8
The Private Life of the Kaiser
FROM THE PAPERS AND DIARIES OF
THE BARONESS VON LARISCH-REDDERN
The Kaiser and Kaiserin's Late Major Donio, Chief of the Royal Household at Berlin and Potsdam
Baroness von Larisch-Reddern is the TRUE name of the Berlin Court Lady who gave
the story of the Kaiser to Henry William Fisher, Ursula, Countess von Eppinghoven
being a nom dc guerre, heretofore used to shield Iter
VV : J
How the Inside Story of the Kaiser's and Kaiserin's Life
Was Written. The Chance Meeting at Moscow Be
tween the Baroness von Larisch and the American
Newspaper Man. Some Interesting Side Lights on
Pseudo-biographers. The Story Up to December,
1918. The Kaiser's Birth and What Happened on
That Occasion. Kaiser Was .Beaten Into Life
With a Wet Towel. His Rage When After His
Father's Death He Found Queen Victoria's
Telegram Asking Whether He "Was a Fine
Boy." The Doctors Were Late in Discover
ing the Royal Baby's Deformed Arm and
Hand. Nature of the Deformity, Which
Kaiser Tries to Hide. AH Sorts of Man
euvrcs. Kaiser's Morbid Fear of Illness.
Has Always Been Ailing More or Less.
A Grave Trial to His Valets. Hear
ing of Death in Neighbor's House.
He Ran Away From Home and Hid
in the Apartments. Haunted by
the White Lady. Fear of Illness
Causes Him to Maltreat Ser
vants. Even His Lady Loves
Suffer When Someone Has
a Cold in the Family
NOTE —The real name of the Lady of the Berlin Court who gave
the Information embodied in these absorbing mernoim was for;
merly withheld and a pseudonym, that of ITRSLLA COUNTESS i
EPPINGHOVEN, substituted. As our informant was killed during
the Berlin riots in December last, we are now at liberty to give tne
true name. BARONESS VON LARISCH-REDDERN. and her gen
uine office at court: Chief-of-the-Imperial-Household.
Some notes about the Baroness' personality, how and where Mr.
Fisher met her and how these memoirs were written and brought up
to December 191S, are appended in the statement below.
Mr. Fisher's Statement:
I have been asked how I came to gather the information Tor the three
volume history of the Kaiser nnd Kaiserin: "Private Lives of Kaiser
William II and His Consort and Secret History of the Court of Berlin.
That is quite a story and I will relate it as briefly as possible.
1 happened to be one of four American correspondents at the Corona
tion of the late Czar Nicholas at Moscow, in the early summer of 18S.
\t one of the court balls, to which we were bidden, Lord 14. the son of
li Hun"- Chang the famous Chinese Viceroy, called the Bismarck of the j
i'Lvthe name of a tall, distinguished looking lady who ap-
Snd tt in of Princes.; Henry of Prussia. Lord 14 said Ins
fM^ a Uvl made > Tiaste to find ont. and a Russian Chamberlain was
aoi? enough to formally introduce me after previously volunteering a
s . of me ladv. The Baroness von Larisch-Redderu, I learned,
had been for ten vears, chief of Ue Kaiser's household,—tliat is she liad
X diemost CONFIDENTIAL POST' AT THE BERLIN COURT, a por
tion tliat brought her in daily, almost hourly, contact with Wilhelm, the
Empress Agusto Victoria, Uie Royal children, the courtiers, and all who
visited the Kaiser's court, royal relatives and native and foreign royalties,
distinguished Germans and ditto visitors to Berlin, —in short with every
one worth knowing.
At the time of our meetiflg at
Moscow, the Baroness was Maid of
Honor to Princess Henry, a sister
of the Czarina, crowned a day before
The Baroness asked me many ques
tions about America, and as, owing
to the hubbub around us, it was im
possible to talk connectedly, I prom
ised to visit her next afternoon at
her lodgings in the Kremlin. But
by the time I saw her again, her
Ladyship, womanlike, had forgotten
all about her interests in the States
and during our two hours' chat she
talked of nobody and nothing but
William Hohenzollern.
I had once spent half a day with
the Kaiser when acting as assistant
to Mr. Russel, the famous London
Photographer, who went to Berlin
to take the Kaiser's picture for the
Marine Exhibition; as Berlin cor
respondent for English, French and
American newspapers. X had had
the Kaiser under less close observa
tion time and again. I had read all
the books, magazine and newspaper
articles and pamphlets printed
about William; I had talked to
dozens of people supposed to be in
the inner circle of his confidence,
masters and mistresses of court gos
sip; X had a thousand scandals con
nected with the Berlin court at my
lingers' ends—but the sayings of the
Baroness took my breath away.
Here, at last, was the real Wil
liam, the William in dressing gown
and pajamas; here was an empress,
shorn of state and crown—a mere
peevish and petty, and entirely wom
anlike woman. I had thought Rus
sel a great photographer; the Bar
oness was a better one; I had
thought Pepys the most wonderful
retailer of small talk, but Madame
von Larisch beat the famed chron
icler of Charles ll's Court and times.
"Mercy!" I cried, "if I had a mem
ory as large as the Spbynx's head,
1 couldn't remember half of what
you said."
"Then X will write it for you,"
quoth the Baroness.
"Ail you have told me?"
"Yes, and a thousand times
more."
"But how can I ask for such a
sacrifice of time on your part?"
"Oh! I am not as disinterested as
I seem", replied the Baroness, "first
of all: I want to let the world know
what kind of man William is, and
secondly, I want you to do me a ser
vice."
X would have promised her the
Town and County of Jerusalem, if
she had asked for them, and X cer
tainly made it clear to Madame that
X would do anything within reason
or even a few foolish things, if she
insisted.
But what she asked for was quite
easy.
"This oard," she said, handing
me a pasteboard, "will admit you to
the banquet of German Princes to
be held at the Crown Chambers to
night. At this gathering you shall
act as my reporter, —you shall put
doWn for me everything said and
done, no, not those cut and dried
speeches, court marshalls and sec
retraies concoct, only the impromp
tu sayings and actions, things not on
the program."
"But suppose nothing happens,
suppose they act just like junior
princes usually do?"
"They won't," said the Baroness,
with a sinister emphasis on the last
word. "I am sure there will be
trouble of some sort, and you will
tell me all about It, won't you?"
"I sure will", f affirmed in true
western style, and when, at 1 o'clock
in the morning I was ushered into
her Ladyship's parlor a second, time,
the Russian servant, guarding the
threshold of her private rooms,
seemed to have expected me, for he
rushed off into an inner chamt^r
' I
TUESDAY EVENING,
as soon as he heard my name, aiVl
the Baroness followed close upon his
heels, dragging an enormous court
train, partly detached, after her.
"What has happened," she cried.
"My princess (referring to Princess
Henry of Prussia) is in tears, but
won't say a word. 'State secrets,'
she vows. And the Prinde is writ
ing like mad, keeping our whole
cypher brigade, going full tilt. He
is telegraphing to—whom?"
"To the Kaiser, most likely," I
answered her questioning eyes.
"I thought so," cried the Baroness
"Now report, sir."
Here is the story I told her; it
seemed singularly tame to me at the
time.
"At the gathering of the German
! princes, there was much eating,
drinking, coughing, gtlrgling, and
picking of teeth, nothing remark
able or unusual in that. And the
speeches were a continuous flow of
platitudes, and imbecilities the
Kaiser had set the fashion in that
line, you know. The last official ad
dress had been entrusted to a dis
tinguished Russian-German of high
position in Moscow society. He spoke
in German, but not in the choicest
and right at the opening of his
speech, he put his foot in it.
"Thrice welcome," he shouted,
"to the great German Princes that
came here in the suite of the
Kaiser's brother—"
He didn't get any further for as
he pronounced the word "suite,"
Prince Louis of Bavaria (the heir to
the crown who subsequently became
king) rose heavily and, smashing
the table in front of him with his
clenched fist, cried, "To the devil
with your suite. We German Princes
are not traveling in anybody's suite.
We came here on our own account
to represent our Kingdoms, Grand
Duchies and Principalities, even as
Henry came to represent his brother,
the Kaiser. Prince Henry is one of
us, but no over-lord by any means.
As to the Kaiserehimself, as Royal
Personages we are his equals in alj
respects. What do your Royal
Highnesses say? Am I stating the
case correctly?"
Before Louis had half finished,
all the guests, save Henry of Prus
sia, were on their feet, shouting and
gesticulating to show their complete
agreement with the royal spokes
man of Bavaria.
The turmoil lasted five or six
minutes and the banquet was as
good as broken up, for the ITinces
were so excited they paid no further
attention to the program, talked
among themselves and drank each
other's health in such quick succes
sion that the majority got tipsy.
Poor Prince Henry, the innocent
cause of the trouble. Bat like a
whipped dog, and it was a great
relief to him when one of his gen
tlemen came, bringing him a dis
patch. Upon this, he rose abruptly,
and bowing all around, hastily left
the banquet room.
The Baroness listened with every
evidence of excitement. But she
didn't seem surprised and my priv
ate opinion is that Louis's outburst,
aimed at the Kaiser, had been pre
arranged and that Madame the Bar
oness was perhaps privy to the plot.
As soon as I finished* my story she
rose, shook hands with me, thanked
me profusely, and said, "X am oft
to wire the Kaiser. He will have
my story hours before Prince Hen
ry's comes limping in. I know the
Russian chief censor, and I am
afraid Henry won't have much luck
with his cypher dispatch. First it
will have to be deciphered, and then
they will take their time thinking
whether it should be sent or not
Next day I met the Baroness by
appointment for the. third time, and
we agteed upon the plan of the
I book in embryo. As r was due to
return to New Tork within three
months, she promised to begin writ
ing at once and by the time I ar
rived in the States, she would have
sent fifty or sixty thousand words
to my New York address. That
promise her Ladyship faithfully
kept and every two weeks after
wards 1 received further packets of
her Ms. until I had about 200,000
words or more.
I have given you a page of the
Baroness, Ms. As you perceive,
there is not a break or paragraph
in it. Neither was there a break or
paragraph in the entire 200,000
words. That was my greatest
trouble:—study out and disentangle
sentences and chapters and sections
ih "the awful German tongue," as
Mark Twain put it.
For the rest, I was able to verify
nearly every one of the statements
made by the chief of the imperial
and royal household. Where I
failed, the failure was due to the
fact that her Ladyship had been the
sole eyewitness. I made two differ
ent trips to Germany to clear up sev
eral mysteries in the copy and on
these trips gathered much additional
evidence as to the Kaiser's private
life and life at the German Court.
* *
Within a week or ten days after
the signing of the armistice a cour
ier or King's Messenger attached to
one of the minor legations at the
Court of St. James, came to seo me
at my lodgings in London, bringing
the first news of the Baroness since
July and August 1914.
"Her Ladyship you to know
that, while not officially connected
with the Court, she is a constant vis
itor at the Schloss and Palace and
is keeping a close watch on her old
Master and Mistress, and everything
and everybody connected with the
Court. As soon as it will be per
missablo to send uncensored mail
matter from Germany, you will re
ceive a budget of news from her
dealing with the Kaiser during the
war".
I immediately went to the War
Office and inquired when the cen
sorship was likely to be raised.
"It has been decided to raise it
on January 6, 1919," I was told.
And the Steamship Lapland, on
which I had engaged passage after
much trouble, was due to sail a day
later, January Tth.
So I went to the
Legation and told my troubles to
the King's Messenger.
"Don't worry," he said, "I just
received orders to go North tonight,
I am leaving on a British torpedo
boat, and will be back in London
before Christmas. When I touch
land, I will get the Baroness on the
long distance, and if you don't
grudge the expense, I will get the
information you are after from her
own lips."
The courier did even better.
While waiting at Copenhagen to re
turn to he received a thirty
page letter from tha Baroness, dated
Berlin December Ist, which detailed
the news I was so anxious to pro
cure.
According to plan, the courier
read Madame von Larisch's state
ment over several times, committing
it to memory for his memory is
simply phenominal. So, when his
minister of Foreign Affairs ordered
him to show the contents of his
mail pouch before departing for
London, he cheerfully handed over
the Larisch documents, as all papers
not strictly appertaining to govern
ment busipess were taboo.
Before embarking for England,
the courier called up the house near
the Puppenbrucke, Berlin, where
the Baroness had a flat. The man
ager of the apartment house
answered the call; "I am sorry to*
announce", he said, "that her Lady
ship is no more. Like so many
other good people belonging to the
court and society, she was killed a
few days ago during the bombard
ment of the Royal Stable buildings
and the neighborhood of the
Schloss."
Further details are missing, but
the courier, upon his arrival in
London. detailed the contents of
Baroness von Larisch's last letter
to me, and knowing her copy as I
do. it sounded to me as if he were
voicing her very own words. "Mine
is a phonograph memory," said the
courier promptly.
• " * *
It seems scarcely necessary to in
sist ttiat the Baroness Larisch's
Memoirs of the Kaiser's Court con
tain all and everything of non-poli
tical, but personal moment. Since
these Memoirs wer e first published
several other books dealing with the
Kaiser have seen the light Most
of them were based on the disclos
ures previously made and published
by the Baroness. I might almost
say all of them, with the exception
of the books dealing chieflv with
politics published by the former
American Ambassador in Berlin and
by the Kaiser's doctor.
That fact was franklv recog
nised by one English publisher, at
least, who offered to give me credit
for the, chapters, stories and inci
dents boldly taken from my three
volumes—if there was a second edi
tion of the printed book. But there
was none, for obvious reasons
The latest book on the Ex-Kais
er's secret life, just published by
Grant Richards, London, makes the
usual liberal raids on my literary
property, but for originality's sake,
I presume, exploits In addition some
of the Countess Wedell's ill-balanced
vaporings of twenty or more years
Mr. Richards' anonymous author
—he has every reason for wishing to
be nameless assumes that the
Countess Wedell was not only the
Kaiser's mistress, but somebody.
Let me quote Baroness Larisch
re this person:
"This Countess Wedell," she told
me, "was a ballet girl at the Impe
rial Opera House like her mother be
fore her. The mother became a
c-hance mistress of the Kaiser's
grandfather, William I, and the
present Countess Wedell claims to
have been the offspring of their
temporary liaison. Despite this
fact, she sought to ensnare William
when a young prince.
"She succeeded, according to her
own uncorroborated story. It hap
pened, I understand, in the Kaiser's
student days when, according to his
Court Marshall, he never had twenty
marks in hie pocket, and when all
his disbursements were made by the
Court Marshall's office. If there had
been an attachment, longer than
momentary, between the two grand
children of the firs': William, the
SLOIRISBURG YELEGKXra
Court Marshall would have known,
and the Court Marshall does not
know.
"But in later years the girl had
the effrontery to use this more than
doubtful episode in her and Wil
liam's young life as a club. The
club was suspended, but not entire
ly turned away, when the young
woman married an impecunious
Army Officer, named Count Wedell.
Of course, she did not marry him
because he was practically without
funds. She married him for the
title, and once in possession of that
title she used it freely to give more
momentum to the club she was
wielding in the direction of the
Kaiser's treasury.
"Time and again, it seems, she
succeeded in squeezing a thousand
marks, or thereabout, out of her ex
lover, but as the income thus gained
was insufficient to support her, she
became housekeeper fcr the Persian
Ambassador in Berlin.
"At that Juncture the President
of the Berlin Police took a hand in
the game, her husband divorced her,
and She entered more and more on
a life of adventure.
i "As to her claims regarding her
I financial successes with the Kaiser,
T know nothing. That she ever had
the entree at court or was recog
nized as a lady of station by society,
or even by the Police, she herse'tf
does not claim.
"As a matter of tact, the Court
never, heard of this woman, even
by name. Her very existence wonnl
! still be a mystery to me and other
members of the Berlin Court if
some penny dreadful had not
printed extracts from a book of heis
published by a small firm in Stvitz
cr'and."
• On another occasion the Baron
less Larisch spoke to me about some
accounts in French pamphlets, deal
ing with the secret loves of the
j Kaiser. "These stories of French
I girls visiting the Ka'str at Court or
| at his hunting boxes are as absurd
las can be," she said. "1 have jpen
| Coned by name evety woman in
; whom the Kaiser was ever inter
! ested —there were r.o interlopers of
| any kind. Nor was William in the
habit or assaulting those, that dis
agreed with him, with fist , cuffs.
The only bodily assault in which
he was ever concerned happened
to be forced upon him by a Naval
Lieutenant on the man-of-war litis,
and in that case the Kaiser did not
even defend himself".
"What about the affair with
painter Pape, whom the Kaiser is
said to have kicked in the stom
j ach'?"
"Penny-a-liner nonsense." the in
vention of some French Pamphle
; teer," said her Ladyship. "William
was vulgar enough, God knows, but
his vulgarity did not go such lengths
Pape is still our Court painter and
has a studio, by the Kaiser's grace,
; in the German Reichstag building."
Henry William Fisher.
XHK LIFE OF THE KAISER
, T
"Is It a Fine Boy?" "Victoria."
But one person, Major von N'or
mann, of the First Guards, was pres
ent, when, on June 15, 1888, at noon
scarcely an hour after Emperor
Frederick had breathed his last,
Kaiser Wilheim II drew the above
dispatch from his father's papers.
"What did His Majesty say on
discovering the Queen's telegram?"
I asked N'ormann at the late Em
peror's funeral.
"Sot a word; yet he turned a
shade paler, while his left hand
convulsively closed around the hilt
of his sabre."
When a Prussian King Dies
Every time a Prussian King dies,
a spirit of unspeakable savagry
takes hold of his lawful successor.
The Empress ' Frederick, her
daughters, the members of her
Court, her physician, friends, and
servants, were prisoners for many
hours, beginning at five minutes past
eleven o'clock, on June 15, 1888.
Until he.' son and heir had con
cluded his investigations and made
all arrangements he intended to ef
fect, no living soul was allowed to
leave Castle Friedrichskron; senti
nels with loaded rifles stood over
the telegraph operators to prevent
communication with the outer
world, and the telephone was sim
ilarly guarded.
That upon the heel of these meas
ures the newly-made Kaiser invited
N'ormann to attend him in his search
for state papers and other docu
ments, of which the one mentioned,
while not the most valuable, was
certainly not the least interesting
shows the extent of his confidence
in this man, then este&ned as a
strict disciplinarian, but in no other
way distinguished.
I would not like to assert that the
imperial proclamations to the army
and navy, dated June 15, 1888, were
composed with von Normann's as
sistance while impatient crowds sur
rounded the palace, demanding news
of the king whom they vaguely sup
posed to be dead;—but these papers
are so full of barrack bravado and
contempt for everything not mili
tary as to strongly suggest some
such influence.
"Thus wc belong to each other,
I and the army,—thus we were born
for each other, and thus we will
stick to each other forever, be there
peace or storm, as God wills it."
And while the army was honored
and exalted, the loyal taxpayers
had to wait for the customary royal
greeting and a word of information
on the issues of the day. until the
18th of the month.
Details of the Kateer's Birth
But to return to Queen Victoria's
telegram.
It was dated January 28, 1859
twenty-four hours after the eldest
son of Crown Prince and Crown
Princess Frederick-William had
seen the light.
William was born quite economic
ally, a midwife receiving him, and
a Court physician, assisted by the
then highly-reputed Berlin specialist
for woman's diseases, the late Dr.
Martin, looking gravely on after the
manner of his kind.
In Germany, you must know, a
doctor thinks it beneath himself to
take the child, and is supposed to
act only in case grave complications
arise; ine times out of ten he con
tents himself by superintending the
arrangements and in seeing that the
sanitary laws are complied with in
all minuteness; the midwife does
the work.
In the case of the Crown Princess
of Prussia, a Miss Stahl acted as
midwife; at the time of this writing
she was a motherly woman, and
still continued her visits to the pal- I
ace; so I often had occasion to talk'
' with her about the great event tn
her life.
"Her poor Royal Highness." said
the old woman, "was only two
"•onths past eighteen years, and
very weak and nervous. You see.
with her It was not an ordinary
case of first motherhood; politics
were mixed up In It to a frightful
degree, and the poor young thing
felt the fate of Europe trembling in
her lap. for our king Frederick Wil
liam IV was as crazy as a March
hare, and twenty-one years had pas
sed since a midwife was called to
the Prince Regent's house to bring
into the world little Louise, now
( Grand Duchess of Baden.
! "Our work had been divided as
follows. Dr. Martin was to have
, special care of Her Royal Highness.
I inasmuch as he was treating her for
! a nervous malady; the Court physi
cian had his ordinary duties, while
1 was commanded to take the child.
But the moment the little one was
born a despairing moan from the
mother all these tine dis
positions.
"Still Born, by Heaven"
'The Crown Princess is dying"
whispered the doctors, while work
ing with blanched faces over Vic
toria's prostrate body. Of course,
1 had to abandon the child mo
mentarily to help them, and when
—the Crown Princess having re
vived after a while—l knelt down
before the couch on which our heir
rested, imagine my fright: he had
not yet uttered a cry, nor did he
move a muscle. 'Still-born, by
Heaven!' I thought. A gesture
brought Dr. Martin to my side, and
together we labored over the newly
born. 1 do not know how'long, ex
hausting successively every means
ordained by medical books, or prac
ticed in the nursery, to bring the
child to life."
1 will state here, that Miss Stahl
was a very dignified woman, broad
and short, and, of an excessively
grumpy disposition. Very seldom
i did she smile. The old dame re
' counted her story to the point given,
always with the dignity becoming
to a person of her worth; but. as
she continued, her face broadened
with merriment, and her famous
basso resounded through the room
with a break here and there that
came very near a laugh.
Spanked into Mfc
"When everything had been done
that in decency could be done," so
ran her narrative. "I took that roy
al youngster under my left arm. and,
grabbing a wet towel in my right
began to belabor him in good home
ly fashion, though the doctors
groaned and everybody in the room
looked horrified.
'To the devil with etiquette,' I
thought, seeing their grimaces; 'this
is a matter of life or death.' So I
spanked away, now lighter, now
j harder, slap, slap, slap, until
the cannons announcing the birth
had half finished their official quota
of a hundred and one shots—until
at last a faint cry broke from the
young one's lips.
-"He was alive! X had snatched
our Prince from the grave for which
he seemed destined. The rest was
easy sailing; the doctors again had
their innings, and the simple mid
wife was shoved aside."
Discovery of the Withered Arm
"But what about the deformed
hand and arm?"
"That was discovered only the
third or fourth day after.'" replied
Miss Stahl; "you see, at first we
were all so busy keeping life in
the Prince, after I put it there, that
no one thought of examining his
I limbs. Even when, on January 28,
the late Crown Prince showed his
son to his relatives, friends, and the
household, no one observed that
anything was wrong. But on the
last, or the last but one day of the
month, it was noticed that the child
did not move his left arm: an in
vestigation was made, and, in the
course of it, the surgeons discovered
'that the elbow Joint was dislocated.
That is nothing serious in a healthy
child. However, in the case of our
PrifWo, the surrounding soft parts
were so injured, and the muscles
attached in such a condition, that
no one dared attempt to set the
bone then and there, as should be
done In all cases."
Miss Stahl concluded her remarks
tvitli the statement: "I am well
aware that the present condition of
the Kaiser's arm is attributed to a
mistake made by the persons offlciat
ing at the birth; but." and saying
this, the old maid's face assumed its
most determined look, "if that were
not a falsehood, agreeable to the
Kaiser, do you suppose for one mo
ment that 1 should be in this palace
now to cripple more Hohenzollerns?
Saying this. Miss Stahl used to bring
down her fist forcibly and concluded:
"My opinion has always been that
the child's left (forearm was not
properly made up by nature, as, in
deed. Ills whole left side was weak,
and is weak to this day.
"Everyone in the palace knows
that, though 'his walk Is brisk, it is
his ever alert exertion that makes
it so: if, at any time, the Kaiser
ceased thinking of his shortcomings
for only a moment, you would see
his left leg drag. All his aches and
pains, too, locate in his left ear and
the whole left side of his head. Now
remember what I told you about
the Crown Princess's condition. She
was agitated by fears and depressed
in spirits; great responsibilities
weighed upon her mind. Is it to
be wondered at, that her child was
affected?
The mother, poor girl! trans
fused her nervous ailments into
the child she was carrying, and all
concentrated In Its left side. That
myself and the doctors were un
able to prevent or forsee; besides
we were, as stated, far too busy
completing nature's handiwork by
inflating and keeping the Prince's
respiratory organs going, to test the
inferior parts of his body separately
If, on the other hand, the Prince
had been a lusty boy, the dislocated
joint would, undoubtedly, have been
promptly discovered and nothing
would have stood in the way of its
Immediate correction."
So the chances are that Queen
Victoria's telegram was answered
in the affirmative.
The Doctor Lied
In the Babel of contradictory
statements Miss Stahl's observa
tions have the grateful ring of ver
acity. Surely, Miss Stahl was not to
blame, If it were otherwise, would
the Kaiser have tolerated her in the
Palace?
William was a hard master, and
as for suffering in his service a per
son having blasted his life by cruel
neglect, that is as entirely out of
the question as the idea I heard ad
vanced oft and on, that he is in
sensitive to his disablement.
That incubus, on the contrary,
was forever In his thoughts, and his'
apparent unmindfulness of the fact
a clever affectation. He wanted
others to forget that he Is a cripple
and therefore ignored his short com
ings.
But. with all that, he was sure
to be found napping occasionally; i
can very well imaging the Kaiser
closing his hand nervously round
the hilt of his sabre as he read that
tell-tale despatch!
Origin of Hatred of England
"Is it a fine boy?" Ah. his
grandmother had good reason for
feeling anxious about this infant in
whose veins coursed the blood of
the four Georges! It was that Eng
lish consanguinity which he loathed
and abhored not the little woman
I who received him in her arms al
| ready tainted and marked for life,
j That, despite bis perfect under
standing of the case, he allowed bis
1 historians to abuse Slnhl, was but
! an instaneo of royal ingratitude dlc
i tated by the same policy that, from
the summer of 188/ to the close of
the reign of one hundrel days, brand
ed certain of liis father's physicians
j liars and incompetents.
In this particular instance it hnp
; pened, however, that the biter wus
| bitten: at the time Indicated, Prince
William would have gladly seen
Mackenzie go to the devil; and the
; findings of his German colleagues,
i that Frederick 111 suffered from can
' cer, a malady said to exclude its
| victim from the throne, proclaimed
from the housetops—but when he
! himself was king It was quite un
j other matter. The world's eye. In
stead of compassionately regarding
the sickroom at San Remo, was
'riveted upon the stationary or float
i ing or roiling hospitals in which lie
| dwelled as In a glass house —hence
! the "remaking" of history, the dis
i semination of historical untruths at
I all hazards!
But they must not be too replete
with details. Thus T once heard the
I Kaiser, in conversation with his
wife, roundly abuse Hinzpeter
| for saying in his book: "Tlie Prus
sian army never admitted a young
nutll physically so little lit to be
come a brilliant and dashing caval
ry officer as William."
I The criticism was passed shortly
i after the appearance of Hinzpeter's
Kaiser William 11, a Sketch from
Life," and the Emperor, after warn
i ing his Augusta-against letting the
'volume fall into the children's
I hands, meaning the elder boys, con-
Itinued: "Our German philosophers
I never know where to stop; whether
j they write truths or lies, they are
, bound to compromise and expose
; their betters without ever realizing
| Devices For Concealing Deformity
, His fateful left arm the Ka'se'r
I hugs closely to his hotly, allowing
| (he hand which is not .deformed,
. but puny, like a child's, to rest
I against his waist, or upon his hip,
iif on horseback. The German pa
j Pes issued bullous d'essai from time
:to time to ascertain .sentiment in
| respect to the introduction of a belt
| for army officers. As the Empress
j Eugenie re-established the crinoline
j in the sixties to hide her interesting
I condition, so William desires to
! change military dress to lind a con-
I venient resting place for bis poor
| left band and arm, which. Jadng
about six inches shorter than/ the
I right, would attach to a belt unos
t tentatiously. But, alas; the General
j Stuff feigned to regard those recur
,ring proposals as maneuvers of army
j contractors, and treated them with
line scorn, so that William, unwill-
I ing to own his secret reason for the
'innovation sought for, had to go
i without relief.
"Smashing Things"
Those were gloomy days in the
I palace when the pros and cons of
1 opinion on the subject were read by
j the Emperor. They put him into
the mood for smashing things, and
his famous speech to the Branden
burgers wus made under just such
circumstances: "Those who will sup
port me arc heartily welcome, who
ever they are, hut those obstructing
my policy I will smash to pieces."
As intimated, the fingers of
the crippled hand are movable,
for, although the bead of the rudius
of tlie forearm does not set properly
into the condyles of the humerus,
tlie limb is not altogether inert.
There is consequently no reason for
j doubting Mujor von Nermann's
j assertion that the Kaiser clutch
ed his sword with the left
iiund. 1 have seen him do the same
thing quite often when angry. But
while he cun take hold of an article,
he cannot for the life of him lift
it. For instance, he holds the reins
in his left hand, but is powerless to
direct the horse except with his right
or with his knees.
Without exaggeration it may be
said thai, next to.tlie stricken man.
the five imperial valets, always on
! duty to dress, undress, and reuni
; form their master, suffer most on ac
count of this infirmity. One of them,
! Her Majesty's valet Nolle, made my
maid the confident of his troubles,
i "We would not mind the work,"
I heard him say once, "would
j not care if the Emperor changed his
j uniform ten, instead of three or four
times per day, it's the fear of In
juring his lame hand that makes us
nervous and gradually wears away
our usefulness. And, besides, we
must always be prepared to fore
stall tlie .collapse of the All-highest
j when he balances himself on liis left
j foot, as is his wont sometimes when
i lie is in a hurry to put on a different
i pair of trousers." And, after think
ing awhile, the man added: "If
they would only introduce for all
troops, horse, foot, and artillery, not
excepting the navy, a uniform pair
of pantaloons, one-half of our cares
would be removed, but this endless
variety is killing us."
Kaiser's I'ridc in 11 is Strcngtlp
William's right hand is mas
sive and ugly in appearance, ugly,
too, when clasping that of a friend.
Before X was presented to him,
Court-mursbal von Llebenun warned
me against his mighty grip; but;
though J went through the ordeal
with teeth set, X could hardly sup
press an outcry, which amused the
Prince exceedingly".
How proud the Emperor used to
be of his personal strength was evi
dent from the fact that he prompt
ly adopted the simile suggested to
him Several years ago, when a for
eign cort-espondent likened his fist
to the "terrible right" of the then
champion of the world, John L.
Sullivan, whereupon his sister of
Meinjngen, who adores strong men,
remarked: "I hope Sullivan has not
the bad taste to wear as many rings
as my big brother."
This weakness is, however, to some
extent excusable, as it Is thus the
Kaiser tries to hide a number of
nasty moles which disfigure his
hand. In this he partly succeeds,
while in spots ths glittering dia
monds and rubies only tend to em
phasize the blemishes.
I dare say very few people have
a correct notion of the Emperor's
height, for, as he Is seldom seen
without a helmet terminating in a
point, the public Is mystified, and
even close observers are apt to be
deceived. In the palace this ques
tion is never openly discussed, but
I heard the Kaiserin overln
quisltive Prince Eitel Fritz once or
twice that his father measured five
feet eight inches. That, I am sure,
is a mistake; five feet five or six
inches is the highest that, even Ad
jutant Count Moltke, who has a very
sure eye in such matters allows
"'B r> it <1 t
respectable enough figure, holding
himself as straight as an arrow.
His Constant Fear of Cancer
The numerous newspaper persons
who talk glibly about the Kaiser's
"cancerous" ear trouble have, I im
agine, information on the point that
was inaccessible to those in dally at
tendance upon His Majesty, for
whether the dread malady has set
tled In that organ or not. is on open
question even with William's own
physicians. Improbable It Is not.
It was Queen Louise of Btrelitz,
"sharing with Marie Antoinette the
sad pre-eminence of beauty and mis
fortune," who carried carcinoma in
to the Prussian camp; the English
escaped the doom only because eco
nomical George 111 preferred Caro-
MARCH 4, T9T9.
line of Brunswick for 11is son, her
i dowry being larger t.v a few thou
j sum! Thulci a than the . lecklenbur
ger's.
Tne English Royal family escaped
; with u budget of vilo . andal —the
| Pruas uus got the lesser dowry and
] the most awful d.sinso to boot —
| haj'dluck or fate? A.t r the Four
j Georges, England hi d a succession
i of honest, decent, pcuc ,'ul kings,
i All Queen Louise's . irtraits are
, remarkable for u scarf the lady
| invariably wears under her chin;
! even her oldest in i traits and
! busts exhibited in the licrlin Hohen
zollern .Museum, no nuttier whether
the Queen is In Couit dress or or-
I dinarily gowned hate ,hts distinc
! tion.
I This ornamented r.cai f was worn
j to conceal the murks of an opera
tion for swelling of the glands.
That is undoubtedly authentic, but
: it is also true thai in tliis very spot
i the cancer thut killed her, eventual
ly developed. 1 have this informa
tion from descendants of old-time
i royal servants In the employ of the
I Emperor William. Louise's last
1 surviving son.
That Emperor Frederick perished
; of cancer of the throat even Dr.
MacKenzie had to admit. Therefore,
,if one may say so without offense,
it would lie in the lino of natural
! development if William If, supposing
; he inherited the malady, were at
i tacked by it in the neighborhood
|of ids throat. But it must not be
forgotten that cancer in thought by
j some authorities to be untransmtssl-
I hie.
' The on'y t'mo that His Majesty's
1 car trouble was mentioned in the
na'acc was. as far as ' can remem
j bpr, at "the dentil of 1 lenry XI of
Reuss-Gerc. The little one died of
| sen riot fever, we thought. and the
' Fmpress remarked: "I trust the
i Kaiser will not hoar of the cause of
j death, for it always makes him
' uneasy." ,
Tlic Scarlet Fever Myth
"Why, lias His Majesty not had
Iseurlet fever?" X inquired. •
j "Of course," said the Kaiserln
! rather hesitatingly, "and in its most
I malignant form, too. How could
, you live here several years without
hearing of it?"
As Her Majesty's manner con
! \inced me that it would not be agree
■ able to her to go inio details, I
'curbed my curiosity until some time
| after /I met fount Heckendorf, for
I many y:nrs chamberlain to the Em
] press Frederick.
"Your Ladyship did well not to
i press the point." he said, "for the
I Kaiser would he very angry if he
I heard of any such discussion. As
] a matter of fact, that scarlet-fever
• story is reserved for use in a con
i tlngency that has not yet arisen, I
J am happy to say."
| 'You put me on the rack, Count-"
"Others are there already and
: dan not complain," replied the
I chamberlain," on the rack of public
I opinion, of the most cold-blooded
I insinuation and of reproof direct.
"Do you remember," he continued,
i "when a certain august person
{snubbed Emperor Frederick's Eng
j lish physician because that gentle
| man had refused to take his cue
| from the seditious Bismarck and
junker clique when reporting upon
a disease that played such a part
in a state tragedy, then on the
boards? To-day, opposite views are
trumps, and persons insisting that a
speeitied malady involves the loss of
the crown of Prussia are publicly
disowned anil officially guillotined."
"1 know, t know, but the scarlet
favor story?"
"As I have had the honor of al
readv intimating: if the condition of
Frederick's successor becomes
alarming at any time in conse
quence of his car trouble. Your
Ladyship will see it in all the official
papers."
And it will read after this style:
"When His Majesty, as a child
was stricken with scarlet fever,
his mother, the Empress Fred
erick, insisted upon treating the
patient after a custom prevailing in
some parts of England. The fever-
S ish hoy was subjected many times
I daily to ice-cold ablutions, while his
| body und bed linen were continually
: changed, in consequence of which
an acute cold settled in the left ear,
which has ever since irritated the
I youth anil man."
I "Then." concluded the Count,
I "will follow a learned treatise show
| ing thut the Kaiser has water, not
| tumors, on the brain."
Apparatus For Care of the Ear
| There is, 1 repeat it, as yet no
j evidence to justify the worst suspi
cions regarding Ihe Emperor's ear
j trouble, bilt the fact that the organ
! is regularly treated with antoseptlcs
to arrest fiiitrefaction Indicates
tlic presence of gangrenous In
flammation. Quite frequently the
Kaiser attends to tliis himself, and
if he has had a particularly bad day,
the physician on duty or the body
physieiun operates on him. But in
the course of years the Empress,
I likewise, lias become an adept at
| bringing relief to her husband by
| these means; she ulso handles an ap
paratus for pumping air out of the
sick ear. or clearing its passages by
blowing air through them. This in
strumint, which is fitted with a long
rubber tube and a spiral trumpet,
hangs at the side of the bedstead in
their Majesties' Joint chamber and
a duplicate is in the Kaiser's own
toilet-room while a third forms part
of the traveling equipage. The bed
rooms on the yacht llohenzoliern
and on the imperial salon trains
are also fitted with ear-pumps.
Ilarrnsscd in this wise by mala
dies of Hie most serious character,
the Emperor could not be blamed
for tuking excessive precautions
ugainst contagion. That he lives
the greater part of the year in the
inconveniently situated Neues Pal
ais, which,, moreover, will never be
a thoroughly modern residence for
reasons that will be explained in an
other chapter, is mainly due to its
solitary position at the end of the
town. At the Marble Palace, where
the imperial couple used to spend
the summer while waiting for Wil
liam's patent of general and finally
for the crown, it was quite differ
ent. There they had neighbors, one
of them the Hereditary Prince of
Schoenburg, of the Guurd Hussars.
Coming down to breakfast one
morning, the Kaiser learned that
Ills Grace had died of diphtheria a
few hours before.
Kaiser Flees From Disease
"Diphtheria," cried William, turn
ing a shade paler than is his
wont in the morning,—"there seems
to lie something unhealthy in the
air hereabouts. Order the cham
berlain on duty that m.v things must
be packed und sent to Berlin at
once."
"But the residential quarters in
the Schloss are far from finished,"
interposed Herr. von Liebenau.
"Never mind, there will be some
corner where I can sleep and eat
without running the risk of infec
tion. And seeing that the adjutant
still waited, he added, anticipating
a question which etiquette forbade
to be asked: "All my things—l am
going to move."
That settled. His Majesty quieted
down, and when, shortly afterward,
the Empress arrived, he simply
said: "Dona, lam going to Berlin
and this house will see me no more."
Auguste Victoria was thunderstruck,
but seeing the husband determined,
she dared not question him. So
their meal passed in silence while
visions of domestic storms, of irre
parable displeasure, even of a malt
resse en tttre, perhaps, chafed
through Her Majesty's brain. And
when, half an hour later, X entered
her room to ask if the valets might
go to the bed-chumber and remove
the Kaiser's clothes —X found my
mistress in teats, bewailing a fate
that was as yet a mystery.
"Do you know why the Kaiser Is
going?" she said. X could not un
derhand it at tlrst. "Of course," I
repl d, "His Majesty has heard of
the death across the way, and, be
ing so near the Schoenburgs, he is
atraitl thut diphtheria might break
out in the palace."
A sigh of relief escaped the
periitl lady. She scarcely allowed
me to iinish. "is the liereditary
Prince dead."' she exclaimed, with
almost a joyful ring in her volo*.
T nen changing her attitude, she adA
®,.t '/ U > have 1 not been informed!
of this'. X might have been spared
an unhappy half-hour, and, besides
I should have sent my condolence*
to Princess Lucie."
William was as good as his word;
lils stuto lutpers published thut very
clay wore dated "Sellloss, Berlin,"
etc.. and ever since the Marble Pal
ace lias ceased, as it were, to figure
in contcmpoi ary history.
No Sanitary Arrangciiicnts
Kalser was right in surmising
that ids thousand-windowed palace
in the capital would afford him
lodoingH ot some soft; but as his own
apartments, as well as the majority
or the other suites, were undergoing
alterations, he was obliged to make
his quarters in the so-called von
Kleist chambers, said to have been
onco inhabited by Princess Amalia's
first lady-in waiting, companion and
confidante, the Haroncss von Kleist.
They are exceedingly beautiful, fur
more so than any of the gilded mod
ern rooms that latter-day Berlin
taste has furnished, yet at the same
lime lack even the most ordinary
conveniences.
Tlu White Lady—"Xo lady"
I was at the Meiningen Villa, in
the Thiergarten, on some business
of Xier Majesty's, when the Princess
brought the news. M I have just come
front my big brother,"—she always
speaks of the Kaiser thus, —"and
what do you think? I found him
installed in the Kleist apartments,—
at the Kleist rooms, which the White
Lady is said to haunt."
"'X am glad Auguste had her
baby' I the Kaiser," continued
Princess Charlotte, "for, as you
know, von Kleist's child born in
this apartment was disfigured by a
terrible birth-mark on the nose, the
broom of 'The Sweeper'." k
"And what may that be. Your
Royal Highness?"
"Thd White Lady, of course, who
used to announce her coming by
vigorously sweeping the corridors.
On that account, Frederick the
Great dubbeil her 'the sweeper,' or,
in his beloved French, La Balayeuse.
And that," continued the Princess
with a loud laugh, as if some hilar
ious bon mot had just seen the light
in her luminous brain, —"that was,
after all, a iitting designation, for,
sub rosu, the White Lady of the
Hohenzollerns is no lady at all.
have just inspected her favorite
abode, and. X assure you, there is
neither a bath-tub nor a toilet to
be found there."
Although the Empress knew of
the objectionable features of her
husband's temporary abode, she in
sisted upon following William with
in twice twenty-four hours. But the
Emperor, pretending to be very busy
with his speech for the opening of
the Reichstag on November 22,
would not see her until the follow
ing day. Now everybody knows that
speeches from the throne are com
posed by the Chancellor—hence it
was clear that William had some
other reason for absenting himself.
As a matter of fact, he had heard
that Frau'gin von Gersdorff, Dame
of the was suffering from a
sore throat, and though her quar
ters were not in the Marble Palace,
but in the gentlewomen's pavilion,
situated in the park, he evidently
feared that Hep Majesty might have
come in contact with her. And not
until he was reassured by myself,
did lie emerge from his seclusion.
After I had withdrawn. C.ourt
marslial von Liebeau was sum
moned.
Kaiser's Indifference to Others
"No more cases of diphtheria in
Potsdam, I hope?" said the Kaiser,
in his most imperious style.
"None that I know of. Your Ma
jesty."
"That you know of? My dear sir,
that means cither that you arc out
of toucli wiili your department or
that cases of illness are secreted.
At any rate, you will be good enough
to telegraph to the Marble Palace
that all persons of the suite, or in
the royal service, who show any
signs of throat trouble must be re
moved to a hospital at once, without
the slightest delay. These are my
strictest orders."
One of the Empress's favorite
wardrobewomen, Mrs. Schnase, fell
a victim, to William's relentless an
xiety on'that occasion. Not being on
duty, for several days, she had re
mained in Potsdam, and, by the
Court physician's advice, had taken
a perspiratory treatment to reduce
a swelling of the glands, very com
mon among certain classes in Ger
many, so that at XI o'clock that
night she was in the midst of a
healthy sweat and sound sleep, when
the Major-domo awakened her to
say that by "all-highest order" she
must leave.
Protest being out of the question,
a four-wheeler was procured, and
the shivering patient was rolled off
to the nearest hospital through the
wintry streets.
"No room," reported the night
watch, when the driver summoned
him.
"But she is one of Her Majesty's
personal attendants."
Of course that made a difference,
and, after some more discussion,
Mrs. Schnase was given a cot in ths
pauper's ward, third class, next to
one in which a poor creature was
just receiving extreme unction.
The Queen's wardrobewoman was
a healthy girl, and recovered not
only from the hofrors of her un
usual experience, but likewise from
an illness she caught while exposed
to the deadly exhalations of th*
sorry environment forced upon her.
After a month or so, she was baot
at but, daring to com
plain of the treatment that had been
meted out to her, such biting sar
casm and contempt were heaped
upon poor Schnase that she prefer
red to resign.
Assuredly, no one blamed the
Kaiser for postponing maneuvers
when cholera was raging. On such
and similar occasions all royal ser
vants were treated to unsugared test
es the standing beverage, which
caused not a little indignation in the
palace, the ftunkieß and maids In
sisting that the Emperor should
make the tea palatable, if he fog-'
bade them to drink anything els*. '
Kalserin Initiates 'Husband's Laiyt
The Empress, who faithfully coyi.
les all her husband's fads, either
cause she admires them or becaugk
she fears his displeasure, is as bah
as he. Her Majesty frequently
causes the discharge of servants for
neglecting to report some trifling
sickness in the family; and mem
bers of the royal household not liv
ing in the castle can enjoy a holi
day at any time by simply furnish
ing a doctor's certificate stating that
somebody with.whom they are domi
ciled in the city is ill. This applies
£ Continued on Pace 18,]