The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-16
SOME BOGUS NOBLEMEN.
European ATiStOCTatS Deceived BY
Clever ImpOStOTS.
It Takes a Smart One to Get Ahead of
the Prince of Wales-The Count
Jaracewski Was a Smart one-Some
Ex-Barous That Are Now in Jail.

Jarac6WBkl W as q smart Ono-SO1L6
Ex-Barons That Are Now in Jail.
Ex-Attache. in New York Tribune
Americans are by no means the only
people who permit themselves to be duped
by bogus noblemen, as one might be
tempted to believe from the remarks that
are made upon the subject, even in the
! press of the United States. Those who
Hospitality entertain titled visitors subse-
| quently to discover, TO their cost, that
they were mere adventurers, may derive
comfort from the knowledge that Euro
peaus themselves get taken in quite as
! frequently, and with equal facility. Any
doubts which they may have on the sub
| ject will be set at rest by the perusal of
volume which has just appeared at Paris
under the title Memories d'Ardison,"
constituting an autobiography OF that
bold and plebeian born card-sharper
who couple Of years ago
was summarily expelled from one
Of the leading clubs lat Paris,
where he had been ruling the roast for
some months under the title and name of
| the Comte d'Andrac He had been elect
ed in due form, after being proposed by
| couple of old and respected members, who
had given HIM their support in the belief
that he was member of the old southern
! and highly respected noble family of
Andrac The very fact of his being other
| wise unknown was in his favor, since it
did away with any personal prejudice
| against his election. For three mon this
he won nightly without arousing any sus-
picion as to the unfairness of his play,
and 1T was not until one evening when
| member of the club who had been spend
! ing the winter in India, entered the card
room and recognized in the comte one of
| the most famous professional swindlers
of the age, that his career was brought
| to close. During one entire season at
| Pan he figured under the name Of the
Comte de tranqueville, becoming mem
Der of the most exclusive CLUB there, and
forming lntimacies with the most notab BILE
visitors and the prominent members of
the local aristocracy. Among those who
became his dupes was as shrewc man
as the Marquis de Breteuil, Miss Gamers
husband. who used to take perfect de-
light in listening to his witty converse
ton and to his unfailing stock of anec-
dotes concerning the leading personages
in every capital of Europe. AT Vichy he
appeared in the guise of an aged and in
firm old German baron. He apparently
had only few months to live, and it was
upon the local doctors advice that he was
wheeled to the card table at the Casino
every afternoon in an invalid chair
by couple of superb foOtmen, with the
object of rousing and keeping alive his APP
parenuy failing faculties and mental
vigor by means of few turns at baccarat.
Strangely enough, ne won almost continu-
ously, and to an enormous extent. His
victims, far from feeling vexed or annoyed
at losing their money, were apparently
| Glad that tho old yvii 70 bpipad and
snowy-bearded man should have this
little last pleasure before he died. These
are only few of the episodes of his eX-
| traordinary career, and in every page of
his memoirs one finds the most astound-
ing illustrations of the gullibility and Gre
dulity of precisely those very people in
Europe whom one would imagine to be be-
yond the possibility of imposition.
| Quite the shrewdest person in the dis
covery of frauds and shams is assuredly
the Prince of Wales, who possesses many
of the qualifications of a guardian of
society, including an astonishing memory
for incidents and faces, as well as an ex-
tensive knowledge concerning the history
of men and things. Yet two of the very
boldest and most impudent adventures
have been seen at his table, and we're in
debted in great measure for their social
currency not only in London, but also on
the continent, to the patronage accorded
them by his royal highness. The one was
the soi-distant Count Jaracewski, who
used to be known in London by the name
of "Sherry-and-Whis and was a
frequent visitor, at Sandringham.
He was a good-looking man, fair
haired, with a blonde mustache, small
hands and feet, clean-cut features and an
aristocratic appearance Owing to the
friendship Of the prince he was received
at all the best houses at London and
Paris without any inquiries being made
as to his birth and parentage, and was
likewise elected to the most exclusive
| clubs in Pail Mall. A word, which he
inadvertently dropped served, however,
at length to arouse the suspicious of Lord
Hastings, who was at the time a steward
of the Jockey Club. Keeping his refiec-
tions to himself, the young peer, who is
an amateur detective of no mean order,
and imagines it to be his duty to act as a
watchdog over London society, left
| suddenly for the continent on mis-
sion of his own devising On his return
he proceeded direct to the counts lodg-
ings in Dover street, st. James, and re-
manned closeted with Jaracewski for
some time. When he left, his face was
singntarly grave, and on the following
morning his landlord brought the start
ling news to Marlborough House that the
count" had been found dead in his bed ,
a suicide. 1t subsequently became known
that Count Jaracewski was not noble
man, but merely the son of the land stew
ard of a Polish nobleman, who had had
the lad educated with his own boys from
a feeling of kindness toward his servant
Equally successful was the so-called
Baron Won Hoffman, who is now under
going term of penal servitude in an
Austrian penitentiary He was the son
of a small glassware dealer at Prague, and
began his career as hotel waiter Ten
years later he was established at Paris
an intimate friend of the late Due de
Morny, and of Baron Haussmann, and,
through them, was not only invited TO the
state balls at the Tuileries, but also TO the
more private imperial parties at ST.
Cloud Compiegne and Fontainebleau
Furnished with letters of introduction by
Prince Napoleon, he proceeded 10 Stock
holm, where King Charles of Sweden
created him knight Of the order of ST.
Olaf. AT Berlin he acquired several
hundred thousand dollars as a negotiator
Of fraudulent railroad contracts, lived in
magnificent style at the palace Of Count
ol-Donnersmarck and found means
of ingratating himself with Count Her
bert Bismarck and the late Duke
of Ratibor The late King Alfonso Of
Spain found so much pleasure and enter
tainment in Hoffmann's company that he
conferred upon him the Order of Isabella,
the Catholic, while at Rome King Hum