[hugh3]

I can't find any reference to a Baron Schlep having ever existed, leading me to suspect (along with the fact that he only had twelve dollars, and what sounds like a suspiciously made-up sort of name) that he may have been a fake Baron all along.

[_delirium]

If you compare the letter to both the 'l' and the 'i' in 'Ellis' on the line above, it looks like it might be an 'i'. The article can't decide whether it goes before or after the 'e' though, which means that if I'm right, it's either 'Schiep' or 'Scheip'. However, I can't find any info on anyone with those names either.

Edit: the NY Times of November 12 has an update, confirming he was deported [pdf]: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F02E6DD1E...

> Commissioner Williams said it was not because the man had only $12 in his possession, but because he was an undesirable alien. He was not a Baron, the Commissioner added.

[Samuel_Michon]

To further complicate matters: other newspapers covering the story back in the day spelled the man's name as "Adolph Schopf", "Adolph Schuep" and "Adolph Schüp".

He's described as "a real German baron, a graduate of three German universities, one of which is the famous Heidelberg, the hero of five duels and the suitor of a beautiful young widow who has been making her home in Meriden during the past three months. His full name is Adolph Schopf, baron of Bottleburg, New Weissensee, province of Kieden Barden, Prussia."[1]

[1] http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cg9JAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k...

[jarek]

"Adolph Schuep" and "Adolph Schüp" are the same name, Schuep just has Schüp re-spelled without the umlaut.

Schopf, Schiep, and Scheip are likely just phonetic respellings/typos.

Not only were people back in the day not that particular about exactly how a foreigner's name was spelled, often times people wouldn't be sure or would change how their own name is spelled.