Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-09

Re-FVe IA Arrested as a DeSerter
# h United states service.
" A most extraordinary confidence game
= was exploded in New York on Saturday
last by the arrest at the Fifth Avenue
: Hotel, of a pretended Prussian Count,
! (. who called himself Count donna, but who
\ now coufessess to half a dozen other
aliases. The following account of his
~swindling operations We take from the
; New York Herald:
! Stabenow arrived in New York on the
, 18th o fJune, 1864, by the Inman steamer
! City Of London, and proceeded at once to
Boston. There he put up at an expen-
sive hotel, representing himself as Count
D0hhha; Premier Lieutenant Corps de
! Garde Cuirassiers, of Berlin, Prussia. The
reason assigned for his coming to this
country was that a brother officer of the
Garde had endeavored to ALLEVIATE him
from the affections ofhis betrothed, which
so far ineensed him that he challenged
his rival and killed him in the fight.
After a brief career in Boston and
st: LOdis he came to New York,
where he took apartments at the Everett
House. He had letters Of introduction
from parties in st. Louis, endorsing him
in unmeasurad terms, and through these
letters he made the acquaintance of sew
eral highly respectable families living at
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. From these he
contrived to borrow small sums, stating
that his remitta1ces, which usually came
through the house of Duncan, Sherman L.
Co., who, he alleged were his bankers, were
over due, but wodld certainly arrive very
soon. Upon the sums of money borrowed
IN this way, and which ranged from ten
dollars to three thousand, he lived in a
style of great elegance. His lunches and
Cliquot wine at the Everett House were
pronounced superb, and those who attend
ed these reunions thought he must be q
prince, iRasmuch as he lived in u %princely
style. The reason given by him for wish
ing to enter the Union army was that he
was afraid the Prussian government would
demand his eXtradition TO answer for the
crime of staying his fellow officer, and he
thought they could not so recall him if he
was an officer in the regular army of the
United States. He was recommended. as
an miatOry step TO obtain Il commission, to
enlist in the service, which he did, and was
attached as a corporal, and subsequently,
promoted to d se%rgeantcy i'll Company II,
Fourteenth United States Infantry.
Shortly after this he obtained leaye of
absence and again appeared at the Everett
House and Fifth Avenue Hotel in the garb
of a civilian. His bounty was soon run
out and he was compelled again to Dor
row. His story now was that be had been J
IN the recruiting service, was heavily in s
arrears to the government, and unless he !
could raise a few thousand dollars he would :
be ruined. No one seemed disposed to aid A
him, and becoming desperate, he approach !
ed some OF the ladies whose acquaintance y
he had made at the hotel, and from whom Il
he had received trifing invitation notes, a
and threatened them with exposure if they i
did notgo to their dear papas and mamas, /
or other friends, and procure him the =
money. To some Of these parties he ex-
hlbited letters which he charged them B
with having written and which he told W
them would show criminal intimacy TO
have existed between himself and them =
but as these ladies never wrote any such |
letters, they must have been forgeries con- o.
cocted by this Prussian pretender, who, =
with his other accomplishments, has that \
of being the most skillful of penmen. CO
possessing the powerofimitating handwrit- N
so perfectly as to defy detect on. These 4
1AONS4 AAc " luCL6L III us LIlIt.l \
light. Information regarding him was
with Chief John S. Young, of the =
force, who placed detectives I
and Bennett on his track. These j
ascertained that Stabenow had OBJ -
leave of absence for the purpose of (
appearing before the Examining Board at \
regarding his qualifications for -
commission. He was pronounced in 4
competent, and ordered back to his regi- y
Instead of joining his command, -
lowevr, he reappeared at the Fifth Ave 4
Tue Hotel. This made him a d~eserter, and II
Is such he was placed under arrest. He
taken to the Central office and search
d. Several packages, amounting in all to Ii
bout two hundred letters, were found on Il
us person, together with photographs of q
VI his young lady friends in Boston, St. -
Louis and New York, and the little notes u
hat accompanied them, some of which
we're worded in the most endearing Ian q
,uage. For obvious reasons the names of
he authors of these notes are omitted. -
These letters are regarded so choice that he +
trusted them to his luggage, but 7
lways carried them about his person, even lie
o dinner parties, private hops, the opera
nd other places where it was necessaryfor 6
i'm to appear in full dress. His pockets <
we're lined with a meerschaum pipe, a pair
f dirty socks, soiled gloves, a small tin
containing pawn tickets, which showed
hat he had been no stranger to his "Un-
le.p 1t may be interesting to the young
aides who contributed to the album of
Dear Adolf" to know that the volume
now quietly reposing on the shelves of
he pawnbroker.
A copper-plate card plate, engraved
18th the name adolf, Graf zu Donna
.chlodien," and surmounted with the i'm
erial arms of the donna family, was also
'und on him, together with a large num-
er of cards printed from the same. His
men was stamped with this coat of arms,
nd his music bore the same stamp and n
lie inscription HCount DONNA" Il
1t is well known that about a year and a
alf ago the real Count donna was robbed
I a large sum of money and all his per- A
NAL effects by three parties known to
belonged to Berlin, Prussia. These
lrties were apprehended, tried and found p
Iilty. Two of them are now serving out
leir term of service in the Berlin prison.
he third made his escape, having in his
the co~pper-plate card plate sto- v
n from the Count donna and a complete -
ldress suit off premier lieutenant in the
u P9 w III OuA dcolOAf mlllC dlSO Y
nged to the Count donna. By Il singu-
T coincidence Stabenow has with him a
pper-plate card plate of the same kind n
id an undress suit of the Corps de Garde. II
he Prussian government will undoubted
,mand Stabenow's return to his home.
donna will be pleased to get a per- a
nal view of a man who has figured so
tensively on his honored name. -
The prisoner confessed to Chief Young S
at his real name was Francis Stabenow,
ID that certain kilograms and notes ad- W.
essed to himself, and signed "Your Faith VIZ
- "From Papa" &C. were written BY
mself for the purpose of aiding him in
e preparation of his various frauds.
abenow is as yet a mere boy. He gave
5 age as nineteen years, but is probably
-enty-one or two. He is about six feet 90,
height, has very long arms and legs, "o'
d is rather lazy in his manner. He has =
int hair, a smooth red face, very light
d small mustache, teeth in excellent re- IL
If, as a Boston dentist can well attest,
gray eyes, and a very narrow chin.
3 is a person of good address, speaks p
lglish fuently, plays the piano brilliant d doiD
and writes elegantly. In this regard