The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-08-01
4 COUNTS HARD FORTUNE.
Charged With Having Violated the
Postal Laws.
PihING In THE ALAMEDA COUNTY JAIL.
lie Deserted His Bride, Who Is the Daughter Of
Milwaukee MiiOnaire-What She Paid
for the Title.

languishiDg in the Alameda County Jail.
prisoner on the charge OF sending obscene
letters through the mails, and the Countess
de Claude. daughter of one of Americas
millionaires, is living with her two children
in obscure lodgings in this city.
Either the Count is one Of the greatest
swinders on earth or he is one of the most
abused noblemen that ever left Europe to
exchange an empty title for a foolish Amerl-
can girls heart and fortune.
Three years ago the young and handsome
daughter of Millionaire Nulty of Milwaukee,
Wis, sailed for home after two years tour
of Europe on the great steamship City Of
Paris. On the same vessel sailed Count
Leo de Claude OF Baden, bound for America
to make fortune.
The two met the second day OF the voy-
age. The Count proved a fascinating man,
aud told the American girl tales of ances-
trail halls, court balls, manurs and man
sions. in which the noble family of De
Claude figured with cOnspicuOusness that
o'ershadowed the lesser nobility necessarily
brought into the scenes to fill up.
THE MILLIONS OF HER DADDY.
In turn. the girl told him how her father
had braved the wilds of the great West
before Chicago was metropolis and when
Milwaukee was village; how he had
bought lands and built houses until finally
he found himself worth millions of money
and was able to send his loved daughter to
Europe to complete her education.
Miss Nulty wanted to be countess, and
Count Leo saw the fortune he expected to
be compelled to work for, already in his
grasp. Before they left the steamer in New
York Miss Nulty was the promised bride Of
the Baden uObeman.
The girl went home to her parents and
told them the
in New York to transact important
business" The pere Nulty heard his
daughters raphs0dies over her Count, hut
he loved his daughter and his ducats, and
he did not propose to take chances on
| throwing away the latter on an adventurer
who would break his daughters heart when
| lie had secured her money, so he wrote to
| Germany, and In time ascertained that
| Leopold de Claude was indeed Count in
| tile Kingdom of Baden, and that while he
| and his family were not wealthy, still they
| had some little money, mostly held by
relatives of his would be-son-in-law.
on THE WINGS OF LOVE.
Count Leo evidently expected such inter-
rOgatOTies would be made and wisely re-
manned in New York until his sweetheart
| wrote him OF the replies sent from Baden 10
| her papa and then on the fast mail and the
| wings Of love he waited himself westward
| 10 the "city OF beer" A few weeks of
! courtship and paradipg of the Count and
| then, one day at high noon, in the most
| fashionable church in the city, surrounded
| by maids Of honor, pages and groomsmen
! innumerablP, pretty Miss Nuity became the
! Countess de Claude.
A bridal tour in palace cars through the
| west and south followed and then the Count
| and Countess returned TO Milwaukee. she
wanted to go to Europe and reign in the an
| cestrai halls of which he had told lrer "a
! they walked the deck of the steamer on
moonlight nights. but the Count craftiiy sug-
! gested that she should first surteit herself
| with iordng it over her less fortunate ac-
! quaintances at home as a Countess, and she
| consented.
| Then the Count made a suggestion to
| papa that he invest few thousand dollars
| In some OF the many money making ventures
! o1 the ola man and 60 to work. Nulty
pere was delighted. and soon the Count de
| Claude was solling his ariStOcratie hands
| Ike any common, everyday business man.
Thus far the stories of people who are
now prosecuting Count de Claude and the
! iatters own story agree, but from this date
ln his career on the tales told are widely at
| yarlence.
OBJECTIONABLE BRANCHING.
Inc counts enemies, as he calls them,
! say that 1t was not long until Nulty. the
millionaire, found that his noble son-in-
Iaw hao peculiar ideas in regard to meum
ct tuum as applied to the income from the
| papaS properties, and, as a result the
| Count was told to go West and Join some
organized band holding his views of money!
making. But papa Nuty did not calculate
| on his daughter going too. He tried in
| every way to convince her that home would
| be the best place for her, but she was OBJ
| stlnate, and the Count and Countess de
| Claude went west together.
They settled in Tacoma about two years
| ago, after months OF wandering and .'the
| counts enemies" say that the wandering
was marked by succession CT swindliug
! operations on the part of the Count, his vic
tlms being too eonfiding Germans, who
luna flOf H.
| was In truth Count, and who placed
| money In his hands to invest in enterprises,
the magnitude of which would make
| Colonel Sellers blush THE enemies of
the Count say further, that while in Ia
coma his wife aud her child lived in abject
poverty. Ihe father of the countess was
more than willing TO help her, if she would
return home, but would not give her cent
so long as she lived with The Count. Finally
the Count. his enemies" say, got to tile end
| o1 MS tether in Tacoma, but he went to one
| Dr. j. Is. Egbolz, a rich physician there.
| who had known him in Baden, and repre-
| sented thatif he could obtain money enough
| TO get Oack 10 Germany he could there Sc
cure funds sufficient to pay his debts and
| start him IN business again.
BORROWED MONEY.
DR.. Eigholz knew that Count de Claude
| had on several occasions received money
from Germany, and he let him have $500 to
| go back home with. The Count deserted
| his vile, to whom another child had been
| born, and went back nome.
Tho Countess de Claude was too proud
| TO return TO her home and the friends she
mad once moved among as a countess, and
| she came to San Francisco, and has for
| some months lived here quietly In horne
| FAR different from that of her girlhood, when
| she was only the daughter of an American
! millionaire and not countess.
Count de Claude had not been In Ger
many long, 80 say his enemies" when DR..
| EigholZ of Tacoma found out his true char
| aeter. He wrote TO the Count demanding
the return of his money, and telling the
| Dobleman some plain truths. In reply, he
received the obscene letters, for sending
which the Count is now in custody. The
doctor heard nothing from his noble debtor
Tor some weeks. when one day he learned
that De Claude was in Red Bluff aad was
working a.. scheme 10 rebuild on the
ruins OF the Mount Shasta Brewery
at Sissons an $4,000 brewery. and
was, 1t is alleged, borrowing money
from ms German friends on the strength of
his proposed operations as a brewer in their
MIDST. Then it was that the warrants for
MS arres1 were sworn out and Deputy
United States Marshal Chesney was sent
after him.
1t is alleged that the Count has string
OF aliases as long as the moral law and
once placed on trial there will be "cloud
| of witnesses" to testify as to his crooked
ness and his many schemes,
THE COUNTS STORY
| E Count de Claude was found in the Ala
media County Jail. He is a German about
| 40 years of age, short and stout and wears
| full reddish beard and mustaehe, cut in the
| prevailing style. He was well dressed and
| on one of his fingers wore ring bearing
| the crest of his noble house. While ner-
| yous and a parently unable at times to
| fully express his meaning in English, the
Count responded readily TO all questions
| asked and told IA Seemingly strais shtfor-
ward story. lie had just returned from
| this city, where he had been taken by
| Deputy United States Marshal in order