DETAILS OF THE TRAGIC STORY. London, February 10.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 353, 23 March 1889, Page 6

DETAILS OF THE TRAGIC STORY. London, February 10.

The mystery surrounding , the- death of the Crown Prince of Austria has givon rise to many conflicting statements. The following narratives supply details of ' the versions most widely circulated. , Rudolph had for the last three | years at least been living in bad ways. His disappointment at not having 1 a son first estranged him from his wife, and his subse- ! quent infidelities completed the separation. Gradually it became apparent that the young pair, foi merly so attached, were leading a cat-and dog li!e. The Prince, a man of slight build, nervous sympathetic temperament, highly imaginative and excitable, took to exces&ive drinking. He lost interest in his literary pursuits, as well as artistic studies, and was always craving for excitement. Ec did mad tilings when * out bear - shooting and deerstalking, and was frequently seen with flushed face. He Look pleasure in loose society, and became smitten with fondness for chost stories and spiritualism, and the end was that ho became j haunted with fear that he might go mad, like Louis 11. of Bavaria. He had an intrigue with a Baroness yon Y. Young, a lady of 21 years, one of the beauties of Austrian society. She belonged to the old Czech family, and Avas the niece of a well - known Austrian sportsman. The acquaintance between the baroness and Crown Prince began some months ago, and 'this increased the estrangement; between Rudolph and Stephanie. The Prince scarcely made any secret of his determination to obtain a divorce. He counted confidently upon receiving assistance from the Emperor, on account of the disappointment experienced bj r his Majesty when the doctors • certified that the Crown Princess could have no further issue. To the Crown Prince's surprise and disappointment, the Emperor pointblank refused to countenance anything o f the kind. Hia Majesty professed himself, as he undoubtedly is, very much attached to the Crown Princess, and rated his son for his unmarital conduct. On Sunday, the 27th January, there was a terrible scene between the Prince and his wife, who threatened to return to her parents at Belgium. The Emperor told the Prince he would appoint him Governor of Bosnia, and oblige him to go and live at Serajevo. u There," he scid, " you will have to lead a reputable life, and the*e will be an end to all these scandals.'' At the same time the Emperor cautioned the Princess to be more patient with her husband. The Crown, Prince was seen for the last time in public at the Princess Rene's reception on the same Sunday evening. He was then wearing a Prussian uniform, and seemed in a gay mood, though flushed somewhat and flighty. T-he next morning his father sent to him and repeated what he said on the previous day, but with more peremptoriness, adding that he would give the Prince a week to make a submission, and promise to lead a better life. RudoTph got very angry, left his father without kisring his hand according to the Austrian custom, and striding away to his apartments took off his uniform, put on a suit of shboting clothes, and sent notes to Prince W. Philippe of Coburg and Count Joseph Hoyos, inviting them to join him at Meyerling for a couple of days' shooting. Soon afterwards he started for Meyerling in a two-horsed cab, driven by a man named Brattisch, a noted comic singer. On Tuesday night the Prince dined with Count Hoy^os, and steadied his nerves with a good deal of champagne. At first he was in very low spirits, but gradually brightened up, and after dinner Brattisch, the cabman, was summoned to sing for him. The Piincs, Hoyos, and BratSsch remained together till three in the mot ning-, but duringintervaK between Brotfisch's songs the Prince several times left the dining-room and went to his study to write letters, which were afterwards found on his desk. At 3 a.m. the company separated on the understanding that the Prince would go out shooting at 9 o'clock in the morning. From this point the stories differ, some making the girl who committed suicide not the Baroness M. , but another young lady of the Austrian aristocracy, of Portuguese extraction and fierce temper. On the Tuesday afternoon, the day alter the Prince's departuru from Vienna, she had been out shopping with her aunt, and trave that lady the slip while they were in a warehouse together. On leaching Meyerling she insisted on seeing the Prince, and at the interview quite unnerved him. She stormed, wept, and declaied her shame would soon become public, and ended by saying that unless the Prince would take her openly under his protection, and elope with her for a few weeks, she would commit suicide. The Prince was so frightened that he dared not let the girl go back to Vienna alone, but proposed she should remain for the night at Meyerling ; she was accordingly installed at the lodge of the head gamekeeper, a man named Grathschaat. At night the Prince slipped out and went to the gamekeeper's lodge to see his sweetheart. At this hour the under keeper named YVeedring was goingr hisnighb rounds of the castle grounds. Weedring had orders to call the head keeper at 6, and at the hour appointed went to the lodge and knocked at the door. He was carrying a double-barrelledloaded gun, which was slutie over his back, and suddenly, while he knocked at the front door of the house, he heard the window at the side of the house open and somebody jump out. Hiving no idea that the Prince was in the house, he ran round. Seeing a man scampering away in the dark, he shouted to him to stop instantly, and not getting an answer, fired. The Prince dropped, hit in the shoulder. Weedring hurried up, and the Crown Prince, struggling to his feet, gasped out, "I am Archduke Rudolph ; I am hit ; lead me to the Schlosfe." The Prince I swooned justas he reached the window where the girl whom he had left a few moments before was standing. Weedring • appeai'3 then to have called out in 'his distraction that he had killed the Prince, upon which the girl withdrew in dismay, and swallowed the contents of a bottle of poison which she had brought with her. The Prince, recovering quickly from his s.voon,' ordered Weedring to help him towaljk tothe Schloss, and gave him strict injunctions to hold his tongue. The Piince then went home shortly after and was found dead, drenched with blood, and lying half out ot his bed with a revolver on ' the floor. From another .account it appears that when the Prince went to Meyerling the Baroness Marie disappeared from home, leaving a note for her mother, in which she said she was going to drown herself.! The terrified mother instantly went to Count Taaffe, the Austrian Premier, and the latter promised to cause inquiries to be made, and detectives were accordingly placed upon her track. . They made the discovery that she was staying with the Crown Prince at Meyerling. Taaffe conveyed this information to the mother, who, on'Wednesdaymorning.thedayofthes'uicide, went to the Emperor and laid bhe"matterj before him. On returning homo the

mother found anothor letter from her daughter, dated Meyerling, in which the youthful" baroness announced that she and the Crown Prince had resolved to commit suicide together. It seems that the Prince had promised her marriage as soon as he obtained his divorce from the Princess, and when he informed herthatthis was now impossible owing to the Emperor's refusal to consent; to the divorce, they resolved to commit suicide. This they did on the Wednesdajr morning, in the bedroom of the Prince. When Loschell, the valet to the Prince, entered the bedroom in the norning, after vainly knocking for admittance, he found tho dead bodies of tho lovers lying on the bed. Before calling anyone he carried the body of the Baroness into an adjoining room, so that when Prince Phillippe, of Coburg, and Count Hoyos, on being summoned by Loschell, entered the bedroom, they only saw the body of the Crown Prince, and naturally concluded it was a simple caso of suicide as was reported to tho Emperor. On being informed of his sons death ; the Emperor at once suspected the truth and exclaimed, c 1 would rather have lost a province than this disgrace should have befallen me." The Rome correspondent of the "Daily News" says he was able to learn the exact particulars of what occurred at the Vatican between tho Holy See and tho Imperial family at Vienna on the occa sion of Kudolph's death. The Pope received the first telegram announcing pimply the death of the Prince, to which His Holiness himself wrote a reply of four lines, and this, to him, was an extraordinary thing to do, as he has the greatest ditliculty in holding a pen. On the following day there came a long telegram from Vienna explaining the whole circumstances of the case, from which it appeared that there had been both a suicide and a duel. A difficulty therefore arose to decide whether the Archduke should have religious burial according to canonical law, suicide being considered in the light of madness ; a religious service is granted, but not for those killed in duel. A congiegation of the cardinals was immediately called by order of the Pope to examine into the question. After a long discussion the cardinals came to the conclusion that only one deranged in mind could have entered intosuchaduel ; and the natural consequence of the decision was that the necessary permission was granted. TheEmperorreceived'.thenewswiththedeepest gratitude, and telegraphed to the Pope that in his great bereavement his Holiness had spared him the greatest grief.