The Count's Obscene Mail Scandal
A self-styled Count faces trial in Tacoma for allegedly mailing obscene letters, despite his wife's legal campaign to free him.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Count Leo de Claude appeared today before Commissioner Sawyer in San Francisco regarding a charge of sending an obscene letter through the mails. His attorney argued that the indictment was defective, but the Commissioner overruled the motion. De Claude is expected to be transported back to Tacoma to stand trial for the offense. His wife is reportedly working diligently for his release, with rumors suggesting she intends to reunite with him if he is exonerated.
“De Claude's wife is working hard for his release, and it is said if she succeeds she will again live with him.”
Scandalous legal proceedings involving the 'upper class' often provided the tabloid-style gossip of 1890s newspapers. This story of a nobleman's public disgrace and a spouse's desperate attempts to intervene reads like a precursor to the sensationalist crime reporting found in modern society columns.
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