The Curse of The Romanoffs

1895

Baron von Humboldt's Prophecy Regarding Nicholas of Russia.

James Russell Lowell used to tell this story to intimate friends. It was told him by John Lothrop Motley:

"In 1853, just before the Crimean war commenced, the venerable Baron von Humboldt came to London on a very important confidential mission. He called upon Lord Palmerston and said: 'I know a war is imminent between England at her allies on the one hand and Russia. If you will temporize, make diplomatic delays, do anything to gain time for a year or two, there will not need to be a war.'

" 'Why?' Palmerston asked.

"'Because Nicholas of Russia will die within two years. The fatal curse of the Romanoffs is on him. Do you not know that a great seeress told Peter the Great that no male member of the Romanoffs would ever live to see his sixty-fifth year?

" 'But Nicholas is not yet 50,' Palmerston announced.

" 'I wish to save an immense flow of human blood,' said old Humboldt solemnly. 'I know that the czar will die within two years.'

"Lord Palmerston was greatly impressed with Baron Humboldt's statements. But he could not hold his own hand then. France, in view of Louis Napoleon's ready recognition by Palmerston, and all Europe followed his lead, was then ready to take the field. So the Crimean war had to go on. But Nicholas of Russia died within four months of the two years' limit given him by Von Humboldt."

Leaving the prophecy out of the question, it is a fancy of history that the Russian czars have all died before 65. Alexander III's grandfather, the half insane Czar Paul, and the four heads of the Romanoffs before Nicholas all died before 50, and of the same disease that has been so deadly to Alexander III. Alexander I, at one time Napoleon's great ally, then his enemy, who so aided in the downfall of the French empire, died when he was 48 of "monomania bordering on insanity," says history. Metternich, the great Austrian premier of that date, bluntly declares he was insane.

The Grand Duke Constantine, who was really entitled to the Russian throne, waived his right in favor of Alexander I. He had sense enough to be aware that he was not mentally fit to rule such an empire as Russia. He died in his fifty-second year of what would now be called cerebrospinal meningitis.

The Grand Duke Michael was killed in his forty-eighth year by a fall from his horse while in a fit. He had shown signs of madness so often that it was a question whether it was safe for him to be at large. So goes the long but never ending record of the Romanoffs for two centuries.

Alexander III was personally a most kindly man and remarkably free from the grosser vices. He drank a little red wine sometimes, but no strong liquors, and he abhorred drunkenness, as did his father before him. — Washington Post.

War in 1915 Predicted in 1760

1915

The following prophecies about the war are taken from a book printed in Turin in 1858 entitled "A Collection Of Some Remarkable Prophecies and Vaticinations."

A Swiss hermit who died in St. Gall in 1760 predicted there would be "famine, hunger, devastations and considerable mortality thruout Europe in 1915."

An anonymous French monk wrote toward the end of the eighteenth century that "in 1915 the Turks, Heretics, Schismatics, Catholics and Idolators of foreign nations will go against each other with anger and fury," adding:

"The first spark of the great war will start from the north. The war will last about two years and the armies of the enemies will not invade the apostate empire, but they will surround and wait until the rebels return to their duty. They (the rebels), however, will not make any act of submission or of repentance, but continue their excesses, so that all the powers of Europe will be allied against them."

This prediction ends with a description of Te Deums and thanksgiving services in all churches and temples "for the victory of the Allies."

The Ghost of the Tower

1901

Superstitious people in merry England are busy prophesying many gloomy events because it has been declared that the ghost of Mary, queen of Scots, has again made itself evident.

The story was that an officer of the guard on duty in the constables' quarters in the Tower of London on Christmas eve heard a long wail from the top of the tower. He stopped to listen and heard it again. Footsteps followed, and a third time the wail rang out over the fog bound river and the sleeping city. He went to search for a cause. but found none.

According to tradition the ghost of the unhappy Queen Mary has frequently made itself manifest in the Tower of London. Mary, queen of Scots, was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth in the constables' tower and was led from it to execution in the tower quadrangle. Before the death of every king or queen of England since her day her spirit has been reported as having appeared.

All of this is very unpleasant for those to whom the welfare of Queen Victoria is dear and who believe in appearances after death. But apart from any supernatural auguries it would not be surprising to hear at any time of the demise of the Queen of England. It is well known that her health is far from satisfactory and that she is daily growing more and more feeble. The death of the Dowager Lady Churchill threw her majesty into a condition which is alarming to court circles. Lady Churchill was the queen's oldest and closest companion, and Victoria's grief is extreme.

Should England be unfortunate enough to lose its august ruler there would not be lacking those who would sagely wag their heads and recall the appearance of Mary's ghost. But their "I told you so" would be far from satisfactory to more materially inclined individuals.

Wrong Meaning of Message

1915

Young Wife Makes Amusing Interpretation of Scripture in a Telegram From Girl Friend

They were speaking of the remarkable way in which telegraphic messages are occasionally interpreted, and this story was recalled by Governor- elect David I. Walsh of Massachusetts.

Some time ago the stork visited the home of a happy young couple in a New England town, and wishing to notify her girl chum who lived in a distant city, the mother sent the following telegram:

"For unto us a child is born. — Isaiah 9:6."

"Oh, John," exclaimed the girl chum to her husband on receiving the dispatch. "I have just got a telegram from Gladys and what do you think?"

"You have got me chucked out at first in the conundrum game," indulgently smiled John. "What's the answer?"

"Gladys has a baby boy!" enthusiastically responded little wifey. "His name is Isaiah and he weighs nine pounds and six ounces!" — Philadelphia Telegraph.

Two Women Stopped Selling Books, Feared Pro-German

Ohio, 1918

GIRL STUDENTS WERE CANVASSING FOR A PRO-GERMAN BOOK

Sheriff Charles Swank was called to Hanover last Friday to make an investigation of two young women, of Mt. Vernon, who were selling a book, said to be pro-German. They were in the village in the morning of that day and the sheriff did not receive the call until the afternoon and by that time they had left.

Yesterday they were again reported to him and he found them on the road between Hanover and Purity. He gave them orders that no more of the books were to be sold in Licking county. Both of the young women were students and were canvassing to make a little extra money during the summer vacation, and were perfectly innocent of doing anything out of the way. Upon the advice of the sheriff they returned to Newark with him and returned to their homes at Mt. Vernon from here.

The title of the book was "A World In Perplexity," and the substance of it was that the American people wanted peace at any price. The book was put on sale by J. C. Castle, head of the Ohio Tract Society. They also were taking orders for another book, "The Prophesies of the World," but had no copies of it in their possession and were selling it from a prospectus. The Sheriff carefully examined this but found nothing that pointed to the fact that this was pro-German, nevertheless the sale of both books will be prohibited in this county hereafter.

—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, June 11, 1918, p. 5.


TWO MORE GIRLS FOUND SELLING FORBIDDEN BOOK

Sheriff Charles H. Swank was called to the south-eastern part of the county yesterday afternoon to make an investigation of two young women who were selling books in that vicinity. He met them one-half mile north of Brownsville and found they were selling the same books as the two girls found near Hanover, Monday. They gave their names as Earline Trapp and Violet Murphy, both of Mt. Vernon, and were working for the same people as the other two girls were.

The books are being put out by J. I. Castle, head of the Ohio Tract society of Mt. Vernon, and the one book, "A World in Perplexity," has been found to have pro-German tendencies and the sale of the same has been forbidden in Licking county. The other book, "Our Day in the Light of Prophecy" was carefully examined by the sheriff and he found it to be alright, with nothing in it detrimental to the government and gave them permission to continue selling it.

The girls were entirely innocent of any wrong doings and were very much overcome when the sheriff told them that the one book was pro-German. The had sold a number of copies of the book, which met the approval of the sheriff and as soon as the information spread over the community, orders were canceled over the telephone practically at the very house they stopped at. The girls had worked hard in making the sales as they have walked the entire distance over the county and to find that their work had been all in vain was quite a blow to them.

Sheriff Swank gave them one of his personal cards, stating that the text of the latter named book was alright and that it met with his approval and allowed them to continue the sale of the same, but the distribution of the other book will be prohibited in this county.

—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, June 13, 1918, p. 6.

Note: "A World in Perplexity" was by Arther G. Daniells, published by Pacific Press or Review and Herald, which are names for the Seventh Day Adventist church folks' publishing house. The other, "Our Day in the Light of Prophecy," was by William Ambrose Spicer, same publishing info. I don't know these particular books, but I've seen books like them, in which they size up all the bad news of the day as signs of God's work of judgment and final deliverance. Even "progress" is seen for its negative aspects, how families are broken up, girls go off the the city and are disgraced, etc. I would guess they would portray Germany as being very formidable, lots of men, lots of armaments, since these big battles at the end of the world can't be minimized, and that's the problem for the Sheriff, and that they don't actually take a "pro-German" view. Their business was religion and conversion, not politics or sedition. As for Brother Castle, the one article definitely gives a "C" for his middle initial, the other is hard to read but looks like an "I."

How Wealthy Woman Is Trying to Evade Witch's Hoodoo

Washington, D.C., 1905

HOUSE WITHIN A HOUSE.

How a Wealthy Woman Will Evade Witch's Hoodoo.

Washington Star: A palace built literally around a superstition is Washington's newest marvel, and one may safely say that nothing to match it has ever been seen anywhere. Baronial castles, as well as edifices of other kinds, often gain resident spooks or acquire curses as incidents of their history, but it has not been the fashion hitherto to provide in the architect's plans against such troubles, and the notion of embodying a hoodoo killer in the very fabric of a mansion is wholly novel.

The owner of this remarkable house, which as yet is not quite half finished, is Mrs. R. H. Townsend of Philadelphia. Before her marriage she was Mary Scott, a daughter of the late Col. "Tom" Scott, of Pennsylvania railroad fame. Her wealth runs into the millions, and the mansion aforesaid will cost her about $400,000. It will be nearly twice the size of the famous Leiter house, on Dupont circle, being 125 feet in width and 123 feet in depth. Mrs. Townsend is building it, she says, for her youngest daughter, now 17 years of age, and almost ready to enter society. It will be the scene, doubtless, of some of the most gorgeous entertainments ever given at the national capital.

Now, once upon a time — a very proper way to begin such a story as this — Mrs. Townsend interviewed a witch. It was a remarkably clever witch, and, in revealing the future to her lady patron, she predicted a number of events since realized with astonishing accuracy in Mrs. Townsend's life. It was a very bright and cheerful picture she drew, on the whole one may command a good deal of brightness and cheerfulness if one possesses millions of dollars — but there was one unpleasant prognostication. This was that if Mrs. Townsend ever occupied a dwelling which had never been lived in before she would die within six months after moving in.

This prophecy struck Mrs. Townsend as grewsome, to say the least, and up to now she has carefully avoided all risk of incurring the penalty suggested. Though anxious for some time past to move her residence to Washington and build a home here, she has been restrained from the accomplishment of this desire by the witch's ominous vaticination. She had thought of buying a house, but could find none that was large enough or adequate in other respects for her purposes. At length, however, she hit upon an ingenious method of evading the hoodoo and getting what she wanted at the same time. She decided to purchase the old Hillyer mansion on Massachusetts avenue, and to construct a palace around it. This she is doing in such a manner that while occupying the new mansion, she will actually live in the old Hillyer house, the skeleton of which is retained as a middle portion of the revamped structure. Her bedroom, her dressingroom and bathroom and her boudoir will be in the ancient dwelling, the original floor joists and framework, as well as the roof, being kept intact.

Thus the hoodoo will be defeated, inasmuch as the construction on which the builders are now engaged comes under the head of "alterations," technically speaking, and Mrs. Townsend may consider herself safe against the fulfillment of the conditional threat recorded against her in the book of fate.

—Daily Iowa State Press, Iowa City, IA, Nov. 3, 1899, p. 2.

Professor Disputes That Volcanoes Forecast "End of the World"

1922

French Scout Fears of Volcanic Perils

Paris Newspaper Ridicules Idea That Eruptions Forecast "End of the World"

PARIS, Aug. 26 — If all the volcanoes in the world were to become active at the same hour the earth, or any large part of it, would be no nearer being "destroyed" than it is at this moment.

Professor Lacroix, of the French museum, whose field is mineralogy and whose pet subject is volcanoes, made this astonishing statement in reply to the recent prophecy made by Dr. Milton Nobles, of Philadelphia, that volcanic action would wipe out the continent of Europe within a month.

Budapest to Be Center

The center of destruction, according to the prophecy, was to be Budapest. So when, the very next day, reports came from Hungary that tremblings of the earth's surface had been felt, while simultaneously there were small earthquakes in France and in Spain, many good souls of Paris flocked to the churches to await the Last Judgment, and the witty paragraphers of the Paris dailies prepared their best barbs.

L'Intransigeant interviewed M. le Professor Lacroix.

"Pessimists who have already permitted themselves to rejoice at the idea of the approaching end of the world, announced by an American geologist, will find in the words of this volcano authority new cause for lamentation," says that journal and quotes the professor:

"It is true that the region around Budapest is highly volcanic. Of course the volcanoes are old, dating from the tertiary period.

"But supposing they start all at once to spit forth lava, even supposing — you see I am generous with suppositions — that all the volcanoes of the world began to erupt at once. All that would not affect the solidarity of our planet."

M. Lacroix showed his interviewer a map of Europe.

"These red spots indicate the regions where are volcanoes, extinct or active. You see what a small area they cover in comparison with the stable regions of the continent.

Italy Has Active Craters

"The only really active volcanoes in Europe are those of Italy — Vesuvius, Stromboli, Vulcano and Etna, in particular.

"The axiom is: The effects of all volcanic phenomena are essentially local.

"Add to this that the units in most volcanic groups, for example, Etna, Stomboli and Vesuvius, are separated by scores of miles as the crow flies, and the fact that when one of these neighboring craters is in eruption the others are inactive, thus proving that their reservoirs are independent, and the idea of a universal eruption becomes ridiculous.

"Tell your readers they may sleep soundly with both eyes shut."

Newspaper Scouts Idea

Le Temps didn't bother to consult a scientist. It scouted the prophecy and with it all prophecies — except political ones.

"One of those American journalists who know how to 'create events' like Napoleon himself wirelesses over the world that a certain savant announces the approaching eruption in the neighborhood of Budapest of no fewer than 70 craters," ran the account.

"In the year 2000, so close that our children will live to see it, we can measure the progress of humanity by observing the survival of the same panic fears of which the year 1000 leaves us a legend.

"In 10 centuries science has mastered nature, but not the imagination of men."

—The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 27, 1922, page 24.

The End of the World

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ARE AGAIN AWAITING END OF THE WORLD

Holy Rollers Certain That It Will Come on June 21.

Duxbury, Mass., April 15,-The end of the world is coming again, according to another vision of Eva Brown of Pawtucket, and hundreds of Triune Immersionists began a convention here to prepare for the expected event. This coming end of the world is to be "without fail."

June 21 is the date set by Miss Eva's vision for the world's finish. Eva announces that "something terrible is to happen on June 21."

The Triune Immersionists have been called Holy Rollers and "End of the World Leaders." But the first of these names is the one which they use themselves. It comes from the triple form of immersion, which is conducted at the conventions. Hundreds were immersed last year.

At that time many gave away their earthly goods and chattels and waited confidently for the termination of this earth. When the expected failed to happen the immersionists went over their calculations and ascertained that a mistake had occurred.

--Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, April 15, 1910, page 12.

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Eva Brown, a young woman associated with that eccentric religious body known as the Holy Rollers, predicted the end of the world for June 21st. Families among the faithful were disrupted, believers sold their property instead of giving it away, as logically they should have done, and others abandoned their business. Yet here we are still doing business at the old stand. The earth is speeding on in its orbit, and the eternal grind of human affairs is going on in the usual fashion. It would save some people a lot of trouble in the opinion of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, if they could take a course in the history of religious delusions. For 2,000 years prophets of terrestrial ruin have been fixing dates for the final wind-up; yet the catastrophe has never materialized.

--Olean Evening Times, Olean, New York, June 27, 1910, page 2.

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PAWTUCKET, R.I., June 17.-Pretty nineteen-year-old Eva Brown, prophetess of the sect known variously as "Latter Day Reigners," "Holy Rollers," "End of the World Leaders" and "Triune Immersionists," whose prophecy of the end of the world caused many members to dispose of their property and migrate to Duxbury, Mass., last fall, to await the termination of the earth, has the faithful again in a turmoil over her prediction that something awful is going to happen to this mundane sphere on June 21.

As a result a thousand or more members of the faith are preparing to hold another convention at Duxbury. Miss Brown does not say whether the "something terrible will be the actual end of the world, a heavy frost in the tropics, or the appearance of a mouse in church at prayer meeting.

When the expected failed to happen the other time the Immersionists went over their calculations carefully and ascertained that a mistake had been made. Miss Brown has announced in advance that there will be no mistake this time.

--The Racine Daily Journal, Racine, Wisconsin, June 18, 1910, page 7. (The grainy picture above is from this source.)

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PREPARING AGAIN FOR END OF WORLD

Holy Rollers Take Miss Eva's Advice; Scheduled For June

Duxbury, Mass., April 15.-The end of the world is coming again, according to another vision of Eva Brown of Pawtucket, and hundreds of Triune Immersionists began a convention here to prepare for the expected event This coming of the end of the world "is to be without fail" June 21 is the date set by Miss Eva's vision for the world's finish. Eva announces that "something terrible is to happen on June 21."

"On June 21 the sun leaves Aries and enters Cancer," she said. "This signifies some unusual development, the exact nature I do not care to say. What will happen on June 21 will be of special significance to everybody on this earth."

The Triune Immersionists have been called Holy Rollers and "End of the World Leaders," but the first of these names is the one which they use themselves.

Hundreds gave away their earthly goods and chattels and waited confidently for the termination of the earth last year. When the expected failed to happen the Immersionists went over their calculations carefully and ascertained that a mistake had occurred.

--Indiana Evening Gazette, Indiana, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1910, page 4.

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Anticipating the end of the world on June 21st more than 400 religious enthusiasts at Duxbury, Mass., have worked themselves up to a state of frenzy. They eat but two meals a day and drink hot water for a beverage.

--Olean Evening Times, Olean, New York, April 19, 1910, page 2.

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WORLD ENDS TOMORROW

At Least That Is the Prediction of Holy Rollers' Prophetess

Duxbury, Mass., April 18.-By the courtesy of Prophetess Eva Brown, the Holy Rollers learned that the end of the world will come at 15 minutes before noon on Tuesday, April 19. To prepare for the end, sixteen converts waded out into the frigid water of the mill pond at Ashdod Sunday and were forced beneath the water in the triple baptism of the tri-immersionists, while a rejoicing multitude; stood upon the bank and sang.

Men and women of 55 went through the ordeal, as well as girls from 18 to 25 years of age, 15-year-old boys and one little girl only 8 years old.

--Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, April 18, 1910, page 9.

Comment: The above article may have misunderstood what date Eva Brown meant.

There's an article at this link that says:

Three hundred Triune Immersionists, defeated in their hopes of the end of the world, are now sadly plodding back from West Duxbury, Mass., to the homes they left shortly ago, some as far away as Virginia, to pick up again the thread of the earthly life they thought they had laid down forever. Not only that. Many of them are going back to face scenes of desolation and destitution. Believing the usefulness of worldly goods outlived, they gave up their jobs, abandoned their businesses, sold their property and donated all they had to the church.

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Comment: And from an entirely different point of view:

END OF THE WORLD IN THREE YEARS

Paris, Feb. 1.- A coterie of scientists have practically pronounced a death sentence on the, earth, and the time of execution is fixed for the year 1912. The scientists are chiefly French who are responsible for this latest sensation in the way of predictions of the "important-if-true" kind. They say the sun will be at a low ebb of activity in the year 1912 and that there will be a hardening of the earth's elastic crust. The vast masses of hot material comprising the earth's interior will have to throw off their pent up, squeezed up energies. There will be explosions, volcanoes, earthquakes. eruptions. The whole planet may be rent and torn as the moon was when it lost its life.

--Olean Evening Times, Olean, New York, February 1, 1909, page 1.