The Washington herald., 1908-01-05
COUNT is 4 FUGITIVE
German Noble Forced to Flee
from Fathers Ire.
TELLS OF HIS PROSECUTIONS
Pursued as a Lunatic, He Five
Times Escapes from His CaptoTs,
and Is Now i'm Hiding in a Bavar-
ian Vinage-wife with Him in His
Humble Home.

Berlin, Jan. ito a special correspond
ent of a newspaper who sought him out
in the lonely little snow-clad village Of
Volkers. hidden 500 feet above sea level.
amid the hills Of northern Bavaria, Count
Erasmus "a Erbach-Erbach has for the
first time given the full story Of the
persecution which he says he has suffer
ed at the hands Of his millionaire parents
for marrying the woman of his choice
Dora Fischer, the beautiful daughter OF
a laundress.
Il viii be recalled that the count. who
celebrates his twenty-fourth birthday
next week, escaped from a lunatic asylum
AT Ahrweiler, in the Rhlneland, where
his father had him placed after securing
an annulment OF his marriage. The count
fled to Bavaria, rejoined his wife, and
took refuge in the house OF hospitable
/ forester at Volkers. near Wurzburg.
where he told the correspondent the fol-
lowing tale of his romantic experience:
The Counts story.
This cottage in the woods has been
the retreat which has sheltered us ever
since my fathers anger pursued us. Five
separate times has my father sought 10
deprive me Of my liberty, and FIVE sep
arate times have I made my escape Have
you not in English an expression Love
will find a way?'
MY first fight occurred two years ago,
when Fraulein Fischer and went TO Lon
| Gon to get married My next escape took
place last June, from Heidelberg. where
had gone on leave Of absence from
/ a private sanitarium in the Taunus. From
Heidelberg my wife and fed to Switzer-
land to consult Prof. Speyer, the cele-
/ brated alienist. At Berne my father. for
tiie first time, had me arrested. but I
eICded my captOrs at the railway sta
ton at Bale while being transported 10
the AhTweiler asylum.
1t was on the occasion Of this fight
that a friend recommended to me this
remote haven of refuge. and here my
wife and / spent the summer and autumn
until on November T. the local gendarmes.
acting on my fathers behest. again ar
rested me and took me to the Munich
/ specialist, Herr Kraeplin. Once more !
broke away while changing trains AT
Wurzburg and betook myse.4 to the
Reichstag deputy, Or. Thaler, of Wurz-
/ burg who had me examined by a nerve
/ specialist Of the University of Wurzburg,
I Prof. Weygandt. He made such a ia
vorablC diagnosis that the Bavarian gov
eminent gave instr ctions that l should
never again be taken into custody on
grounds of responsibility.
Arrested Third Time.
ITO improve my situation. and above
/ all TO secure the annulment of my guar
dianship, then went to consult my So
/ licitor at Frankfort A careless remark
by my wife resulted in the disclosure of
our whereabouts to my father, who,
forthwith, had me arrested a thru time
/ in the streets of Frankfort
/ Il was taken, first to a sanitarium in
| the Taurus, and then to the lunatic
/ asylum at AhrWeiler, whence 1 escaped
/ last week, not through the assistance of
a bribed attendant, but by the help of
one who sympathized with my misfor-
/ tunes. Much of my time here is spent
/ with the Capuehin monks. whose monas-
! terry is in the heights of yonder noun
| tain They are extending to me every
kindness, even the hospitality Of their
/ humble table. You ssee, / am even re-
| duced to the necessity of eating the bread
/ OF charity for having committed the un-
/ pardOnable crime of marrying without
my fathers consent.
My pTivations have utterly failed to
chasten me. I insist on the preservation