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?® Princess Hazel Singer, of Chicago, b H
Princess Liane de Pougy, of the Paris \ ||®w
Boulevards, Three Ghikas, and F ■
Europe’s Royal Fat Boy Scramble for f ■'■
|f||ll||., the New Crown of Wild Albania [' ! -■
JU WH
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Prince Gustavus of Denmark, weight 378
Pounds, and Still Growing
Paris, December 13.
'“T'HE funniest contest for a throne that
£ was ever carried on is unquestionably
that which is now raging over the
newly created state of Albania.
To say that it is like a comic opera of
The Merry Widow” type is inadequate, for
it is really much funnier.
Mixed up in the fight are three Ghikas, a
great Chicago heiress, a former Parisian ad
venturess and the royal fat boy of Europe.
Each one has something nasty to say about
the other. The Chicago heiress throws her
past at the Parisian adventuress. The ad
venturess retorts with a sneer about Pork
ipolis. All of them ridicule the fat boy, but
>e complacently points to the fact that the
dohammedans, of whom there are many in
Albania, admire fat.
The throne of Albania is somewhat nebu
lous at present. Albania is a country hither
to nominally belonging to Turkey and lying
north of Greece, it has been a bone of con
tention during the present Balkan war. It Is
8-944 square miles in extent and has about
■200,000 inhabitants, who are very fond of
rifle shooting and equally handy with a long
curved knife.
The Servians and Greeks proposed to di
'ide Albania up between them, but the Al
banians, not to mention the Austrians, ob
ected. So Albania has been set up as a sep
tate state. A provisional government has
oeen established with a Mohammedan presi
dent and a Christian vice-president. The
’nhabitants of Albania are nearly equally
divided between the Mohammedan and Chris
ian religions.
But a state set up under the guidance of
Austria and Russia, cannot be a republic.
That would be setting a bad example. Al
bania will, therefore, have to pick a king
or prince from the ranks of the minor prince
lets. Someone who would like the notoriety
and doesn’t mind the danger.
Prominent among the candidates are
Prince Jean Ghika, Prince George Ghika and
Prince Alexander Ghika. They are all cou
sins and belong to a family which is now
domiciled in Rumania, although in ancient
times, when Albania was an independent
state, the Ghikas lived in that country.
Another leading candidate is Prince Gus
tavus, of Denmark, the youngest brother of
the King of Denmark. He enjoys the peculiar
distinction of being the fattest prince in
Europe. He has tried every anti-fat remedy
known to science without success. He
weighs 378 pounds and is still gaining.
Prince Gustavus has the advantage of com-
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A Few Entertairung Sketche. of the Balkan War by the Clever Prince.. Liane de Pougy Ghika, Which Have Impelled Her Chance, of
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ing from a country which cannot have any
designs of taking territory in Albania. His
uncle, George, was chosen King of Greece for
a similar reason. He is twenty-six years old
and unmarried.
Now, as to the Ghikas. Prince Jean Ghika
married Miss Hazel Singer, daughter of
Charles J. Singer, of Chicago, and a member
of the Singer sewing machine family, many
of whom have married into the French aris
tocracy. The Singers, of course, have many
millions. It is understood that the former
Miss Singer would enjoy the sensation of
being a regular royal queen, and is spending
her millions freely for that purpose.
Prince Jean has had an interesting career.
Before he married Miss Singer he had
financed a comic opera company of which
Miss Della Rogers, of Denver, was the star.
Then there is Ghika No. 2. He is Prince
George Ghika Three years ago the Prince, in
a thoughtless moment, married Mademoiselle
I.iane de Pougy, who had been a familiar
figure to the boulevardiers of Faris for many
years. Mademoiselle Liane has appeared at
the Folies Bergere and done all sorts of
things that a princess is not expected to do.
Just before her husband was talked of as
an occupant of the Albanian throne, the
Princess Liaue had made a series of clever
sketches representing the Turks, Bulgarians,
Albanians and other participants in the
present war. A few of these, which are fit
for publication, are enclosed herewith.
The sketches are not at all flattering to
the Albanians. The rival claimants to the
throne have bought up a large number of
copies of a Paris newspaper that printed
them and are distributing them industriously
in Albania, with damaging effect upon
Liane’s chance of getting a crown.
And then there is Ghika No. 3. His full
name is Prince Alexander Ghika. He has
stolen a march on the others, for he is
already at the scene of the Balkan war and
is at this moment engaged in stirring up
enthusiasm for his cause among the Alban
ians.
Prince Alexander Ghika married an Irish
woman, Miss Margaret Dowling, a cousin of
the Marquis of Lansdowne and an heiress of
considerable wealth. According to society
gossip he spent all her money, and it is cer
tain that she opened a fancy store in Paris,
where she sold specimens of the needlework
of Rumanians and other women of South
eastern Europe.
Now that her husband is in the race for a
throne, however, she is willing to stand by
him loyally.
Now it is Interesting to remember what
sort of people the Albanians are Most of
them live in the mountains. Their houses
are hard to reach, but very convenient places
from which to shoot tne passerby. A favorite
occupation of the Albanians is brigandage,
but business has not been so good in recent
years as it used to be.
Albanians who have to work are usually*
shepherds. Some make a living by taking
care of the property of foreigners who have
come to Albania.
Perhaps the strongest natural trait of the
Albanians is the way they treat their women.
Half of them are Mohammedans' and keep
' their wives carefully locked up. The other
half are Christians and keep a very careful
eye on their wives. Any serious infringe
ment of the moral law by a wife is usually
punished with death.
In case of a slight skittishness on the part
of the wife, the Albanian husband, if in a
good humor, may content himself with cut
ting off her nose and ears. Albania evidently
is no place for a woman who values her
liberty or wants her rights.
How would Liane de Pougy, the former
French adventuress of Paris, be received in
a community where they entertain such bar
barous notions? Not very well, one would
think. Perhaps she imagines the benighted
Albanians know nothing of the history of
Parisian stars.
How would Miss Hazel Singer, the Ameri
can heiress, accustom herself to the man
ners of such a savage land? She comes from
a country where women are honored as
queens and treated more indulgently than
anywhere else in the world. Surely she
would find it hard to become used to the
Albanian code. But,, of course, a crown
would make up for a good many shortcom
ings.
The task of ruling over the Albanians
would be a picturesque if a difficult one. The
men are better than circus riders to look at.
The national costume of the Albanian con
sists of a cotton shirt, a white woollen kilt,
which reaches to the knees, a jacket, a sash
around the waist, in which pistols and a long
curved knife called a "yataghan” are carried,
colored leggings, sandals and a red cap,
around which they twist a shawl or scarf.
The chiefs and wealthy Albanians usualiy
wear a jacket and vest of velvet, richly em
broidered with gold, and metal greaves over
their leggings, which are usually made of
fine scarlet cloth.
The commentator adds the remark that
“they seldom change their clothes.”
The dress of the women is fantastic A
singular custom prevails among the girls of
stringing together the pieces of money which
they have collected for their portions, and
wearing them upon their heads. Some others
have them hanging down in braids to a
great length, loaded with this species of or
nament.
The Albanians have their good qualities.
If you are a stranger to them they are likely
to shoot or rob you, but when once you have
broken bread with them, they will’do any
thing for you.
If one of the three Ghikas or the fat boy
wins,the throne, he can look forward to an
exciting life in Albania.
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Princess Liane Has Set Up an Oriental Establishment in
Training for the New Throne
Princess Jean Ghika, Formerly Miss Hazel
Singer, the Beautiful Chicago He ress Who
Is Using Her Millions to Help Her Husband
Capture the Albanian Throne
What’s the Shape of a Year?
What’s the Color of Hunger?
OBSERVATION of the fact that the
blind associate color with and
give shapes to Ideas, has led Professors
Herman Schenk and Ludwig Regner, of Heidel
berg, to carry on a series of curious experiment*
to determine the dominant conceptions ol
sounds and abstract ideas in terms of color and
form.
The experiments have been made with 100 t
blind persons and 5000 persons with sight
From the mass of answers to the questions tht
extraordinary fact has been ascertained that
there is an unexplained unity in the mind* of
both seeing and blind.
To the question: "What Is the shape of a
year?” 300 blind and 600 seeing answered: "A
hill.” Some amplified it by saying: “A hill
leading up to Summer and down to Winter.”
One hundred blind and 50 seeing answered:
“A tunnel." Amplification—"Fght at the open
• mg, getting darker and darker."
Another favorite answer was: "A long strip
—brightening in the centre and getting dark at
the end."
'To the question: “What color is hunger,” ths
dominant answer was "gray.” The second
average was: “Black with a dull red core.”
To "what shape is Christmas?” three-quarters
answered: “Round.” Amplifications were: "Be
cause every one sets in a family circle;"
“money is round, so are plum puddings;” “be
cause most people are contented and content
ment is round.”
In names, “Horace" suggested a tweedy
pepper-and-salt mixture,” "Maude" suggested
heliotrope, "George” both pale pink and mouse
color.