Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-08-11
Unhappy FATE of a Young COunt-Hi:
WandeTings In America.
iron the New York Times, July 25.


Unhappy FATE of Young COunt-Hi:
WandeTings in America.
[From the New York Times, July 25.I
A few years ago a young German
about twenty years of age, came to this
country on a pleasure excursion. He
was the son of exceedingly wealthy pa
rents, and heir TO title well known in
his own land, and which had been hon
orably borne by his ancestors for many
years. Arriving IN New York, the
young man stopped at the 1t. Nicholas
hotel, where he boarded for several
months. He had plenty of money,
dressed well, aud made many friends
among the young men of New York.
He was careful, however, to keep his
title III the background, and but two
or three persons, to whona he brought
letters of introduction, knew him as a
person of rank. Even these two or
three persons were summed by him
after a while on account of their knowl-
edge of his social position.
1t was soon observed that the young
man was quite incorporate in his habits,
and frequently the servants of the house
were obliged to carry him to his room
aud put him to bed so much was he
overcome by liquor. 1t finally became
a matter of serious concern to his
friends, and they endeavored to check
his Incorporate course. Their efforts
were useless, and he continued to get
intoxicated daily. He was finally forced
to change his residence, and found
board in a second-rate boarding house.
He seemed to have lost all control of his
appetites, and, knowing his degraded
condition, to have ceased to correspond
with his parents and friends. -
Money ceased to come to him. and he
began TO feel the want of it. His Jew
elry soon passed into the hands of the
pawnbroker, and his apparel became
threadbare. He was unable to pay his
board, and was turned into the street.
From one boarding house to another
he sought shelter, but was not allowed
to remain long under any respectable
roof. His craving fer liquor possessed
him still, and whatever he could pawn
or sell for either money or liquor was
disposed of. At length TO such fear
full state of degradation did his appe-
tite bring this titled youth that he be-
came an inmate of low, filthy negro
dance-house, and the associate of
thieves and prostitutes of the vilest de-
scription. Ia this horrible place, rag
ged, filthy, diseased and drunk, the
young man existed for several weeks,
the degraded companion of an equally
degraded womah.
One cold night in winter, after having
drank himself to beastly state of in
toxication, he was kicked out of even
this den of thieves, because he had
neither money nor what was worth
money, into the street. On the follow
ing morning a policeman found him ly-
ing on the side walk near the place
dead-dead from the effects of vile
whisky and the intense cold. His body
was taken TO the city hospital He was
a stranger to the police, and the thieves
aud prostitutes knew nothing further
of him than that he was drunken
white man who had 20 money. An in
quest was held upon the body of the
unknown man." a verdict of death
from natural causes was rendered, and,
at the expense of the city, the dead body
of the young German count was buried
among the unrecOgnized dead In pot
ter's field.
A short time afterward his parents
died, and an heir was wanted for the
large fortune left by them. An effort to
trace the wandering son. who had lett
his home few years before, was made.
He was known to have come to America,
and the detective police of this city were
called upon to find him. They traced
the unfortunate youth as above de-
scribed, from his splendid apartments at
St Nicholas TO the paupers grave in the
potter's field. Yet a single link was
wanting Ia legally establish the death
of this unfortunate youth. Those who
knew him, and to whom he had brought
letters, did not see his dead body, and
consequently there was a legal doubt as
to whether or not the mau whom
the police found dead was the
heir who was wanted. These friends
had watched his downward career,
and had often tried to snatch
him from destruction, but his appetite
was stronger than his will or their
counsels. One of these friends had, on
one occasion, been badly beaten by the
low thieves when he tried to take the
young man from their den. But no
one of all those who saw him after
death could furnish the link that was
wanted TO prove that he who was the
count while living, was the pauper
whom the city had buried. The estates
were not settled for several years, and
recently the New York detectives were
again called upon, and again went to
work, but with the same result. The
facts, as above related, have been en-
bodied in the form of affidavits, and
sent to the old country, aud it is thought
they viii be accepted as proof of the
death of the Young count, and that the
property will consequently pass to the
next of kin.