The evening times., 1895-10-09
Won HAMMERsrEII's HAND
Asserted BE Forged One Hundred Thou
sand Dollars Upon Countess Wddefsee.
Count Won Finkenstein Is the Per-
son Whose Name Was Forged
to the Notes.

No less than $10O, 900 of good American
money is comprised among the vast sums
embezzled by Baron Won Hammerstein-
until recently one of the principal leaders
of the ultra-conservative party at Berlin,
the publisher of its organ, the Kreuz-
Zeitung, and the intimate friend and as
sociate of ex-Court Chaplain Stoecker, of
anu-Semite fame. The money belonged to
the Countess Waldersee, whose income Is
derived from property i'll New York, which
she inherited from her father, the late
David Lee, OF New York City.
The amount lost by the Countess was
handed in various installments to the
handed in various inst ailments TO the Baron
as a loan TO the kreuz-Zeitung on the
understanding that IL was TO assist i'll
the promotion of the politico-sociai and
religious views OF the party owning the
paper, and she received in return notes
bearing the signature Of the Baron as
publisher and of Count Won Finkensten.
the president OF the committee Of noblemen
owning the paper. The notes were re-
newed from time to time, the signature of
Count Finkenstein being repeated on each
occasion and the Countess receiving per
cent. interest until last spring, " hen the
Baron was compelled TO resign his seat
in the Prussian House of Lords and to
sever his connection with the paper on
account of malfeasance and dishonesty.
1t is only since then that the notes held
by the Countess Waldersee were brought
TO the notice OF Count Finkenstein, who
at once declared that in each case his
signature had been forged, and " no, more
over, was able TO prove by the books OF
from the Countess had never entered the
treasury of the Kreuz- -zeitung, but had
been spent by the Baron for his own private
purposes.
The Baron is the husband of singu-
larly charming woman, and has grown-up
SONS and daughters, the devotion OF his
family, and especially OF his Wife and
daughters, since his troubles overlook
him last spring, having been of a most
pathetic and touching nature.
Count Won Finkenstein, whose name has
thus been forged, is a wealthy magDate
and landowner, possessing the immense
estate of Alt -Madlitz in the northern por-
ton of the province of Brandenburg. He is
an intimate friend of the present En-
peror, was formerly one of the most dash
and is honorcd each year in the autumn
bya visit from the emperor for the magnifi-
cent shooting. the woods. covering hill
and dale and OF great antiquity, literally
swarminc with game.
Countess Waldersec, whose husband, by
the bye, has just been promoted TO the
rank of field marshal this being equivalent
to n declaration that, subject to the en-
k,a of fisxs i'm
perial army in the next war;, is one of
the most remarkable of all American wom-
en- who have married foreigners, and more
than any of them can boast Of having in
fluenced great political events and the I
course of history. By her first marriage
to Prince Frcde.ick of Schleswig Holsiein.
on which occasion she was created in her
own right princess OF Noer by the En-
peror of Austria, Miss Lee became an aunt
of the present Empress of Germany, and
during the carly years of the latters
welded life was her principal support and
stay. Both the Empress and her husband,
then Prince William, appreciated this all
the more as they Were treated in some
what harsh and contenptuous manner by
Empress FrcdcricS, who never ceased TO
deplore in public and in private what she
was pleasr,i to call ''thc stup''lity' OF her
Iaugi,t er In law for whom she Expressed
boundlcss contempt.
Matters came to sucil pass that the two
royal ladies' swerescarccly onspeaking terms
and Empress Frederick did not hcsitatc
TO charge Countess Waicersce with inc,tinG
Princes william, as the now reigning
enpress then was, against her. Indeed.
one of the first things that Empress Fred
a; cir M h..r FIJI tod
husband to the throne, was to secure from
him the transfer of Count Waldersee from
Berlin to Hanover.
On Emperor Williams succeeding in turn
10 the throne, he brought the waldersees
back and treated them with great distinc
ton until the III oment when financial
troubles coinciding with his sensational
quarrel with Bismarck, led him to become
reconciled to his now Very wealthy mother
Since then the Waldersees have been sta
toned at Altoona, the capital of Schleswig-
Holstein, and the promotion to the rank of
field marshal is the first token of imperial
favor that they have received since William
II broke away from the tutelage OF the
ultra-conservatiye party and from the in
fluence of It's leaders, Baron ron Hammer
stein, Pastor Stoecker, Baron ron Putt
kamer, etc.
There are many who believe that the Eni-
peror, in sending the Waldersees Off to
Altoona, was likewise Influenced by feel |
ings OF resentment. caused by the repea ted
illusions in the German and foreign news !
papers to the Countess of Waldersee as '.the |
power behind the German throne"
1t is a gra arddaushter of Charles W. Nor |
gan, OF Philadelphia, who has just taken |
up her residence at Brussels as ambassa-
dress for Sweden and Norway her mother. |
Lady Plunkett, being the wife of the Eng |
lish envoy accredited to the same court |
There is no other case on record of mother |
and daughter occupying each the position |
OF anlbassadress to the same court since
the days when the American-born Nine |
Schweinitz was German ambassadress and |
Mrs. John jay, OF New York, her mother. |
the United States ambassadress at Vienna !
in 1874. Lady Plunkett's daughter is mar
ried to Count Fersen Gyidenstolpe, a grand |
nephew OF that Count Axel Fcrsen who
who pla yed so romantic a role in the history
of the French Queen Marie AntOinette, es-
corting her in that unsuccessful attempt
to escape, which terminated through the |
capture of the royal party at Varennes.
The Best Way.
II I make q face at Billy
He will make face at me, i