The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-11-28
DODcED A LEGACY
Romance of a Soldier of the
French Foreign Legion.
CAST ASIDE MANY MILLIONS.
This Singular Titled Austrian Refused
to Disclose His Identity When His
Good Fortune Became Known, and
His Fate Is an Unsolved Mystery.

His Fate Is an Unsolved Mystery.
The French Foreign Legion is the
most picturesque military organization
In the world. 1t is the refuge Of men
OF all nations gone wrong through Inn
| pulse or misfortune who wish to bury
| themselves In oblivion while fighting
to regain an honorable place in the
world Of life and activity.
| The rank and file Of the corps is
composed of princes, dukes marQuises,
| counts and yiscounts. generals and Of
| ticers of all grades, all arms, Of the
| armies of all countries, magistrates,
| financiers, diplomats, lawyers and
| professional functionaries Of all sorts;
| honest adventurrs who simply want
| to "see the world" the neurasthenic,
| the disheartened, the unemployed; !;
| those who, having lost everything but
honor or having lost honor itself,
would make n new start.
| All this diverse human metal thrown
into the melting pot together, is even
| tually nodded into that brave, stoic
loyal, devoted, patient and tenacious
prototype of the man of arms, the
Legionary.
OF the Foreign Legion thousand
romantic tales are told, OF which the
following true story may be taken as
an example:
One day General Bruneau, command
er of the legion, received a registered
| ~Sc ~
by the representative OF well known
Austrian detective agency, to the fol-
lowing effect:
Monsieur le General-Will you kindly In
form me II young man Of Austro- Hun
garian nationality supposed TO have en-
| listed in the Foreign Legion under the
| name OF Justus Perth is now at Sadia =?
| You Will understand the interest we have
In finding him when ! inform you con-
| fdentally that in consequence of unfore-
seen happenings he has become, without
| his knowledge or expectation, sole heir to
| a fortune of 100000 crowns. Inclosed is
a photograph taken when he was a stu
dent at the University OF Prague.
The photograph showed a stocky
youth Of perhaps twenty to twenty two
years Of age and whose somewhat
beefy face was fringed with precocious
whiskers He wore eyeglasses, which
made it difficult to Judge of the form
and shade Of his eyes
General Bruneau's first step was to
have his secretary adjutant search the
enlistment rolls for the name Of JUS
tus Perth. No such name appeared.
Then he had all the Austrians OF the
detachment line up and scanned their
faces in the hope OF identifying the
original Of the photograph Only two.
| both Of whom were recent arrivals,
showed possible traits Of resemblance,
and these in a very imperfect degree.
These two Austrians were closely
examined by Dhuermer, the secretary,
who spoke the German language flu
emily. Both denied stubbornly that
they had ever used or heard OF the
name of Justus Perth.
Possibly 1t may loosen your
tongues" pursued the secretary, IF I
tell you why the general Is looking for
this Perth. The fellow has just inher-
tied 100000 crowns Now, is either
one of you Justus Perth"
"Nein."
"Nein."
Send them back to their companies
1t is of no use" said General Bruneau.
Time passed and the incident had
been forgotten when in 1902 there
came to Bruneau u formidable looking
envelope bearing the government seal
of the minister of foreign affairs. 1t
inclosed a letter which drew from the
officer an exclamation OF surprise.
This letter was diplomatic para
| phrase Of the former inquiry by the
Vienna secret service agency regarding
| Justus Perth 1t insisted upon fur
ther investigation, to be conducted
with more care and discretion than In
the previous instance. Furthermore,
the commandant was conf1dentially ad-
vised that "Justus Perth" was only a
fictitious name and that the real title
Of the person to be found at any price
was Count Otto Won X.
Another photograph, more recent
than the one which had accompanied
the first inquiry, was appended.
mo sooner did l set eyes on this pho
tograph," continued Bruneau, than
made the astounding discovery that
the Count Otto Won x, the pseudo
Justus Perth, was none other than the
secretary-adjutant, Dhuermer, who
had so energetically questioned the
| two bewildered Austrians called up be-
| fore me on the former occasion!
My course was now simple enough,
Shortly after that first interrogatory
| our secretary y-interpreter, Dhuermer,
had been transferred to Tonkin, In
regular course Of the. annual relief Of
| the battalions serving there. This in
formation | wired to headquarters.
Next day the response came:
"Legionary Dhuermer sent home ao-
tount of health, en- route Singapore.
Another cipher telegram to the
| French consul at Singapore brought
the following:
"Leglonary Dhuermer, alias Count Otto
| Won X, disappeared from transport steam
er. roadstead Of Singapore; cannot be
found
And the mystery remains unsolveo
to this day"
Around their campfires In the Sahara
| what tales might not be told II ever
these silent, tmpassiye Trappists OF ac-
ton should but speak their storiesl-
Los Angeles Tribune.
storms OF Life.
- storm following storm and wave
succeeding wave give additional hard