Sept. 7, 1927 – exhumed at Crown King on her private property burial and re-interred in Crypt at Wannsee II Cemetery, at side of her late husband in Berlin, Germany.

65 years old at time of her death.

Oct. 29. 1928 Stock Market Crash – (Black Tuesday) (20 Mo. after her death)

Countess Agnes Minotto’s original Burial site: Latitude N34 12.661, Longitude W112 20.300

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Neal Du Shane 6/19/05

The original Countess Minotto burial site in Crown King is:

1,446 feet from the existing Crown King Cemetery (CKC)?

In an East, South East general direction from the CKC.

Elevation drops 252' from the CKC at 6,072' and the CM burial site at 5,820'.

Bearing from the Crown King Cemetery is 104.8 degrees.

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Quote from Bruce M. Wilson’s

Crown King and the Southern Bradshaws: A Complete History

Pages 90, 91, 92

Without a doubt, the most renowned individual ever to live in Crown King was the retired German actress Countess Agnes Minotto. From 1875 to 1910 she was, under her maiden name (stage name) Agnes Sorma, one of the most famous actresses in Europe. She originated the role of Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, and had a tambourine given to her by the playwright with the inscription (see pictures section), “To the most beautiful Nora.” During her farewell tour of Europe as Nora, she carried the tambourine with her and wrote on it the cities and dates where she appeared. She then sent it to Henrik, who had it returned to her after his death.

She had married an Italian Count, and after his death and her retirement from the theater, she moved to Arizona, where her son, James, had a ranch near Walnut Grove. Not wanting to impose on his family, she settled in Crown King in 1926, and had a beautiful stone and wood house built along the old Philadelphia ore car line. In spite of her grand past, she fit in very well with the people of Crown King. Her new neighbors admired here brilliance and intensity, and remembered her for the quantity and quality of the hand embroidery that she was constantly working on. Even though she was in her sixties, she became an avid horse woman, but during one of her rides in August of 1926, she was thrown from her horse and seriously injured. A special train was arranged, the last to make the trip to Crown King, to taker her to Mercy Hospital in Prescott. While recovering there, she hired one of the nurses, Vivian Yount, to return to Crown King with her and tend to her needs. The Countess apparently recovered completely from her injuries, but a year later, at age 63, she died of heart failure. Her funeral was held in Crown King, but it was snowing so heavily that her son called her friends on the Forest Service telephone, telling them not to attempt the dangerous trip. Nearly everyone in Crown King attended the funeral services, which were conducted by Father Payas, a Catholic priest. She was buried on a knoll near her house, but her son later had her body moved back to Italy (Berlin, Germany Wannsee II Cemetery) to be buried beside her husband.

The flattened spot on top of the knoll where she was buried can still be found, ringed by a low stone and masonry wall. Her house is still standing and in use as summer home. Her nurse, Vivian Yount, married Hugh Nelson, one of Jack Nelson’s sons, and remained in Crown King until her death in 1985. One of their sons, Tony, still lives in Crown King with his family.”

In 2005 there are possibly three burials at this site on private property. Research continues to determine who is buried there.

Neal

Nov. 2, 1917 - Chicago Daily Tribune

COUNT DEFENDS SON AS SOLELY AN AMERICAN

Father of James Minotto Says Charges Will Be Disproved.

“My son is American, sometimes I think all American, which is saying a great deal for the son of a patrician family which dates back through centuries of the best Italian lineage” said Count Demetrio Minotto, father of Count James Minotto, son-in-law of Louis F. Swift, held by the federal government under charges of pro-German activities.

All the same time federal officials declared they were securing new evidence linking his name with those of Fritz Kuhn, George von Seebeck and the recent Ensign Walter L. Dunbar, United States navy, interned as German spies. Also it is claimed that the younger-count knew Luxburg of “spur-logversenkt (Sp?)”

Mother Once Famous

Count Minotto and his wife were found yesterday at the Auditorium hotel.

It was revealed that the young count’s mother, eighteen or twenty years ago, was known as Germany’s most famous actress. They called her “Germany’s Bernhardt” and she played under then name of Agnes Sorma.

“Don’t you think that the count, your son, might have inherited some of the German from his mother?” Count Demetrio Minotto was asked.

“Ah you do not understand Europe – Italy” he said. “My family is Italian. Though they may not marry Italian women, the family is still Italian”.

The elder count lived much of his life in Germany. He was asked of his interests there.

“I have not heard from my properties in more than a year,” he said. “I have been in New York. They may have all been confiscated by the government. Italy and Germany are at war. As to my son, these charges will all be swept away. He came to American, chose it as his land, chose to become a citizen here.”

Word from New York

A telegram from New York last night said:

“Federal investigation into the alleged association here of Count James Minotto, Kuhn and Von Seebeck, German bankers held here, has failed to reveal any suspicious connection.

“Mrs. Chauncey Eldridge of New York, who appeared against Minotto in Chicago, is believed to have told of seeing him in South American while he was representing the Guaranty Trust Company and to have given important information against him.”

It became known in Chicago last night that the record of Mrs. Eldridge is now being looked upon, probably by attorneys representing the count – papers in a long pending bankruptcy case in which Mrs. Maybell Bayles Eldridge figured. As Mrs. Maybell Bayles she conducted a business at one time as the Jackson Importers. 12 (?) East Washington Street, going into bankruptcy with debts amounting to $14,000 and assets of $2,000.

Transcribed and edited by: Neal Du Shane 07/02/05

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Nov. 20, 1917 - Chicago Daily Tribune

PARENTS CALLED TO TESTIFY IN CASE OF COUNT

Federal officials sprung a surprise in the Minotto case yesterday when the announced that the Countess Minotto, formerly the celebrated German actress, Agnes Sorma, and mother of the young count, and her husband Count Giacomo Minotto, will be called today as witnesses for the government. Two other witnesses have also been summoned, one an army officer at Fort Sheridan.

The case will be reopened this moring in the Untied States immigration building, 845 South Wabash Avenue, before C.H. Paul, commissioner of immigration. The young count, son in-law of Louis F. Swift, was born in Berlin.

His arrest came immediately after he tried to get a berth in the navy intelligence department. It is reported that less than ten days before he applied the English government had cabled the United States government to keep an eye on him. It is claimed that the young count at one time was employed by the Deutsche Bank in Berlin.

Von Seebeck and Kuhn, interned as enemy aliens in New York, are claimed to have been close friends of the young count. Von Seebeck is the son of a German general. Count Giacomo Minotto, though admitting he has financial interests in Germany, insists that the family is purely Italian and that his son is strongly American in his sympathies. It is believed that Count James Minotto himself will be placed upon the stand again today.

Transcribed by: Neal Du Shane 07/01/05

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Jun. 16, 1918 Chicago Daily Tribune

18,000 ALIEN ENEMY WOMEN MUST REGISTER

Countess Minotto Among Chicagoans Who Will Report to Police.

Registration of alien enemy women will commence in Chicago tomorrow and all must be registered by June 26. Each woman will be required to report to her nearest police station with two photographs of herself of regulation size. Finger prints will be taken and blanks given description, birth, and history will be filled out. It is estimated by John J. Bradley, United States marshal, that there are from 16,000 to 18,000 alien enemy women in Chicago.

Among them will be a number of women prominent in Chicago’s social world, and one of these is the Countess Minotto, formerly Miss Ida May Swift daughter of the packer and born here.

She is listed as an alien enemy because a wife takes the citizenship of her husband. The count was recently interned. Count Demetrio Minotto, father of the young count, registered as an alien enemy yesterday, under protest that he is in reality a citizen of Italy.

Huns Call Count Italian

He lived for a time in Germany after war was declared and said that while he was there Germany compelled him to register as an alien enemy, recognizing him as a citizen of Italy. The count submitted to finger prints yesterday and shared with a common workman a cake of soap used to remove the ink.

(6)

Answering a recent challenge that his family has no right to the title of count, the elder Minotto said yesterday.

“I am a member of the only patrician family of the name Minotto in Venice. In the official book of Italian nobility the Minotto family is listed as dating back to the year 827. That should be proof enough.”

Minotto Resigned to Camp.

The count gave his address as Glencoe. He said that he recently received a letter from his son, now in the German detention camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., and that he said he is resigned to his internment and expects to remain there for the duration of the war.

Speaking of his residence in Germany, Count Minotto said: “I am a denizen of Germany, not a citizen.”

All women who are natives of Alsace Lorraine, born of French parentage, are urged to apply to the Association Generale des Alsatian-Lorraine d’Amerique for a card of identification issued by the association which will enable them to change there term “alien female” to “French Alsatian-Lorrainer.”

Transcribed by: Neal Du Shane 07/01/05

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May 18, 1920 - Chicago Daily Tribune

Father of Count Minotto Dies After Long Illness

(Chicago Tribune Foreign News Service)

(By Special Cable)

BERLIN, May 17, - Count Demetrius Minotto, father of Count James Minotto, husband of Ida May Swift, died at Wannssee, a suburb of Berlin, on May 11, after a long illness. The announcement was published today by the widow, the former Deatache Theatre star, Agnes Sorma.

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(translated from German)

Agnes countess of

* 17 May 1862 in Breslau
† 10 February 1927 in Crownking/Arizona
Actress

It debuetierte as juvenile Liebhaberin in Breslau and came over Goerlitz, Weimar and floats 1883 (under the alias Agnes Sorma) to Berlin to the German theatre. 1890 married it the venezianischen count von Minotto. Starting from 1898 the artist undertook expanded appearance journeys to France, Italy and the Orient. Under max Reinhardt (1873-1943) worked it from 1904 to 1908 at the German theatre and convinced as Minna of barn helmet and Norma. In the First World War she worked as a nurse and moved to into the USA where she also died. She was buried at the side of her man on the local cemetery when lake (honour grave).

(7)

Mar. 24, 1925 New York Times

SALE OF ART FOR COUNTESS

Minotto Collection, Including Furniture, to Be Dispersed April 3.

The art collection of Countess Agnes Minotto, who was Agnes Sorma, a well known European actress, it to be on exhibition at the American Art Galleries from March 28 until its sale there on April 4. Included are many objects that belonged to the family of the Countess’s late husband, Count Demetrio Minotto in Venice, and objects collected by both the Count and Countess during 30 years.

The Countess gave up her country house at Wannsee, Germany, her home for more than twenty-five years, after the death of the Count in 1920, and has lived since near her son in Chicago. She brought over paintings, porcelains, silverware, Oriental rugs and other favorite pieces, but as she has decided to spend the next few years in travel, is selling them.

Besides French and Italian furniture, there are tall case clocks, luster and culver dore’ chandeliers and carved and gilded mirrors. From the collections of Count Delfino, Count Barozzi and Count Contarinl in Venice and the Ottoboni family in Padua there are decorative painting and Renaissance wood carvings, among the latter a boxwood and walnut crucifix by the Venetian artist Andres Brustoloni, who died in 1732. A silver dinner service of more than fifty pieces is one of the items.

Some of the needlework offered was made by Countess Minotto herself. There is a mantel clock that belonged to Emil Zora and a sculptured lion head from the Greek Theatre of Dionysus that was contributed by the Archeologic Commission of the Acropolis at Athens.

Transcribed by: Neal Du Shane 07/02/05

Apr. 4, 1925 New York Times

COUNTESS MINOTTO SALE BRINGS $24,149

High Price of $2,900 Paid by Thomas D. Parker for an Italian Armoire.

The collection of furniture, paintings, Oriental rugs and other objects of Countess Agnes Minotto brought $23,149 yesterday at the American Art Galleries.

Thomas. D. Parker paid the day’s three high prices. For $2,900 he purchased a massive old carved walnut Italian armoire made of Bishop Ottoboni of Padua, displaying two escutcheons of the Ottoboni family. It is an elaborately carved piece, with double doors. For the old Venetian carved walnut library table, from the collection of Count Delfino, Venice, he paid $2,500. The frieze of this is carved with repeated pairs of affrontes dolphins emblematic of the Delfino family, and its richly carved stretcher is crested with tow large escutcheons below a ducal coronet. Mr. Parker paid $2,000 for the sculptured boxwood figure of the crucifixion by the Neetian artist, Andreas Brustoloni (1662-1732) It is 34 inches high, and the figure is suspended from a rustic walnut cross inst in a rocky base.

Forty-eight solid silver dinner plates by Otto Schneider, Berlin, were bought by Edward Lehman for $1,650.

Arthur Arnold, agent, paid $360 for a painting by Antonio Canaletto, “Venice the Molo,” and $360 for “San Marco and the Campanile, Venice,” by the same artist, both from the collection of Count Varozzi, Venice. Ginsberg & Levy paid $300 for six walnut side chairs covered in Gross-point, copied by Countess Minotto from a model in the Zurich Museum under the personal direction of Herr Angst, a former director of that museum. Robert Thalman bought a painting, “The Plague of the Serpents,” attributed to Tiepole, for $225, and Rose Cumming paid $215 each for two paintings of the seventeenth century Neapolitan school, “Naples, Plazza di Spagna.” And “Maples, a Public Square.” Companion pictures.

Mrs. H.E. Warren bought a Fereghan rug for $250.

Transcribed by: Neal Du Shane 6/21/05

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PRESCOTT JOURNAL MINER

Feb 12, 1927

Countess Minotto Dies In Mountain Home, Crown King

Madame Agnes Minotto, Italian Countess, sportswoman, once the toast of Germany as the Sarah Bernhardt of the Imperial Theatre, will be buried at 4:00 O’clock this afternoon in the little mining town cemetery in Crown King, where she lived her last days and died Thursday night. At her funeral will be, James Minotto, her son, Mrs. Madame Swift Minotto, her daughter-in-law, and a group of sorrowing neighbors of the lofty mountain community, for with the snow making trails well-nigh impassable and a 65-mile journey for automobiles to reach the spot only 20 miles away on airline, it would be difficult to do otherwise than conduct the obsequies there.

Yesterday in Prescott there died a man who once experienced the difficulties of that Alpine region. Horace Yeomans pioneer freighter 35 years ago brought a dead man out of the Crown King Cemetery in wintertime for burial in Prescott, but he used 40 miners to break trial and to hold the casket of rough pine planks balanced on the back of a sturdy horse.

The death of Madame Minotto was due to a heart disease and not, according to the countess’ physician, an after effect of a fall from her horse last August. At that time a special train, the last to be run over the since abandoned and demolished line to Crown King, brought the countess to Prescott for hospital treatment after she had lain for hours in mountain chalet.

“Jimmy” Minotto, now a rancher and no longer know as “Count” and his wife, a daughter of the Chicago Swifts, beat the storm to the bedside of the Countess and so did Lester Ruffner (Yavapai County Coroner). But the best mountain drivers in Prescott have been ordered for the sad procession of cars that will buck the snow this morning to carry friends to Crown King for the burial.

Having enjoyed the plaudits of the multitudes and the atmosphere of half a dozen European counts, Countess Minotto chose to end her days in her beloved mountain home near here. With a servant or two she stayed at Crown King eschewing a society that had welcomed her for her personal charm, and it was her wish that her grave should be there. She had sold her possessions in Germany, disposed of her art treasures and had settled down to watch the colorful, but sometimes grim changes that light and shadow play upon the loftiest mountain chain of central Arizona. Her principle recreation continued to be horse back riding, although she was 63 years old. And she chose no gaited thoroughbred, but a hardy cowpony for her riding.

Countess Minotto was famous all throughout Europe as Agnes (Sorma) Zaremba, her stage name.

Of Distinguished Family

Countess Minotto was born Agnes Zaremba of Polish parents, at Breslau, Germany on May 17, 1865.

She became the foremost actress of Germany, with a fame and vogue word-wide. Governments bestowed upon her their graces, and counts and kings paid her tribute. She was known in every capital of Europe and her marriage in 1890 to Demetrio, Count Minotto of the Old Italian nobility, was an occasion.

James Minotto was the only descendant of the marriage. His father died in 1920.

The strong character that had made her the outstanding player on Europe’s dramatic stage served her in the new role as wife of the Count Minotto in that broad social stage to which she had been called to play a distinguished part. And yet when retirement came, it was not the glories of a villa in Italy or a chateau in France but to American and finally to that part of it which she could see from the mountain in the Bradshaw’s.

She had bought the old Harrington home and had it remodeled with every convenience that could be installed. She made her place among the people there just as neighborly as her house was homelike. Not coming often to Prescott, she counted on seeing her friends at Crown King where they were always welcome for visits. It was probably the most poignant grief of her last hours that she could not have her grandchildren with her, the children of “Jimmy” and Mrs. Minotto.

This obituary was provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records

Transcribed and edited by: Neal Du Shane 6/9/05

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Feb 12, 1927 New York Times

COUNTESS AGNES MINOTTO.

Former Noted Actress Dies at Her Home in Crown King, Arizona.

CHICAGO, Feb. 11 – The Dowager Countess Agnes Minotto, formerly of Chicago and once widely known in Europe as an actress, is dead at here home in Crown King, Ariz., it was learned here today.

Countess Minotto was the mother of James Minotto, a son-in-law of Louis F. Swift, President of Swift & Co. A dispatch to the company said she died last night of angina pectoris.

Born in Breslau, Silesia, of Polish parents, she began her stage career in her youth and established a reputation as Agnes Sorma. In 1890 she married Count Demetrius Minotto in Venice. They lived at Wannsee, near Berlin, for many years. After the death of the Count in 1920, she lived in Chicago for some time.

Agnes Sorma toured the Untied States in the 90’s (1890’s) under the management of Conried. A sale of her furniture and art objects was held at the American Art Galleries here in March, 1925, bringing $24,000.

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Feb 12, 1927 Phoenix Gazette p.16

CROWN KING MOURNS PASSING OF ONCE NOTED ACTRESS

Son Advises Friends Against Dangerous Mountain Trek

PRESCOTT, Feb. 12 – (A.P.) – Madam E. Agnes Minotto, Italian countess, sports woman and once the toast of Germany as the Sara Bernhardt of the Imperial theater was buried this morning in the little mining town cemetery (buried on her private property not the Crown King Cemetery) at Crown King where she lived the last few days of her life.

Madam Minotto died Thursday night.

At her funeral were James Minotto, her son; Mrs. Idamay Swift Minotto, her daughter-in-law, and a group of sorrowing neighbors from the lofty mountain community. Isolated in the hamlet, 20 miles from Prescott in an airline, all day by a heavy fell of snow, James watching at the bier of his mother, had recourse to the forest service telephone to ask friends not to attempt the trip to Crown King over snow-covered roads.

“All I can say about my mother is that she was willing to give up her life in Europe where so many people knew her and come here to Crown King and make her home. She loved it here and that’s why I am burying her at this place,” the former Italian count, now a Prescott rancher, said over the telephone.

Two motor cars traveled the slippery road today, one carrying a priest and one filled with flowers.

Hero’s Death Recalled

It was something of a coincidence that there died here today a man who once braved the dangers of the Alpine-like region around Grown King to bring to Prescott for burial one of his comrades. He was Horace Yeoman, pioneer freighter. Thirty-five years ago Yeoman used 40 miners to break trail and hold the casket of his friend, balanced on the back of a horse, in the trek from Crown King.

The countess’ physician said her death was due to heart disease and not the effects of a fall from her horse last August. At the time a special train, the last to be run over the since abandoned Crown King Line, brought the countess here for treatment after she had suffered for hours in her mountain home.

Madame Minotto was born at Breslau Germany of Polish parents. In 1890 she married Count Demetrio Minotto of Rome, whose death occurred in 1920. James is their only son.

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Jun. 2, 1927 New York Times

To Bury Agnes Sorma in Germany

BERLIN, June 1, (AP) – Agnes Sorma, well-known German actress, who died in Chicago (actually - Crown King, AZ) recently, will be buried at Wannsee, a popular lake suburb of Berlin, where she lived in a villa until she joined her son in Chicago. In accordance with her oft-expressed wish that she be buried beside her husband, her son, Count Minotto, it is learned here, has arranged for the body to be brought to Germany in July.

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6/16/05 Neal Du Shane (Translated)

From the catalog geography - Germany part number: Km-9895 BAB, JULIUS(Hrsg.): Agnes Sorma. An intending book. Certifications of their life and their art. Heidelberg, N.Kampmann, (1927). With photos. 162 S. OLwbd. Gr.8vo., * I/O cover a w. angestaubt, understood. (9895,7)/new address: Bismackstr. 4, 61169 Friedberg. Tel. 06031 - 79,185 16/16,00 EUR plus 2.00 EUR forwarding expenses inland 18,00 EUR total amount into the warenkorb of references: Geography - Germany offerer: Second-hand bookshop Karel Marel – AGB

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Agnes Sorma (Translated)

German actress
* 17.5.1865
† 10.2.1927

actually: Agnes Zaremba; in Breslau as Agnes Zaremba one bore and under the name Agnes Sorma one of the gefeiertsten actresses of its time. It had first commitments at small province stages. There she discovered Ludwig Barnay, which recommended her to L'Arronge, the director of the recent German theatre in Berlin. In Berlin the Schlesierin the artistic break-through not easily made – only after their overwhelming success as Nora in Ibsens the break-through succeeded to piece of the same name. Now appearances came into Austria, France and America in rapid consequence. The "German Duse" married the Italian count Minotto. After end of the First World War Agnes Sorma followed its son after its Ranch in Arizona.

03/03/1903 (Translated)

Inspired welcomes citizen of Berlin the public the actress Agnes Sorma (eigtl. Zaremba), born in Breslau, which came to a dreiwoechigen appearance into the city.

New York Times Sep. 8, 1927

AGNES SORMA BURIED

Noted German Actress Eulogized at Crypt of Count Minotto

Berlin, Sept. 7, - Agnes Sorma (Countess Agnes Minotto), one of Germany/s greatest actresses, was laid to final rest today in the family crypt of Count Minotto on the shore of beautiful Lake Wansee at the side of her late husband and near the grave of the unfortunate poet, von Kleist, whose "Katchen von Heilbronn" she played so often. (New Cemetry Wannsee II, Lindenstreet ½, Berlin, Germany)

The body of the distinguished artist, who died in the United States, arrived from Hamburg last night.

The funeral was conducted according to the rites of the Catholic Church and was attended not only by a large number of prominent representatives of the theatrical world but also by representatives of the Government and luminaries in the world of art and science. At the grave Felix Hollander, dramatic author, and Alexander Hoisse, noted German actor, delivered poetical tributes to their departed co-worker, stressing the belief that her place in German dramatic art will never be filled.

Transcribed and Edited by: Neal Du Shane 6/20/05

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06/17/05 Neal Du Shane to Ken Kalloch

We dowsed the location and found 3 burials, two adults and one child?

Ray Singer, feels she was moved but can't explain the findings today, other than possibly someone else buried their family at this site . . . ???? No headstones or markers of any type. Ray said he remembers a depression exactly were we get a reading. Maybe the casket had imploded (rotted) and the earth had sunk causing the depression?

The cemetery is located at, Latitude N34 12.661, Longitude W112 20.300 or on Bunkhouse Lane in Crown King, West side of road and requires an uphill walk of about 2 blocks. Site sets about 200 feet north of the water tank behind the main house. The burial site is north of the house in a rock hollow.

This is on private property – DO NOT TRESPASS

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PICTURES

Agnes Sorma A.K.A. Countess Agnes Minotto

Agnes Sorma A.K.A. Countess Agnes Minotto in Front of Theater

Agnes Sorma A.K.A. Countess Agnes Sorma

From a newspaper article.

Countess Agnes Minotto

Countess Agnes Minotto, Countess Ida May (Swift) Minotto, Count Demetrio Minotto

Former Countess Agnes Minotto’s home in Crown King, AZ 2005

Original Burial of Countess Agnes Minotto at Crown King, AZ – Photo 2005

Ray Singer Dowsing Crown King, AZ – Original burial site of Countess Agnes Minotto - 2005

Crown King - Burial Enclosure of Countess Agnes Minotto

On Private Property at Her Original Home There.

Countess Agnes Minotto

Fifty Years Ago, The World Renowned

Actress-Noblewoman Died in Crown King

By Claudette Simpson

Friday, February 11, 1977 WESTWARD – Prescott Couriers Friday TV guide section

She was hailed as “the toast of Germany” and “the Sarah Bernhardt of the Imperial Theatre”. Her stage name (and her maiden name) was Agnes Sorma; her married name, Countess Agnes Minotto. (Ed Note: the reference to her maiden name being Agnes Sorma is not correct – Her maiden name was Agnes Zaremba.)

SHE RECEIVED the plaudits of multitudes and became the foremost actress of Germany. Her fame spread world wide. Governments, courts and kings paid her tribute.

After retirement, the natural setting for her to live out her life would have been a villa in Italy or Chateau in France. A villa or chateau may have been logical but that wasn’t the way it was. For 50 years ago yesterday, Countess Agnes Minotto died at Crown King, Arizona.

ON THE surface, it may seem like there was no rime or reason for a renowned Countess to be living in a remote mining town like Crown King. But in reality, there was – her only son and his family, Count James Minotto owned a ranch close to Wagoner.

James Minotto (he was long since dropped the Count from his name) has lived in Arizona for 52 years. He will be 86 years old this month and is living in Phoenix.

HIS MOTHER arrived in Prescott in 1926. Not wishing to be close enough to her son and family to impose, she chose Crown King for her home.

Here, presumably, she found drama as deep and mysterious as the plays in which she had starred – the drama in the ever changing light and shadows upon the loftiest mountain chain of central Arizona.

THE SOCIETY in Crown King was mostly miners, not at all like the kings, chancellors and playwrights in Europe. But according to old newspaper accounts, she was as warm and charming to the Crown King society as she was in the European courts.

“She made her place among the people there just as neighborly as her house was homelike,” the Journal Miner reported. “Not coming often to Prescott, she counted on seeing her friends at Crown King where they were always welcome for visits.”

THE COUNTESS was a noted sportswoman. Even after reaching 60 ears of age, she rode horses as her principal means of recreation. She touched the hearts of People in Crown King by not insisting on gilded thoroughbreds, rather she chose hardy cowponies for her riding.

In August of 1926, she fell from her horse and suffered serious injuries. After laying for hours in her mountain chalet, help came. It took a special train, the last to be run over the since abandoned and demolished line to Crown King, to bring her to Prescott and the Mercy Hospital.

She recovered completely from the fall, the newspaper accounts said, and that accident was not related to her sudden death the next year.

THE PRESCOTT Evening Courier carried this account: Countess “Minotto, who was 63 years of age, had complained of a slight pain near her heart off and on for two days, her physician, Dr. C.E. Yount, said today, but had not thought it necessary to see him until yesterday”

Death was sudden – attributed to heart failure.

THE COUNTESS, with her magnetic personality, had formed friendships with a host of people in the country. It would seem logical there her funeral would have been well attended. But it was not.

Not because the people weren’t longing to pay their last respects – rather because of the weather. After her death, it began to snow. It snowed so much, all trails and roads were impassable. Her son and his wife and a friend – Omar Maxwell – beat the storm to here bedside, as did Lester Ruffner.

JAMES MINOTTO used a forest service telephone to forbid friends coming to the funeral.

“There’s too much snow,” the former Italian count told the Journal Miner. “The road along the old railroad grade is too slippery. One little turn of the wheel and you go over.”

“IF IT wasn’t for the storming I would want my friend to be here, but I have to say “Please don’t come around me.”

“All I can say about my mother is she was willing to give up her life in Europe where so many people knew her and came here to Crown King and make her home. She loved it here – that’s why I am burying her at this place.”

“I HAVE asked two cars to come up tomorrow – one with the priest and one for flowers. If they get through, it will be astonishing. If they don’t we will have the funeral without them.”

“Jimmy,” the account continued, told the Journal Minor “not to send out a representative – unless I tell you tomorrow morning that you can get through.” He refused to sanction his friend Joe Morgan coming out, when Joe called up last evening.

“YOU KNOW I would feel - how my mother would feel – if something would happen. It is 15 miles to the nearest safe place. How would you get horses over the trestles?”

And so it was that Countess Minotto, the 63-year-old actress-noblewoman of cosmopolitan Europe was laid to rest in a Granite tomb blasted out of a knoll by her neighbors, the miners of Crown King.

FROM THE newspaper account: “Everyone in the little community was present when Father Payas, after conducting the funeral rites of the Catholic church, paid a splendid tribute to a true-hearted woman in a short oration. Countess Minotto, she said, was a noble woman in every sense of the word, for he knew her and her work of kindness among the miners of her community. He touched upon the fame that was hers as Agnes Sorma, Internationally know actress and the peace that was hers when she came to end her days in the simple little village in what she call the Arizona Alps.”

“Snow fell fast and laid a thick white blanket over the rough hills all the day and probably by this morning, the as yet unmarked grave will have merged with the lines of the rocky knoll so only those who know it could find it.”

YOU CAN’T find her grave there today, James Minotto later had the body moved from Crown King to Germany to be buried beside his father. The ceremony there was attended by the European great and near-great, paying homage to the woman that made history in the dramatic theater from 1875 to 1910.

It makes you wonder about a woman who could touch the hearts of so many – from a German Chancellor to a Crown King miner. Therein does the true drama lie.

Transcribed and Edited by: Neal Du Shane 07/08/05

INDEX

Acropolis at Athens........................................... 8

Alsace Lorraine................................................. 7

American Art Galleries................................. 8, 11

Angst, Herr........................................................ 9

Archeologic Commission.................................... 8

Arizona Alps.................................................... 20

Arnold, Arthur................................................... 9

Association Generale des Alsatian-Lorraine d’Amerique 7

Auditorium hotel................................................ 5

August of 1926............................................ 4, 19

Barnay, Ludwig............................................... 12

Barozzi, Count................................................... 8

Bayles, Mrs. Maybell......................................... 5

Berlin, Germany....................................... 3, 4, 13

Bernhardt, Sara............................................... 11

Bradley, John J.................................................. 6

Bradshaw’s..................................................... 10

Breslau Germany............................................. 11

Breslau, Germany........................................ 3, 10

Breslau, Silesia................................................. 11

Brustoloni, Andreas........................................... 8

Brustoloni, Andres............................................. 8

Bunkhouse Lane.............................................. 13

Canaletto, Antonio............................................. 9

Chateau in France............................................ 19

Chicago........................... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Conried........................................................... 11

Contarinl, Count................................................ 8

Crown King 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20

Cumming, Rose................................................. 9

Deatache Theatre............................................... 7

Delfino, Count................................................... 8

Deutsche Bank.................................................. 6

Dunbar, Ensign Walter L.................................... 5

Eldridge, Mrs..................................................... 5

Eldridge, Mrs. Chauncey.................................... 5

Father Payas................................................ 4, 20

Fereghan........................................................... 9

First World War.......................................... 7, 12

Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.......................................... 7

Fort Sheridan..................................................... 6

French Alsatian-Lorrainer.................................. 7

German Chancellor.......................................... 20

German Duse................................................... 12

Germany’s Bernhardt......................................... 5

Glencoe............................................................. 7

Greek Theatre of Dionysus................................. 8

Guaranty Trust Company................................... 5

Hamburg......................................................... 13

Harrington....................................................... 10

Heidelberg....................................................... 12

Hoisse, Alexander............................................ 13

Hollander, Felix............................................... 13

Jackson Importers............................................. 5

Journal Miner............................................. 19, 20

Kalloch, Ken................................................... 13

Katchen von Heilbronn.................................... 13

Kuhn, Fritz........................................................ 5

Lake Wansee.................................................. 13

L'Arronge........................................................ 12

Lehman, Edward............................................... 9

Luxburg............................................................. 5

Maples, a Public Square.................................... 9

Maxwell, Omar................................................ 20

Mercy Hospital............................................ 4, 19

Minna of barn helmet......................................... 7

Minotto “Jimmy”................................................ 9

Minotto, Count Demetrio........... 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 17

Minotto, Count Demetrius........................ 3, 7, 11

Minotto, Count Giacomo................................... 6

Minotto, Countess..................... 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 20

Minotto, Countess Agnes 3, 4, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

Minotto, James.......... 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20

Minotto, Madame Agness.................................. 9

Morgan, Joe.................................................... 20

Neetian.............................................................. 8

Nelson, Hugh..................................................... 4

Nelson, Jack...................................................... 4

Nora in Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House.................. 4

Norma............................................................... 7

Ottoboni............................................................ 8

Padua................................................................ 8

Parker, Thomas. D............................................ 8

Paul, C.H.......................................................... 6

Philadelphia ore car line...................................... 4

Plazza di Spagna................................................ 9

Prescott....................................... 4, 9, 10, 11, 19

Reinhardt, Max.................................................. 7

Rome.............................................................. 11

Ruffner, Lester............................................. 9, 20

Sarah Bernhardt of the Imperial Theatre....... 9, 19

Schlesierin....................................................... 12

Schneider, Otto................................................. 9

Simpson, Claudette.......................................... 19

Singer, Ray................................................ 13, 18

Sorma, Agnes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20

South American................................................. 5

Stock Market Crash.......................................... 3

Swift & Co...................................................... 10

Swift, Ida May............................................... 6, 7

Swift, Louis F.......................................... 5, 6, 10

Tambourine, The................................................ 4

Thalman, Robert................................................ 9

The Plague of the Serpents................................. 9

Tiepole.............................................................. 9

Venice................................................. 7, 8, 9, 11

villa in Italy................................................. 10, 19

von Kleist........................................................ 13

von Seebeck, George........................................ 5

Walnut Grove.................................................... 4

Wannsee................................. 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13

Wannssee.......................................................... 7

Warren, Mrs. H.E.............................................. 9

Wilson, Bruce M............................................... 4

Yeoman, Horace............................................. 11

Yount, Dr. C.E................................................ 19

Yount, Vivian..................................................... 4

Zaremba, Agnes.................................... 3, 12, 19

Zaremba, Agness (Sorma)............................... 10

Zora, Emil.......................................................... 8

Zurich Museum.................................................. 9