"Prince Hohenhauer, a distinguished political factor under the old
Austrian Empire, arrived yesterday morning on the _Noordam_. He
refused to be interviewed, but it is understood he has a large amount
of money invested in the United States and has come to New York at the
request of his lawyers to attend to certain necessary formalities. He
was, in fact, met at Quarantine by Judge Trent, one of the most
distinguished members of the New York Bar since his retirement from the
Bench, and they went at once to the Prince's stateroom and remained
there until it was time to leave the ship. It is significant, however,
that the Prince, after engaging a suite at the Ritz-Carlton, and
lunching there with Judge Trent, took the afternoon train for
Washington. As he recently left his estate in Switzerland to return to
Vienna and accept a position in the Cabinet, and as it is well known
that Austria desires the backing of the American Government to enable
her to overcome the opposition of France to her alliance with Germany,
or, it is whispered, with a kingdom farther south, it is not
unreasonable to infer that he has come to the United States on a
special, if secret, mission.
"The Prince was the subject of lively interest on the boat and of much
speculation, but he took his meals in his suite and walked the deck
only in the company of his secretary.
"He is a man of striking appearance, quite six feet in height, with a
spare erect figure, fine features, and hardly looks his sixty years, in
spite of his white hair."
Then followed a brief biography, which illustrated the efficiency of
the newspaper "morgue," for the statesman's reputation was, so far,
wholly European.
"Prince Moritz Franz Ernst Felix von Hohenhauer was born October 6th,
1862, on his ancestral estate in what was then known as Galicia. His
mother was a princess of the House of Schwarzenberg. He has been the
head of his own historic house for the last forty years, and has one
son and two daughters. His wife, a member of the Kalnoky family, died
several years ago. "Hohenhauer" was one of those almost unbelievably
vast estates of sixteen million acres possessed by a few of the
Austrian noblemen under the old regime. In spite of the fact that
Prince Hohenhauer was one of the greatest landlords in all Christendom
he was a liberal in politics from the first and the author of several
of the reform laws in behalf of the people which from time to time were
forced upon the most conservative monarch in Europe. He was in
sympathy with the revolution and offered his services at once to the
new Government. They were declined, and he retired to Switzerland,
where he has an estate near St. Moritz, and, it is understood,
considerable money invested. His vast estates in what is now Poland
were confiscated, but he was one of the wealthiest men in the Empire
and is said to have transferred immense sums to the United States
before the war."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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