The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1875-08-14
The Count ~. Gei main. Ill" Hero -
I,uIwcr's weird novel.


The Count ~. Geimnin. tI,c Hero -
HuIwer's weird novel.
A writer 5n All the Year Round says;
We catcR the first glimpscs OF thr
Count 81 Grrmuiu IN Paris, II century
aud II quarter ago, filling the cOuriluly
the bwn with his renOwn. Am aud
Paris saw II man-appalcntly Of mid
die agc-a man who lived ia magnill'
cent style, who went 10 dinner parties,
where he ate nothing, hut talked inces
sanity, and with exceeding brilliahcy,
on every Imaginable topic. His tone
was, pcyhapsyov trenchant-thet tone
of u man who knows perfectly what he
talking Is about. Learned, speaking
every civilized language admirably, II
great musiCian an excellent chemist,
he played the part 0fa prodigy, ANA
played it to perfection. Endowed with
! extraordinary or cOHsumnIatc lmpu-
lencc, he not only laid down the law
magistcrially concerning the present,
but spoke without hesitation of events
two hundred years old. His anecdotes
I OF remote occurrences were related
with extraordinary minuteness. he
spoke of scenes mt the court ol fraiI-
els L., rs ii he had seen, descriOlngyNN y
actly the appearance Of the KING, lhfila-
| ing his voice, manner and language-
affecting throughout the character OF
an eyewitness. In like manner he
edited his audience with pleasant
stories of Louis XIV, aud rcgaied them
with vivid descriptions of places and
persons. Hardly saying in so many
words that he was actually present
when the events happened, he yet
contrived, by his graphic power, 10
convey that impression. Intending to
astonish, he succeeds completely. wild
stories were current concerning hlni.
He was reported to be 300 years old,
and to have prolonged his ife by the
use of famous elixir. Paris went mad
about him. He WAS questioned con-
stantly about his secret OF longevity,
and was marvelously adroit in his re-
plies, denying all power to make Old
| folks young again, but quietly asserting
| his possession of the secret OF arresting
decay in the human frame. Diet, he
protested, was, with his marvellous
| elixir, the true secret Of long life, and
ne resolutely refused to eat any food
but such as had been specially prepared
for him-oat meal, greats, and the
white meat of chickens. On great oc-
casions he drank little wine, sat up
us late rs anybody would listen to him,
but took extraordinary precautions
against the cold To ladies he gaze
mysterious cosmetics, to preserve their
beauty unimpaired; To men he talked
openly OF his method of transmitting
metals, and of certain process for
melting down dozen little diamonds
into one large stone. These astound-
ing assertions were backed by the pos
session of apparently unbounded
wealth, and collection OF jewels OF
rare size and beauty.
From time to time this strange being
appeared in various European capitals
under various names, as Marquis of
Montferrat, Count Bellmare mt Venice,
Chevalier Schoening al pis25 tiieefTa
lier Weldon AT Milan, Count Soltikoff
at Genoa, Count Tzarogy Mt Schwal-
bach, and finally, as Count st. Ger
main at Paris; but a.fter'nis disaster at
the Hague, no longer seems SO wealthy
as before, and has ut times the appear
ance of seeking his fortune. AT Tour
ney he is ''interviewed" by the renown-
ed Chevalier lie Seingal, who finds
him in an American robe ana pointed
cap, with long beard descending to his
waist and ivory wand in hand-the'
Complete make-up Of u necromancer.
Saint Germain is surrounded by ie-
gion of bottles, and is occupied in de-
veloping the manufacture of hats upon
chemical principles. Seingalt being
lndisposed, the Count offers to physic
him gratis, and offers to dose him with
an elixir which appears to have been
ether; but the other refuses with many
polite speeches. 1t is the scene of the
| two augurs. Not being allowed to act
as u physician, Saint Germain deter
mines to show his power as an alche-
mist; takes u twelve-sous piece from
the other augur, puts IL ON red-hot
charcoal, and works it with the blow
pipe. The piece of money Is fused
and allowed to cool. "Now,' says
Saint German, take your money
again" "But it is gold" "Of the
nnrest.u Augur No. . does not believe
in the transmutation, and looks on the
whole operation as trick; but he
rockets the piece nevertheless, and
| finally presents it to the celebrated
Marshal Keith, then Governor of
Neuchatel. Again, in pursuit of dye
ing and other manufacturing schemes,
Saint Germain turned up at st. Peters
burg, Dresden and Milan. Once he got
into trouble, and was arrested in
petty town Of Piedmont on u protested
bill of exchange; but he pulled out n
hundred thousand crowns worth of
Jewels, paid on the spot, bullied the
Governor of the town, and was released
with the most respectful excuses. Very
little doubt exists that during one of
his residences in Russia he played an
| important part in the revolution which
placed Catherine III. on the throne. In
support of this view, Baron Gleichen
cites the extraordinary attention be-
slowed on Saint German at Leghorn,
| i'm 1770, by Count Alexis Orloff, and
remark made by Prince Gregory Orlott
| to the Margrave of Anspach during his
stay at Nuremberg.
After all, who was he ?-the son of
Portuguese Jew? or did he, in his old
age, tell the truth to bis protector and
enthusiastic admirer, Prince Charles of
Hesse- Cassel? According to the story
told his last friend, he was the son of y
Prince Rakoczy of Transylxania, and
his first wife, Tekely. He was placed
when an infant, under the protection
of the Medci. When he grew up and
heard that his two brothers, sons of the
Princess Hesse-Qheinfels or Rothen-
burg, had received the names of st.
Charles and st. Elizabeth, he deter
mined to take the name of their holy
brother, Sanctus Germanus. What
was the truth? One thing alone is
certain, that he was n proteee of the
last Medici. Prince Charles, who ap-
peared to have regretted his death,
which happened in 1888, very sincere
ly tells us that he fell sick while pur-
suing his experiments in colors at
Eckrenforde, and died shortly after,
despite the innumerable medicaments
prepared by his own private apothe-
cary. Frederick the Great, who, des-
pite his skepticism, took queer inter-
est i'm astrologers, said of him, "rhis
is man who does not die.n Mirabeau
adds, epigrammatically "He was al
ways careless fellow, and at last, un-
like his predecessors, forgot not to
die.n
The capacities and growing impor-
tance of st. Louis as a live stock mar
ket are being duly recognized. Yes
terday the sales of cattle here footed
up more than three thousand head,
| .f fal. a a. o1,s.