Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-09-02


preached his master and presented
him letter almost exactly in these
terms;
good conduct OF tho ooachman, Muller, and
will bo very much o llgcd to tho Count -
M w ne ss sSc os to know Hs sSSrSs SoSsF q
And IL I wished to know itp' said
the General TO his coachman.
81 would be forced to quit your serv-
ice,n said he. 81 would do it with
great regret, because esteem myself
happy to live with you; but would do
it Immediately"
The good conduct of this man, and
the recommendation of the Austrian
officer, decided the General not to push
his inquiries any further. Muller re-
NAMED in his stable, and in q few
months this event was completely for
gotten. Probably IL had been entirely
elfaced from the Generals memory,
when terrible accident again called 1t
| to his mind.
One morning when Muller was lead
ing his horses to the watering place ho
was unset by one of them, and carried,
and in such n condition rs to leave no
nODt vi HIS ICCONtils III lhttt it t'N'
the same day, without having recovered
consc BUSINESS.
| The next day, when they were pro-
ceeding with tho burial, the General
charged one of his aides camp to ex-
anime Muller's chamber and to take
note of everything he found there,
Muller was careful and economical
man, and probably had accumulated
some savings; he possessed, besides, n
gold snuif-boX and fine gold watch OF
great value, and the General desired all
these objects to be collected that they
might he delivered to his family in case
they discovered who he was. The aide
de camp proceeded to Muller's chamber
to execute the orders of the General,
but his surprise was great when, on
opening the coachmau's trunk, the first
thing he found was au Austrian uni
form, a Coloncls epaulettes. commits
sion for that rank and diplomas for
other orders. The regalia for these
orders, many of them ornamented with
diamonds, were inclosed in this trunk
with the uniform. The aide. .de-camp,
who was not aware of the adventure of
the dinner table, suspected at once that
these objects were the product of nu-
merous petty thefts on the part of Null
ler: but when he gave an account OF
what he had discovered to the General,
the latter recalled the event we have
recorded above, and wished to see for
himself the obiecte found in the cham
Der of the coachman. He hoped to find
there some papers which would explain
this mystery; but he found no other in
formation than what was contained in
the comm ssion spoken of, and which
were all issued in the name of the
Count de v. Outside of these there
was no correspondence or previous act
of the coachman which betrayed what
there was in common between the
coachman. Muller, and the Count de
| ", Colonel in the service of Austria.
He was again left to his conjectures.
and many weeks passed without the
General learning anything new con-
cerning this strange man, when one
day he saw the Austrian officer who
had recognized Muller in such an ex-
traordinary manner enter his apart
ment. He had not appeared at Ragusa
since the event of the dinner table, al
though he lived in the vicinity.
A chance conversation had apprised
| him of the death of the General $
coachman, and he presen ed himself to
reclaim the papers which had been
found in Muller chamber. The name
of this officer and the consideration he
eniOyed were sufficient to remove any
doubt rs to his right to this heritage
the moment he claimed it; nevertheless,
the General believed it his duty to de-
mand some explanation of him, and
the officer replied Immediately:
~ will inform you the more willingly
on what you wish to know, since you
have relied on simple attestation from
me in keeping this unhappy Muller in
your service Notwithstanding the mys-
terry which surrounded him. This uni
form, these epaulettes, these decora-
tlons belonged to him justly; he bravely
earned them as soldier. A fault
caused him to lose them. but he has so
nobly expiated it that think can bet
ter render homage to his memory by
revealing it to you, than by leaving
you perplexed by doubts which you will
not be able to explain.
muller is none other then the Count
de v, my elder brother. There is
nothing extraordinary in his history ex-
cept what You know. AT an early age
he had gained the grade and the dis
tinctions, the titles of which you have
just discovered, and his military fortune
had been so rapid that he raised hopes
in my fathers mind that he would rise
to the highest Offices of honor in the
State. A single event, as so often hap
pens, destroyed all these hopes. My
brother, wounded in combat, in which
he had distinguished himself, was forced
to retire to the waters OF Carlsbad in
order to recover. He found there a
large number of his fellow countrymen
possessed of immense fortunes. You
know to what limit the passion OF
play is carried in these resorts, where
person comes oftener to expose his
wealth than to recover his health. My
brother, forgetting too easily that he
possessed nothing but his rank as a
Colonel, engaged in these gaming par
tics, where the persons with whom he
PLAYED had much more money than he,
and certainly much less honesty. In a
short time he found himself ruinedan
eneumbered with that species of debt
which people are accustomed to cal
debts of honor" ami which, for al
that, have little that is honorable about
them. If my brother had not been sc
young, he would not have felt as ur'
gentlyas he did the necessity OF paying
these debts in few days, and perhaps
to repair fault, would not have beer
driven to commit crime. In his de
spair, his reason lost, imagining tha
he could no longer appear in public
, without having paid the amounts hi
had lost. he had recourse to very dis
honorable means of satisfying his cred
itors; he forged the name of my father
who, at that time had great credit il
Germany; he discounted the draft, ant
very soon freed himself from his EN-
barrassment. But he had scarcel,
committed this crime, when he foresav
all the consequences OF it; he lost hi
, head, and, proiiting by certificate o
I convalescen which he had obtained
, he left Germany.
"My father was far from suspectin!
t all that had happened; and when tn
| "A .,thinh knI I..a, 4, -,