The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 30, 1906, Page 3

By Harry C. Carr JCKING his bare pink toes and lling 2loud for the royal nurs- ing bottle, the rightful future . King of Poland lles in his cradle in @ cottage in the West Adams street atstry Los Angeles—serenely un- comscious of the fact that a battle of cuments end family trees is raging his crown and estates Little does he care that a rude Chi- ago editor has dented the clalm that is the @direct descendant of Thad- s of Warsaw and heir to a vast o mention the rone L. 8 Giibausen, a tional Bank. His grandfether is Colonel John Sobieskl the well-known temperance lecturer— the last of the fllustrious line of John 111, who rescued Europe from the etirement, this fld have burst fame Polish editor to print in great es- tates. i name like a sneeze cla s ine, Sobiesk! dted over & a haif'ago. He cells upon Sobleski of Los Angeles to bring forwerd proofs of descent He suggests proofs be sub Academy of Sc is documents and to the Imperial > at Cracow. ewhat chagrined to paper containing the hands of Col- has premptly ac- 1 He has written o Record-Herald and to radski that he will be pleased to leave the guestion to the in- fon of learning named in the defy can be shown that it is a univer- sity of national importance and stand- Colonel Sobieski con- s never heard of it honor that I am s,” said Col- pr onel Soblesk!i to the writer. He Wants No Throne “There is no throne in Poland. If there were one and it were offered to me. 1 give you my word I should re- fuse it” The eyes of the old nobleman flashed es he added: Rather would I go to the cradle and strangle that little baby as be lies there than ever allow him to escend eny throne. Yes, my memories of monarchy are as bitter as that.” His memories of monarchy cannot, indeed, be very happy. This gentle old nobleman who lives so quletly in Los Ang: saw his father led away to be ightered by Russian soldiers after g confinement in a prison so vile & dog could not have lived iIn it; sew his mother driven away from home slmost & paupe 'w her driven like an outecast from try to coun- try until she died an unhappy exile. No wonder his eyes flash. The intricate question of his right to that noble ances ered below. The m! interesting, so thrilling and romantic that it rightly takes precedence over family tress. Even his nearest neighbors in the pleasant neighborhood of West Adams street little dream that this sunny old gentleman has lived the wild life of & poldier of fortune. He commanded the reserve firing party that executed the ill-fated Em- peror Maximilian in Mexico. It was his revolver that sent a shot crashing into the ear of the Emperor after he had fallen wounded at the first unskilled volley. He weas an eyewitness to the famous battle of the Monitor and Merrimac; led = distinguished and sensational eareer in the regular army; took part in the famous expedition against the Mormons; was under fire 426 times during the Civil War—our own Civil ‘Wear, not Poland's. Lastly, he became & soldier of fortune in Mexico—in the Mexican war for independence. It was there that fate chose him as o - AN DOBIESK. G/,, FASE 7/u,,/\ ( 3 oF Jfiu ND John III. His father was John So- bieski, who lost his life in 1848 in the great Polish rebellion. He says one of his earliest recol- lections of childhood is of a sleigh- ride and the gay trappings of a Cos- sack soldler who conveyed his mother and himself to say goodby to his father —about to be executed. His father had been captured by the Russian army and had been confined in a vile Russian prison, crawling with vermin, for thirteen months. Before they were allowed to see the doomed husband and father, the young mother was taken before the Russian viceroy, who offered to allow her to retaln her estates and honors if she would give up her son—the last So- bieski—to be sent to the Russian cap- ital and there brought up as a loyal subject of the Czar. Banished by Maximilian She proudly refused, and chose ban- ishment, poverty and misery. She bade her husband goodby, and he was shot down the next day. At the same time her father and brother were killed. Everywhere went the exiles, ordered on by the authorities; driven out of Austria, Prussia and Italy. They were driven from Italy by the Austrian vice- roy, Maximillan—afterward the Em- peror of Mexico. They took refuge in England at last. The mother died and the son was adopted into the fam- fly of a Polish professor, who had been an instructor at the United States Naval Academy Annapolis. Wi the United States ships of war visited Liverpool the cadets used to visit their old professor. One of them persuaded young Sobleski to stow away in the old frigate Constellation and come to America. He was then only a little fellow twelve years old, but managed to enlist in the United States army as a bugler. He enlisted in 1855, and two years afterward wes ordered out with the troops that went the desperate journey across the plains to force the Mor- mons to abandoén polygamy. Many of the young officers under whom he served on that expedition afterward became famous in the Civil ‘War—General Albert Sidney Johnston, then & colonel; Captain Hancock, after- ward the Northern general; Colonel Alexander, who became Lee's chief of staff; Fitz John Porter, Major Beaure- gard. Captain J. B. Magruder, after- ward a Southern general, was com- mander of young Sobleski's battery. ‘When the war was getting ready to one of the firing party, where he wiped. break young Sabieski's battery was out an old score against an Emperor, avenging the cruelty of his mother's banishment. Follows the imtut possible glance t u remarkable life: wes born in 1843 in Warsew, be- ‘.‘ wixth of descent .1.‘ monsrch of ordered recrulted to its full strength and the young Pole was ordered to New York and Washington on recruit- ing duty, witnessin of Lincoln, the and other stirr! 08, ‘went ail through the 1 War -un,urrlblvmdfifio&flfiy INTERE®TING PREDICAMENT OF A LOS ANGELES YOUNGSTER, AND THE ROMANTIC LIFE #TORY OF THE CHILDW® GRANDFATHER, COL. JOHN LOBIESKI, ‘WHO EXBCUTHED of the battle of Gettysburg. It was his privilege to be an _eyewitness to the,most dramatic battle in naval his- tory the first fight of the ironclads, the fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor. All this is common enough, yet it is singularly interesting to think of the last of the Sobleskis enduring the hardships of army life and acting the part of a simple bugler boy in a for- elgn army. He came of a military race and liked it, he says. After the war he went into Mexico and began another fight for a people’s freedom. He lived tha hunted life of a guerrilla warrior, eating rattlesnakes and living & precarious life off the country, He was commissioned & -col- onel. He seemed to have a charmed lite. He came through & hundred thrilling escapades unhurt—once being the only men of an entire command to survive. After the imprisonment of Emperor Maximilian Colonel Sobleski became one of the jallers of that Austrian potentate who had driven the two pit- 1ful refugees—Sobleski and his wid- owed young mother—from Italy. He recalled that incident to the Emperor's mh}vdv ?ln.o‘fu in prison. H, 0 me tonm up things,” sald the unhappy prisoner, Thae old Polish noblemen tells of the tragic incident of histo: execu- tion of the m-an simple soldier fashion, In w:mu an account of it for his blography he says: “The last three or four days nl Max- imilian's life were spent almost whol- ly with the priest. On the morning of the execution, Junme. 19, 1367—a& bright, beautiful morning—he was taken out of the old convent where he Was cap! and where e had lived during the time he was In our cus- tody, and placed in an ambulance and driven outside of the walls of the ity near en 0]d fortress, where the execu- tiop took place. “Arriving on the grounds, the troops were formed in line, the doomed men' ‘wers placed position, standing on _right’ of firing B m o liw U‘V‘I“U Coz - Jeviir QBIESKY DESCENDANT OF IHE LAST FOLISH KIivG- AND EXE‘CUTIO}VEE OF EMFPEROR 1‘7;1,\’4{"“’_{ Zesv £ panies, six to esch of the doomed men. (Two traltorous generals were execut- ed at the same “One in esch party & blank cartridge. There had been & sharp rivalry for the honor of belong- ing to the firing party. I was selected g‘enmmud ‘the reserve firing party. en everything was ready each of the men was asked if he hed any- thing to say. Fate Gives Deferred “Maximilian, speaking in h, nu ln substance t‘hnz he lov - M its welfare; ‘and if lb.dd!lit hl' of bringing p distracted cmuflry he was wiling to die. He asked that the commander .g the firing party advance to him, and he delivered to. mt officer six pleces of gold which is equivalent to about ten dollars of our Hi 25 "tk wood atme ot e i< advance, make ready, aim, firel Strange &s it may seem, Maximilian fell mortally wounded only, exclaim- ing as he fell, ‘Oh, my God! my God! At once the commander of the reserve firing party (Sobieski himaself) ordered one of the men from his own party to advance, and drawing his own Tevolver ordered the soldler to put it to the ear of the Archduke and fire. He did so, and the career of the Archduke was ended.” Colonel Sobleski's long subsequent career as lawyer and temperance lec- turer. is well known. " He had one son who would have perpetuated the name, but he died while a young chiid. His one daughter marrfed Mr. Gilhausen of Los Angeles, To them a little son has lately been born. Iothclutolfln!olhlk!l!ltdflp um this long and exciting career of adventure, Colonel l&hlukt 15 & calm, handsom: e, gentle ol soyl of ‘oourt ..Aluq from his bit- Siaion have brought him auch missry, . x MOTHER. OF ORN SOBIESKT GILHAUSEN" (Tormr 2 OF FozanD ) ‘7‘ he has other reasons for not caring anything about the right to the empty throne af Poland. “Before you are a filddle-aged man,” he said to the writer, “every throne in Burope will be swept away in a vast bloodless revolution.” That is the startling theory of the last Sobleskl. He is making a .vigorous retort to Editor Slemiradskl merely to defend his honor. Siemiradski claims that there is not a mention in history of any Sobleskl M L. S GIHHAVSEN 5 ! i 9 2 i L1 King Stanislaus Augustus in H“ 1t the family still denjes the execution father, saying that history tion of it, and points out have mads the nation thrill He makes & great point of that the Almanach de Gotha mention of any lving John IIL i of i b ; § 1 s : I 1 i l i g Almanach m not got me on the lst. I could not -‘-5 circumstances to think ‘would appear in that al- manaec, as it is a register exclusively devoted to dynastles. I do mot claim to be of any Sobiesk! dynasty. “In the first piace there wWas no Sobfeski dynasty. The definition of dynasty 1s a family of kings. Poland however, that when the eclective sys- tem was abolished by the new consti- tution in 1791 it was the geseral understanding that the Sobleski fam- ily was to be the royal family. The constitution was only prevented from going Into force by the conquest of Poland.” Colonel Sobleskl denies that the So- bleskis disappeared from Polish his- tory; he says they were in every fight for Polish liberty. “Regarding the charge that the ex- ecution of a Sobieski (his father) would have made a thrill had it réailly occurred,” he says, “Nicholas First had a wonderfully effective method of quieting thrills, or at least the mani- festation of them.” Cologel Sebiesk! has Instructed his Chicago attorney to confer with' the Polish editor regarding the submission of the case to Cracow University. Odd Fashions in Furs UEER things In furs 'are now cropping out at the fashionable furrfers that suggest a mid- winter madness on the part of the turriers it the craze for something novel is permitted to. go on to Its legitimate conclusion. One of these very odd things proudly displayved as a prize possession of one of the most exclusive and expensive shops was a muff made of gray wool lace, embroidered with cut steel and 1k and trimmed with chinchilla. The uff was rather flat and of medium size. The wool lace formed the upper part and the chinchilla the lower part, coming up also on each side of the muff to the top. A chinchilla collar decorated with the lace accompanied the muff. An economical way to patch out an old chinchilla muff, one would ,say, but otherwise there hardly seems to be any excuse for ruining the beauty of fur by such patchy elaboration. Cer- tainly when the distressingly high price was taken into consideration one would grohr at least to do the pateh- ing at home if it were necessary. Another odd fur fashion which has eropped out this season is carried out in moleskin or other short-haired furs. ‘The muff {s made of rows of diamond- shaped tabs. There are about ten rows of the tabs in the entira circumference of the muff. The points are down and the rows of tabs horizontal. Each row of tabs sets smoothly over the other. “b.o. collar also was made entirely of tal Strange commingling of furs is also to be noticed this winter. One muff at a most exclusive furrier's was made of uunk. with an ermine cv-rnlsu and a mink piece over this. The muff was flat, with ruffles of the mink at the ends. Then over the side which was to be carried out was a large plece of ermine fully half as large as the muff, pointed at the top and spreading out i'? I.',hl ma: at the bottom. This imply gave the effect of belng plas- tered on the muff, without design or reason. Over the ermine again was a band of mink encircling the muft and crossing the ermine plece vertically. Far less beautiful than a plain mink or a plain ermine muff, this creation was more than twice as expensive as either ml‘nhfl.l:r;eto%mn UDDeceSSATY amoun! rich used, but the exclusive design was consid- tyr- unnmnumu exorbitant smount. - . . . Ties in Fancy Plaids RAVATS and ties are now - ex- ceedingly chic and becoming..The most fashionable collar of the moffient is the high turmover. But the newest feature is not so much the collar as the tle. Ties In every shade and design of plaids and stripes are seen at all the fashionable shops. The ties are made to fit the and to accord with thelr style fo a large extent. With an embroidered collar, a high turnover, were shown bows of accor- dion pleated mull and fine linen. These wera plain white or polka dotted In black and colors. These bows were also made of three pleces of lawn ac~ cordien pleated and trimmed with lace, bound together by a knot in the cen- ter. The white embroidered collars in.ltn- en are also worn with very large made _ up bows of Roman striped silk, with four-in-r-nds of the Roman silk and Scotch plaids and with quaint small bows of narrow striped ribbon made with four loops, no ends and ‘two knots. There are also pleated satin stocks of white with the lower part of plaid or striped silk, ending in a four-in- hand or Windsor tie. Other pleated ‘white satin stocks have the lower part of plald silk ending In a :‘yru of crossed ends in front. Again the plaid silk is used for the upper part of the stock and the lower part is made up of plain silk, with the crossed tabs or a four-in-hand in front. Gld.l silk, with straight loops and butterfly ends. These are medium size and quite stocky in effect. 3 Quaint new collars are the fturme overs which have narrow ders all around. There match these. Some of white, but many have a blue or pale pink all around of the fluting. There are also bows of lace dion pleated and having six ends and no loops. There are other cravats, ‘which, for want of a better one must call tabs, They are -l-:l;'h of pleated muslin, stik or what nof, . narrow at the m where they fold under the collar and widening the bottom. They fall straight