Pearly Passion

Viennese tongues clacked because Baroness Alice Konrad von Konradsheim was sentenced to six months' imprisonment at Graetz, Czecho-Slovakia, for having broken strings of pearls worn by the two plaintiffs and having stolen a considerable number of the pearls while they were being picked up.

A plea of kleptomania was entered by the defense and medical evidence also was introduced to show that the Baroness had an uncontrollable passion for pearls; but despite the fact that she owned a large palace in Graetz and many houses in Vienna, she was found guilty.

On hearing the sentence, the Baroness swooned and was carried unconscious from court.