The Washington critic., 1890-02-28
WON'T STOP BEING A MAN.
Astonishing Career of the Countess Sa-
rolta Way of Austria.

"oNl DEtN~ N MAN.
Astonishing Career of the Countess Sa-
rolta Way of Austria.
The Countess Sarolta Way, who for
the last six years has played mans
part in mans attire before the sporting
world of the Austrian Empire. is lying
ill and penniless at the house of friend
in Pesth. Excessive dissipation has
shattered her health and her fortune.
Her crazy career is at an end Here
after the gay subjects Of Emperor
Franz Joseph must find some other
strong minded young woman to shock
them with her mad pranks.
A record of the Countess Sarolta
Vsy's young life reads like the first acts
Of a melodrama, according to the New
York Sun. General Count Ladislas
Way Won Vaya married her mother
thirty six years ago. He was the sole
possessor of the vast and unencumbered
estates of his family ranked high in
the army and was chamberlain of the
Emperor. The first five years of his
married life passed and his wife had
borne him no heir He was in despair,
for in case he had no child his property
would 60 to the crown at his DEATH
The sixth, seventh and eighth year
went by, and he was still childless. His
anxiety and disappointment had already
begun to warp his mind and embitter
his disposition. I'll the ninth year, how
ever the Countess bore him little
girl. He had waited so long and so
anxiously for the birth of an heir that
when the baby came no one dared to
tell him II was not the male heir he had
been looking for so eagerly.
Day after day was added to the baby's
age, and still no one told him the truth.
Then the countess decided that, for her
husbands sake, she would pretend that
her child was boy; would rear it and
dress II as boy, and would let her hus-
band die in the happy confidence that
his name and estates would be properly
handed down to his posterity. So the
priest was induced to baptize the baby
publicly as Sander "a boys name) al
though on the church register he called
the child Sarolta or Charlotte The lit.
tie girl grew as little boys grow, in
trousers and jackets, with plenty of
light fishing, hunting and other similar
sports. When she became ii years old
her father decided to send her away to
military school. Just then, however,
an incident occurred which upset all
previous calculations of the Way house
hold. The countess gave birth to real
boy.
Here was a pretty pickle. The real
heir kicking about unhonored aud un
recognized in the cradle, and the bogus
heir slruttiDg into general notice under
the false cover of trousers and rounda-
bouts. The countess cut the knot by
coDfessing the whole deception to her
husband, who accepted the situation
philosophically, and set about getting
his eldest child out of Sanders trousers
into Sarolta's skirts.
Sarolta, however, was incorrigible
She persisted in playing the part which
her mother had assigned to her. She
. continued to hunt, fish, ride like mad,
fence and knock about as boy among
boys. AS she matured she took to
drinking, gambling and smoking just
as she would have been expected to do
If she had really been the male heir of
all the Ways
When she reached her majority she
made a formal declaration of indie.
pendence from all parental authority.
she went the rounds of the big cities in
high hat, cutaway coat and tight
trousers, plunged headlong into almost
every dissipation which they afforded.
fought three duels with men who re.
preached her with her sex, and event
ually brought up in Pesth head over
heels in debt. In her straits she de.
cided that her only hope of better times
lay in an advantageous marriage.
She found a beautiful young girl
named Marie Engelhardt. the daughter
OF rich army contractor in Laybach
TrlVOInnnA hoYco1c
Way, and under the pretense of being
"A man got Herr Engelhardt to accep
hen as a son in-law. The marriage cere
mony between Fraulein Marie and thu
countess was performed, the nuptial
were celebrated, and the quasi HUSBAND
pockeled the big dowry of the quasi
wife. The whole swindle was dis
covered shortly. Fraulein Marie wa
taken home by her father and the count
oss was imprisoned in Klagenfurt. al
though not before she had squandere
Frauein Marie's money.
About four weeks ago she was re
leased from prison and went to tn
house of Fraulein Czeky her friend, Il
Pesih. She took to her bed imme
diatcly, suffering from nervous pTostra
ton Within a few days, however
she picked up so amazingly that sh
was able to talk with the reporters VIII
crowded to her bedside for interviews
She was glad TO see them all, she said
and would tell them all she knew o
one condition, which was that the
should treat her exactly as they woul
treat man. Call me count, " sh
requested, "for feel the deepest aver
sion toward everything which remind
me that l am q woman. / woul
formally insult a stranger who callet
me countess An acquaintance woult
get no answer at all. "
~ am perfectly sound mentally" th,