Evening star., 1923-06-19
Count of Former Belgian Nobility,
Who Fought for Germany, Now in U. S.
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoxTExoY.

BY THE MARQUISE DE FoNTENoY.
Count Louis Salm- oogstraten, now
in New York for a prolonged stay,
was formerly in the Austrian army
and is the eldest of three brothers.
some ten years ago Miss Maud Cos
ter. daughter of the late Charles
Coster of New York. Mrs. Charles
Coster having been Miss Emily Pell.
The remaining brother is Alexander,
who achieved so much success in this
country as a crack tennis player dur
ing the year Immediately preceding
the outbreak of the great war. AL
though all three brothers fought
against the allies in that conflict, two
in the Austrian cavalry and the other
in the Prussian army, in which their
father had served in the German in
vasion of France in 1871, yet none of
them belong to the German, nor yet
to the Austrian nobility. Their titles
are Belgian, and that is why their
names are not to be found in the Of
fetal "Graef1icher Taschenbuch," or
Annual. in which all the German,
Hungarian, and even the Austrian
counts are still enumerated, though
all Austrian nobility distinctions and
hereditary honors have been abolish
ed by law and prohibited. Nor yet are
their names to be found in the equally
authoritative 'Almanach De Gotha,"
in the pages devoted to the German
princes and Altgraves of Salm
The fact is that the three brothers
and their father are descended from
a morganatic union on the part of
Prince Constantine of Salm-S Salm, of
the mediatized or formerly petty SOW
ereign German dynasty of that name,
who, in 1910, contracted left-handed
marriage with Catherine Bender, a
German. bourgeoise. BY her he had
1lve sons. who were created Belgian
Counts Of Hoogstraton by his friend.
ls47. The fourth Of these sons, Count
Albert Hoogstraten, married the
daughter Of Charles Count Bohlen:
their son Alfred. in turn, married
Adolphine, daughter Of Baron Victor
Erlinger. the mother of Counts Louis,
who usually prefix the name Of Salm
TO that of Hoogstraten. They have,
therefore, in the past been somewhat
handicapped in Austria Hungary and in
Germany. from a social point OF view,
hrst OF all by the morganatic ancestry
OF their father; then, too. by the fact
mat their mother was an Erlanger-that
is to say, lady with Semitic blood in
her vefns-and also by the circumstance
Sa snat the princes and altgraves Of Salm-
Salm, OF the mediatized dynasty OF that
name. who have always been very pow
erful. numerous and influential. have
resented the action OF the counts of
Hoogstraten in making use of the an
clent ana historic name of Salm in con-
junction with their relatively modern
Belgian title.
A4though their mother, like her sis
ter Ida, who married another OF the
counts of Hoogstraten, inherited some
money from her father. the late Baron
Erianger, yet the three brothers are
far from rich, their possessions be-
ing limited to TrautenberR. an Er.
LANCER place brought into the family
by their mother and which they
oWnea.at any rate until the begin
ming of the war-near Reichenau. in
lower Austria. If still in the family,
1t Will belong to Count Louis Hoog,
straten. now here. and who last came
into the public eye through a violent
personal alteration and exchange of
at an hotel in Switzerland. where they
had happened upon one another.
Count Michael Karolyi will be re-
membered as one of the first prime
ministers OF Hungary after the de-
thronement Of the Hapsburgs. for
which many hold him responsible as
one OF the authors of the revolution.
Count Alexander Hoogstraten made
many friends in America during the
nine months that he spent on this
side or the water, participating in the
various tennis tournaments before
the graet war, and as neither he nor
his eldest brother Louis have much
tnducement to remain in Austria and
Germany. they might do worse for
themselves than follow the example
of their brother Otto, and, like him,
each marry well lowered und
charming American girl and establish
their future homes in the United
States
The three Belgian counts are not
without family connections in the
United States through their Erlanger
mother, for Miss Mathilde Slidell of
New Orleans, daughter of that Sena-
| tor Slidell of Louisiana who was sent
| by Jefferson Davis to champion the
cause Of the Confederacy in France,
became the wife, in Paris, Of the well
known German f1nancier established d
| there, Baron Emile Erlanger, and
| their half-American son is Baron
| Frederick Erlanger, naturalized
| Englishman. who divides his time be-
| tween the London banking business
| Of his family and his work as a mu-
| steal composer, and Is the author of
| number of fairly successful operas,
including Tess" which has been pro-
duced at Covent Garden, in London,
and at San Carlo, at Naples. Then
| there is. of course, Baroness Robert
| Erlanger, widow Of Peter Cooper
Hewitt Of New York, the well known
| inventor, and before that the wife Of
| Pedar Bruguigre of San Francisco.
* N r
Sir Edward Naylor Leyland's mar