The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-04
ENIGMA IN RHODES LIFE.

49, mage from Gaboriau or Dumas,
- having for its scene of action Rus
- paris. London and South Africa,
:, de- Blowitz has communicated over
- SIGNATURE to the Paris Matin what
- describes as 1.-THE Living Enigma"
-. FASTENED the death of Cecil
tides The statements made by NJ.
:. pIowitz attract widespread attention.
:. ,s known that the prince of foreign
.,-respondents was at various periods
- bie life on terms of close acquaint-
..os if not of friendship. with the
,.oding personages that figure in the
.-.5adv. which, with due apology to
:, de Blowitz, 1 summarize and tran
.oribe. retaining as far as may be the
Lowing phraseology of the French Or
ginal Aou have
,,neared." writes M. de Rlowltz, the
Sodv of Cecil Rhodes-the Colossus OF
Dbodes-will lie buried in the heart of
land of Rhodesia on the hill of Ma
~. which he wished to make the
yl,IbaIla of the future South African
,,o3eration. Something besides
s,me immense fortune and an impe-
"a Iagacv rivalling that of Caesars
80 been left to humanity by Cecil
pbodps. for at the threshold OF his
.onb stands a living enigma, persona
sa5 nv a woman of exalted birth. This
4 man assumed a place beside Cecil
Dbodes during the later years of his
4 lie and has now sunk into the lowest
5epths of judicial abyss.
.tTbe scales in which the law courts
u.iu soon weigh the action of this wo-
nan will also serve to weigh the rep
'+ation of Cecil Rhodes, for If this
Imam comes forth innocent from the
ideal of the South African tribunal,
he scourge raised or lowered for or
orainst her must strike and tarnish
ne renUwn of her dead accuser. 1t
ie for this reason, before the clamor
now resounding about the conqueror
hecornes silent that 1 wish to make
lnoNn the salient features of the life,
he hone and receptions of Princess
catherine Radziwill, whose name
clashes in such bitter irony with the
heating trumpets that proclaim the
fame of Cecil Rhodes.
princess Catherine Radziwill is of
polish origin. She was born Countess
Rzewuska, and she is a daughter of
that Countess Rzewuska whose maiden
name was Dachkoff. Her mother,
when little over Is years old, fell in
love with Count RZewusk, who was
in his fftieth year, and, notwithstand-
ing the opposition of her parents, she
married him. Princess Catherine Rad
twill was born of this marriage. When
very Young she married Prince Will
liam Radziwill. of the Prussian branch
of that family. By this marriage she
had three children. One of her daugh-
tiers is Princess Butcher. Her husband
for whom Princess Catherine never en-
tertained any affection, lives in obscu-
rity which was not removed even after
their separa ton, and it is only the
stroke of lightning that has now fallen
upon the princess that can shed light
upon the gray shadow in which Prince
William is enVelOped.
In the district of Poltava, at the
time when Mile. Dachkoff married
Count Rzewuski, there lived a boyard
whose ancestors dated from the ear
lest period of the Russian empire This
boyards name was Pachkoff. He led a
royal and eXtravagant life on his mag
nifcent estates. He had his own reg
iment of cavalry, his own musicians,
his private company of actors, ac-
tresses and dancers; and the nobility
tor a hundred miles around fiocked to
his castle to participate in the mag
niicent festivities Pachkoff had
serf, who, like all serfs, had no proper
name, and to whom he intrusted the
management of his estates. This serf
was married and had a son, who was
just the same age as Mile. Pachkoff,
the boyard's daughter. The children
used to play together, and Pachkoff
caused his serf's son to be educated
with the same care as his own daugh-
ter The serf's son passed his eXami-
nations with great brilliancy, and to
insure his admission into the Imperial
Cadet Cnl1pOa Panhknff civil
freedom to the father and named him
POltavtzeff, that is to say, the man
from POltava.' Young PoltaVtZeff en-
tered the Cadet College, and soon aft
er has graduation selected his regi-
ment and became a captain. He re-
turned on leave. of absence. to Poltava
to see his father. He also saw Mile.
ralunot1. Shortly after his arrived
Pachkoff gave a grand fete, to which
$50 families of the district were invit-
ed.
1T is necessary to explain at this
point of the narrative that for twenty
five years each time that the steward
brought to Pachkoff the accounts of
the estate the old boyard invariably
replied, No! No! L don't want to be
bothered with accounts. Supply me
with the money 1 require, and never
mind the accounts
The day before the grand fete Cap
tain Poltavtzeff said to his father, I
am going away Tomorrow
Why asked his father, are you
not going to the fete?'
mo
You make a mistake You are a
captain, you are handsome, you are
nee, and / am sure that some attrac-
i've heiress will be glad to marry you.
That is exactly what I must avoid.
love Mile. Pachoff. 1 can never
@loVe any one else. can never hope to
wed her, so 1 prefer to go away
Wait a day longer. 1 will speak
III your behalf, and then you may go
oil it you like.
Inc steward put on his festival
O'"e4es and went to find his boyard.
-, Llsten to me, Pachkoff, he said.
or twenty-five years you never would
permit me to go over the accounts with
you. Nevertheless, 1 have kept them
WIN great care. You have an income
VI 100000 rubles. You have always
spent twice as much. I began by ad-
Ndhclng you small sums. Then with
your consent l sold small lots of land,
anu uuly gave you the purchase money.
11I,lteIWard, also with your consent,
soIu larger lots and then whole farms
anu domains. These 1. bought myself
made fortunate investments, and the
eSuiI Is that to-day L am the owner
VI everything here, and if you had only
"ndt remains to you, you would not
W dole to pay for the fete you are to
give tomorrow
Inc boyard burst into a furious pas
sui and the steward, after calmly