A CENTENNIAL ROMANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 132, 22 September 1876, Page 3

A CENTENNIAL ROMANCE.

Vn'ftsm the steamer Batth? reached New York, on 'JDth April last, there was among the passengers ft yotsrig man about oft. Oin. in height. of spare l>«iEtt r with light 0111ptexion. and of gwt breeding-. Thb person was known to fits fellow-way-farers as Count Geyza, a representative of the Hungarian Government at Philadelphia. for such was the inscription of the eards fie scattered broad-east among them. Going on »!w>r** t he wer.t t» the West- ' minster Hotel. and there tie became the Baron de K?omoskeoy, but still was the Hungarian Commissioner. The details of thb ftrat visit to New York are not known. Hut it b known that he early went to Philadelphia. and had hb full share as s«el» Co-inmiaaioßer in the glory of the opening etay. When or why he left Philadelphia has- not been learned, hut certain it b that, on '3th April, he was again in New York at tue V\ estminster. Mr. Hugo Fritseh. the- Austrian Consul, who deelared that the- person catling himself B»mn d«r s»t>m««keoy was an cs«:aj>©d convie t from an Austriiui prison, who was tint »>nty wanted in fua own ti> serve out his time, hut was also wanted in Liverpool and London on varimfc* charges of fab-? pretence.* and swindling. The matter was given to Dsitsetivo . William G. KUUt, and that officer was soon on the track of hi* num. His first discovery was that when first in New : York the," Baron " had paved the way for : Philadelphia by concocting a story that he had beun robbed by a woman in a sleeping i ear of "00 dots., hi# drafts, credentials, and othigE_Vi»i«a{.4sf J . papers: to show lib identity. It was atw found that. notwrtiisrtandtng. Ida loss, he seemed to have plenty of money t that he had paid his hill* tvguEarly, and that, as the Baron, he wa;t tt>c timi of the Westminster. He elegantly, not gaudily, dressed, spoke Gentian, French, Hungarian. Itatran, and English, and was so. aeuotnplished, that everybody felt honored hy an introduction to the Baron. For five days Mr. Elder...kept him constantly under lib notice without tending anything suspicions. But on .Sunday, May 21, he had got very nearly to the end of hta tether, for on that day Jte gave notice at. the hotel that -he must return to Philadelphia* to resume" hi# ; official duties, and that he intended to return that evening. Bnt he went to Staten j. Island a friend, and, returning late* in' the day, made the acquaintance" of a lady in the hotel, with •whom he passed the evening in ; the parlor. I This lady by some means, after the" " Baron" had left her, found that there were detectives in the house at the tcme," and about midnight slipped a note under his door, giving him the information. Going to Jits room, the Baron found this note, and went at ones to the othJe tl>say to the clerk that there were •aN.-many*H>gtw " barons" about that snmebody might think he was not genuine, and offered' htm money to tell whether anything had been said about him. The clerk calmed his i\ars, and he went to bed, after ordering a carriage to take him to the Desbroasea ferry at 11.15 next morning. He took the * carriage thirty minutes earlier, •and instead of going to the ferry, drove to"No. 55 There his rich trunks were taken for* a moment. Another carriage was called, and with his trunks he was taken to the foot of Liberty-street. There he - erased his titles from the tags, and wrote instead Carioatws H'etro, New Orleans, La., and giving direction:; for them to be shipped to that city, disappeared from New York. The next and last heard of him was on Monday last, when he was asking in the express office in New Orleans for thi trunks, which Detective Elder had seized, and which have since been attached by a ft How-passenger, who loaned the " Baron" ISO dollars during the voyage of the Baltic. This is in brief the story of the gay " Baron," and it is probably the last which" will be heard of uim in New York. Mr. Elder finds that his case does not come within the Extradition Treaty, and that he has done nothing for which he can bs held criminally liable. He paid all his bills, and it is not found that Eve even attempted to defraud anybody particularly, unless it was the passenger mentioned.