Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-24
Welded to a Russian Count Who Thought
She Had Money.
DISAPPOINTED, he SEEKS TO POISON HER
Marriage Declared to Be Illegal According
to the Russian Law.
CAR coMPELs HIM TO RIGHT THE WRONG
Bride Leaves Him Mt the Altar and
Refuses After His Death to
Claim HIS Estate
or Title.

Copyright, 1908, by Press Publishing Coz
LONDON, May 2a-(New York World
Cablegram-Special' Telegram.)-The only
known case in which an American girl,
married to a foreign nobleman, has never
used her husbands title is that Of Gene
We've Ward, the eminent actress. She
lives now In London in retirement, so far
as the stage is concerned, but all the
artistic, literary and fashionable London
world hocks to her Mondays at home
She is called the Grand Dame of the
English theater, so stately is her presence,
so irreproachable has been her life.
Wonderfully beautiful she Is still. with a
perfectly nodded figure, hands that many
a famous artist has reproduced in marble.
big, dark eyes that flash fire or bubble
over with fun as she talks. a delicate
complexion and masses OF white hair piled
high on her shapely head.
Genevieve Ward is Countess Guerbel by
right Of marriage, but no one dares call
her countess. She hates the title, has
never made theatrical capital out of II,
as many actresses would have done, and
does not use 1t under any circumstances.
Now that her husband. Count Guerbel, is
dead, there are family estates in Russia
she might have. broad acres of land, vast
Forests and palaces. Her husband had been
won to a passionate regard for her, simply
because she would not tolerate his wicked
life, and he wanted her to have his prop
erty. But she would not accept it. She
had worked hard, had lived simply and
had accumulated wealth. But II she had
been poor 1t would have been the same.
Tells Her Life Tragedy.
Genevieve Ward has never allowed the
story of her romantic marriage to be pub
lished and her most intimate friends know
very little about it. Many IF them do not
know that her husband is dead now, but,
sitting in the cozy drawing room OF her
picturesque villa in Regents park, she told
her story for the World as she knitted on
a pair of socks for her gardener-she is
always knitting and makes dozens OF pairs
Of socks for her servants and the poor of
her neighborhood, The room was full of
souvenirs Of her many stage tfiumphs of
the days when she played "Forget-Me-Notv
from one end Of the world to the other.
giving II over, 2.2O0 times; portraits of her
as the tragedy queen in Macbeth"
Beckett" "Lucretia Borgla," Henry
VIII and other plays. At times, as she
told the sad story, she became a veritable
queen OF tragedy herself.
THE beginning happened many years
ago. l was just Is and L was at Nice with
my mother She was the daughter of
OlucOh Aces u Ou0 liIlS mayor Oh new
York. and she lived much in Paris, where
the famous men and women of the day
came TO her salon. My father had been
the American consul at Bristol and my
brother had held various consular and
/ diplomatic positions in Europe. II then
, happened that at Nice we knew all the
great society people. and there was a
r~umor-which we knew nothing about until
} later-that / was an heiress. You know
the European nobility think every Ameri-
!, can girl abroad is enormously rich.
well. at Nice that season the social Hon
was Count Guerbel. He drove magnificent
horses, gave splendid dinners, was one of
the handBomest men in Europe and a
I brilliant talker. His family was a noted
one in Russia. connected with the imperial
family. The count himself had been a play
mate of the czar, Alexander IL, and one
Of the pages OF the empress, and his
brother was at this time a member of the
cars household.
} Midst Flowers and Sunshine.
Every woman at Nice raved over Count
n Guerbel and it was natural enough that |
a should have been BATTERED by his atten-
$ tions and finally infatuated with him.
v He asked my mother for my hand witt
4 old world courtesy we thought very
y charming. l accepted and the marriage
d was arranged. When my mother sug
a gested the American consulate at Nice a.
the best place for the wedding, he mad,
d no objection. So we were married there
b 1T was In the midst of flowers and sun
shine, with delighted friends surrounding
US, congratulating US. The count appeared
deeply in love and was devoted to me.
But the Austrian ambassador, a frlenC
Of my mother went to her after the cere
. mony and told her very gravely that 1
was not a legal marriage. The count coul,
n not be married without the czar's consen
and according to the rites OF the Greel
church.
You see. the count had discovered I wa
not rich. He had plenty OF land. but n,
money, and he wanted to marry me be
= cause he thought l had money.
l. This was like a thunderbolt from a elea
oil sky, He consented readily enough to NEE
st us in Paris and have the ceremony per
ID formed there in the Russian church. Blu
n when he arrived certain religious cere
As monies Of his church were being observe
ly and we could not be married immediately
T. One day he found ne alone in our apart
I'd ments and tried to get ne to elope wit
n him. 81
s. "A few days later he tried to poison me
is gentle devil He handed me a glass Q
wine. but aS / was about to drink II m
mother dashed 1t from my hand. She ha
q seen him put a powder into II, He wa
so disconnected that ne ned"
What a terrible man." the correspond
ent exclaimed.
mo worse than many other America
girls meet at fashionable resorts in Euror
and marry for the pleasure OF being calIe
D. countess or duchess and living In an ar
Id cestral palace" the actress replied.
HE was accepted by all society in Mic,
,st HE had embezzied money and elope
he with another mans wife when he was l
his relatives in Russia told me afterwart
m. His Russian friends at Nice probably kne
It. hut such men are always protected b
their aristooratic friends, who would new,
list cream OF warning an american giri agami
them.
After the poisoning scene he disappear,
0copttnued an FI9th Pa~sN