departure ol the Hnheii/iollerii, from England, the crew of the vessel were beat to quarters ami found to their astonishment. tfie 'quarter-deck brilliantly illuminated, and an altar erected upon which were the Old ami New Testaments. Year the altar stood the Emperor, wearing a vvbito vestment, and having

a evozier in hi s hand, and a black and white mitre on his head. The Emperor read many of the most warlike passages from the Old and Yew Testaments, then said the prayers of tho Lutheran Church, inviting the crew to respond. Then, turning towards the men, he preached a long sermon upon the duty of monarchs to their people. The whole service lasted three hours, and at 2 a.m. the crewj were dismissed. “At 5 a.m. tho Emperor appeared upon the bridge, wearing the uniform of a high admiral, and looking very haggard. He approached the commander of the vessel and' said: “‘Sir, retire to your cabin; I take charge.’ “ ‘Sire, permit me to observe to your Majesty that we are in a perilous passage, and, as well for your Majesty's security as that of the crew, it would bp better for a sailor to remain in command.’ “ ‘Never mind, God will inspire me!’ “The Commander bowed and retired, but the second officer in charge remained at hi s post. The Emperor approached him and said, wvathfully : “ ‘Retire to your cabin also sir!’ “ ‘But, Sire, the second officer preserves his responsibility, no matter who is in supreme command.’ “‘Yon resist, wretched creature; you trouble the spirit of God which is in mo. This is the vengeance of God upon you!’ and the Emperor’s hand fell heavily upon the officer’s cheek. The officer controlled Ids feelings and remained still, whereupon the Fmperor, enraged at his disobedience, seized him by the throat and attempted to throw him overboard. But the officer resisted, and in the struggle the Emperor fell and broke his knee-pan. The sailors had watched the scene paralysed with tear. Then occurred a scone never to he forgotten by those who witnessed it. The Emperor howled with pain, his eyes started Irom their sockets, he foamed at the mouth, and swore terribly, fn short, lie manifested all the symptoms of madness.

“After a brief consultation the officers decided to carry him to his cabin, which was padded with mattresses.

Nobody was allowed to enter hut the doctor, the Empress, and themen necessary to hold him down while his leg was put into a bandage, and a strait-jacket put on. The crisis lasted three days. All that now remains is the terrible impression made upon the minds of those who were present.” The Kaiser’s vanity, apart from its blasphemous aspect, is often so absurd that it savours of the comicality of the clown. H is love of personal adornment, which induces him to wear a dozen different costumes daily, is of this nature, and so is the eccentric form taken by his personal egotism, GAVE SOLDIERS BUSTS OF HIMSELF. For example, it is on record that on the occasion of a review of the Royal Guard, he presented each man of a certain regiment with a little bust of himself, the original of which he had modelled by his own lingers. But it is not only as a sculptor ho imagines himself supreme. He fancies himself a composer, a painter, and in fact an adept at every form of artistic effort, and more than once he has interfered during rehearsals at the Royal Opera House in Berlin, and addressed the company on the manner in which they should interpret certain phases of the particular opera they were appearing in. He has even written plays, and. without submitting them to a reading by experts, has had them staged in the theatres. A few months before the war he appeared on the films as an actor in a photo-play of his own construction. This was taken aboard his yacht, by his daughter, the Princess Victoria Louise, to whom he had made a present of a kiiicmatograph camera. The Kaiser’s vanity is so abnormal that his mind is unable to bear any kind of criticism. This has given rise to a crime which does not exist in other countries—the “crime” of lesomajeste. | THE KAISER’S BLOOD LUST. I j Finally, the German Emperor is a 1 ulood-maniac. He lias degraded the i .... I chase by the indiscriminate slaughter. | by his party and himself, of hundreds of head of game; he signs practically all his own death warrants, and has Irepeatedly given injunctions to Ids isoldiers that, if he orders it, they aie j to shoot down their own parents and brothers and sisters. In addition, the “friglitliilness” ordered by him in France and Belgium during the war prove that lie has the lust lor blood in his veins. He would certainly rather this he directed against those who have disputed Ids supreme will, as witness his ‘oinmand In (ho German expeditionary force sent against China, sixteen years ago, when he saifl; “Wield your

weapons to such effect that for a thousand years no Chinaman shall ever dare again to look askance at a Cerman.” him, providing he gains the oir.ect lie is craving for. In- is quite mdifl event to the slaughter ol his own soldiers, and his announcement that he was prepared to lose Hot),00(1 men in hacking a way through to Calais, surpasses anything of its kind hut. on record by even such past masters in the art of bloodshed as .Nero, or dark the Hippcr!