The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-03-05
DODCED A LEGACY
Romance Of a Soldier Of the
French Foreign Legion.
CAST ASIDE MANY MILLIONS.

Ibis Singular Titled Austrian Refused
to Disclose His Identity When His
Good Fortune Became Known, and
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 i'm
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 vlsc0unts, generals and Of
ticers of all grades, all arms, OF the
armies OF all countries, magistrates,
hnanciers, diplomats, lawyers and
professional functionaries of all sorts;
honest Adventures who simply want
to ''see the world" the neurasthenic,
the disheartcned, the unemployed; /;
those who, having lost everything but
honor or having lost honor itself.
would make new start.
All this diverse human metal, thrown
into the melting pot together, Is even
tually nodded into that brave, stole,
loyal, devoted, patient and tenacious
prototype of the man Of arms, the
LeglOnary.
OF the Foreign Legion n 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
letter postmarked Vienna and signed
by the representative Of we'll known
Austrian detective agency, to the fol
lowing effect
Monsieur lie General-Wm you kindly in
form mo 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
tidentlally that IN consequence Of unfore-
seen happenings ne has become, without
his knowledge or expectation, sole heir to
fortune OF 100000 crowns Inclosed is
Photograph taken when he was a stu
dent at the University Of Prague
The photograph showed a stocky
youth OF perhaps twenty to twenty-five
years of age and whose somewhat
becfy 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 -adiutant 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 Beth denied stubbornly that
they had ever used or heard of the
name Of Justus Perth.
Possibly 1t may loosen your
tongues" pursued the secretary, III
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.
It is of no use" said General Bruneau
Time passed and the incident had
been forgotten when in 1902 there
came to Bruneau formidable looking
envelope bearing the government seal
Of the minister of foreign affQirs. II
inclosed letter which drew from the
officer an exclamation Of surprise.
This letter was a diplomatic para
phrase Of the former inquiry by the
Vienna secret service agency regarding
Justus Perth 1t insisted upon fur
ther Investigation. 70 be conducted