New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-22
Sister Denies
Baroness Gems
w ere Seized
Mrs. Treadwell Here, Says
De Mumn's Wife Never
Owned Much Jewclry;
Lawyers Have Property
Story is News to Her
Vessel Wasn't Detained,
She Asserts; Didn't See
Any French Authorities

Mrs. Josephine Treadwell, of Paris
and Seneca, Kan. arrived here yeste~
day on the White Star liner Adriatic
with the body of her sister, the Baroness
de Mumm, who died from the effects
of an operation for appendicitis in
hospital at Neully on May 3.
Soon after the Adriatic left Cher
bourg, where Mrs. Treadwell embarked
with her sisters body, cable messages
French authorities had detained the
vessel and had taken from Mrs. Tread
we'll quantity of jewels worth 1,000,-
600 francs, which were part of the es
tate of her dead sister.
When the Adriatic came into Quar-
antine yesterday Mrs. Treadwell ex-
pressed surprised that such information
had been cabled to this countdy. She
branded 1t as false.
"The first l heard Of these reports"
said Mrs. Treadwell, "was when I read
the ship here in Quarantine. To the
best of my knowledge and belief my
sister never owned jewels of any great
value, and what few she had were
never in my possession.
II have not now and never had any
thing to do with the estate of my sis
ter. 1t is entirely in the hands Of
her lawyers in France l arranged to
bring her body home for burial, and
the report of this jewelry seizure cabled
from France Is a great mystery to me.
81 had booked passage on the Adri-
attic six weeks before the vessel sailed.
My sister then was alive: She was
operated upon for appendicitis. Her
subsequent death on May 8 was un-
expected. Before the operation she
was living in hotel in Paris.
"When l took possession of my sis
ter's body for shipment to this coun-
try l turned all her effects over to the
lawyers who had been attending to
her business. l sailed for this coun-
try with none of her property in my
elry she possessed were not seized"
The Baroness de Mumm before her
marriage to the Baron Walter de
Mumm, q French wine grower of Ger
man birth, was Miss Frances Scoville,
of Seneca, Kan. When the world war
started her husband renowned his
French citizenship. His properties in
France, valued at $2O,OO0,000 were
seized by the French government The
Baroness cast her lot with the Allies,
renowned her title and served in the
war as q nurse.
After the drawing up of the peace
treaty it was apparent that the French
government intended to cling to the
property of all Germans seized within
the borders.
Mrs. de Mumm sought a divorce
This could not be granted by the
French courts as she was still Ger
man subject, being the wife of a Ger
man citizen. 1t is said that she could
not bring divorce proceedings in the
courts of Germany, as the government
was disposed to regard her as guilty
Of treason, having served as nurse
with the enemy forces.
In an effort to safeguard or protect
from confscation her two-ffths equity
in the big estate of her husband, Mrs
de Mumm came to this country in
October of last year. Through an act
of Congress she was restored to Amer
lean citizenship. Leaving her five
year-old daughter Mary with relatives
in Seneca, Mrs. dc Mumm returned to
France to fight for her equity in the
seized property Of her husband