AN UNFAITHFUL WIFE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3730, 29 June 1883, Page 4

AN UNFAITHFUL WIFE.

The District Criminal Court of Samara recently disposed of a case which is of interest, not only as presenting another illustration of the lifo and morals of the upper ranks of Russian society, but because the accused, Count Tolstoi, is a brother of the Russian Minister of the Interior. The crime with which he was charged was an attempt to murder. The count, a wealthy landed proprietor, who was universally esteemed for his excellent pc-rsonal qualities, was supposed to be very happy in his domestic relations; but about a couple of years ago hie wife, a lady already past the middle years of life, formed liaison with a poor nobleman, M. do Bostrom. Count Tolstoi spared no pains to induce the countess to abandon the illicit connection and return to a sense of her duty. On tho first September hist, accident confronted the husband once more with the faithless wife and her seducer. As Count Tolstoi was travelling in the train from Orenburg to Sysranyi, two passengers entered the carriage in which he was sitting, at Bescntshuk, an intermediate station. They were tho countess and M. cle Bostrum. The count once more endeavored to persuade his wife to return home, but his remonstrances were received with derision and contempt. Stung to madness he drew a revolver, and was about to fire at Bostrom, when the countess seized his arm, and the shot, being diverted, only wounded the paramour in tho foot. Bostrain seized the weapon, wrested it from the count's hands, and threw it out of the window. At the trial tho jury found a unanimous verdict of not guilty against the wronged husband, and he was instantly liberated, amid the enthusiastic applause of the crowd who had been attracted to the court to lidar the case.