COUNTESS IN AN ASYLUM.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1246, 16 May 1914, Page 4

COUNTESS IN AN ASYLUM.

DECLARED TO BE SANE

ALLEGED THREATS TO LAWYER.

The Countess Ida von Claussen, who for three mouths has been an inmate of the Matteawan State Hospital for the criminal insane, was declared recently to be competent to manage her own affairs, and her release was expected within the next few days. The countess was arrested at New York last October on the allegation of Mr Charles Strauss, a lawyer of that city, that she had written a threatening letter. She declared that the letter was a forgery, and that the members of her family here were conspiring to have her adjudged insane. When the sheriff’s jury found a favourable verdict the countess rushed forward, seized the foreman by the hands, and exclaimed, “Ob, you darlings ! You darlings ! I’ll idss you all.” The countess will remain in custody until the verdict is approved by a Court of JusticeCountess Ida has been twice adjudged to be mad, and committed to hospitals for the criminal insane. She first thrust herself into the limelight several years ago by threatening to sue President Roosevelt and other officials of the United States Government for ; ,£200,000 because, as she alleged, th?y had hampered her social aspirations at the Royal Court of Sweden.