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vol. title: Miscellaneous Scraps from January 1st 1878 vol. period: 1875-1878 pages in vol.: 153 |
Annoying a Princess
Between 7 and 8 o’clock on Saturday evening last a carriage rattled up to the door of the Police Central Office. Two gentlemen dismounted. The elder, a tall, dark-haired youth of 25, fashionably attired, and with a bouttonaire in his lapel, announced himself as the Count Kalouvrat of Russia, nephew of the Princess Suvaroff, who is boarding in the Windsor Hotel. He and his companion had called to invoke the aid of the police in discovering and punishing a blackmailer, who had annoyed the Princess for some time with threats and demands for money. The Count said, through an interpreter, that on Saturday morning last the Princess received by mail a letter, written in French, of which the following is a translation:
Mme. la Princesse: I addressed myself to you, some few days since, asking of you as a compatriot to lend me your aid. You have not seen fit to answer even one word. Now the time has come in which I can be of service to you. An interesting and piquant biography of your history is in my hands, and will be published to-morrow in a journal of the city. If such publication should be disagreeable to you, it remains with you, Mme. la Princesse, to prevent it. If you will send to me to-day $25, to the address hereunto annexed, the manuscript containing this grand portion of my personal recollections will be suppressed. If not, it will be forwarded to the press to-night, and to-morrow you will receive the number of the journal containing the details, which will not contribute to render your sojourn here agreeable.
Accept, Mme. la Princesse, the expression of my respectful regards.
Address Mr. H. Supervielle, Messager Franco-Américain, 42 Great Jones street, for Mr. P. de M.
Please send your letter through a messenger.
The handwriting was clear and distinct, and apparently that of a man used to handling a pen. It was on ordinary note paper, and enclosed in a plain white envelope.
The Count requested that there should be the greatest secrecy in learning the facts, and accordingly every means was taken to throw the reporters off the track. It was at first reported that the Princess had been robbed of her magnificent diamonds which she had worn at the Liederkranz ball. Then it was whispered that the case was one of “blackmail,” and in the hotel the effect seemed to be to mystify the press, one of the proprietors going so far as to declare that two of his guests had merely sent down for two detectives to escort them through the slums.”
The case was given to Detective Thompson, and he visited the hotel and had a long interview with the Count and the Princess. It was finally agreed that the detective should go to the office of the Messager Franco-Américain with a note enclosing $25 in marked treasury notes, addressed to “Pierre de Mokrzyski,” and that on the latter’s appearing he should be seized with the marked money in his possession. To make the plot perfect, the services of a messenger boy were called in as requested in the letter.
On arriving at the office in Bond street, however, Detective Thompson found the front entirely closed. M. de Supervielle, one of the editors, was found and shown the contents of the blackmailing epistle. He expressed the greatest surprise that his name should have been used in such a manner, and volunteered to do all in his power toward discovering the author. He knew no person answering to the name in question, or who could throw any light on the subject.
It was now nearly midnight and the detective, after consulting with the Inspector, concluded to wait until Monday. Meantime, the same air of secrecy was preserved in the Police Central Office, and all sorts of surmises were flying about as to the real nature of the proceedings.
Yesterday the Princess was confined to her room by illness, brought on by the worry and excitement through which she had passed. She says that she had no objection to the publication of the extract from Truth relative to her borrowing 12,000 francs of M. Delalarge. The latter, she avers, wanted 20 per cent. interest for the money, which she refused to pay, and this was the origin of the story. She denies entirely, as stated in The Sun of yesterday, that she is separated from her husband, or that the latter ever pawned her diamonds.
How it Strikes an Intelligent Japanese
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Editor's notes