The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 23, 1904, Page 8

—_ Played to High Stakes. Epecial O { VIENNA, Aug. respondence. —Some years ago | came a prominent figure in local so- clety. The men raved about her, but the women were suspicious and specu- lated much as to her true antecedents. From the outset the Governor showed a lively interest in her and it was not long before they were betrothed. The marriage was a brilliant affair and among the aistinguished guests pres- ent was the Austrian Minister of Edu- cation, in whose bureau Von Hervay had begun his official career. At first all went well, although local gossip continued. Curiosity as to the wife's past history increased and one day a local paper published a short fiction story which was clearly intend- ed for Frau von Hervay. The heroine | | was said to have been a swindler, who ! had had four or five husbands. The | Governor read it and was seized with a horrible dread. He called his wife into his private office and after a long interview they parted. The lady left Murzzuschlag. Then came news from Vienna of her having been found un- | German magician and conjurer, whu‘l‘( nscious in one of the principal | R e / V. > i e o BERa 3 \/ i +1 | l | { ? | | 3 H Pag R s SR HE FAMOUS AUSTRIAN _AD- | VENTURESS AND THE LATE | VICTIM OF HER MARITAL WIL o et SR | called himself Bellachini, visited the it ed States and made a considerable self with his art. ! of his marvels were produced with the uid of his little daughter, who, even then, was rather pretty. Presently the pair returned to Europe and doubtless have been forgotten from that day to this. no one in the United who read a few cabled lines re- itly about a tragedy in the Styrian | Alps could have connected the woman in the case with the littie magician had helped entertain so many Ur name for } Some Certainly Stat who American audiences. The two were | the same, however, and further inves- tigatio~ reveals the fact that the girl| * has had a career the llke of which one rarely finds. | The tragedy which has brought this | remarkable history to light took place -in Murzzuschlag, a pretty little sum- mer resort in the Styrian Alps. o-p-“ _tsin Francis von Hervay, the popular | overnor of the district. who had| “‘quite recently married a rich and fas- | cinating bride, was found one morn- ing dead in his bed. An empty re- volver by his side showed that he had | committed suicide. This was the out- come ©of his apparently happy mar- riage. Captain von Hervay's career had been a series of successes. A clever | boy at school and a bright and intel- ligent young official in the imperial Ministry of Education, he always en- joyed the good will of his superiors | and when scarcely 30 years of age was | appointed to the important post of | Governor of the district of Murs- zuschlag. The occupant of such a post | is, as the chief representative of the | imperial Government, always an im- * portant personage. In this case, how- ever, the dignity and responsibility are much greater, as the district of Murz- zusehlag includes Murzsteg, where the | Emperor Francis Joseph has a hunt- | ing box, and the Governor must an- | swer for his Majesty’s safety when he | comes down to shoot and hunt in the neighboring forests. Last October Von | Hervay had to be responsible not alone for his imperial master, but also for | the Czar, when the two sovereigns and | .their Ministers drew up the famous streets, having according to her own taken a dose of prussic acid. The ctors applied stomach pumps, but fcund no traces of the poison. The suspicions of the police were aroused and the woman's true identity and his- tory became known Erna Leontine Elvira Bellachini was born in 1860, and her father, a Jew, whose real name was Bellach, was one of the most popular magicians ever scen on the Continental stage. At 16 years of age Erna became a chorus girl in the old Victoria Theater in Ber- lin. Two years later she made her first matrimonial venture, marrying in Ber- lin a wealthy wine merchant, whose property she immediately began to squander. Later her husband secured a divorce. Then she became acquainted with the | well-known Countess Fisi Seydewitz, who introduced her under the name of Madame de Behair at one of the smail German courts. Here she met a gay cavairy officer, Lieutenant Baron Lut- zow, who after a short acquaintance :nllrrled her in Heligoland. The Bar-. | oness seemed quite incapable of re- maining in love with any person long fogether, and soon began a desperate flirtation with a dashing dragoon of- ficer, whose acquaintance she made in a characteristic way. Seeing the officer approaching her in a public square she was seized with a convenient fainting fit and contrived to fall into his arms. The dragoon speedily became a vietim | to her wiles, and the news of their Inti- | macy reaching her husband divorce | | proceedings followed. The dragoon became her third hus- | band, the ceremony this time taking place at Naples. This union proved no | more lasting than the previous two, the | lady finding other lovers, and as a re-| sult the dragoon invoked the aid of the | law courts and the lady was for the! third time divorced. But she was a persevering individual, and before very long captured another officer, who married her in London. During her brief union with her fourth husband she was arrested upon a charge of swindling and held in cus- tody for four weeks, being finally dis- charged only on account of Insufficient evidence. Her husband found she was | indulging in love affairs, too, and in his turn sought and obtalned a divorce. For the next few years Frau von Hervay led a wandering life. She called | herself the Baroness de Shane, and| with the greatest audacity declared | that she was the daughter of the Grand Duchess Viadimir, the aunt of the pres- | ent Czar and mother of the Grand Duke Boris, who recently traveled across the American continent and con- tributed his mite to the gayety of Chi- cago and New York. At Nice the Baroness met in a pen- :qr‘nl % ed without leaving a trace be- ne She next seems to have turned up at Murzzuschlag, still as the daughter of & Russlan Grand Duchess. Her dresses £1,2 il | | ships, sailed into the harbor to prevent a conflict that | He followed a Japanese torpedo-boat and placed an | situation | ships immediately disarm or leave the port. | istics of his Government, refuses to disarm the ships | or send them out of port. | tured a Russian warship. | man-of-war she finds afloat. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1904 THE SAN FRANCISCG CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . . . . . . « « . . Address Al Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, o e e - . = l.inm P UMM DR, &5 s . is woxsish bt od SURALEAYs Kans 5 dnnnn tholetbeabeetys JTHird and. Markét Sirects, B. P TUESDAY sessvsenestseasesaaibresnainans NEUTRALITY AT SHANGHAL EXT to Hongkong, which is British territory, N the greatest seaport on the Chinese coast is Shanghai. It is Chinese territory, under the juris- diction of that empire. It is therefore within that “admin- istrative entity” of China which Secretary Hay declared at the beginning of the war must be respected by both belligerents. When the Port Arthur fleet quit fighting and ran to cover, the cruiser Askold and a gunboat ran into Shanghai. The Chinese officers ordered them to leave within the neutral limit of twenty-four hours, or clse disarm, and stay there until the end of the war. They entered on the 12th of August and were there yet on the 21st. Not only did they refuse to respect Chi- nese neutrality by leaving, but they proceeded to make Shanghai a Russian naval base by repairing, refitting, coaling and making other preparations to equip them to go out at a favorable opportunity and resume fighting. China has no power to enforce the order to leave orf to protect her own neutrality. Under such <tances it is the undoubted right of Japan to send her fleet ir and desiroy ot capture the two Russian ships But here another question of importance intervenes. The harbor is full of merchant ships belonging to many neutral nations, and their nationals have vast property . on the docks and in the godowns which would be im- periled if a naval battle occur in the harbor. In this emergency Admiral Sterling, with eight American war- circum- would destroy American and other neutral property. American gunboat between her and the Rudssian ships. This was an act of discretion on his part, without orders Washington, but was in accordance with the policy of his Government. ile is reinforced by warships of Great Britain, France and Germany, and the world’s interest in the siege of Port Arthur is almost entirely diverted to the exciting at Shanghai. There is reason for believing that the Foreign Consuls there, led by Mr. Goodnow, neral, have demanded that the Russian But the Russian Consul General, with all the shifty character- from our Consul The Japanese fleet lies out- side the three-mile limit, ready to take them in as soon as they appear. Admiral Sterling has offered to escort them out to their fate, but they refuse to go. The end may come before this is printed and can be reached in orly one of two ways; the ships must disarm or leave the port. The United States will submit to no other solutiop, and the other nations will follow our lead. It brings sharply in issue the question of Chinese neu- China has no navy that can protect her neutral | The great foresight of Secretary Hay shown in his procuring the agreement of the nations that Chinese neutrality must be respected. Russia re- | fusing to do so puts first upon us and then upon all the acceptors of Secretary Hay's note the duty of doing what | China cannot do. If Secretary Hay had not foreseen | events at this moment every Chinese port would be a Russian naval base. Russia has earned punishment for her conduct at and near Chefoo. Chefoo faces Port Arthur and near there, on Chinese ground, Russia has a wireless telegraph station by which to communicate with Port Arthur. 3 That is a violation of neutral rights. She also per- sisted in using Chefoo as a naval base until the Japa- nese, in clear exercise of their rights, went in and cap- The importance of the mat- ter appears when the prospective plight of the Baltic squadron is considered. That fleet is supposed to be on its way to the scene of the conflict. When it arrives it will find it impossible o enter a Russian port. Port Arthur will probably be ia possession of the Japanese and Vladivostok will be isolated. There will be no coaling station or harbor of refuge available, and the fleet will go the way of destruction and capture taken by its predecessors. 1f, however, the nations permit such violation of Chinese neutrality as Russia attempts at Shanghai, China simply becomes a military convenience for the use and service of Russia, If the Russian Consul continue his refusal to disarm his ships or send them out of the har- bor it will be entirely within his duty for Admiral Ster- ling to order them out or disarm them if they refuse to go. If they resist him and show fight, it means that to protect American property he, being at close quarters, can torpedo and sink them both. Whatever his duty is, within the limits of international law, public senti- | trality. position, is | | ment at home will applaul his fearless performance of it. Our commerce has already suffered a loss of mil- lions by Russia’s attempt to make the law of the sea, and our people will have no patience with her attempt to rewrite the rules of neutrality by violating them when it is her interest to do so. Japan is not only waiting outside of Shanghai for the Askold and her consort, but is picking off every Russian The destruction of the Novik, while she was attempting a sneak to Vladivostok, has in it a certain satisfaction for Californians. The Japanese cruiser Chitose, which took part in that ac- tion, witu Prince Yorihito second in command, was built here at the Union Tron Works. She has proved a stanch ship and a good fighter. IJouph I. Brittain, American Consul at Kehl, Ger- many, has some timely advice to give California fruit shippers upon the present status of the German market for California fruit. According to his statement the out- look for our product in Germany is.growing brighter with each season, but great caution on the part of the shippers here is necessary to develop a steady market and to insure a continuance of the favor now being dis- played toward the evaporated fruits of this State. Especially does Consul Brittain urge upon the notice of California fruit packers the advisability of disposing of their stock directly through German agents, whose establishments in the largest cities there give them op- portunity to keep a delicate finger upon the pulse of trade and to seize upon the most favorable opportunity for the disposition of the goods. As a result of this policy, already adopted by some of the leading fruit- packing concerns of this State, there is, according to the Consul, a market double the former proportions in Alsace-Lorraine and Baden, and in the retail stores of Strassburg our fancy prunes and apricots have taken the precedence over all domestic products. If California fruit i advance in popularity with the CALIFORNIA FRUIT IN GERMANY. N his recent report to the Department of Commerce is to ' Germans it behooves the packers to exercise more than ordinary care in the preparation and forwarding of their output. Not long ago there came complaints from France relative to frautulent labels attached to much of the dried prune shipments received there. Under the title of Santa Clara prunes there was being shipped into the French markets a distinctively inferior brand which sold at the same price as that of the genuine. Not only does this deception weaken the genuine Santa Clara stock abroad, but it casts descredit upon the whole ex- port. A continuance of this practice would be fatal to the trade in California evaporated fruit now building abroad. g Another and more serious danger threatens the future of our fruit in German markets. Consul Brittain in- corporates in his report a clipping from a Strassburg journal to the effect that on account of harmful ingredi- ents used in the curing of fruits the California import was to be forbidden. It is alleged in the article that an alum bath and glycerine application to the prunes made them unfit for food, and that in the matter of peaches and apricots such a strong preparation of sulphur was used to preserve the appearance of the fruit that = residuum of sulphuric acid made the finished product positively dangerous. Though this allegation of the Strassburg organ has nothing official about it and there has been no move on the part of the Government at Berlin to bar California fruits on account of impurities found therein, the pro- ducers of this State should take notice of these charges. If they are unfounded measures should be taken to cor- rect the German misconception. If they are founded upon a truth the remedy lies here at home and should be applied at once before the prestige of our dried fruits in forign markets is allowed te wane. —_— The Southern Pacific Company has at last taken the first steps in the construction of the bay shore line that has so long been desired as a tremendous improvement in the railroad service between here and San Jose and as an avenue that is to opeén new and thriving suburbs to San Francisco. Let us hope that this new road, as ad- vantageous to the railmaghmnauy as it is an excellent reflection of its enterprise, shall be rushed to completion. Every day won in the building is a day gained in the proft of operation. BARBARITIES IN CONGO STATE. VJH«H upon being a better place to live in than it has ever been and when philanthropists pointing out the savage, clothed, and the benighted, pro- vided with pocket Bibles, contented worldlinigs have little ear for the grim stories that have been drifting out of the heart of Africa. But with the special Congo supple- ment of the West African Mail, which has just found its way into Europe and this country, there comes confirma- tion of shocking tales of barbarity, the like of which the nations have not heard since the last Arab slaver was forced to go into retirement. This sheet, together with an appeal from the Congo Reform Association for the betterment of the condition of native women and children in that state, stories of outrages perpetrated with the connivance of King Leopold's Government which could hardly be credited were they not accompanied by the signed testi- mony of the informers. The tale is told of women, some about to become mothers, herded into chain gangs and marched over wearisome stretches to the central settle- ments of the ‘chartered companies, of men and boys mutilated because the quota of rubber due the company was not forthcoming, of girls tortured for the intimid. tion of their husbands and brothers. These barbarities are done by the native soldiery at the orders of the di rectors of the concession companies. When first the world began to be startled by the stories of this, like that which drifted out of the heart of the Dark Continent, it was treated to a gratuitous exhibition of injured innocence by King Leopold. Never, accord- ing to that astute monarch, was there a state so favored in its government as is the Congo Free State; soulful ghilanthropy had been the dictator of all his actions toward this trust awarded him by the powers signatories of the Berlin act. He, King Leopold, was pained that there should be any doubts concerning his strictly honorable dealings. Thus did the tale of the Belgian monarch’s protestations run. Now, however, we are given in this West African Mail supplement the details of a trial recently held at the Appeal Court of Boma whereat a Belgian employe of one of the concessionary companies was made to stand tor willful slauhter of the natives in one of the jungle towns. The testimony developed the fact that of the capitalization of the company in question, amounting to 1,700,000 francs, the state had a half interest; that on every ton of rubber, of wax or of copal collected in the company’s factories the Government levied heavy toll. The evidenee was further adduced that because the natives of a certain district failed to furnish their labor or their products to this company, in which the state was a half owner, company “gunmen,” together with regular state soldiery and officered by state commissioned offi- cers, deliberately carried on a three months’ campaign against the recalcitrant natives within the borders of the Congo Free State. When the findings of one of Congo’s courts reveals are conditions such as this and further takes cognizance of l the fact-that it is not a case unique in the a&airs of the state, it is time for the powers that gave the country into Leopold’s keeping to call for a record of his stew- ardship. Here is a state of affairs on par with that against which the nations united in the old days of African west coast slavery. That worthy representative of municial bureaucracy, the Election Commission, is so well pleasred with its ex- istence and the possibilities of its usefulness in other of- ficial fields that it is sponsor for a charter amendment which will permit Election Commissioners to serve the city within the prohibited year after their retirement from office. If the recent primary election may be taken as an example it seems that the Commissioners must be so fatigued after their strenuous service that in common humanity they should never be allowed to serve the city again in any capacity. e it No sooner had the Supreme Court of California de- elared the legality of our bond issue than bankers in London, New York and Chicago made application to purchase large quantities of the securities. While these financiers cannot know as well as we the stability of San Francisco’s credit, it is extremely gratifying for us to | know that in the great money centers of the world we looked wpon with that unimpeachable favor that mmmnmmwhmw” enter- HEN now the world is prone to congratulate | recites | e e e A IS LT PR | TALK I8 l Starting Something. The tecent resignation from the police force of George Brown, bettef known as “Shanghal,” brings back to memory stories of pranks which the former officer was wont to play on any one at any time in afy old place. Brown was connected with the Har- bor Police station several years ago. Business was dull and the bluecoat longed for excitement. There was a character known as “British Bill,” who | made a 1living by running a sailor | boarding-house and supplying a. b. = for deep water skimmegs whenever the opportunity offered. Brown went to two coloréd white- washers and engaged them to white- wasgh Bill's domicile. “I have a little ! shack down on the water front,” he told them. “Go down there to-morrow morning and give the dump a clean coat. You'll find an old bloke sitting around the rooms. If he says anything L | — + | NT BILL OCCU- | | NG POSITION I E3 to you, just throw him out. He is a mean old cuss and always butting into matters that he has no right to.” The next morning Messrs. Jackson {and Snowball shouldered their white- | washing paraphernalia and were soon |tn possesion of Bill's joint. Bill was | calmly dozing in a chair and awoke to | find the two black men taling down ! the pictures and covering up the fur- niture. “What the —— are you fellows doing there?” thyndered Bill. “Aw go | on, close your face,” was the retort. With all his sea blood boiling, Bill | arose to exterminate the black in- | truders. The next moment he occupied {a reclining position on the cobbles in front of his late residence. A flerce | Aight ensued and the three were ar- | rested for disturbing the peace. At the | police station Bill succeeded in squar- ing himself and the two colored white- | washers, after a night in jail, started out to find Brown. A Good One. The New York Herald prints a story | from London which gives t' ¢ annual summer sea serpent yarn cards and spades for novelty. Here it is: “LONDON, Aug. 16.—Thc¢ American liner Westernland, from Philadelphia, which arrived : t Queenstown this even- ing, brought intelligence of a strange phenomenon experienced by the British | steamship Mohican in the Atlantic on | August 1 while on a voyage to Phila- delphia. “A cloud of phosphoric appearance | enveloped the vessel, magnetizing {everylhlng on board. | “Captain Urquehart says the ship’'s crew had a fiery coating. When the | sallors saw 1t they rushed at the needle, avhich they found was roving like an electric fan. The captain ordered sev- eral of the crew to move some iron chairs lying on the de.k, but they were unable to do so, aithough the chairs did not weigh : ore tkan sev- enty-five pounds eacx. “Bverything was magnetized and chains, boits, spikes and bars adhered to the decks as if they had been riv- eted. The cloud was so dense that it was impossible for the vessel to pro- ceed. The captain could not see beyond the decks and everything appeared to be a mass of glowing fire. “Suddenly the cioud lifted, the phos- | phorescence on the ship began to fade | and in a few minutes the cloud passed away and could be seen moving over the sea.” 1 Mexican Dollar Passing. The decline and fall in the circulation of what was once an almost universal coin—the Mexican silver dollar—is de- scribed in a recent issue of the Harvard Quarterly Journal of Economics by Professor A. Piatt Andrew. The causes of the world-wide circulation of this coin lie in the fact that for many gen- erations Mexico was the great silver producer of the world. From the dis- covery of this continent down to 1850 80 per cent of the world's supply of the white metal came from the mines of Mexico and Spanish America. This coin also had the good fortune to escape debasement almost entirely. Between 1497 and our own days its metailic con- tent declined less than 6 per cent—an s:nn unique fact in monetary his- peso (redeemable in gold and therefore non-exportable) is rapidly TGN T R TOWN | though It would not be long before s ver ceases everywhere to be aught I | a subsidiary coin, limited in its circu tion to the sovereignty that issues it New York Evening Post Satolli’s Story. At a reception that was tendered h! in the Mayor's office at Buffalo, Ca dinal Satolli praised the fearless, dependent, hopeful character of typical American. “This independence and hopefulne and confidence,” he said, “are to found here, I have been told, even the little children of the poor. “The bootblack, the newsboy, vender of shoelaces never repines despairs, for he knows that he w save enough money to go to collex and, eventnually, he will graduate law or me‘iicine. “I have a friend In America, a rich merchart, who bought a paper one mornir.g from a newsboy whose nature must have been admirably confident ard hopeful. th “My friend had not the money to pay for his paper and the newsboy said: “‘I'N trust you, sir.’ “A week or two afterward, passing down that way, my friend singled out the newsboy and accosted him. “‘You, I believe,” he said, ‘are the boy 1 bought a paper from the other day when I had no change. I owe you a penny. Here it Is and thank you." “But the newsboy waved aside the penny. “‘Oh, that's all right,” he sald. ‘Keep it for your honesty.’ Philadelphia Record. The Patent Sewing Machine. Sussetah Yahola, an aged Creek, who was a great warrior in his day and who is yet good for many a cam- paign, though he is over 70 years old, went before the Dawes Commission | ! | | | | 1 | recently to see about his allotment. Yahola was in command of the We- wokas during the Green Peach war. A spy was sent into the Wewoka country during this war and was hunted down in person by Yahola and killed. For this he was promoted His next promotion was due to a lu dicrous incident. He had chased Lard of hostiles to the Osag= bor There was a small store therc and t rer deserted it when the Indiwmm fighting got dangerous. Yahola and his band found this store and in it was a sewing machine. It was the first that had ever been brought to this country. The Indians did net know what it was. They decided it was an infernal machine that belonged to the enemy and was to be used for the de- struction of their troops. So Yahola and his men secured a sledge and smashed the machine into bits. Chief Porter at that time wore feathers in his hair as an emblem of his com- mand and he sent Yahola a feather to signify his approval of the deed, the bestowal of a feather by a chief being a great distinction among the Indians —Kansas City Journal. o Answers to Queries. COUNT IN CRIBBAGE—C F. anrd Subscriber, City. In cribbage twe aces, two sevens. and a six turned up count twelve. FERRY-BOAT— G. A, Alameda Cal. The largest ferry-boat on the bay of San Francisco is the 'riah, but the steamer is not ised exclusively as Jassenger ferrv-boat. ICE—A. S, City. A block of ice two feet square and one foot thick contains four cubic feet, or 8912 cubie inch There are 231 cubic inches in a sta ard gallon of water; therefore, such block of ice contains almost twenty- nine and a half gallons of water. PROBATE—N., City. The executor of a will is empowered to sell property left by a decedent and give a clear title, but no sale can be made without an order of the court in which the will is probated. When property may be s0ld by an executor may depend upon the condition of the estate. COPYRIGHT—Euclid, City. The copy- right law between the United States and England went into effect in 1887. Books published in any part of the British dominion enjoy the benefit of the English copyright law, but the right is subject to local laws, If any, of the particular colony. Matter must be copy- righted in Canada as well as in Eng- land. For such other information as ycu desire about copyright address a communication to the Librartan of Congress, Washington, D. C. FOOLING THE PEOPLE—W., City. This correspondent wants to know where there is to be found the quota- tion which has been accredited to Lin- coln and to Horace Greeley, namely, “You can fool some of the people all the time, you can fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.” This does not appear in any of the published books of —_—— Townsend's California Glace fruits in artistic fire-etched