GERMAN COUNT'S TRIAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 88, 27 November 1911, Page 8

GERMAN COUNT'S TRIAL.

CURIOUS EVIDENCE

“A MODERN SALOME.”

It is not a very edifying picture of society in the Tniergartenstrasse, the Park-lane of Berlin, which is being presented by the trial of. Count WollfMetternich on the charge of obtaining credit by fraudulent pretences, writes the London Daily Telegraph s Berlin correspondent. On tne one hand, the accused represents if is quite a normal state of affairs that he should through the mediation of matrimonial and other agencies, seek to escape from his pecuniary embarrassments by espousing a wealthy bride, while on the other, we get a glimpse of a set in which the main object of wealth seems to he to purchase titled hi idefor the daughters of its possessors. If ran Dolly Pincus, as she is generally called, though the name is that which she has inherited from her ■ a ther, Frau Wertheim’s first uusland, is a characteristic phenomenon if a certain side of Berlin social hie. At the age of fifteen tins’ young ady eloped to London with Dr. Landsicrger, at the close of a clandestine letrothal. The engagement was evidently as tempestuous as it must have ) C en brief, since the documents_ before ftho Court in the present case include Hio fewer than 50U letters, which the Brirl bride wrote to her lover. It Bs hardly surprising that the marnHigo should not have proved a success, ■and was speedily dissolved. Among many important witnesses whose absence through “illness" .is likely to imperil the finishing of. the casoj is Dr Langsberger him sell. Ihe presiding Judge read a letter in w.ncii that gentleman gallantly declared that even if ho had been able to respond to the Court’s citation not even the severest penalties of the law would have wrung from him a word of disparagement against the lady who had once been his wife. Defendant’s Attentions.

Count Metternich, who, according to his own account, was the accepted candidate for the position of her second husband, had not so much compunction, and asked to be allowed to supplement his statement as to the degree of their familiarity. rle told how he sent her daily bunches ot flowers, especially her favourite, -Japanese carnations, how he drove about the Grunewald for hours in an electric motor car with her as his solo companion, how he was always present at her riding lessons, and how, during ins evening visits to her boudoir, when her mother had retired to rest, he was allowed to take down “her wonderful blue black hair.” “'these, lie added, “arc familiarities which a lady does not permit to everyone. ' As in the absence of Frau Werthoim, the olforts of the: defence to shake her credibility and so upset her allegation that Count Met tern icii iieqiiented her house merely in the capacity of major-domo seemed likely to go on for ever, the Public Prosecute) proposed to drop the charges winch tell within the period of the accused s friendship with the family, but the Pencil decided that witnesses who were present’ must he heard, and this attempt to shorten proceedings therefore produced little result. ■ One oi tiio guests at‘last New Year’s Eve party, at which Count Metternich led Fran Dolly into supper, gave, an account ot his impressions of the evening. it was evident,” Jie said, “that ‘something was going on, 1 and it was whispered about the company that matrimonial plans had been laid for Polly, and the Count was probably the heirpresumptive to the throne. 1 ” Many artists, authors, and representatives I of industry, added the witness, were I present, but the/food was not good. Ii n fact, the only eatable things otterI swl U'OVA’ ROTYlfi (loilff-ll IllltS*

led to them were some uuugu i lan item indispensable' to the German ■New Year Eve,' which were sent out Bt'or during the evening. This uumanBnerly facetiousness was 'sternly ccn-B-mred by the Bench. B Another witness ,who had onco been

Dr Laridsborgcr's private secretary, ivas asked whether an Englishwoman, vlio was a member of the Wertheim. lousehold, had not tc;ld him that its nistress had said to her, “Dolly must iot marry before her ‘22nd year. From l 8 to 22 she can, for all i care, have iaisons, but she must have a fresh mo every week.” The Bench, how•ver, declined to permit hearsay evid,nco of t'his kind. The witness had vith his own ears heard Frau Werthem say, “-We will not do business with inyoiiw less than a \ anderbilt 01 a Ll-othschild.” Among the documents put in was a pronouncement of the eminent nerve specialist, Professor Eulnnbnrg, on me letters ol >’ ran Dolly. It contained the following passage: “On reading tnese leueis and notes one feels at times something of the sultry perfume and hot breath of a modern Salome, a wortny aaugnter of a modern Herodias.” Conflicting Evidence. The prisoner found an ardent champion in his wife, a Viennese actress, .dalle Claire Valentin, who,, in rich and fashionable attire, confronted the Court with perfect composure, and defended her husband’s character with great address and earnestness. Their marriage, siie said, was based solely on love. The Count had revealed to her Ills indebtedness, which he estimated at 20,000 marks, during the time; of their betrothal, and she had under-! taken to satisfy his creditors. This' siie had already partially done, and, she would have paid the whole sum; duo if she ]*id not been advised to the contrary by a lawyer. Her husband had shown himself greatly distressed at having to clepenu upon tier, ana had sincerely endeavoured to obtain suitable employment . It was not he who should lie* in prison, she passionately exclaimed, but his lather. During her depositions, the accused burst into sobs. After the countess, however, came a dancer, whose professional name is Elvira Common), though her legal patronymic is the less euphonious Gustke. She related how she met the count casually at the Moulin Rouge, and how for three days and nights they rioted and revelled together, he “frequently changing thousand mark notes,” and how, at the. end of this period, he. borrowed £SO from her on a bill to enable him- to. keep up appearances before a millionaire bride who had been found for him by a matrimonial agent at Baden Baden. The accused did not ave.ep at this evidence, but grow very indignant, and declared that “of course” everything witness had said was untrue. As the Indian Courts have decided to liberate Stallmann, alias Baron Korlf Konig, it is said that the charge of card-sharping, which is also brought against Count Metier nidi, will ho proceeded with at an early date.