Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-05-01
BOGUS NOBLEMEN.
How to Unmask Pretenders to
Titles Of Old-World Nobility.
Counts That Are Of No Account-Baron,
Barren of Honor-Marquises Without
Mark Of Distinc tion-Notes by
Former Prussian Ohicer.

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Former Prussian OHcer.
On any fine day you can see dozen
fraudulent noblemen airing themselves on
upper Broadway, asserts a writer in the
New York Morning Journal
A bogus Baron, counterfeit Count, q
miscalled Marquis, should never impose on
anybody.
How can they be detectedf
Easily enough. Suppose you have mo-
oleman presented to you; the introducer
should be able to vouch for him if the mat
ter OF title is point in question.
But your bogus nobleman nearly always
presents himself. Then go to the Consulate
of his country.
There it is easy to satisfy yourself Of his
Identity. Generally speaking, although not
always, real noblemeu register at the
Consulate on their arrival in New
York, but every Consulate, even IL the
gentleman has not recorded there, is more
or less able to give information as to noble
men belonging to their country. Thanks to
the glish Peerage (Burke's and Debrett's)
and the German Gothaische Grafen and
Freiherrn Calendar, as well as to the army
lists OF both countries, it is pretty easy to
get at the facts. And there are so many
real noblemen and officers Of the German
and English armies here in this city that the
bogus article could easily be detected by be-
ing confronted with the real one
The impostor is generally good-looking
and distingue and has a dangerous knowl-
edge Of what he Is talking about depending
on his good looks and his cheek to carry
him through. And our rich girls, blinded
by what they believe to be the honor of
being courted by real live Lord or Count,
fall an easy victim to the unscrupulous
fortune-hunter.
Counterfeit noblemen and real noblemen
who have 50 far forgotten what is due to
their name that they closely resemble the
bad article, abound and always will abound
in great cosmopolitan city like New York
As long as the present inordinate love for
titles exists in this enlightened Republic,
people must not be astonished if they are
the dupes of such as have a smattering of
education and the cheek to call themselves
by high-sounding title.
All these counterfeit noblemen have one
characteristic-that is, on all possible occa-
sions they will brag of their noble descent
and will tell the most wonderful stories of
their doings at home and of the doings of
their ancestors generations before them.
The latest specimen who has been annoy
ing various families, particularly that Of
Mr.. William Steinway, represented himself
as nephew of the latter, called himself at
various times Count BoDin, Count Won Ar
MIN, Baron Fedwitz and various other
names. What his real intentions were have
not been found out as yet Inspector Byrnes,
of the Metropolitan police, nipped his career
in the bud.
A peculiar and rather amusing case once
came under the notice of the writer, him
self for long years an officer in the Prussian
nnxyfAn In 20 ,,ol
downtown restaurant, when one day he
was told by the proprietor that he had an
ex-of6cer, who was down on his luck, as
waiter.
The said waiter claimed to be Count
x, and said that he was First Lieuten-
ant in crack cavalry regiment of the
Guards. The writer was rather curious to
see the waiter, as he had personally known
Count x. He was rather skeptical as to
the walters identity, seeing that he told
wonderful stories of his prowess during the
Franco-German war, the Count in reality
having entered the army only after the close
Of the campaign.
At last the waiter made his appearance,
and after having been taken to task he ac-
knowledged that he was not the Count, but
was once the Counts servant. The latter
fact accounted for his intimate knowledge
of the Counts family affairs.
Many are the cases where American wives
have married bogus noblemen and suffered
bitterly for it afterward, simply because
they did not take the trouble to make in
quiries, but believed every thing the
smooth-tongued rascals said.
The writer was talking the other day on
Fifth avenue with a gentleman, when the
name of a Marquis well-known in New York
was mentioned. On asking what national
lty the Marquis was, he receivedas answer:
"Oh, he is not really a Marquis, only we
all call him so."
Englishmen, thorough cockneys, come
here, dropping their his and calling them
selves by titles of which Burke's Peerage is
guiltless, but they are taken for s'pur sangn
because they are English, you know" The
innocent native never dreams of asking
how it is that an English nobleman has so
little education as to drop his his.
The most dangerous are the Italian, Span
lsh and French Marquises and other noble
men, as titles Of nobility exist in those
countries to such an extent that they are
really difficult to classify.
All this makes it very hard for such noble
men who come here to gain a footing In
good society, as people have been 80 often
duped by the spurious article that when an
AUTHENTIC man comes he is apt to be looked
on with dubious eye.
If the Consulates here are not able to
give information, it is easy enough to write
to the American Consuls in London, Berlin,
or whatever country the claimant to the
title comes from. to receive authentic in
formation.
But as long as the inordinate craving of
Americans exists for titles, so long will the
American storekeeper and tailor as well as
the American heiress fall an easy victim to
the foreign adventurer who comes with a
fpig-sounding title. The more names and
| the longer the title, the better.