Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-28
How Nine. Harfert Made Big Fortune

The scandal of the remarkable Mrs
Chadwick is nothing compared TO the
doings of Nine. Wilhelmine Hartert, the
usuress and matrimonial agent, whose
surprising career in German high socl-
ety was recently exposed in the Berlin
criminal court 1t came to light that
Baron Nettlebladt, the young German
nobleman, committed suicide rather
than comply with the demands of the
adventures, to whom he owed money.
These were that the baron should marry
an heiress indicated by Nine. Hartert
and settle his debt out of his wife
dowry. At her trial it was proved that
the usuress, who kept up superb es-
tablishment in Berlin, had made half a
million dollars by getting young aristo-
Gratis into her clutches and then arrang-
ing marriages for them and taking a
''rake Off"
Considering her ordinary birth, lack
of education and refinement and her in
itial impecuniosity, the rapidity with
which Nine. H.-rtert forced her way in
to Berlin society and secured an lnf1u-
entail social position is truly amaz-
ing. She is the daughter of a street
scavenger who piled his occupation in
the German capital for thirty years,
while her mother began her career as
maid of all work in a common lodging
house and ended it as washerwoman.
Nine. Hartert gained her education
partly in the public state schools
where attendance is compulsory up to
the age of IA, and partly in the vice.
laden streets of Berlin. Following her
mothers footsteps, she began as do
mestic servant and drifted at an early
age into the employment of smart sim
gle women who lived alone without
chaperons
Good Manners and Dubious Morals
In these luxurious houses the future
Nine. Hartert gradually became
familiar with the manners and customs
of men and women about town. She
observed how formal calls are made;
how people behave in smart society;
how a table is laid for dinner; in brief,
how a household is conducted on fash
ionable lines. At the age of 25 she mar
ried a waiter named Hartert, and ac-
companied him to London and Paris,
whittier the ups and downs of his trade
led him. In this way the scavenger's
daughter gained a practical knowledge
of languages and a wider acquaintance
with the manners and customs of other
countries Iartert, the waiter. was
drunken vagabond, and went through
long period of unemployment IL Lon
don, and finally blew his brains out in a
fit of depression. Left alone. penniless,
and with formidable debts to pay. Mime.
Hartert fed to Berlin, where she sought
employment of various kinds without
success.
Disappointed i'm her efforts, she con-
ceived the idea of exploiting the weak
nesses of high society. with which she
had become acquainted before and after
her marriage. BY pure audacity she
succeeded in taking large house in a
fashionable street i'm the most aristo-
cratic Quarter in Berlin, though she had
not a single cent in her pocket to pay
the rent. She contrived to persuade the
owner OF the house that she was a
wealthy woman in momentary financial
difficulty, and, having obtained the
house, was equally successful in induc-
ing tradesmen to furnish IT ana fit 1t
up in a sumptuoe SLY luxurious manner
on credit.
Having progressed thus far. it was
comparatively easy to obtain dresses
and the best of everything on the same
system. Finally, by pledging the con-