Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the WorldWooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
History
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World
Wooldridge, Clifton R. (Clifton Rodman)
Crime -- Illinois -- Chicago; Police -- Illinois -- Chicago
The idea of marriage broking has thoroughly permeated the effete
nobility of Europe. The broken-down "nobles," out at heels and buried
under a mountain of debt, look to America for a rich heiress to whom
their titles may be sold. For many years they looked to the brokers
on their own side of the water to provide them with golden girls; but
of late years they have been mixing with the American Matrimonial
Agencies, sometimes to their sorrow, as attest the case of Count
Larisch.
WOES OF COUNT LARISCH.
The story of the attempt on Count Larisch is not an unusual one.
Briefly, the count, who is an Austrian, but who has estates in
Prussia, was anxious to replenish his treasury by marrying an
heiress. A syndicate composed of the men now under indictment, it is
said, financed him. He set out to marry the daughter of Faber, the
multi-millionaire pencil manufacturer of Nuremberg, giving his notes
for $50,000, payable upon his marriage to Fraulein Faber. The venture
was a failure, for Fraulein Faber did not care to become Countess
Larisch. The noble fortune-hunter then went to America in quest of a
bride. Whether it was on his own account, or under the auspices of
another marriage syndicate, does not appear, though it is hinted the
latter is the case. In any event, he was successful, and married Miss
Satterlee, of Titusville, Pa.
On his return the members of the first Faber syndicate demanded
payment, and presented a note purporting to have been given by Larisch
without the qualification that it was payable only after his marriage
to the pencil manufacturer's daughter. Larisch, regarding the Faber
affair a closed incident, and declaring the note presented a forgery,
refused to pay. The matter got before the public prosecutor and the
exposé resulted.
LORD BERTIE CAVENDISH--CHAMPION MATRIMONIALIST.
Oct. 24, 1905, Miss Gladys Simmons, Hot Springs, Ark., married Lord
Bertie Cavendish after two days' acquaintance. He represented himself
to be of noble birth, son of the late Marquis of Queensbury, and to
have immense possessions in South Africa and Mexico, which he was
unable to obtain on account of his banishment from England for serving
against the British in the Boer war, due to the activity of British
army officers against him.
Miss Simmons' mother received information that her son-in-law's name
was not Lord Bertie Cavendish, but Douglass. By photographs and
further investigation his identity was established as that of an
adventurer.
Following is a partial list of his wives, several of whom have asked
the court to grant them divorces:
Miss Louisiana Hobbs, Lambert Point, Va., near Norfolk.
Mrs. Mabel Duncan, Denver, Colo.
Mrs. Scott, South Bend, Ind.
Mrs. Beatrice E. Anderson, Fort Worth, Texas.
MARKET FOR AMERICAN HEIRESSES.
There has been more than one similar scandal involving members of the
high nobility and rich American girls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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