A GAMBLING-TABLE TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8538, 11 April 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

A GAMBLING-TABLE TRAGEDY.

SUICIDE OF COUNT AND COUNTESS. The week's record of suicides at Monte Carlo (writes a correspondent) includes that of a young and beautiful Russian wife, who was os good as she was beautiful, by name Nadjeska. Charikoff. 'The Charikoffs are an ancient and noble family, whose estates lie nob far from St, Petersburg, but the productiveness of which has nob been increased by the freeing of serfs and the recent failure of the grain harvest. In fact, Count Ivan has been lately hard pressed to raise sufficient funds to defray the expenses of his usual winter visits to the Riviera, for Ivan, like many Russians, was an inveterate gamblor. But play was nob his only amusomenb. On his way to and from St. Petersburg he had frequently made detours that. enabled him to visit Bucharest, the gay capital of Roumania, whore ho found, in the late spring, all the rigours of a Russian winter, and quite us. much gambling as he had left behind him on the Mediterranean. lb was not long before he discovered that Bucharest}' contained an additional attraction in the person of Nadjeska Litolf, the youngest daughter of a large landed proprietor, whose .beauty and many accomplishments had already brought all the eligible youths of Roumania to her feet, bub she was afcil' heart whole when the handsome Russian appeared on the scene. In an evil hour she allowed herself to fall deeply in love with the newcomer, and it was nob many days before she surrendered. The marriage occurred about the middle of November, and the wedding festivities were celebrated to the music of s'eigh bells as well as of cathedral chimes. What more natural, therefore, than that the bride, who had never before left home at this season," should visit a region of almost perpetual sunshine and enjoy the sight of roses blooming and lemons and oranges ripening in the open air in December. It is truo that the exceptional cold was a keen disappointment to Nadjeska, but the fast-hastening events of the tragedy soon drove all other thoughts from her mind. It was not to be expocted that Count Ivan intended to eschew play even during his honeymoon, and tho event proved that he could not, as a benedict, resist the temptation of the Casino any more successfully than he had done as a bachelor. Tho Countess was aware that her husband was i

fond of play, as she had seen him gambling at Bucharest, but she was not prepared for the entire command over his whole being that the fatal passion had secured, in comparison with widen her own charms of mind and person as counter attractions were as nothing. The denouement that might have been predicted from such a state of affairs was not long in coming. Before a fortnight had elapsed Nadjeska realised that she had boon virtually abandoned. Between noon and the time the tables closed ;ij midnight she only saw her husband at the dinner hour, and even then she was not sure of his company, as he was frequently too much absorbed in the gaino to remember that he was hungry. They had taken rooms at the luxurious Hotel de Paris, adjoining the Casino, so that tho Count might bo promptly on hand when the doors opened and play began. The hotel is resorted to by many of the wealthy but otherwise least reputable of those who make Monte Carlo their winter home. To these idle gentry the sight of a lovely bride systematically neglected by her husband was a cheering spectacle. And now came the hour of Nadjeska's temptation. Carefully reared in a virtuous home, and unskilled in the wiles of fashionable coquetry, she firmly repelled all advances made by the ill-conditioned crowd, but was unable to conceal the grief that the Count's conduct caused her. lb was her undisguised unhappiness that gave them hope. Prominent among those who thus pestered her was Prince Altobroccia, an Italian. He was far richer and handsomer than any of his rivals, and seemed determined to gain his point. His method of procedure was a novel one. Discovering that Count Ivan was losing heavily, 'he sought an interview with him, and coolly Informing him that he (the Count) seemed to care more for money than he did for his bride, proposed that she should be transferred to the Italian for the payment of 200,000, francs in French gold. The Count was not as tall as the Prince, but indignation at the audacity of the proposition nerved his arm, and he promptly knocked his rival down in the secluded corner of tho

Casino gardens where the interview took place. But his spasm of right feeling and action was not to save the Count. He kept on plunging and losing until ruin stared him in the lace. It was for this that the wily Italian had waited. He again threw himself in the way of the infatuated Russian, who finally humbled himself so far as to ask for the 200,000 francs as a loan. Nothing was said on the second occasion of the Countess. Prince Altobreocia, feeling certain that he had gained Nadjeska's love, hastened to seek an interview with her and proposed an elopement, a proposal that it is needless to say was indignantly. rejected. Meanwhile Count Ivan was engaged in rapidly losing his windfall, and the second day found him nearly reduoed to beggary. He had enough monoy left to pay his own expenses northward, and unable to face tho situation he had created ho took the first train for Vienna and St. Petersburg. New Year's Eve the Countess discovered that she had been abandoned. So far as ready money was concerned she was almost penniless, but she might have raised a considerable sum by selling her jewels. This she disliked to do, as she still hoped that her husband would after a short absence return. It was Tuesday last when, having finally given up all hope and too* proud to call on her friends at home for help, she closed her unhappy career by taking poison. Hardly was her body cold when the proprietor of the hotel received a telegram from St. Petersburg stating that Count Ivan had been run over by a railway train, and that, on his pockets being searchod, a note was found giving his name and stating that he had committed suicide, bub pleading that a charitable silence might be preserved regarding his life.