HEIRESS AND COUNT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1013, 31 December 1910, Page 13

HEIRESS AND COUNT.

TRAGI-COMEDY OF THEIR MARRIAGE. . THE PARENTAL BOOT. _ - American heiresses' are to-day reflecting with, mingled feelings about, a tragic accident , which has befallen Countess Irma Von Mourik do Beaufort, tho daughter of Mr. M. H. Kilgallen, an extremely wealthy steel magnate of Chicago. Tho.episode (says ..the '.'Daily Mail") is a sequel.to the marriage in London in September, 3909, of tie young American girl and a, man who called himself Count ■ Alexander Albert von Mourik do Beaufort, "a descendant of niUiam tho Silent and the owner of a castle in Lui-emberg." A few days'ago tno countess, - seeking to escape her angry husband, fell over a balustrade in her magnificent residence at Chicago trom a height of 30ft., fractured her toee m four . places, ■ and . broke her leit wrist, '.m addition to sustaining severe cuts .on. the- head. ' ~ to® heiress's father announces that-he has thrown .the count out of ■tho house, after, having made' him acquainted with "the .power.- of the parental boot' and knocking'him down half a dozen times.. Tho fact.that ho was knocked down, and punished severely is admitted, by tho > count, , who publishes m'.the. newspapers a diary of his married life, apparently in answer to a detailed narrativo 1 of' his behaviour made-public by Mr. Kilgallen. Mr Kilgallen, who has received pi? J) 0 ct^ r °f tho' "Almanach de Uotha a telegram denying that • his son-in-law is really a count, evidently intends his narrative as a warning to other American heiresses. He describes how his wife met tho count at ■a hotel in/London in . September, 1909 how the count "steered tho two ladies into a -number of good people '.who vouched for', him,'' and how subsequently i„ appeared' that "these peopjo knew little more , about him than did my. own folk."

i "It was not until after his marriage with .Miss Kilgallen that\ I: met my son-m-aw, and 1 decided," says Mr. Kilgallen, ."to make tho best'of •ii him to make his' homo with us -in Chicago, gave 1 him, .£6O ,a month, and paid all . his wife's expenses. The count said, he wished .'to obtain work, but, his .zeal in this di-' rection never got beyond • tho. point where he posed in. workmen's clothes m a garage for newspaper photographs. He soon began quarrelling with everybody . _ Six chauffeurs left my. service in quick succession owing to the count's treatment bf.thgm. THE. COUNT'S PENITENCE. "My daughter was'subjected to con-stant-humiliation. I- sent tho couple to Hot Springs, Arkansas. There the count got in .trouble'at-.the 'Southern Club, and threatened to kill my' daughter because she would not sign a blank paper. "After that," Mr. Kilgallenjs tale of woo proceeds, "tho count returned to. Chicago, where ho constantly complained of 'the .'beastly place,' . and wanted to get back to England and 'mix with his equals.'" ' ;

Mr. Kilgallen gave . the count some work in New. York...: Ho telegraphed his penitence, and . tho .countess rejoined. him. ; A fow,;days. later she. telegraphed to her father in", a. secret code for help. ' Olio of' her ; messages ' the count from ; a maid-servant, though the girl had concealed it in her stocking. "Three days after my : ,daughter came to mo and.said, 'It is no use; I cannot live with him.' I promised ,to do: lhy host to get rid of the husband. When she. went shopping the count followed'her in a taxicab. As soon as she got home he pursued her: into the library, where her screams caused a great llurry among the servants. Finally sho escaped and rushed upstairß; he following. In tho flight she fell over tho balustrade." . Mr. Kilgallen's narrative ends with a vivacious account of the thrashing lie gave the count when he heard of the injuries , sustained by. his daughter. .. j;.: