The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-05

aer, are now forced TO DO so IN ways that are
frequently criminal. Both by training and
tradition they are, with few EXCEPTIONS I'M
fitted for labor of a remunerative kind, and
they are therefore tempted to seek their
livelihood in paths which are exceedingly
crooked Poverty and a lack of the where
withal to maintain the kind of existence
to which they have been accustomed must
account for the almost incredible number
of titled personages, bearing names that
are often historical, who are now wearing
the garb of convicts. There was time
when men of noble birth who were guilty
of crime made point of putting an end to
their days for the purpose of avoiding the
disgrace involved by public trial and con-
domination, but these old fashioned ideas Of
personal and family honor have become
greatly modified.
Dukes are, believe, as yet unrepresented
in penitentiary or convict establishment
They came very near it, however, when the
late Duke of Choiseul-Praslin went so far
as to murder his wife in 1S47, for the pur-
pose of marrying the beautiful goveraess
of his children. The duke, who was the
father-in-law of the New York girl, Miss
Elizabeth Forbes, the present Duchess of
Choiseul-Praslin, permitted his friends to
induce him to take poison on the eve of his
trial, and he was found dead in his cell. It
may be of interest to add that the fair
young governess, whose beauty had been
the involuntary cause of the dukes crime,
became subsequently the wife of noted
New Yorker and now lies buried in Wood
lawn cemetery
Princes, marquesses, counts, barons and
chevaliers are, however, as plentiful in
European prisons as blackberries upon a
hedge, and / even know a bishop and an
English peer who have had an opportunity
of acquiring practical experience of felon's
life Lord st. Leonards, the grandson of the
lord high chancellor of that name, spent
several months behind the bars for an
offense committed near Richmond, while
Mgr. StojalOwski, the bishop of Kuli kow,
in Austrian Poland, has just been SEN
fenced to years hard labor by the tribu-
nails of Lemberg for blackmail and fraud
With regard to convict princes, the most
notable case that / can remember is that of
Prince Eristoff de Gourie, who three years
ago was the lion of the New York season,
and maintained his vogue until he was
recognized by myself as having been SEN
fenced in 1880 at BeLin to two years penal
servitude for swindling tradesmen and
hotel servants. Although he strenuously
denied the truth Of my assertion, and COM
menced a suit for criminal libel against the
newspaper which gave publicity thereto,
he was forced to admit the fact of its cor
rectness when identified by an English de- |
tective, who happened to be in America at
the time, as having been arrested by him !
in London on a charge of felony, shortly |
after completing his term of hard labor in
the German state prisons. The discovery |
and publication of his Jail record proved |
the death blow to his well nigh accom-
plished project of marriage with a wealthy |
New York widow, and he speedily van
ished. During his stay he had been invited |
everywhere, even to the most exclusive !
houses, and the German minister pleni-
potentiary, who was unfortunately igno-
rant of Prince Eristoff's past, even went so
far as to act as his social sponsor at Lenox
and to give dinner there in his honor |
may add that notwithstanding the presence