Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-01-11
A HUMAN ENIGMA
The Count Of st. German. a Fa.
nous Old World Impostor.
CLAIMED TO BE IMMORTAL.

Said He Had Lived 2.OO0 Years ana
Had Connected an Elixir That Would
Keep Him Young and Alive Forever.
One Of the greatest impostors III the
annals of France and that the court OF
any nation has had to deal with was
the Count Of St. German. whose lie
is written down as one long mystery
and tastes much more OF fiction than
Of fact in its relating. Who ne was no
one knows nor where be came from
nor what finally became of him. He
suddenly appeared at the French court
Of Louis XIV. in 1748. He had an al
fable and convincing way about him
and succeeded in winning friends. just
who introduced him or how this hand.
some. brilliant stranger came to be IN
troduced into the court circle Is a mys'
terry It was at the period when the
most rigorous etiquette was maintain
ed and ancestry counted for much and
every title of nobility had to be thor
oughly authenticated before 1t was ac-
copied.
No one knew st. German nor had
ever heard Of him when he made MS
debut at the French court, although he
spread the report that he was 1000
years old and was able to convince
many Of the more susceptible into be-
lieving it. He had no records to show
that he was entitled to the name OF
count: he had no visible means of sup
port and yet he took up splendid quar-
ters in Paris and lived at an extrava'
CANT rate. The French court had had
some experience with adventures and
were more or less suspicious; but. In
spite of the fact that they knew moth
Ing about him. St. German was receiv'
ed with open arms and the king made
him his boon companion. Nine. de
Pompadour. the reigning beauty OF the
court. consulted him freely on anairs
Of state and society. So powerful did
he become that dukes and ambassa'
doris were among his closest friends
and bitterest foes.
Finally St. Germans claim to I'M
mortality became the general discus.
sion among all who knew him or had
heard of him. he claimed that he
would never die. for had he not al
ready lived 1900 years, and natural
" he was pointed out as the wonder
of the age. He spoke every language
then known and one as fluently as the
other. He had positive genius for
chemistry and astounded the world by
discoveries he made-or pretended to
have made-along this line. The most
monumental Of all bis fakes was the
story be told Of how, having been born
close to 800 years before Christ, he
had found age creeping up and deter
mined. through bis skill in chemistry,
to concoct the liquor that would keep
him always alive and young: The
mans perfect and intimate knowledge
Of all history led many people to be-
lieve this wild statement. He would
relate personal narratives of Nero,
Dante. Francis l. and other notables OF
former centuries.
st. German also claimed to possess
a secret of turning baser metals into
gold and Of making precious stones
His untraced wealth and the fact that
he fairly blazed with diamonds lent
credence to bis stories. He was so
clever in the workings Of bis fakes
as not to be detected. and he was never
proved to be swindler. gambler or
a spy, though he was charged with be-
ing all three.
He was about fifty years old at the
time Of his appearance at the French
court. He carried everything before
him while he remained there. but he
was restless and finally drifted from
court to court and later is credited
with having become the boon com.
panion of the Landgrave, Charles of
Hesse. and is reported to have died in
Holstein in 1880.
But did be die or is he still living?
Naturally he is not alive, but no one
ever knew what became of him. Gros-
ley, an eminent scientist and fellow Of
the Royal society. believed he saw st.
German in a French prison during the
reign Of terror in 1874. Lord Lytton in
1860 met a man who seemed the en-
bodiment of the old count Van
Damme writes Of a mysterious "ma-
jor" who was in the court of Louis Ma
poleon in 1855, who was of no known
Of undiscovered origin and
with plenty Of money from source
none could learn.
A man must have possessed excep-
tional ability as q faker and must
have had the trick down to an art to
have fooled such intelligent men as
Andrew Lang, Lord Lytton, Grosley
and many others. and for that reason
he must be put down as one Of the
most monumental fakes Of history
Philadelphia Press.