The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-07-19

was murdered in such brutal fashion
for the sake of robbery while travel
ing in Bulgaria by an officer delegated
to act as her escort during the journey,
an ide-de-camp of her son, the famous
White General, the hero OF Plevna, and
consequently the generals sister, Ie-
Made. married To the Imperial Duke of
Leuehtenberg, and the lovely heroine
OF the life OF the late Grand Duke
Alexis. was her niece. Indeed. 1T was
In the .Adcrbers salons that Xenaide
Skobolom, one OF the most beautiful
and fascinating women OF her day.
learnt to know both the stupid but
goodiooking Duke OF Leuchtcnberg
under the circumstances, that zenalde,
at her death. should have left her
superb collection OF jewels and her
considerable fortune TO Count Beley-
skoi, the natural son of Grand Duke
Alexis by another woman. instead OF
making provision for the well-nigh
pennless old age of her aunt, Countess
Adlerberg. to whom she owed so much.
The Adlerbergs first came into prom
inence with Vladimir Fedorevitch Adler
berg. who, as an officer of the Guards,
took part in the wars of 1912 and 1914.
and then became in iS17--that Is 10
say. at the age OF t"enty-fonr-th
favoritc aide-de-camp OF Grand Duke
Nicholas, who in 1895 succeeded TO the
throne as Nicholas /.
Aderberg was the illegitimate son
of a Prince Charles OF Hesse-Darm--
stadt and OF Nile. Kammerer, and
was about the same age as Nicholas
and very good looking. He won his
epaulettes OF major general in the
war with Turkey in 1928. and in i:47
received from his imperial patron and
friend the title OF count for the SER
vices which he had rendered as post
master-general in inaugurating uni.
form postal rate and regular postal
service throughout the length and
breadth OF the Russian empire. In
1852 he was appointed minister of the
imperial house, and Nicholas l., on
his deathbed, recommended him to his
son and successor. Alexander Ill, Alex
ander became quite as much attached
to the Adierbergs as his father, made
the old counts eldest son, Alexander
Adlerberg, popularity known as adler
berg H., his Fidus Achates. and even
tuaiiy appointed him 70 succeed his
father as minister of the imperial
house. keeping his purse forever Open
at the disposal of his friend,
Adlerberg H., husband of the old
lady who has just been borne 10 her
grave, was not dishonest man but
had no conception of the value of
quently cxtricated from financial diff
culties OF his own by Alexander H..
but. moreover. as minister OF the Inn
perial house. got the AFFAIRS relating to
property OF the reignlng family into
dreadful state confusion When
Alexander III. succeeded to the throne
Count Adlerberg had TO make way for
Count decentralization. He only
survived very short time Alexander
lis murder. and left his wife and sons
to bear alone the burden OF the dis
favor of the new regime, for Alexan-
der Ill was strongly prejudiced against
the Adlerbergs, and, as usual in Russia
when imperial favorites cease to please
the monarch. the whole world aban-
dons thcm-fortunate indeed. IL 1t does
not revenge itself for their former
power By turning against them as ac-
tive enemies.
One OF the dead countess's sons was
for a long time secretary of the Rus
sian embassy in London. and a par
ticular friend and crony OF Edward
VII thirty or forty years ago; another
was military attache of the Russian
embassy at Berlin and specially at
tached to the staff OF the old German
Emperor: while the countesss nephew
and the most notable member of her
circle was her nephew Nicholas, Prince
of Mingrclia, brother of Princess Alex
ander Obolenski, a one-time candidate
for the Bulgarian throne, and whom I
recall particularly in connection with
his inimitablv droll manner of singing
comic songs, Russian as well as
French in a way that used to cause
his aunt to raise her hands in laugh
ing horror and protest.
Copyright, 1910, by the brentwood
COmDanv.)