Show A STRANGE STORY Of a Russian Count and His Female Valet THE LOTUS CLUB FAVORITE Thomas C Pearsall Bradhursts Serct He Conceals Hh Marriage and treats His Wife Shamefully Special to TiE HERALD Examiner Dispatch1 CHARLESTON S C May ISThere is avery a-very sensational story afloat here which has caused great excitement among several people who swear to the truth of it Several weeks ago a man of very retired habits of life appeared in Charleston He claimed to be a Russian count of small means seeking health and quiet He lodged in a quiet part of the city with a valet who was scarcely over seen The valet was taken sick after their arrival in the city Although his illness appeared to be quite serious the nobleman refused to call in medical assistance This created a little suspicion Yesterday Yester-day a gcutemaulhing in the same hotel investigated i in-vestigated the case He found to his as tonishment that the valet was a young woman She was being slowly poisoned with morphine She prayed the gentleman gentle-man to take her away from the count who she said was only a common tailor tior from the west named Gumpv of Cincin Cincu nati He intended to kill her The woman refused to give her name or tell why the count wished her out of the way Finding he could not get a satisfactory story from the woman the gentleman left genteman to inform the authorities and the proprietor of the hotel The room was visited again in about half an hour and found to be empty The sick valet and Count jumpy had disappeared They have not been heard of since although a diligent iget search has been made Deceived and Disinherited Special to TiE HERALD Examiner Dispatch NEW YORK May ISFew men in clubroom club-room circles were better kuownherc than Thomas C Pearsall Bradhurst a favorite at the Lotus Manhattan and Knicker booker clubs Genial wholesouled fellow that he was he was well supplied with cash and his friends were legion No one suspected him of having a secret but he had one up to within a week of his death The secret was his marriage While all his friends and relatives were under the impression that he was a gay bachelor the truth was he was a loving benedict though guarding his secret jealously His home was in I handsome apartment up town There his pretty wife had resided for two years previous to his death on March last astHe I He had met Mrs Sara Frances Seavton about eight years previous to her marriage and would it is said have married her but for family reasons Even though he did I rive her his lame three years agofam ly reasons prevented him from making the marriage public Bradhurst died at his sisters residence West Thirtyseventh street of a complica ton of kidney troubles after an illness of two weeks The week before his death his wife torn with anxiety called and demanded de-manded admission to his bedside She vas denied this right and ordered to leave The funeral was conducted quietly but Mrs Bradhurst was not present Having died possessed of at least a quarter quar-ter of a million inherited from his grandmother grand-mother his wife was surprised to learn that she had scarcely received more than men ton in i his will this having been effected by a codicil executed five days before his death The will was produced for probate and left directions to the executors Abram Cling and Charles Field invest Klng to money sufficient to pay Mrs L F Seyton an annual an-nual income of 85000 till her death residue of property to be equally divided between his sisters The codicil revoked the clause jiving Mrs Se ton an annual income of 53000 and directed that she be given DO 000 in lieu of all dower Mrs Bradhurst decided to contest the will on the ground that the signature to the codici was obtained through undue influence influ-ence She has retained J Frederick Ncr uachan to press her claims Abram Kling is the lawyer for the other side The hearing hear-ing of objections to the probate of the will was begun yesterday before the surrogate surrogte Mrs Bradhurst testified in her own behalf be-half She was frequently stopped in her itterances Tears blinded her eyes She has an oval face clear olive complexion dark brown eyes and brown hair combined with refined manners Her widows garb commanded favorable attention attenton Kernachan wished to prove her relations with the deceased husband were the most loving and pleasant up to the execution of the codicil To this end he poduced a number of loving letters written by the husband during dur-ing his illness but the court sustained flings objection and they were not admitted ad-mitted Then Hung drew from the widow the statement that she had never been married to Charles Seyton although she bore his name when Bradhurst met her Do you not recollect a marriage ceremony cere-mony which took place between you and Seyton in 1872 at your friend Mrs Cam erons house Most certainly not exclaimed Mrs Bradhurst excitedly Where is Seyton new enquired Hung I have not seen him since I left him Is he dead interjected Kernachan but Kings face seemed to indicate that he took a different view of tho case The matter was dropped However Kerna han withdrew the widows objections to the probate of the will and it will be admitted ad-mitted at once He will then ask for a evocation of the probate when it is hoped the letters will be admitted Whether it is proposedto produce Se ton as a coup de main with the purpose of invalidating in-validating this marriage to Bradhurst when the case comes up again is a secret they did not divulge Mrs Bradhurst would not see a reporterbut from a mutual friend of both herself aud her dead husband the following story of what seems to have gathered been moro than a usually sad life was Mrs Broadhurst is thirtyfive years old hen eighteen or nineteen years old she met Seyton in Brooklyn and fell a victim to his fascinations Sho was introduced as his wife For a year and a half matters went smoothly Then she discovered that he had another wife and family in tho south and Broadhurst to whom she told the story believed her so they lived to ether he telling her he would marry her when all obstacles were removed as he did eventually |