VELTHEIM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 76, 23 December 1907, Page 7

VELTHEIM.

'■' REPORTED EXTRADITION AT LAST. feT TELEGRAPH—PBEBS ASSOCIATION—COPXBIQHT. ,•'"'-. " |4 -.-:'■• ;-.'.■': London, December 20. The,'; Daily Mail "\ states extradition ;of .Veltheim, arrested in Paris on a charge ■of 'blackmail, .has been granted. -.'.-'•; v '■• A ROMANTIC/CAREEE/ . / Vpn\Veltheim-has had a most adventurous career. /According to lu's own statements, he was- born: in somo part of Germany in 1858, and. was educated < at' 'Brunswick;. ; :' He entered tho German Navy, and afterwards travelled in K.ussla,with.an English journalist. In .1885; he fought as a .volunteer against Servia in,.;tho Bulgarian Army,. . and was wounded 'at the battle of Tirnova,'and again at the .'battle of Pirbt. When tho war was over he, came to London, but in the spring of 1886. ho s went to Western Australia, and later, with-.Captain Noyes; of the; Eoyal Artillery, made.',an adventurous trip into , the NeverNever: Land, the central deserts of Australia. Returning to Perth, Western Australia, he married a''Miss Yearsley, deserted her in Syd ney;; and' sailed to Zanzibar- in -the 'hope of joining Stanley's Emiu Pasha relief expedition. -,He was .too late, however, and ho went on to-Capetown, arid then' found his way to New.» Orleans; where I he wrought as a dock labourer for .some months. • Be 'was next in the> Argentine, in 1891,. and four years later he,came to England by way of Japan, Java and India. In April, 1897, he sailed again for Capetown. ■. ..'..,-..; •In -1895 'ho married a Greek iady named Mavrogordato,,who:obtained a "divorce in 1897. In : the previous year, however, he ; had married in London a.-German lady named Schiffer. A naked', body found in ■ tho Thames in September;, 1897, was formally identified as Von Veltheim s by Ms third wife, but at that time be was 1 m'- South Africa. .In_lß9B ho'went to tho officio at 'Johannesburg of Mr. Woolf Joel, a partner in the banking houso-;of. Barnnto Brothers. With -Mr. Joel was tho manager, Mr.' Strange. AH three men were armed-with revolvers; ... i ' _Veltheinv asserts that the late Mr. Barnev ??JmK&\- Eantl ,maKnato,.had offered him ,£l6,of>«l to murder, the late "President Iyruger. After. Barnato's suicide, Woolf Joel refused to pay*-.,0n -the ground' that nothing had been done-te execute ttto plot. 'At the interview in the ottice- Veltheim domahded money.' which was rofssaJ;.:. ' ' , Vi!K' re ,"'T accounts of the shooting that followed. It is said that Veltheim drew his revolver, whereupon Strange fired:at him BjifyS}^: Von Veltheim then fired three Mr, Joel, inflicting fatal injuries. The murderer then attempted to commit siriRf«n'^° U l ! er a c col, nt sayg.that what caused *?•*»*'shot was an attempt oy Veltheim to seizo Joels revolver • Von Velthoim was tried.at Johannesburg for murder, but after a trial, lasting eight lavs SM n, » ltaL ' however, ho was expelled from the Transvaal. He has kit,™ SW v r '. Soll r to hkve been r4on*ble.for and he,is now -charged m£n. e 2? e £ 0U ? nB t0 extort from him bv means of threats a sum of '.£16,000. "