In his journal, he wrote:

MAY 12. My own dear Augusta's birthday a terribly sad one; she is like an angel, soothing my pain. I awoke after a good night, but I felt very tired. I sent Emmanuel with flowers and a little present to Augusta. Then arrived Kraus and Streyer. A long talk, which upset me. I stayed in bed nearly all day. The air in this little room is not good! I can take about eight paces in like a caged hyena. God knows how long this will last! Soon after 12 came my darling Augusta. At one o'clock the dear children the three boys and dear sweet little Tora. God bless her! And so we kept the birthday here, united in love. In the afternoon I tried to sleep. At 5 came Wronker. Things. look bad for me. The preliminary inquiry will last some time longer. Harder daily sends bundles of denunciations. About 140 (!!) witnesses are to be heard.

What will be the end of it?

A few days later he was confronted by additional witnesses who said they'd had sex with him but on meeting him, both denied seeing him before. "I can't bear this any longer," he wrote, "What will happen if such men swear they DO know me? I am in the power of terrible forces." Other witnesses were faced. The number of accusers fell from 145 to 12.

Field Marshall Hahnke, a week later requested the return, "for safekeeping," of Eulenberg's Order of the Black Eagle, since he was "in no position to wear the decoration." Eulenberg had all his Orders and medals returned. The proceedings before the jury at Moabit Prison opened June 29th. All his past relationships were made to look their worst. Had any of his Foreign Office associates especially liked him, or disliked him? ployed his former Orderly as a forester? Had he made a business loan to a Berlin hairdresser? Had he ever shared a hotel suite with his escort, a servant? But the "evidence" was reduced finally to the word of the two fishermen, one a convicted perjurer and blackmailer. Much was made of friendly letters (annual Christmas greetings) from the Prince to the other fisherman, long his employee. The supposed "police records" in Munich and Berlin identifying Eulenberg as a suspected homosexual turned out to be unsolicited and unsupported statements (discredited by Munich's police chief) by nameless informers (in one case, actually Baron Holstein).

At the start of the trial, the Prince had somewhat recovered his stamina, but as the torture dragged on, his condition worsened. His right leg was dangerously swollen. He attended court on a stretcher and had fainting spells. On June 14th, the doctors forbade him to be moved. The court adjourned to the hospital.

At this stage, the press published an angry letter from Prince Dohna accusing Eulenberg, his cousin, of having maliciously disturbed Dohna's management of the Court Theater. The Crown Prosecutor threatened to use this in evidence, but balked at calling the Kaiser as a witness. The proceedings were adjourned a few days later when the defendant contracted pneumonia. Two months after, he was released on high bail (the government suddenly demanded payment a few months later) on recommendation of the Charite doctors and permitted to return to Liebenberg, where his condition improved.

The case reopened July 7, 1909, but a heart attack struck the Prince within an hour. The Judge had accused him of faking illness, but all the doctors in court now urged an end to the proceedings. The court adjourned, "sine die." He returned to Liebenberg and for a decade was periodically examined by police doctors, who continued to report him unfit to stand trial. Ultimately, the case was dropped, long after the Empire and Eulenberg's world faded into history.

Four men had been broken: Major Count Lynar, a horse captain, at whose villa wild orgies had supposedly occurred; General Count Hohenau, son of