Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-06-05
CURIOUS WILL CASE.
a Co""tcs.' TitIe and Property In Dis.
putc-A singular 4tory.

CURIOUS WILL CASE.
a Co"ntess' TitIo and Property In Dis.
Putc-A singular Story.
o'lisnani's Messenger Of May 8.
A suit, in which the right to the title
OF Countess, md the possession of a
residence in the Avenue
estimated at q value of l.
oOO,oo0 francs, are disputed, has for
some Gays past been going on before
the civil Tribunal of the Seine, and
has excited great interest from the 70.
mantle nature of some of the details
which have transpired concerning the
parties interested. The case in reality
rcposcs ON the question of the validity
OF will, but All additional compiler
tlon is introduced by the right OF the
testator to the property devised being
contested. To make the facts intelli-
gibie, 1t is necessary to 20 back to the
year l843. At that time a Polish
Selgneur, named Count Mieceslas Pc.
tocki, aud possessing immense estates.
remarked one of his serfs, Mat.
roma Anletz, a. young girl of
great beauty; intimate relations
between them followed, and the
result was the birth of a son, who was
named Gregoire. Shortly afterward
Count Potocki married, but his con-
Jugal lite was Of short duration: his
wife who also possessed great personal
charms, appears to have attracted the
attention of the Gear, who, to remove
all obstacles to his designs, banished
the husband to Siberia, and ordered
the Countess to go to reside in Siberia
with son, Nicholas, who had been
born of the marriage. The Count went.
in consequence, to the town of SaratoE
taking with him his illegitimate child
dregoire, who thus became tho com.
panlon of his exile for fifteen years,
when in 1860 he succeeded in escaping,
and then came with his son to Paris.
He was, during the following year, able
to transfer part of his property to
France, but to conceal It from the
vigilance of the Russian Government
he invested it in the name of Gregoire,
who had been naturalized an Italian
citizen. The latter, however, signed
q document, in which he declared: 81
acknowledge that the funds, capital,
and securities placed by my father
at the Bark of France and elsewhere
my name, do not belong to
me, and have only been so invested as
p1ecaution." This was in 1864. In
1869 Count Potocki purchased house
and grounds in the Avenue Friedland.
and furnished it magnificently with
works of art, including paintings by
the old masters. As before, the pur.
chase was made in the name of Count
Gregoire Potocki, who, however, was
living on small allowance made to
him by his father, and occupied only
two small rooms in the mansion in
which Count Mieceslas continued to
reside. The son had in the meantime
formed an illicit connection with a
young German woman named Rose
Catana, the present plaintiff, q sort of
adventures resembling Lola Monies
for her habits and her energetic char
acter. Tie war interviewed, and while
Count Mieceslas vent to London.
Gregoire remained in Paris, and during
the siege took his mistress to reside at
the mansion, where she assumed the
title of Countess. That step was high
~ disapproved Of by the father, who,
on learning of it at the close of the
siege, wrote letter of reproach
from London. and the young man ex-
cused himself by alleging the excep.
tional circumstances in which they had
been placed by the investment. Gre.
goire and Rose Catana then went to
live at villa near st. Cloud, where he
was one day MORALLY injured by the
exlosion Of an unused shell, the cap.
sule of which he was endeavoring TO
unscrew. After the death the plaintiff
brought forward q will, dated the 4th
of September, 1870, and signed Count
Gregoire Potocki, and according to
which he leaves to his wife, Countess
Poto< ki, nee Rose Kettle Catana, or if
the marriage is not valid, to Mile. Rose
Kettle Catana, his residence in the Ave.
nue. Friedland, on condition that she
shall pay bis debts, and assure dowry
of 100, 600 francs to their daughter.
The plaintiff and Count Mieceslas
Potocki had previously been on most
friendly terms, but on this claim
being put forward his senti-
ments at once changed; he
accused her of poisoning his son. and
had the body exhumed, but his sus-
picions were proved to be unfounded.
He, however, disputed the will, and
the consequence was the present suit.
He contested the right of the illegiti-
mate son to the name of Count Po-
tocki he denied that the house in the
Avenue Friedland ever belonged to
Greg 'ire, and he declared that the
marriage and birth of q daughter were
fabrications. In proof of these latter
allegations, he showed that, whereas
the date of the union was fixed in 1865,
she had in 1866 written to tho young
man letter Of menaces, in which she
declared that If he did not make her
his wife within three days she should
become the mistress of an officer at st.
German, who had made propositions
to her. Gregoire replied by refusing
to accede to her demand, and it was
not shown that any such cere
mony ever took place. Also,
with respect to the child, the de.
PENDANT alleged that the whole affair
was mere comedy; birth was sim
ulated at Barbizon, village near Fon-
otsAAVOAT<sA: ~ AoOs> OUV VIC mCU1CtI1
man who was called in after the pre-
tended ACCOMPLISHMENT had taken place,
declared that the child was a week old,
and, moreover, it was boy, and was
registered as such, while the will speaks
of it as q girl. On May 8, Galignani's
Messenger gives the result as below {:
"The Civil Tribunal of the Seine gave
Judgment yesterday in the strange
trial, IN account of which was publish
ed in tbs Messenger of Monday last.
The Court decided that the mansion
in the Avenue Friedland did not be-
long to Gregoire Potocki, and that the
plaintiff, Rose Catana, had not proved
her marriage with the deceased; con-
sequently rejected her demand for the
delivery Of the legacy, and forbade her
to assume the title of Countess Potoc-
XII or Potocka, under a penalty of fifty
francs for each iufraction of this or.
der"
A New Peril Of Railroad Travelling.
A few days since, says the Toledo
Commercial, as passenger train
bound eastward over the Michigan
Southern Division of the Lake Shore
and Michigan Southern Railway was
L .A.-.n~ -~.1 A.