Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-10-03


thinking to give his wife a pleasant
surprise, entered her chamber at an un-
usual hour, bearing q diamond necklace
for a present, and found her in posi-
ton which could no longer leave any
doubt as TO her faithlessness. SeiZing
chair, he felled her companion, who new
er stirred again, but the shock was too
great for the husband, who himself fell
to the floor and instantly expired the
doctors said of heart disease, and think
they were right. This event was only a
few weeks old. The will had been read,
and it was found that he had literally
left everything to 'my wife, Elizabeth. "
Here my friend, the chief of police
and a distant relative of Van Tromp,
came to the front, determined quietly
ON his own account to investigate Lady
Van Tromp He found this last was at
least her third venture ON the stormy
sea of matrimony. He had fancy that
some one of her husbands might still be
living and undiscovered If this could
be proved, then her marriage to Yam
Tromp was no marriage, and the duoats,
dollars and diamonds bequeathed by
Van Tromp to my wife, Elizabeth, "
would instantly melt into air-into very
thin air, so far as the countess was con-
cerned, provided, of course, they had
not actually passed into her clutches. In
fact, they were legally hers, for the will
had been admitted to probate. Those Of
the family objecting could offer no val
id opposition, and she had been put in
possession but by a strange neglect on
her part left everything intact, save
deposit of 800, 900 gulden i'll the Bank
of Amsterdam, which she sscBred and
set out for Naples with new lover.
The detectiye-whom Twill call Am
stel-discovered that she had first been
married when only 10 years old to a
young Swiss i'll Geneva, who soon left
her and fed to America He had subse-
quently returned to Europe, but Amstel
was unable to discover his whereabouts
or if he was living. He suspected that
the Swiss was not only alive, but in
communication with the countess, and
that she, in fact, might be his legal wife.
He had followed the countess from Ma
pies to Paris. There she left her lover
and was now on her way TO Nuremberg,
as Amstel believed, to meet her first
husband, but she had arranged to re-
main few days with some old friends
of hers. Every movement she made
there would be watched, while Amstel,
going on to Cologne to look up some
claws, intended to wait there until in
formed that she had departed, and when
the train arrived at Cologne he proposed
to enter it and follow my lady on, hop
ing to witness a meeting between her
and the much hoped for husband. Hap
PLY we had arrived in Cologne at this
point in the story, and as Amstel was
10 remain here We had to say goodby,
but for the whole 20 minutes of my
stay we walked up and down the plat
form talking eagerly of the case. had
become much interested, SO deeply in
deed that had 1 had leisure certainly
should have turned amateur detective
and joined Amstel
The train started, and, promising to
write me in New York the outcome of
the case, we shook hands warmly and
parted. He wrote me twice, and the fol
lowing year / returned to Europe and
met Amstel az Brussels. We had a very
delightful time together, during which
he told me the sequel Of the Van Tromp
episode Instead of one, the countess
had two husbands living, but the Van
Trpmps preferred to buy off the woman
at a good round sum rather than have a
public scandal.
Amstel interviewed the countess and
gave her the choice between arrest and
a full release of all claims on the Van
Tromp property for the sum of 100, 900
gulden She made hard fight, but at
last gave in gracefully. But my chapter
has grown too long already, and will
close it with the remark that myself
met the lady at Wiesbaden in 1871 and
became acquainted with the brilliant
adventures. She will appear again in
the sequel.
The last face that saw at the Cologne
station was that of Amstel, lit up with
smiles as he waved his hand i'll adieu.
Sitting cozily in the corner Of the car
riage, eager TO see all that was to be
seen, found, as all tourists do, much
were on the bonds had to SELL and /
was glad enough when at O'Clock our
train drew into the depot at Frankfort.
My reader will recall that payment
upon all United States bonds payable to
bearer, as mine were, could not be
stopped, and so far as the innocent hold
er was concerned he was perfectly Sc
cure. But the custom among bankers
was, whenever any bonds were lost by
theft or fraud, to send out circulars con-
tanning the numbers, asking that any
parties Offering them might be ques-
toned and held. But as American bonds
were sold in millions all over the con
tinent, and were passing freely from
hand to hand, as matter of fact little
or no attention was paid to such circu-
lars; but, of course, had strangers OF
disreputable appearance offered bonds
in large sums the lists might have been
sorutinized and awkward questions
asked. Therefore / felt a trifle nervous
and determined to run no chance of los
ing my bonds, at least not all of them.
So l resolved to go to Wiesbaden, some
10 miles away, stop at soma hotel pndor
a different name, leave the bonds there,
and take the morning train for Frank
fort, conduct my negotiations, and re-
turn to Wiesbaden every evening. 1t
was at this time easy to lose ones iden
tity in Wiesbaden, for the town then
was, along with Baden Baden, the
Monte Carlo of the continent, and ad-
venturers, men and women, from all
Dver Europe f1ocked there i'll thousands
to chance their fortune in the gambling
halls. Although little in advance of
this portion of my history, l will here
relate an adventure of mine there some
years after the period Of which l am
speaking.
l will, however, preface my narrative
with a brief account Of the history of
the place The city of Wiesbaden, pre-
vioas to the Franco -PrussianST Of
1870, was the chief town Of one of those
petty principalities which We're plenti-
fully sprinkled over the face of Europe.
Since the old Roman days the town had
been famous for its hot springs, and con-
sequently for its hot baths, and good
many people-during the winter par
ticularlv-resorted there to bathe and
to drink the waters. As matter of
course, the townspeople, as the custom
of such places is, have recorded many n
marvellous cure, ranging all the way
from headache to hydrophobla But still
the town was of little importance save
locally The petty ruler, with a title
L in, .