The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-05
A F0RGER.
Won Ritter, Prince of
Counterfeiters,
LIVED IN VIENNA.
For Years Was Companion
Of Austrian Aristocracy.
(From Chicago Inter-ocean.)

POI euoA Without a peer-a cQIn-
olnatlon of criminal, artist and phil
anthropist, the equal Of whom has
never peen known. His story reads
IKE a page from romance, and makes
the deeds of such master forgers as
Becker look like those of amateur
bunglers.
litter Won Boor was a man clever
SuiIured ana widely known. He was a
phllanthropist to the bounds of ex-
traVagance, patriotic beyond the meas
e are OF the ordinary man. He came
from poor but noble family. and had
lineage coeyal with that of Emperor
FRANZ Josef himself.
AS an opulent landlord the chevalier
was without an equal in Austria. He
was the founder of the Vienna Build
t His Bank and the prime promoter of
Inc Donau Steamship Company. Like
4naecenas, he was a most indulgent pa
iron OF the line arts and bellies lettres.
He established asylums for orphans
anu the INDECENT aged, and was con-
Stuereo the foster father of all the sick
and the destitute.
Al the same time this sanity man,
inventor and genius was the most sue
oesslul Iorger and counterfeiter that
ever operated in a civilized country.
|
lozV; AT very early age he became an
orphan and fell into the hands of some
OF MS near relatives. They sent him
70 d college, where he began to mani
rest decided leaning toward art. To,
cultivate this penchant for sketchino
ne Withdrew TO school at Orwald, in
rlanders, and later to the Academy of
Art IN Paris. His small income being
cut OF by the death of his uncle. the
cheValler retired to the little Austrian
village or Klagenfurt where he CHANGED
upon a charming young milIiner. whom
ne welded after brief courtship.
10 raise funds for their sustenance
the young husband turned his artistic
pent TO good use in painting portraits,
Whlie ms pretty wife still continued to
work at the millinery trade. After en-
during more than the usual share of
advers1ty, Boor suddenly met with an
alflctlon that frightened him. He be-
gan 10 lose his sight to a degree where
the assortment of colors became i'm
possible to him. His means of liveli
nood came to sudden end. But. con-
trary to the usual run of mankind. the
artist did not despair.
shortly after this affection it began
10 pc noticed by the curious neighbors
that times were lettering for the Doors
he who had been but a mediocre paint
er soon developed into a business man
or the highest order. The little mil
llnery shop seemed to be a veritable
gold mine
rive years later Boor, who had SET
1oot IN the town a penniless knight. rose
TO the rank Of its most opulent citizen
He purchased several mansions which
ne furnished most sumptuously. He
began also to take a hand in large busi-
ness transactions and acquired no little
fame as a financier of the first order
me domestics in the mansion, how
ever began to consider their master
very erratic, if not demented. They
told IN whispers how he would seclude
himself for days at time in a dart
eneo chamber, doing no one knew
what.
AT this period Won Boor began to
reel the restrictions a residence in the
country imposed and he sighed for a
larger HELD OF action and he and his
wife departed for Vienna
lie began life of uneXampled splend-
OF py purchasing the magnificent do
mains of Auf der Mauer and Koenigs-
foerde, near Erlau for 5000. 900 guIden
he associated with the elite of the can
ltal, and his home soon became A. rem
devious for the devotees of art and
the sciences. Among those whom Boor
especially favored were engravers.
In the height of his success the death
At the town palace, for which Boor
paid the handsome sum of go. 600 elIId-
en-, affairs began to be carried on on n
more luxurious scale The plate was of
craven gold, the furnishings We're most
sumptuous, the rare dinners that be-
came an established bl-weekly custom
earned for the knight the scbriouet of
the Austrian Lucullus. Chance putting
it in his way, the domain of Kalten-
T.
estates by the power of his secretly
manufactured currency. Simultaneous
ly ne won the hand Of a daughter of the
Prince Won Rosenberg Orsini
Shortly subsequent to this important
event, Doors father-in-law died, leay-
ing In the hands of the fortunate chew
aller the castles of Rossegg, Teuten-
| dorf and Rosenbach, and the palatial
villa on Rosenberg at lIlagenfurt. Fill
ed with an inordinate pride for beau
tiful estates, the knight consumed 400
600 gulden, in embellishing these newly
acquired possessions,
AT about this date he published hie
opinions as to the value of savings
banks, and he drew up the plans for
the first institution of its kind that An
Strfa had ever seen. He himself was
appointed curator
In the year 1879 the chevaliers star
began its descent. The old ophthalnoic
disease returned An oculist nf muob
renown, Prof. Rosas, performed an On
GRAFTON on his eyes and succeeded in
saving one from blindness. Buf this
remalng eye was so weak that the un-
fortunate counterfeitar was forced 70
forego labor of every kind that necessjo
tated the use of sOht. Lacking his
master hand, Van Doors business in
terests began to suffer materially. Ov--
ing to the lack of funds which he eould
no more manufacture, loss upon loss
followed. AT first public attention was
not attracted, so slow were the grad
uations of his ruin, but finally az tbo
unhappy man began to sacrifice his
beautiful estates in an effort to avoid
financial collapse, much wonderment
ensued.
Five years later an assignment was
made. Nothing remained of thai coIos
sal fortune but palace on the Jaeger
zelle in Vienna, and a few scattered
estates. The news of this event went
worldwide. "'i'
Many of the following vears voro
spent in poverty, all the more dire no
cause a certain nobility Of action bad
to be maintained. The last form oe
his wife's fortune was about consumes |
when, owing to the treatment that had |
been recommended to him, his remain,
ing eye recovered to slch a degree ae |
again '''iiS
In very brief time the cheyalia,. 20
turned to Vienna. The high life of ro,.
mer days was resumed, much to H.
amazement Of all who knew him it
was supposed at the time that E5mnord'.
Francis Joseph, out OF oommiserat ior
for him, for his misfortunes had an
corded him some practical assistance
IN loso the oflcials Of The Vienna First
fact that counterfeit bank notes In ~
Sums of 10 and 100 a.1ldo,. -. - =. w |