The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-21
LOOKING FOR THE BARON.
Ocean VoyaEers Now Sny He Had n
Most Taking Way.

Most Tnl<inE Way.
1 NEW YORK, Oct. 20.-Various well tc
do passengers who reached this country
from Antwerp. on September % last, are
/ looking for traces Of Baron" Won Seefeld
fascinating :.dventurer, who disappeared
F., simultaneously with some of their money
I He gratifed their penchant for titled So
ciety quite as pleasantly as IL his title had
been real, and then dropped out of sight
before shattering the Illusion he created
But it has been shattered since.
The man in question may have beer
christened Harry Hawkins. Jean Crapaud
Hans Schneider, or Ivan Ivanovitch with
equal probability, for he speaks English
French, German, and Russian with equal
fuency, but for the facilitation of business
he laid claim to the title of Freiherr Won
Seefeld. That title was once really borne
by scioEs of German nobility, but it has
been extinct since 1850, a fact which some
passengers on the Friesland did not hap
pen to know.
One of these passengers, Francis Marie
Vermorcken. portrait artist. who lives
at the Clinton. 253 West Forty-second
Street, by arrangement of the ship officials,
found himself sharing double suite with
the 'Freiberr F. Won Seefeld," a tall,
broad shouldered, aristocratc looking
young man, with military figure and a
distinguished yet affable manner The
"Freiherr" had dark hair and eyes, and
his moustache displayed the twist which
was revealed to the world by Kaiser Will
helm of Germany.
The saloon passengers were sure that the
"Freiherr.' or Baron" as they soon be-
gan to call him, could have obtained this
particular twist nowhere but at the hands
of the imperial court barber, and the val
ldity OF his claim to title was attested
to the satisfaction of the most skeptical
The Friesland left Antwerp on Septem-
Der Is. On the voyage over the Baron.
was the social lion." Men declared him
"rattling good fellow with no nonsense
about him." and women thought nothing
SO inspiring as to promenade on deck in
the moonlight with this fascinating noble
man. The fact that these promenades were
frequently followed by the discovery that
the "Baron's" fair companions had been
SO unfortunate as to lose tewelry never
cast pail upon the blithesome social life
on shipboard. The ladies always concluded
that their valuables must have dropped of
somehow and rolled into the sea. And no
one mourned the losses more gracefully
than the Baron
Some of the male passengers began to
while away spare hours with a few hands
at cards. and when baccarat was proposed
the Baron" smilingly acquiesced. He won
about all that anyone cared to lose at
baccarat and his companions tried to turn
the tables on him by resort to the fas-
cinating amusement o: draw poker The
Baron proved his ability to hold four
deuces against the next best mans full
house with facility that became painful,
and the Americans abandoned the effort to
teach him the game. Frederick W. Sin
clair who is connected with the china
house Of George +. Bassett G. Co., SO Park
Place, was one of the players mulcted. He
estimates that the Baron" must have
netted at least 81 geo at cards.