The Newtown bee., 1880-01-21
New York Letter,

hl actor, ana TOT muny years a pettfOE- Ging lawyer, known as George, the Count Johannes. As the life Ot this celebrated r brson has been pretty well vcatilated by ta metropolitan press. to evcr; mem Der of whlca he Was personally knowI, thought might pass his death in silence nor woul 1 n w call ate ltion to 1t, if it Were not for the tragic and romantic iu- tert7t wAitg attaches tp l. II connection with the truuScendent devotion of hls late pupil and dramatic supporter, Miss Avo- hih Fairbanks. Gratitude is, unfortu- nnt"ly. in this world, one of the rarest 0. Virtues. 1t is an easy matter for any man or woman to find friends when fortune smiles upon tAem, but when poverty. sickness ant misfortune come, then is the critica! test O. friendship, and Miss FHiI banks has passed throuzyti this tr>in3, ordeal in manner that will reflect honor on her sex for all time. Count Johannes was nearly seventy-tuur years of age, and oFtug t0 some mental balance, he had been Tn this great city u sort of social "uteast He was q singular combination; '''7 A''t''iNto tiil Iitlpllo W ere IilOSt Ol all educ ,;ei, cultivated gentleman, shabby 1t t@ true, but still gentecl; his convcrsr. lion was entertaining. s.looth and pol ishc"; he neither drank nor smoked nor chewed. and in this respect might have scrreI as a model for some of those CIT 1nent Christian clergymen who have done So much in the past year to bring relias lon into di,gracc. Miss Fairbanks is n woman not more than thirty years of age, and wishing to distinguish herself upon tn" dramatic stage. wrote to the Count for instruction. This he uudpr- took to EiNc.her, and the pair appeared together in Il series or performances
 which will be long remembered by the people of New York. They were pclted and hootcd by the rabble of the metropo- lis, and for many weeks thoy excited a 1urore which has rarely been witnessed In tho city. For more than one hundred nights, Miss Fairbanks shared the storm or abuse and ridicule which was leyeled Ht the Count, aud oil many occasions she j'arleSsly expos ed herself, to save her noble friend from danger. The nOvelt, oi their eccentric performance soon died away, and with the failure of their hiatri- ohic aspirations came poverty and sore dl.tress it Was in this dark and trvinn hour that the dov,.ti0n of this true wo- Ilan was tcatCd, as woman's devotion has seldom be'u tested before, and she came through the fire like gold seven times re- fined. Alter U long season of pinchina poverty, during which they were reduced 10 the direst otrdj hts, at last her friend la! dying. He was deserted by all who had ever known him in this great city, except this devote FOman who for lon. days and nights sat y li5 dying couch
 Keeping her Sad vigil. and at last, all alone she closed his eJ es in that sleei. which Knows Lp waking here, and then went out, T wandering pilgrim, into the Freezing NtAIry streets, to beg enough to give her dcau frienC uecent burial. Hau it not bceu for her untiring efforts. he might have iain in PUtter's Field among thousands or unnamed paupers; but the sharp 3ry of agony, sent up by this poor creature, reached tho hard hearts Of men, till enough has been collected to give him grave and a monument in Mapi.- Grove Cemetery. It Is strange Go think that lh this very city, where he died su fr1cndles' and poor, forty years ago he was favurite actor, the glass of fash. lon and Lhe mould of form." At that II;Ae he Was one of the han,isomest mel in that town, and his wife was one of the !oFeliest women; both of his daughters were talented, and his youngest, Avonia. Who married Guslayus Brooke. WAS .a, actress. eminent i'll her profession but, to yards middle life, he secmed 10 los, his meAtal balance: : his idiosyucrasy was to bf considered u noJlenLu al nuiIu. cinatIon harmless enough Ill iLself vet l. made him the bdtt.of scores Of vauaDouo bohehians' who often earned supper anc lodging by penning libelous articles O.. this poor distraught, "lhe latchels O. whose shoes they were not worthy to uu loose" He wrote and spoke well OH al subjects, and many of the most brillian articles in the New York Sun were iron his pon. They were models of composi uou, and in the matter of style. wer, equalied by very few writers in the city But, In spite of his great ability and pro found requirements, he died a begrar unknelled, unhonored, though not un sung. l confess thut, in common witt many other and thoughtless and fooIisl persoLs, l may have laughed at tn
 Counts abortlye histrionie efforts, an
 perhaps Miss Avonia Fairbanks may nc have escaped my ridlcule. If such is tn case, hunibly ask her pardon. and trus that her poor friend, now that he ha passed the narrow. gulf which divide Eternity from Time, somehow or som, where may find that peace and that re. which his fellow men denied him here.
 On Tuesday, poor young creatui was discovered in garret in the slums- dead The room was destitute of furn
 ture, and there, on the bare floor, deser
 ed and alone, she died Only fe
 months ago, she found employment
 one of the very best stores in the cit
 and her father, well-to-do mechani
 brought her up in comparative luxur
 but she had the fatal gift of beauty, al
 In an evit hour, she listened to the vol,
 of the tenpter. who lured her to h,
 ruin. In spite of every effort to sa,
 her. she went down step by step, till t
 ter sounding every depth of infamy al
 shame, she died of starvation, negle
 and rum, at the age of twenty-one.
 One of the most deliberate suicid
 that has occurred for many months, VI