Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-11
cAlIsE csLeeRe COMING.
Beginning of Libel suit IN Iar's ''"'
May lie Full of Interesting
Roulaugism.

The libel suit of the Countess Won hess-
Ter against the Paris papers, iydn' Ho",
and PQyf National, promises To be cH"s
c,ilre of great interest. The accused
journals charge the fair lady with being
"A Prussian spy, and tell a strange storY
about her, fragments OF which nave rom
time TO time appeared IN the cable as
patches. In substance the whole story Is
a. follows
In APRIL. 1887. when the SchnAebeles in
cident on the frontier made war between
France and Germany appear more than
probable. the Council of Ministers asked
General Boulanger, then War Minister, not
for the plan of mobilization, as has Oeen
stated, but for summary Of the concen-
tration papers. BOulanger promised to
produce the document, but hesltated
somewhat. assuring his colleagues
that everything was oil night ana
France ready. At last he was COM
PEELED to admit that the documents
were STOLEN Previous TO this admission
he tried to gain time. Naturally enough,
there was some uneasiness III we Wat
Ministry and Boulanger was IN a terrlOle
fix. One Of his staff officers 10 DIS re-
lief with the story Of a plan OF campaign
made out by BaZaine in hadrlu' D0u-
LANCER immediately sent an Olhcer 10 pa
Zaine 10 get the precious document nc
officer pretended to be reporter OF uh
American paper. spoke broken french 10
the famous capitulard, but took good care
to offer handsome price for the thihg.
and appealed TO the patriotism OF
fhe traitor. The latter simply re-
pled that he had no such plan;
That as he didn't belong to the army, he
couldn't see the use of working Tor no,
thing and consequently never troubled
himself with any plan for the invasion OF
Germany or any other country. Inc ON
Ger returned, reported, and 1t was theh
only that Boulanger confessed that the
papers were taken from nm by solue ui-
known person. Then the uneasiness IN the
War Office was changed into CONSERVATION.
II was believed that the Germans were IN
full possession of all the secrets OF the war
Ministry. A smart detective was sent out
in pursuit of tho stolen documents, he
was fortunate in following the clue when
was furnished by the habits of Bou-
LANCER: and he traced the papers TO
the Countess Won kessler, frlehu
of the Generals, and woman VINO
was in close relations with tne rer-
man Chief IF the Bureau Of Military
Information. The Sglo" where Mi''i I'm,
Won Kessler received her high-tOned Ger
man colony, and where she tried to entrap
tho officers of the War Ministry, was SIT
mated on the Rue Saint-LaZaIre. lhere
Boulanger was in the habit Of amusing
himself nj card-playing, dc. One evening,
C Cmdg Sc slipped I ont Of the house, drove
straight to the Hotel du Louvre. ana sue
ceeded in gaining admission to the Gene;
rails cabinet de trdraH, whore she grabbed
M all tho papers she could lay her hands
on. including the documents ~ question
which should never have been allowed out
side of the War Ministry under any pre-
text whatever.
But the most wonderful part of the story
;s that the detective who followed up the
etoIen documents managed to steal them
back. or get them back, before there was
time to copy them, or before they fell into
tbe hands of somebody better able to un::
deretond them than the fair lady, who of
course was not well versed in military and
ministerial technicalities. Nevertheless,
as a measure of precaution, the entire plan
was changed.
This is the story which the Countess Won
Kessler denies and for which she has start
ed libel suit. the details Of which Will be
I;tal,r IN read like a romance.