The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-23
From the Kansas City Star.

q
the bodies of those that loved
i me most Every one of them
died a violent death"
So the Countess Maria TarnowsN wrote
in her autobiography as she sat smoking
cigarette in comfortably appointed
cell in an Italian penitentiary overlooking
the Adriatic. Well, one more victim has
been added to the romantic wreckage
This time it is the dangerously beautiful
Countess Tarnowsd herself. With the
countess found hanged in compartment
OF the Kiev express, the st. petersburg
police have an interesting mystery to
solve. Did the countess, whose life was
as reckless and tragedy filled as II IL
had been llvedrin the papers of some ro-
mantle paper back end her own HE! IL
is more than possible that some paramour
on whom the countess once smiled with
those deadly green-blacl< eyes of hers and
whom she cast aside stripped of money
family. friends and position. bartered in
exchange for her treacherous friendship
sought the primal revenge of a ruined
soul and arranged the trip or maybe ac-
companied her and murdered her on the
train. The St. Petersburg police may find
that true.
Countess Tarnowski was released last
year after serving two years of an s-year
sentence for completely in one of the most
wanton conspiracies to murder Europe
has ever known. She was the daughter
Of Count O'Rurik. a descendant of an
Irish family O'Rourke was good enough
in the Emerald Isle. The modified spell
ing of the name was adopted when
member of the family emigrated to Rus
sia and rose to wealth and the nobility
Countess Tarnowski was born at Kiev in
1873 and so (by subtraction) was only
a when the Russian police found her
body in the I<iev express. Against ner
60 ather's wishes. she eloped when only IL
and was married to the Count Tarnowski
a Russian nobleman of large income Only
two years after her marriage the iirst
tragedy of her life occurred wheh her
husband found her in the company OF
supposed friend. Count Tarnowsk shot
and killed the man in his own home ana
was acquitted in the trial that followed.
That scandal stirred the town OF kiev'
hut for the beautiful Countess Tarnowsk
II was only a curtain raiser to the melo-
dramatic five acts OF her life that fol-
lowed.
Divorce proceeding resulted, OF course
and the countess had for her lawyer
Luz Prilukoff. an eminent member OF
the bar of her native city. he was d
,narried man with children, and prac-
tice netting him $4,000 year, but ne
fou for the charms of the bewitching
countess and when her divorce had been
obtained. abandoned his wife, family and
90 reer and fled with the siren countess
Several writers have tried to describe
tho charm possessed by the countess.
This il the way one of them did IT,
written of course before they 1ouho
her body in the train: "She Is OF ma
iestic. yet supple figure, rising 20
nearly five feet nine, with Ireciah
bust and necl1-and a Grecian neao'
ware n not for her expression of ami
mation-and with green-black eyes,
quick to melt into softness or harocn
into hate-a voluptuous, inslnualihs
mouth-and all crowned by a wealth OIL
brownish black hair that CLEANS golden
bronze in the sunlight. Her mental
rifts as conversationalist, linguist
and musician are in keeping win her
alluring physical beauty Really some
OF those reckless Europeans should
have glimpsed the danger sign flying
from woman as overcapitaiized as
the but-and that's the story.
The Countess Tarnowski was having
a merry time travelling with her lawyer
Prilukoff, spending the settlement made
on her when she was divorced In
| her visits to gay cities of Europe she
met Count Bamarowski, former ad-
mirer and man of great wealth. His
passion revived and he proposed mar
riage. The countess played with him.
keeping him waiting while, ana
finally accepted him. Meantime she had
picked up and added to her collection
young Russian student physician,
Nicholas NaumOff. He said afterwards;
'.she cast the spell of her terrible eyes
over me and made me her slave. l
feared her. yet she fascinated me- He
abandoned his career. neglected his
parents and followed the scorceress. he
was like = dog in devotion to its
mistress.
Now. meantime, the countess had In