The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-07-25

@ALE, worn, looking twice the ags
of her thirty-fiye years. shielding
the unaccustomed Hight of the sun
from her eyes with her hands.
with her head bowed in shame and look
ing as truly penitent as ever q sinful
woman in the world has looked. Maria
Tarnovska, the numbering Countess
whose beauty and crimes struck the world
with admiration and horror hye years aga.
left her Italian prison the other day 70
become q war nurse after the Italian king
had signed her pardon.
Now this woman. who formerly took the
most savage delight in driving her ad-
mirers to suicide or In forcing one lover to
become the slayer Of another. has become
Q ministering angel whose mission 1t II
to save men from death or nurse them
from sickness to health
Under an assumed name she has taken
Q position as nurse in Moscow war hos.
pital. With her penitence still upon her
she works day and night among the suf.
fering to help her forget both the horrors
Of prison and her former life and to give
herself a position in the world which win
bring to her lonely days at least the 70
spect of the people among whom she II
living
So far she has been extremely success
full. From the superiors Of the hospital
she has attracted admiration for her will
ingness and her zeal From the wounded
soldiers she has drawn love and devotion.
All of them believe that she Is some noble
garb is poor her refinement and manners
are noticeable in every move she makes.
In her nurses cap and dress there Is no
one to know her as the woman whom at
her bridal ceremony, the Russian priest,
contrary to custom refused to kiss and
backed away from, crossing himself; who
brought about the suicide Of her husbands
younger brother, of Count Tolstoi, Rus
sian nobleman, and Of Count Stalk, dis
tinguished young officer Of the Imperial
Count Borjewsd, a lover Of whom she had
tired; who ruined the family and life of
Luiz Prilukoff, eminent Moscow attorney,
and who ended her career brilliantly BY
persuading her youthful lover, Prince
Naumon, to kill the wealthy Count Kama
rovsky, who had insured his life to the
extent of 100000 in her favor and winsd
to her his vast estates.
No more sensational story has ever been
told In fiction or acted IN melodrama than
that which was unraveled by the Russiaa
and Vienna police in solving the mystery
Of the murder of Count Kamarovsky a4
Venice.
1t is the romance Of q beautiful she
devil, of a fascinating vampire. and the
demoniacal power which her wondrous
beauty and powers Of fascination enabled
her to exercise over men who fell victims
to her charms.
The real author of the murder of Count
Kamarovsky was the Countess Maria
Nikalyeffna Tarnovska. who for 30 long
dazzled Vienna with her beauty-with her
lovely face, her lovely dresses and her
nower-like, innocent nature. The other
characters in the tragedy were only pup
pets the strings of which she pulled-men
whom love of her had made mad enough
to make them her slaves. willing to risk
the gallows in this world and damnation
in the next to please her.
She was one Of those seductive sirens
Turing men to destruction that you read
about sometimes in novels and then doubt
II their counterpart in life really exists.
She was only thirty at the time she
planned the crime and was Just beginning
to reach the fullness of her beauty.
Her face at that time would have do
ceived any physiognomist With her deep.
soulful, sympathetic eyes she looked an
gelic. Her beauty was a heritage from
her Irish ancestry, for she is descendant
Of a gallant Irishman named O'Rourke,
who settled in Russia one hundred years
ago.
She was but eighteen years old when
her marriage to Count Tarnovska took
place He was a Russian nobleman Of a
long line Of prominent ancestors and
possessed estates and wealth in plenty.
After a few years she grew weary of her
husband and sought relief in q lover.
firing Of him also she hit upon the happy
expedient of denouncing him to the count
in an anonymous letter and had the salts