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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1909)
i Cxijrt-ht 1909,' by Americaa-Eitiutiier. , Crest Etrlula flight! nesefMd. C House Near Vicnna'Where Stolen Child Was Taken. A nd The JM Two Automobiles with Six Men Which Were Hidden on the Road by ; the Countess. D Rear Gate Through Wfcch the Child Waa Hurried ' ' A way.1 : . ; ' ; . ',- v ! for: n Witt If v h,7 7 TAe Pitiable Plight of the American IrVife '-o the Russian Count Gizycki, Who Knocked Their Little Girl, and Is Now Holding the Baby, Just Like a "I STOOD all 'kind of tnsults and neglect for a long tlms In llonco, but when he (truck roe '..'' In' the , face -no Ameclcan girl can . stand that I picked up ray child and . ' flod." .., ;. '.. .' Tblsls the reason eo her friends ' declare the Countess Gisyckl rave for quitting her " noble husband. , and. she - addeil tTi despair: "Yrtr though-I wilt never live with hlra again, what ter rlble whip ha hold over ma the child!" , . .' ,,... For. pitiably as It' Is. In moat rup- - t urea of this kind between husband '. and wife it H the child that is made to - really suffer most, and. so it Is In this : case. , 1 ; ! ' . This poor little sport of fata, this ' : little Countess Gizycki, la a pathetlo figure in the bitter quarrel between , her Polish papa on the one band and her American mamma on the other. Her sordid father a veritable Ralsull. actually holds the girl In ransom and unless her mother's parents consent . to rise up something like 1 .000.000 he will keep tjje little, maiden as securely hidden as any bandit In Sici lian tomance docs in a cave. The situation In this newest interna tional story of disillusionment just at present I particularly distressing. Robert s M, Patterson, the millionaire : newspaper proprietor, of Chicago, who from tho first did everything In his power to prevent the marriage" of his' ' daughter Eleanor to the Count, avows , that he will not pay one cent of tribute , to the rapacious rascal, and the mother of the Countess, who vas an heiress to :, the Media fortune of Chicago, and who furnished her daughter's dot for the union 'when her father refused to do it. Is either indisposed or unable to buy oft the little- girl In the mean- ' tirae her .luckless mother la frantically rushing from one European capital to - - - another Ua-a- vain ff ort-ta. secure her baby But the crafty Count la still holding that terrible whip over her head. And to her last desperate over ture through her ' lawyers to- barter the child for a cash consideration if ahe ' could secure the money, this grandilo quent answer comes from 'his lordship, y the Count: ' "I would not sell my own flesh and blood for less than a million dollars." The Dilemma of the1 Frantic Mother. The 'dilemma of the woman who as Eleanor Patterson a half dozen years . ago waa the toast of St. Petersburg and a belle of Washington Is In many phases one of the most painful among the many In which American girls who. have dls- astrously married European coronets have, found .themselves. In the first : place, the Count la a Catholic not a very edifying one. It may be added In paren theses; and therefore there can be no divorce on his part. If she divorces htm in her own country, such a divorce would .. not be valid in Russia, and even If an . American divorce were secured, it would not in any way affect the validity of the authority of the father over the child. In Austria, where the Count and the - Countess had their residence between the time of their marriage and their separa- - tlon. the same condition of affairs exists. So, too, in Paris, which the Countess is making her ostensible home now. The marriage can not be annulled in the Catholic Church, for there are absolutely ' no grounds whatever for nullification. Bo, no matter which way the unfortunate .mother turns, she runs face into a stone wall. For, since In Vienna even the Austrian police and the Austrian law seem alike , powerless to help her in her extremity. an& In Russia they seem little Inclined to Intervene In her behalf, what is there left for her but to yearn. It's a dis heartening prospect before her at best ..." And the innocent little cause of all this heart-burning, they ray, asks "why doesn't mamma come and take me for a ride In a great big automobile, like papa did." It was this ride, which the child al ludes to In her lisping, which has so sad dened the life of Eleanor Patterson. When ahe Ced In disgust and In dignation from the presence of the Count, taking the child away with her. she little dreamed of the long series of misfortunes that were to follow her ' hasty act She was not, as a woman under the aame circumstances would b In her native land, unfettered and free te leave her husband's roof-tree If she . pleased, but was part and parcel of her husband's goods and chattels, and was under his whip-hand, as she was soon to realise most cruelly. As ths Countt-ss has dismally admitted, she bad stood all kinds of hurts and In d.lTereoce silently, till one evening It was at Pan in ths month of February. IMS. The Count like most of his kind. Is a reckless gamester, and while she was reproaching aim for his card playing and tils dissolute habits, ths brutal Count so tar forgot himself that he rose up from sila chair and struck hr with his clenched knocking her dowa Packing up her tr.tr ka thst ntgfct sad catching up the baby girl ana 0d to Londoa. and sanctuary Pat the ' long arm sf the Count rearbed aui. The Couatese. thinking herself safs la her rsfaga, beg a a prs rr1s? for a w Ufa and plaaalag for tht futsra af the child, la which ths V.-ont was Is plsy as part lot day a week or so later, white mUntilHe Extort a Itansom from the Moth A er. i . A A -51 7 S't, -l r r - ITie little girl was out for an" airing with her nurse, a big touring automo bile which -was seemingly speeding: along came to a sudden halt. The Countess, while making her headquar ters at the Savoy In town, had seques tered the child in a cottage at Hamp ton Hill, one of the suburbs of Lon don, in charge of the nurse, .whom she trusted implicitly. Three men Jumped out of the auto, and one of them en gaged the maid with some questions about the routes In the neighborhood. The two other men one of them locate the baby, and the poor young mother's distracted efforts to have, her little one restored to her. Is a long story. Cables to America brought her only brother, Joseph Medill Patterson, quickly to her side, to be followed Im-. medjately by her father. Lawyers were secured, all Influence possible to secure was'brought to bear on the case, and all Russia. Poland and Austria were ransacked by searchers to find the baby's hiding place. The Countess, who Is passionately fond of her baby, at last was "at her wits' end. Every wrapped up In a big motoring -coat" resource that had been suggested had i V " cap. wnose race was nalr con cealed by a motoring mask Interested themselves with her little charge, and set the "choo choo" going to amuse her. While the nurse was good na turedly trying to explain to the very agreeable stranger the little she knew about Hampton Hill, and while the baby was gleefully chuckling over the noise the motor made something strange happened.; The agreeable man, without so much as an apology, made a sudden Jump and leaped Into the automobile, and before the poor, dum founded nurse gjrl could rub her eyes the big machine was speeding over the hills and far away with him. the other two men and the baby. Detectives under the Immediate guid ance of the Count had tracked the Countess at" every step she had made since her flight, and the man In the big furs and the motor mask who had kid napped the baby was the Count him self. Since that day the mother has never laid eyes on her child, nor does she know, except from hearsay, 'ust where the child Is or Just who Is at tending to Its wants. The va,in and wearisome hunt been tried but hopelessly. Then came a bitter p"fll. to swallow. In her intense love and longing once more to hug the child to her bosom, the miserable mother finally consented to the humiliation of promising that she would go back to her husband if only he would share the baby with her. Inuring .these negotiations in which the Count pretended to be agreeable to a reconcllatlon, arrangements were made by the lawyers on both sides for the mother to see the child, first, in a hous? near Vienna. The Countess, her heart beating " high with expectancy, arrived Robert W. Patterson. aroused. The cljlldthey swore had been kept In the villa three hours in the be lief that tho Countess, In her anxiety to "So we are invited to the spec tacle of a beautiful Ameri can girl down on her knees jjefore her bandit of a hus band, imploring for her child . while he mocks at , her abasement and brutally de mands ransom." - her father's splendid' house In Dupont Circle, and where she repented tha social success of the Russian capital. When the parents of Miss Patterson discovered that the pursuit by tha Count was encouraged by their daugh ter, and that she was serious in her acceptance of his apparent admiration, every effort on her father's part at any rate was made to put an end to the affair. The Count finally made a bold proposal for the hand of the girl, which was refused for her by her wise father. But the pretty heiress was1 determined to have' ber own way, and one day. after his rejection, the Count appeared again suddenly in Washington. So ciety In the Capital experienced a sur prising sensation when the determine young lady made a round of visits t her various friends and announced her ' engagement to the Count herself. Hr narenta. keenly distressed about tha see her baby, would return. But when wnoia thins;, could do nothing but fol after a wait of three hours she failed to low Miss Eleanor's lead by a formal appear again the little girl was finally announcement Of the betrothal, smuggled through a back gate-way and tj,, wedding took place very soon again hidden somewhere in the country, afterward. Curing his . whole visit -Recriminations and charges of break-' t0 -Washington tha Count was not ln lng faith, were bandied between the vlted to the Patterson home.' but lodged Count's party and his wife's. The-Conn- t the New "Willard, where he occupied tess swore that never again, after this one room, way up high in an automobile at the place at 2 o'clock display of deceit to Just torture and In- least desirable sections In the afternoon, the hour appointed. But the child was not there. The suit her, would she think of a reconcilia tion or ever see his face again. The Countess, torn between conflicting anger Qpunt retorted that he was the father and chagrin, saw In this cruel episode another wound from the Count to tor ture her. and hastily ahe rode away again to hide her anguish. The Count, however, declared, when the fiasco of the arranged meeting between mother and child had caused a decided unpleasantness between the opposing lawyers, that he had acted In good faith but distrusted the motive of the Coun tess. Representatives of the Count, his lawyers explained, had been warned to take every precaution against a plot, for ills wife would resort to any trick 'to I , . , i ; f -f V of the child and Its natural guardian, since Its mother had seen lit to leave his protection, and that he would keep It tilt he saw fit .for sufficient reason, to change his mind; while the American father, who despises the Count, called' his noble son-in-law "a conceited, over-bearing scoundrel, utterly devoid of any ideals of manhood. But the plight of the Countess after all this torment of heart and soul what last hope was there left to her In her complete wretchedness? Only the sordid Intimation that tha Count hungry for kidnap the baby herself, Just as he had money, would consider barter and sale If dn AH the roads leading to ine ren- hkj ransom were Handsome enough, desvous were Inspected with" the utmost And so we are invited to the spectacle care and It was found that back In tho of a really beautiful and gently nurtured avenues there were two waiting automo- American girl down on her knees before Idles containing six men. ndit of a husband, lmplorjng for Later when - the child reached the ner child, while he mocks at her abase tha sreatest possible care wss also ment and brutally 'demands ransom, "for fZ'nto guard against surprise, since the delivering the goods.", -i I . of the spies had -been keenly "Your people have the money." he ln-' .usplclon. of the P sir.uates, "l have the child. How much will you pay for j-our baby flrl? If get down to business." This ili-assorted marrlasa. with Its oiry wreckage, is only one mora to be added to the dreary catalogue of tha dls asirpus unions of American money , with European titles. When Miss Patterson waa Just out she made a visit' to her In one of tha of the hotel. He was attended by a man who cams to tha-hotel when needed. . Following the wedding, tha Count left the Patterson home directly and returned to the Willard to get bis small luggage, and he did not go back to the Patterson house even for his bride. The, family had suffered his presence only for the. necessary cere mony. Instead, he telephoned to his wife, that he would meet her at tha station.' Society In Washington never much fancied the Count, although Miss Patterson herself waa one of its great est pets, and they .were not much sur prised at tha outcome of tha union. But those who distrusted and disliked him most . -were . unprepared to learn of tha bitter ordeal to which he has subjects this beautiful young woman. ' Besides his unwjslcome appearanoe in Washington, Count Gisyckl made ana other visit ta America, when ha ac companied Count Cantacusene here to marry the daughter of General Grant He attended a dinner and dance at Mrs. Deschamp's In Newport one Saturday night, and ' afterward he happened to be standing la a balcony, while be- nim waa stationed a group or low dark and hungry Magyar musicians. ' Suddenly they began to play an Aus trian gavotte. Tha Count was enchanted.- Removing from various pockets beautiful clusters of greenbacks, Bsnk of England notes and French currency, 'he tossed them over the rail, and smiled happily as they wafted down ward. - The aavBtm: waa nniv hiIl. uncle, Mr. McCormlck, who was the'ral. came to a sudden conclusion, as American Ambassador to Russia. In St. ' u manifestly Impossible for stooping Tha, Count brass 3 less an exalted parsonage than . Tha count- discovering that Ms KMial Highness, tha Grand Duka nvallabla funds were ruaalng short.. sinrllne- her out for tha markad aB w'blng ta distribute his wealth singling ner out ror wa marked pro rmt- for a f t twenties and p.ih.i. - ?" ia pimj on rasa ana ,uauv m aiiiurci mavwm my Harmonious effect couri, no less an exalted parsonage than His Imperial Michael, distinction of dancing with her twice dur- fifties In- halves and softly Wew them big one evening. , from the' palms af his hands into fc. wntnet tney uiumateiy reachad thelr desired destlhatlon. Tha Count tbea retired, entirely sat fsA.d with the bllf that be had brought long glesma of sunshtaa Into The Younc Countess Joseph Gizycki. Who Was Miss Deanor Patterson, of -Washington and Chicago. She was of the type Which Russians admire greatly tall and slim with fins eyes sod a glory of reddish-golden nfclrY Alas for ber. she attracted the attention of another titled personage, the Count Joseph Gisyckl. a Russia subject, but a native of Poland, where he awned many estates and much horseflesh; but as It turned out. wttn no snore Income than ha could easily spend an his awn entertain merit - - . ' Tha Cowat fallowed her ta Washington, where sha made bar America debut tn . '.--. many - a- darkened yy Ufa. Tk torn bills were subsequently glaed to gether, and aumeroua aeakera af rara old Tokay wins were drank ta tha af Ulkt. This elevating little Incident Is a s!s ti It cant sidelight ea tha iret-BP af tha ansa who married Eleanor Pattereoa, and waa la torturing the heart af a mother with all the ranqJsg arts af a real brigand, ta skilfully extort a hues ransom for bar kidnapped child, J.
