New-York tribune., 1907-12-30
A DRAMA OF CLUB LIFE.

Count Edward Sizzo Won Norris who committed
suicide the other day in London by means of an
overdose Of morpha, had already booked his
passage for the United States. and the eve
of sailing for New York in connection with the
business of the company which he formed about a
year ago for the purpose Of furnishing the principal
cities of the United States with the famous medici
nal waters of Marienbad- He was familiar figure
I'm New York. both in Wall Street and at the lead
ing restaurants, while in the clubs he attracted at
tention by his nordinate for gambling. It
this. indeed that his bane. and although
his mother was great heiress namely. a MEM
Der OF that Jewish family Of Heine-Cieldern which
the Vienna "Fremdenblatt,'' and to which
the poet Heine belonged. yet ne had not only run
through all his own money. but had also pretty
well exhausted the generosity of his relatives, who
helped him time and again
His financial troubles together with the social
disadvantages to which he subjected at the
court OF Vienna, and in officia- and social life
there, by reason of his mothers birth and parent
age led him to quit the army, which he held a
commission in crack lancer regiment and after
that he tried many things and was for a time
connected with bank at johannesburg, and after
ward with various mining houses and diamond
firms. both in South Africa and in London. On one
occasion, when he had lost some $4,000 or $4,000 at
cards at the ST James's Club. in Piccadiily. where
the play is invariably high. he was dropped by the
club for the failure to pay his losses within the
given time and for his neglect to make any ar
rangements for their liquidation. Some months
later he sudde lily reappeared settled his losses In
full and insisted. moreover, paying interest.
The club realizing that he had suffered by the
stigma of having been dropped for defaulting in
the payment of his so-caed debts of honor" re-
garded his conduct conscientious that IL re-
instated him on its books.
It was shortly after this that he became involved
in a quarrel at the club with Prince Michael Rad
twill, then attached to the Russian Embassy in
London. The dispute originated in the question as
TO precedence in taking their turn at the card
table. Although Sizzo Norris in the right and
was given right by all present, yet he courteously
offered to make way for the prince. who. having
entirely lost temper rudely declined the offer
the ground that he could not accept favor
from who not a gentleman. The count
promptly knocked the prince down. A challenge
ensued, and the duel took place near Paris. in
which three shots fired by each combatant
without result the principals leaving the field
without reconciliation. Prince Michael Radziwill
was Immediately afterward recalled from London
at the suggestion of King Edward, and left the
diplomatic service. But Sizzo Norris. although thus
supported. not only by the st. Jamess Club but
even by the arbiter of English society namely.
the King. never recovered his good spirits after
that. He became imbued with the impression that
what with the handicap Of his mothers birth and
his own repeated financial difficulties his social
ceptance in the circles in which he moved due to
indulgence and suferance rather than to right and
that moreover The various trades in which he had
been engaged, notably the South African diamond
brokerage business, calculated to still further
as Prince Michael Radziwill, in fact with the men
among whom the social lines of his life were cast
He was never the same again after this Radziwill
episode and from being the most CHEEKY, even tenn
pered and even gay companion. developed into a
moody irritable man.
The letter which he left addressed to his brother
Gustave left doubt to the fact that he had
taken an overdose of morphia for the purpose of
ending his life and it is related in London. though
an attempt has been made to hush up the story.
that he had two nights previously again lost more
at the St Jamess Club card tables than he could
possbly afford to pay One Of his brothers, and
the one who appeared at the inquest In Lon
don was Count Gustave. who is now Austrian
Consul at Milan. The eldest brother, Joseph,
who is estranged from the remainder Of his family.
makes his home in Paris. where he has married
Mime Blanche Agostini, a union which is likely 10
relieve him from all financial necessities for the
remainder of his days. Another nernoer OF the
dead mans family who was on terms of considera-
,la Intimacy with him his cousin, the judi
ciatlx senarated Princess of Monaco, who born at
Nezv orleans as Miss Alice Hene, and married in
tho first Mace TO the French Due de Richelieu, was
a niece of the counts mother Very rich, she
,,o,,d have been only too glad TO rescue him from
his financial difficulties but, while he was ready
eno,rrh TO accept help from men relatives and
.rends he drew the at assistance Of this kind
from women especially from women of whom he
,,,ae so fond as the princess. The Sizzo Norls
Family is a very ancient house. the name OF which
6gres in the patriciate of Florence as far back as
nine centuries ago. which received the title of
count of Austria and of the Holy Roman Empire
from Empress Maria Theresa and her consort EN-
peror Francis