Daily Capital Journal

COUNTESS TARNOWSKA
CONVICTED OF MURDER

Story of Criminal Conspiracy. Hypnotic Suggestion and So-Called Love. and of the Career of a Heartless, Cold Blooded Woman, Which Ends in Murder and a Term in the Penitentiary.

[UNITED PRESS LEASED WIRE.]

Venice, Italy, May 21.-Convicted of a murder conspiracy that startled Europe, Countess Maria Tarnowska Dr. Naumoff and Lawyer Nicholas Prilukoff today began serving terms for killing Count Komarowsky. The countess and physician were sentenced to three and eight years, respectively, while Prilukoff received ten years.

The jury found that Countess Tarnowska and Dr. Naumoff were not fully responsible for their acts. Elise Perrier, the maid, was acquitted. The case excited the interest of all Europe. Not alone were its criminal features striking, but the political question involved furnished food for gossip in court circles. Had the murder and trial occurred in Russia little of the details probably would have become known. Occurring in Italy, the Russian social and political system was laid bare, in spite of every effort of the czar's agents to hush up the case.

These efforts were made at the beginning of the investigation, and would have been successful had not Italian newspaper men become aware of the facts. The Italian police were placed on their mettle, and could not aid the czar in suppressing the ugly scandal.

The Tarnowska murder trial was pending weeks. It attracted far greater attention than any case of the kind in Italy's criminal history. The Duke of Abruzzi, Mme. Rejane the actress, and D'Annunzio, the writer, are only a few among the well-known persons who attended the hearings.

Of the four prisoners Countess Maria Tarnowska, though only charged with instigation, and not with actually committing the murder of Count Paul Kamarowsky two and a half years ago, was the central figure in the case. The next conspicuous figure was Dr. Naumoff, 21, who admitted having fired the fatal shots. Nicholas Prilukoff, a lawyer, and Elise Perrier, the countess' maid were accused as accessories.

The Countess Tarnowska, Naumoff and Prilukoff and Count Kamarowsky are Russian. Perrier, the maid is a French woman.

The story of the events leading up to Count Kamarowsky's murder begins with Maria Nicolaievna's clandestine marriage at the age of 19, to Count Vassili Tarnowska, a dissolute young nobleman of Moscow. The Tarnowskas were most unhappy together. The countess says her husband ill treated her grossly. On her part, she deliberately tried to excite his jealousy, hoping to rid herself of him. She succeeded so well that the count finally shot and killed one of her admirers named Borsevski. He then begun divorce proceedings against her.

The countess placed her case in Prilukoff's hands. Prilukoff was a man of ability, education and standing. had a wife and children and earned a large income from his profession. He abandoned everything to follow Tarnowska, as she was generally called. Neglect of his business caused him heavy losses, and, to satisfy the financial demands made upon him by the woman he loved, he embezzled large sums from his clients.

In the course of a European tour they were taking together the countess met in Paris an old acquaintance, Count Kamarowsky. for whom she practically threw off Prilukoff. Prilukoff appears to have been not altogether displeased, for he realized how gravely his interests were suffering from his association with the woman. and was glad to be free from her fascination.

Kamarowsky accepted La Tarnowska's invitation to return to Russia with her. and together they visited many Muscovite cities. At Orel the count introduced his companion to his friend. Dr. Naumoff. who. in his turn. fell madly in love with her. For some time the countess divided her time between Kamarowsky and Naumoff. The latter was almost insane over her. He even submitted to physical torture at her hands. allowing her to thrust hat pins into his flesh and to extinguish her cigarettes by pressing the burning ends against his hands, because. as she said, she loved him more when she saw him suffering.

At last the count made a will in which he left his fortune to La Tarnowska. His life was also insured in her favor for $100.000. He wanted her to marry him, but as no divorce had yet been secured by Count Tarnowska, this was impossible. But a short time before Kamarowsky was killed, the countess made a fresh bid for Prilukoff's affections. She summoned him to her in Berlin, and he came. Soon he was again completely under her influence. The countess told him that Kamarowsky and Naumoff was persecuting her, and wanted him to rid her of them.

The direct suggestion that Prilukoff kill Kamarowsky was first made when the lawyer, the countess and the maid, Perrier, were in Vienna. Kamarowsky was in Vienna and Naumoff was in Russia. The countess sent for Naumoff, and started back toward Russia in his company. A bogus telegram was proposed by Prilukoff..but signed with Kamarowsky's name, in which the most insulting references were made to both Naumoff and La Tarnowska.

This telegram was delivered to the couple on the road. The countess had in the meantime been working on Naumoff's jealousy. and he agreed to kill his friend Kamarowsky. The two accordingly returned to Vienna. The countess stopped off there. Naumoff went on to Venice. Prilukoff followed him. intending to betray him to the police as soon as the murder was committed.

Naumoff called at Kamarowsky's apartments in Venice, was admitted and shot the count dead. He was arrested and Prilukoff returned to Vienna. A confession by Naumoff revealed the countess' and Prilukoff's connection with the affair. They were arrested in Vienna. extradited and brought to Venice to stand trial.

Naumoff and Prilukoff joined in placing all the responsibility for the murder upon the countess. They declared that she completely dominated them, that there was something almost supernatural in the power she exercised over their wills, and that they were powerless to refuse any request she made.

The countess maintained that Prilukoff dominated her in the same manner that he professed she dominated him, that he engineered the whole plot, and that Naumoff was his and not her tool. Perrier. the maid, was loyal to her mistress, corroborating the latter in her charges against Prilukoff. She even exposed herself to some risk in her efforts to shield La Tarnowska though she said she was not positively aware of the nature of the conspiracy in which, as an unconscious instrument, she admitted that she took some part.

The countess was a cocaine user and neurotic of an extreme type Naumoff, too, though brilliant in some respects, was shown to have had periods of eccentricity verging on aberration. apparently at times to have enjoyed his own suffering.