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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1904)
fWIFE (ff im;J (qJ I u if 1 I fi l GtM Ml l V-1 s Ms Ikco) DOLPH VON KUND. an oil merchant of Buda- J I Pesth, la tn prison because the police discovered m& I that nad 04611 keeping hia wife in an Iron CjEL I cage, barred and bolted, as If she were a dan gerous wild beast. And all Buda-Peeth ia showering execration upon ihia head, for Frau von Kund la young and pretty, with the softest eyes and a, winsome smile. At first Herr von Kund sat stolidly silent tn his cell. He refused to explain. Then after three days he broke down and wept When he became calmer he revealed the domestic tragedy which he declared had wrecked his home, ruined him financially, and brought discredit upon his name as a mer chant. Frau von Kund visits her husband in his prison every day and weeps as she Implores the Jailer to set him free. ' He did right to place me in the cage," she declares. And then' the secret came out. It was not scandal that had wrecked the happy home life of Adolph von Kund and his pretty wife. He loved her, and she was always true, re turning his affection. In spite of the twenty years' disparity In their ages. Ten years ago when Von Kund brought home his bride he was a prosperous merchant His credit was high at the bank, his notes alwags were discounted for cash, and his word was as good as his bond. He gave his bride a hand somely furnished home and a liberal allowance of money each quarter for her own uee. Passion for Pretty Dresses. Frau von Kund had a passion for pretty dresses, big plumed haits, laces, veils, and gloves that passed all under standing. At first with her newly acquired freedom from comparative poverty her parents had been householders, but poor she gave full vent to her love of finery, but always kept within her quarterly allowance. Her husband smiled approvingly, for she was pretty, and he liked to have her .wear pretty things. Two or three years after their wedding Frau von Kund aslced her husband to Increase her allowance. She declared that she needed more money for more clothes. Von Kund was surprised, but he Increased the amount of her pocket money, and more dresses, more cloaks, more hats, more laces, and more gloves camo to the house to be added to the al ready bewildering heaps of similar articles which filled the Closets, covered the chairs and sofas, and even the floors of the .Von Kund mansion. But even the Increased allowance failed to satisfy the cravings of Bertha von Kund for finery. She began to run up bills, and when the bills were presented to her husband their married life was darkened by the first quarrel. There were more bills and more quarrels until strife reigned in the house where always before love held full sway. "Such stacks of dresses! So many hats! So many hoes!" declared Von Kund In his prison cell. One day Von Kund sent his pretty wife to her cousins In the country under the pretense that she needed a change of air. Then he took a day off from his business, went home, and attempted to make an Inveatory of his wife's finery. Hr Is the list as he jotted It down: Evening frocks and reception go'vne 43 Opera wraps 18 Fur mantles, of seal, ermine, and sable 3 Fur cloaks and jackets for outer wear 8 Cloth coats, automobile coats, tourist coals, walking jack ets 10 Muffs 13 Boas, stoles, and collars 27 Street dresses, for shopping 24 Carriage dresses 13 Hats 04 125 68- 38 18 28 12 24 M 2 V 1 C r . v 1 1 M FI1 I Uli I fti T 1 few f '1 17. I " SJ '11 VI 10. "til J i's V L f 1 ' tr..-r. u r mm v't i -i'vi'.'l v.- i$ a-'s t. .n. -i Gloves, pairs Bilk hose, palra Shoes, pairs , Slippers, pairs Fans Opera glasses aid lorgnettes , Umbrellas and parasols Rooms Fitted with Dresses. Then there were stacks of lace trimmed petticoats, silk petticoats, underwear, corsets, handkerchiefs, and the little odds and ends of women's wear that Herr von Kund made no attempt to classify. They filled the rooms like huge bil lows of fleecy snow. That was two years ago. Frau von Kund came home from her cousins to find her precious finery heaped In con fusion about her rooms and her husband, dark browed, heavy eyed, sitting disconsolately. Then they did quarrel. Von Kund raged and swore. He declared she had ruined him. He showed her scores of dresses, shoes, gloves, that she had never worn, and declared that unless she curbed her mania for buying fine clothes just for the sake of buying them he would drive her from his home and close (the door in her face forever. Frau Bertha von Kund wept and promised to do better, and she was so contritely repentent that Von Kund softened and forgave her. She promised to be content with the things he had, and again happiness came to dwell in the Von Kundf borne. , But the new found happiness lasted scarcely a year. Bertha von Kund again fell a victim to the temptation of the shop windows, and onos mors ithe oil merchant was de luged with a rain of bills from dressmakers and milliners. Six months ago Herr von Kund came to a grim determina tion. Again Bertha von Kund was sent to her cousins In ths country, this time to stay a fortnight. Then heavy wagons backed up at ths rear of the Von Kund mansion, and loads of Iron bars and rods were carried Into the house. Swarthy men in greasy clothes and with browned, muscular arms swarmed about ths premises. The clang of heavy hammers resounded through the house. But prying eyed neighbors wore kept at a distance, and no one was able to 1 y -xmSiCT wJtk W T .ssv ' JF V jsfll 1 1 11 - I 1VJI ' ' I i rats nit: z -vsr M f j L. M m e rfgs Hi. V. m -r .. . 'f j'.jt ''i-rt','.i ...... ft-''' " Here Is where you live," said Adolph von Kund. " Ton will have your sitting room, your dining room, your bed room, but no more. But from this d y you go forth no more." Bertha von Kund's eyes flashed with anger. " How dara you treat me as your prisoner. I have committed no crime. I refuse to stay here a moment longer." The oil merchant beckoned tils angry wife to a chair. He took another one. " Madam," he said, " it is true, you have committed no crime, but you have ruined me almost Tour extravagance discover Just what was being done to the Interior of the" Von Kund mansion. Her Room Made a Prison Ceil. When Bertha von Kund returned from her cousins the second time she was 'hardly able to recognise the interior of her homethat is, after she had been in for a few moments. Herr von Kund met his unsuspecting wife in the hallway and smilingly escorted her first to his library. Then opening the door to the dining room and pushing aside a pair of heavy velvet curtains he Invited his wife to enter. The dining room was dark, but a the velvet curt.-Ins dropped together and the heavy oaken door closed with the click of a spring lock the oil merchant pressed a button in the wall and flooded the room with the soft glow of the electric light. Bertha von Kund gave a frightened gasp of astonish ment The entire dining room had been transformed into a prison coll. Iron bars extended from floor to ceiling entirely around the walls of the room. Otherwise the room was Just as she hud left It. Come," said Herr von Kund, drawing his thoroughly frightened wife to a small grated door. It led to small sit ting room, filled with her favorite couches and chairs, her books, and piano, and her pictures. But the decorations on the wall which always had seemed so pretty to her were oniy partly to be seen through the same forbidding Iron bars. Bertha von Kund gased at her husband In fear stricken wonder, but there was nothing of Insanity In the quiet smile or the placid gray eyes. Without saying a word he conducted er through another grated door-rlt opened Into her bedroom-and like the other rooms It had been trans formed Into a cell. Even the walls of the bathroom were hidden behind steel bars. In the last three years has cost me nearly 300,000 kronen. It has broken my credit. It -has left me almost a bankrupt J jfc His Substitute for a Jail. " Now, If my cashier embezzles my cash I can put him In prison. If my. clerks rob me they share the same fata If thieves break into my house and steal they go to jail if I catch them. " In three years, I tell you, you have just the same as robbed me of 300,000 kronen. I cannot put you In a publlo prison. But I can put you In a cell In your own home, and I can be your Jailer. I choose to do this rather than to drive you from your home and mine." " Why don't you kill me at once, demanded the tearful Frau von Kund. " Because It would be a crime." ' Why don't you drive me away then?" " Because I love you too much," declared the oil mer chant " But I can cry for help." " Do so. The sound will not reach from the walls." " The servants " " You will see but'one, and she Is my own niece." Bertha von Kund resigned herself to her fate, and but for the accident of a neighbor who saw her face through the Iron grating over her sitting room window she might have been In her stay-at-home prison yet. The neighbor, sus picious that something was wrong, notified the police. Bertha von Kund was liberated, and her husband put In a real prison. But there U nothing to do about it. Bertha von Kund admits her husband was Justified In putting her In a cage, and besides there Is no law In Hungary to cover. the case.