Photograph shows “Prince” Zeridecheno Mohammed Saide and his wife attend a reception at the White House, 1924. 

“EGYPTIAN” CROWN HEIR FADES AWAY

 Chicago Salesman Peddled the Bunk and Got Away With it for Two Years— Married Kentucky Society Girl and Hobnobbed With Many Notable Public Men.

WASHINGTON, D. C— For two years the man in this story was crown prince of Egypt, second cousin to the king of Spain, and first cousin to Mustapha Kemal. For the same length of time; as a bon vivant and a cavalier, he charmed New York City’s elect with descriptions of his father’s magnificent 1,000-room palace in far off Kurdistan. 

He married a Kentucky girl—Miss Catherine Spigli, of Lexington—and then divorced her after what he said was the manner of the Mohammedans, that is, by looking her in the eye and saying slowly and distinctly: “I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee”. 

For two years he rubbed elbows with the notables. President Harding, Secretary of State Hughes, the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, the Rockefellers, all were among those who received the gallant potentate. For two years he got away with all that and a whole lot more, but a few days ago Prince Zerdecheno Mohammed Saide abdicated.

The king of Spain lost a second cousin, Mustapha Kemal lost a first cousin, and the great mansion in far off Kurdistan vanished: into thin air. And, doubtless, President Harding, Secretary Hughes, the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys; and the Rockefellers were stunned to hear that the delightful Zerdocheno Mohammed Saide was until two years ago, an automobile salesman in Chicago. 

 Investigators discovered that much only a few days, ago, but, as the picturesque Zerdecheno Mohammed Saide is probably observing it; it took them two years. He has vanished, leaving behind him a trail of misplaced confidence.