STRANGE LIFE STORY.
WOMAN WHO POSED AS A MAN FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS. New York, June 26. The amazing life story of "Nicolai de Raylan," secretary of the Russian Consulate at Chicago for thirteen years, who died last December, and was found to be a woman, is revealed by n diary just discovered amongst her effects. The diary shows that the woman, whose real name was Taletsky, posed successfully as a man for eighteen years.
She formerly lived near St. Petersburg, and when sixteen years of age, her mother became suddenly the possessor of £25,000, the source whereof the girl tried vainly to discover. She resolved to force her mother to disclose the secret and give her the fortune, and for this purpose she conspired with a nurse. The couple went to St. Petersburg, where both swore that the girl was really a boy, and a suit was instigated against the mother for concealing her sex. The Russian law provides severe penalties for parents who falsely declare
the sex of their children. The girl hoped to compel her mother to pay her a large sum of money to stop the prosecution.
She apparently succeeded in convincing the late M. Pobiedonostieff, Procurator of the Holy Synod, that her story [was correct, and he supported her suit.
The mother resisted it, and brought forward the doctor who was present at the birth of her daughter. Other witnesses were summoned to prove her sex. The girl was informed that, she must submit to an examination, whereupon she fled to Finland. M. Pobiedonoetzeff, wEo found himself in an embarrassing position, had the suit annulled, and. ordered the police to search for the girl. The latter thereupon went to Belgium, and afterwards
to America. She became an American citizen, and eventually drifted to Chicago, where she was employed by the Russian ConsulGeneral. "Nicolai de Raylan" apparently made love to several women. According to the diaTy men frequently suspected her sex, but she never failed to maintain that she was a man.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 August 1907, Page 4
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335STRANGE LIFE STORY. Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 August 1907, Page 4
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