SCANDAL IN VIENNA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 283, 25 July 1932, Page 8

SCANDAL IN VIENNA

TWO BARONS ARRESTED AND PHYSICIAN SUICIDES. VIENNA, May 20. Social circles in Vienna have been stirred by the arrest of two members of the aristocracy, after the revelation of a sensational baccarat swindle at an 'exclusive club. This was followed by the discovery to-day of the bodies of a leading physician, Dr. Loewy, and his wife, lying on cushions in a gas-filled room of their luxurious apartments. Glasses which had contained poison were lying near. The arrested men are Baron Otto Guttmann-Gelse and Baron Henry Manasse. They are charged with cheating at baccarat, and cardsharping. Joseph Kuehberger, cashier of the exclusive Vienna Circle Club, was also arrested on a charge of assisting in the alleged frauds. Behind the whole scandal is the mysterious figure of a Hungarian who claims the title of Baron George Berzevicky. It is alleged that after dissipating huge fortunes, which had come to him through two wives, this man began some years ago to live by gambling. Though he himself was unable to gain membership of the club, it is alleged that he instrueted the two barons now under arrest how to use packs of cards prepared by him. Feeling that he had not received his proper share of the winnings, he is stated to have denounced the plot to the police. Dr. Loewy, it is established, was an innocent dupe of the others, who are said to have persuaded liim to use their system, by • describing it . as a "horoscope of fortune." The doctor was stunned when he realised that he was implicated in the fraud, and this undoubtedly led. him to take his own and his wife's life. ^ The mysterious baron who originated the plot disappeared after in-