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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1922)
f E JlTcigaHUcJectimi V V VOL. XLI PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY 31QRMXG, OCTOBER 8, 1923 NO. 41 CV-- - fiitaiiaiiiMi 1! 110 "Count Gregory," who died in-a swindlerV prison cell, was suchla clever.imposter that Mrs. John Jacob Astor.held la reception in his honor. , ; ACROSS the screen of public happen ings frequently there flashes a fig ure that engages the attention of the world hy posing as someone ha never was and never could be. Such a figure is the self-styled Prince Henri de Chateroux de Bussigny de Bour bon. He was "heir to the throne of France" to those he deceived in New York city, but plain Harold Schwann, factory hand in his native town. New Britain, Conn., to those who really know him. Such a figure, too, is Stephen Wein berg, now serving a term in Atlanta fed eral prison, who represented himself as Lieutenant Stanley Weyman, TJ. S. N., and also as plenipotentiary to foreign govern ments from this country. Yet science, througn the medium of the psycho-analyst, Andre Tridon, now comes forward with the disconcerting statement that these two and the "Count Gregorys" and the Cassie Chad wicks and the "Lord Grays" are not criminal. "They are simply men with children's brain playing out the parts of a fairy tale which their defective minds invented," says M. Tri don. "They're just like children 'play ing house' or 'getting married. " . Other psychologists arrive at a similar verdict. Those who do not fall prey to this class of fakirs are loud in their sarcastii criticism of those who were victimized. Nevertheless, such individuals will go on deceiving trustful folk just because the average good citizen takes a man at his word and has too much courtesy and too little time to go about the task of Inquir ing here and searching there for the proof that a "count" is what he says he is. Schwann and Weinberg were principal ly interested in being regarded as "some body." Cassie Chadwick, "Count Greg ory" and "Lord Gray" got an easy living out of it. There is a strange parallel in the cases , of Schwann and Weinberg. Each comes of poor parents. Each exhibits a-mania , for gew-gaws . and glittering uniforms. Each has an engaging personality. Each shows a' fondness for' titles. ; The esca pades of one closely resemble the esca pades of the other. Harold Schwann, ex factory hand of New Britain, Conn., fake prince, and Stephen Weinberg, grocery clerk of Brooklyn, N. Y., might well have - been twins. : Schwann, the Fake Princes " 1- Associated In a Xaka million-dollar " scheme, with the notorious "Lord James Douglas . Moore Gray" and traveled through New England accompanied by "Lady Gray" and the '"Princes(S de Bour bon." "Lord Cray" is now reported serv ing time in a British prison. 2 Represented himself as the adopted son of John D. Rockefeller. - 3--Employed a secretary and support ed an apartment with a dog and a monkey as his companions. 4 Claimed to be the "leader" of 4, 600,000 Russians. - 5 Claimed to-be "heir" to the throne of France. . 6 Carried four women, it is alleged. . Weinberg, the Fake Naval Officer. 1 As "Commander Stanley Weyman, TJ. S. N.,' gave dinner in 1913 in New York city to vice-president of San Salva dor, to which country he said he was consul. : 2 As "Lieutenant-Commander Ethan Allen Weinberg, IT. S. N.." paid an of ficial visit to the United States battleship Wyoming in the North river and a few " nights later gave a dinner to the officers of that ship. 3 Represented himself as Captain . Rodney Sterling Wyman, liason officer for Harold. F. McCormick, the millionaire harvester king, in the latter's marital troubles. 4 As Dr. Clifford Sterling Weyman became secretary to Dr. Adolph -Lorenz, the famous Austrian orthopedic surgeon. ii, C n n fi The Scientist Tridon Explains Why There Are so Many lmpos ters Such as Harold Schwann, the Latest to Pretend to-Royal Blood When Only a Connecticut Fac tory Hand ill ilii 1 Bpsgwlllilpll f -v 1 k v i Mm Harold Schwann ("Prince Henri de Chateroux de Bussigny de Bouf-.bon'-'. the.Connecticut factory hand who posed as a nobleman. f W W py o f . , . : - , . I . An ? l ! '' I 1 nw ' . til ' I " . . I I :$ .1 . ! . 1 ' S ,.' J. I . 1 J'Lord and Lady'Gray. His lord ship was actually a London catv driver's son, but he imposed him self on the gullible rich in this country and captured two wealthy .heiresses as brides? in to Impress the other sex, but to satiate bis vanity. The "prince's" wives after Ethel Abets of New Britain, who divorced him for cruelty, are: Miss Catherine Lynn of Marcella street. Roxbury, Mass.. wbora he married as "Dr. Henry Van Buren of the Russian general staff": Anna rotor son, a nurse, of Taunton, Mass., and Lil lian Wllkomerson, a laboratory assistant at the Metropolitan hospital on Black well's Island, where the "prince" was em ployed for $75 a month waile he corn- Catherine Lynn of Dorchester, Mass., who was the third to- marry Schwann. She had her marriage annulled. 5 Forged United States Senator Will- serving , a two-year term .for impersonat- lam M. Calder's name to a check. '' ing a United States naval officer. t Is now in Atlanta federal prison As C o m pi a 5 & e r-Stanley. Weyman, Lillian Wilkomerson, who believed she had become the "Princess de , Bourbon" wheu 'she wed the t fraudulent "Prince .Henri." H. S. X. tec wefcs T3ie3 practiced teoegOon tiat xras JaausiJaa: stock of prosiiaieat tadfridaaJs. AC Oancemora prison, wtara fc eseej orwed term for awtmaHns, . Wtae3rs vra examined by Dr. Jobs R. Ko!i. sapertntextdent of the hospital for the criminal insane. "Maniac depressive insanity, with Instability, grandiose. Ideas and Insane elation." ran that report in part, ' The chief difference between the two swindlers is their attitude toward the women. Mrs. Emile Schwann, mother of the "prince," is authority for the state ment that Harold married when he was 15. It is alleged he has married three other girls since. But Weinberg appears never to have troubled himself abont the girls. Even though he had the obsession or regalia, he seemed to desire ft uniform 1 I if ' J I J - i Stephen Weinberg, who wanted fo be "somebody" and posed as a diplomat until he was caught mas-' querading in a U. S. naval uniform. Now. he's Uncle Sam's "guest" at Atlanta federal .prison, plained of 135.0tt n.: up in litigation at Boston." While "Prince Henry" w pyln 1