Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-16
Strange Disappearance Of Mr..
Corstarl.

lAE OtIOLu6 hOuuSbdn1 CdLuC W AohN
to await the issue of some speculations in
which he was engaged, and arrived in Lon
don on that memorable day in June when
the news came to hand of Wellington's vic
tory over Napoleon on the field OF Water
loo. That great battle, which brought
death and desolation to countless thousands
and secured to Europe 40 years of unlnter-
rupted peace, laid the foundations OF Mr..
Kohnstam's prodigious wealth. He was
well on for middle life when he first came
to our friendly shores, and had hitherto
suffered many a rude buffet at the hands of
that tickle goddess who is said to preside
over the affairs of men, dividing to them
their unequal lots But when the crashing
of city bells from hundred steeples, the
roar of artillery, and the thousand and one
manifestations Of the delight of people
suddenly gone delirious with joy, pro-
claimed to the world that Napoleon had
suffered defeat, and the allied armies were
even then marching on Paris, everything
was suddenly changed to this man, who
had hitherto been the sport of ill-natured
Fortune.
1t happened in this way. When Mr..
Kohnstam heard that Napoleon had broken
loose from Elba, he arrived at the conclu-
sion that the result would prove disastrous
to the Emperor, and that the game now to
be played might be turned to good account
for the improvement of his own private for
tune. He was too astute politician to en-
tertain a doubt that Europe would band
itself against ''the uncaged lion" and that
after one brief, glorious struggle, the man
who had bestridden Europe like Colossus
would "fall, never to rise again" For one
brief moment after the escape from Elba,
Europe held its breath in an agony of ter
ror. This interval of alarm was seized
upon BY Mr.. Kohnstam as the food-tide in
his affairs, which, rightly met, would "lead
on to fortune" When many timid specu-
lators were seized with panic fear, Mr..
Kohnstam kept his head cool and his cour-
age firm. He Immediately staked his
all on "the fortune of war;" aud
arrived in London to find his fore
cast justifed-in time to thrust his
sickle into the golden harvest which
had sprung up suddenly to reward his ad-
venturous sowing. In word, Mr.. Kohn-
STAN, who left Antwerp with one gold
coin in his pocket, found, when he reached
the great city, that his friend, Theodore
Constantine, had carried out his instruo-
tions to the letter, and for the first time in
his life he wrote himself down a capitalist.
He decided to abide in the land, where for
once in his troubled history goodly shock
of the sheaves had fallen to his reaping-
hook, and, establishing himself in London
in the Turkey trade, he took his friend Con-
stantine into partnership, assigning to him
seventh share of the profits of the new un-
dertaking, in commendation of the zeal and
intelligence shown by him in carrying out
the instructions which he had ended so for
tunately. Before seven years had rolled by
Mr.. Kohnstam was reputed to be one of the
wealthiest men in the city.
To what country Mr.. Jerome Kohnstam's
forbears belonged, it would have puzzled
him to say. He was a Levantine by birth;
but beyond the fact that his ancestors were
not Asiatic, he knew little of his family
history. He fondly cherished the impress
sion that the blood OF the Hellas ran in his
veins, a supposition to which the Greek cast
of his handsome face lent some corrobora-
ton. But it was seldom that Mr.. Kohn-
STAN allowed his thoughts to travel in this
direction. Ii not an Asiatic be had all the
needle-like sharpness which marks certain
branches of the tribe of Shem, in pursuit of
the affairs of trade; and whilst commerce
engaged all his care he was under no temp
tation to trouble himself about his progeni-
tors.
For ten years after settling in England,
Mr.. Kohnstam stifed the domestic affections
which were strong within him, and lived
single. To the remonstrances of friends who
urged him to marry, he invariably returned
the same reply; he had not time to think
about it. The one mistress whom he loved
with a touch of passion was the goddess
Fortune, who after many sights had
deigned at last TO smile upon him.
A time came when the wealth for which
he had schemed and toiled far exceeded his
most sanguine expectations, and could no
longer fill his heart. He was ambitious,
too, in a way in which his rapidly filling
Golfers did nothing to satisfy. He became
bitten with the English passion, to found a
family and become lord paramount over a
wide domain. Even visions of a possible
coronet began to cross his mind.
The days of merchant princes with
wealth outlying the possessions of the
proudest among the English nobility, were
only beginning then; and the social line be-
tween the mighty kings of commerce and
that which calls itself society was drawn
with a sharpness aud depth entirely uu-
known in these Democratic times. Mr..
Kohnstam made a hard fight to mount above
the lower city armament, but his efforts to
soar to that blue empyrean which basked in
the smiles of the court were doomed to dis
appointment. He was great man in the
city-where, however, he fought shy of city
honors-but west of Temple Bar his glories
suffered total and irremediable eclipse.
Baffied in his purpose to secure the social
footing to which he thought his wealth en-
titled him, he swore in his wrath that the
blood of the Kohnstams should yet inter-
mingle with the bluest in the realm of En-
gland.
Mr.. Kohnstam was a man to keep his
word. His worst enemy would not have
declared of him that he was of the kind to
let the grass grow under his feet. His vow
was no sooner registered than he began to
lay matters in train to bring about its full
fllment. He heard that fine estate, be-
longing to an illustriozs but impoverished
family, was in the market, and resolved
upon Its purchase.
Greystoke Court was situated in one Of
the fairest of the English midland counties,
about 130 miles from London. Mr.. Kohn-
STAN hurried away as fast as q post-chaise
drawn by four horses could carry him. 1t
was noon when he set out, but on the morn
ing of the fifth day he had COM
pleted a close inspection Of Greystoke
and its demesnes, and accompanied
by his lawyer was engaged with |
the family solicitors in London, In
negotiating the purchase. When the earil- |
lon Of the old Stock Exchange rang out its |
chimes at the hour of noon to the tune of |
There's nae luck aboot the house" Mr.. |