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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1908)
LUCKY FRENCHMAN HAS WON THE LOVE OF GLADYS DEACON After the Affair of a Smitten Prince and a Duke “Turned Down,” Comes the Triumph of Young Baron de Charette, and An= other International Ro= mance Is Launched NEW YORK.—At last Miss Gladys Deacon, or New York and Boston. Lon don and Paris, has found i he man upon whom she can bestow her heart and hand. Her engagement to the young Baron Antoine de Charette is announced. For five years Miss Deacon has been one of the niost-talked-of young women of society on both sides of the Atlantic. The gossips have had her engaged to a dozen eligibles, from princes down to plain misters." But all the time she had been laughing up her sleeve— they were all wrong, of course. There was the young crown prince of Germany, for example. The credu lous had him head over heels in love with "La belle Americaine" and will ing to renounce his claims to the throne of the German empire for love 1 until she had grown ii|> and been launched In society abroad. Fitted for Society. The nuns had done well with Gladys Deacon's inborn vivacity, cleverness and tact. She was turned out thor oughly French; in time she became perfectly Parisienne. The Deacons had plenty of money. Admiral Baldwin was the richest of ficer iu the navy, and when he died ' a splendid inheritance went to Mrs. Deacon, or Airs. Baldwin, as she pre ferred to be called. Married when 17 years old. she was barely li-t when the scandal came; she was even more beautiful as Mrs. Deaton titan she had i been as Florence Baldwin, the bride of Kdward Parker Deacon, the re served. awkward man of -to. Kttrope took up the daughter Gladys i as it had taken up the mother a ! decade befote. Aristocratic society I of her. Ir look an official announce ment from both sides to sto|> the ialk. and even then there were those who believed it to be true—that young Prince Fritz was desperately smitten. Then there was the duke of .Nor folk. premier peer of England, and the prince of Lichtenstein and Lord Brooke and Lord Francis Hope and the Hon. Claude l.owther were report ed as about to many the vivacious American gill, to sa> nothing of as many more, all lights of considerable magnitude in the social firmament. But everybody was wrong—at least wrong in that .Miss Deacon would mar ry any of these most desirable men. Would Have Taken High Rank. As the wife of the duke of Nor folk site would have taken precedence of every peeress in Kngland: as Lady Brooke or Lady Francis Hope she would have irreproachable position at court. Gladys Deacon is the eldest daugh ter of the late Kdward Parker Deacon, of Boston and New York; her mother was (lie lovely Florence Baldwin, daughter of Rear-Admiral Charles H. Baldwin. U. S. N. Society even now •whispers of the tragedy that clouded the lives of Gladys Deacon and her younger sisters. It was just It! years ago—to be pre cise. February 17. 1S92—wlten liie wires flashed the news from one end of the civilized world to tlie other—Kdward Parker Deacon, an American, had shot and killed M. Kmile Abeiile. a well known Parisian, whom he had sur prised in his wife's boudoir. Abeiile tried to hide behind a sofa, but Dea con's unerring bullet sought hint out. The indignant husband was arrest ed, fined and imprisoned for a brief period. Mrs. Deacon resumed her maiden name and became Mrs. Bald win. Eventually Mr. Deacon lost his mind and died in a sanitarium at Wav erly. Mass. Of course there were squabbles about the children, and finally little Gladys was sent to a convent. There, shielded from the outside, site grew up in utter ignorance of the tragedy at Cannes and the scandal that followed upon its h^els. She did not learn of it welcomed her in every capita! in Eu rope. In the Hois she was saluted as if she were a princess—hut then Gladys Deacon was to ihe manner horn. She was at home in Mayfair as she was in Enter den Linden. In winter she became the bright, partic ular star along ihe Riviera and in Italy thoroughly cosmopolitan grew the beautiful American girl, who spoke with a strong French accent and frankly admitted that she hardly knew anything about the l'nited Stales, though she was American to the core. Euroite found everything to admire in the beautiful girl fresh front the convent. Gladys Deacon is the ideal Anglo Saxon type in face and coloring. Her mass of hair is the palest flaxen, and it waves naturally. Her eyes are large, rather long than round, and a deep vio I let blue. Her eyebrows are almost black, very narrow and exquisitely i arched. Her eyelashes are black as : 'veil and long and sweeping. I Miss Deacon's face is almost classic ' in its oval, the brow slightly broader and higher than the standard of the Greeks, denote.g to some extent the intellect ttali' of this foreign-born Americ. ,rl. Her wit and vivacity would bj e made her a woman of note even without the charming loveliness with which nature has so lavishly en dowed her. Her skin is fair, very white and al most transparent. There is almost no coloring in her cheeks, yet she blushes beautifully when she is interested. Hut her lips are of that brilliant, red which no cosmetic save perfect health can give. Her nose is pure Greek: her mouth a Cupid's bow. The chin is strong and firm. Her teeth are dazzling. She speaks French, German and Italian with equal fluency, and her Parisian accent when she speaks Eng lish is altogether charming. Her taste in dress is undeniable; she al ways appears in the masterpieces of the French modistes. She is a perfect dancer, a rattling good hand at bridge and she can play billiards with the best of the men. As soon as she was well launched in society. Miss Deacon began making strong friendships in the great world. Some of the most important people in i the Faubourg St. Germain set of Paris j became her intimates; in London she ; chummed with the duchess of Marl : borough, the duchess of Devonshire. ' the dowager duchess of Manchester and Mrs. Arthur Paget, all of them of j tremendous social advantage to Miss Deacon. Suitors in Plenty. Mrs. ltaldwin had Lady Somerset's house in Mayfair. London; a beautiful little maison opposite the Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation, in Paris, and a villa at Versailles. . With all these charms, it could not be doubted hut thar Gladys Deacon would soon have suitors enough to j satisfy even the most exacting deb utante. Tile first soon appeared— to be precise, in 1900. He was Claude Low!her. called the handsomest man iu England. Together they made a striking pair, and the matchmakers had them engaged—by rumor. Hut it was nol to tie. Gladys Deaeon went | her way and Mr. Lowther went his. , For a brief period tile prince of Lich tenstein was favored; then lie was dismissed. Next in Hue came Lord Francis Hope, who was even then getting his divorce from May Yohe. the one-time souhrette. who had run away with ! ('apt. Putnam Hradlee Strong, son of tlie late Mayor Strong of New York. Hut Gladys Deacon gave the nobie lord, who some day may lie the duke | of Newcastle, his conge, and he mar I t ied some one else. Then came the affair which nearly | brought about international complica i lions. Only Miss Deacon's natural good sense saved the day. The tier man emperor, who wished his eldest son. heir to the throne, to see some thing in Knglish life, graciously con sented that Prince Fritz should pay a visit to Blenheim palace, the regal home of the duke of Marlborough and his American bride, once (.’onsnelo Vanderbilt. The duchess, who wanted to make his stay as pleasant as pos sible, invited Miss Deacon to meet him. The prince, always susceptible to feminine charms, had already seen anti admired her on the continent. Amid the congenial surroundings of the Knglish country life their former acquaintance ripened rapidly. The ancient lineage she would take pre cedence of every other peeress. Rut. ■ Miss Deacon refused the duke and! that was the end of it. Prince Charming Arrives. Two years later Lord Brooke, son and heir of the earl of Warwick, came on the scene, lie was young, good- \ looking, not rich, but had influence at court through his mother. People really believed that Miss Deacon had lost her heart at last, but it was a false alarm. And then—Baron Antoine de Char ette: Amiable, good looking, very rich, possessed of important position and scion of one of the proudest families in Fiance, the young nobleman is one of the most desirable partis in Eu rope. There is good American blood in the young baron His mother was .Miss Antoinette Polk of Tennessee, a niece of President .lames K. Polk. After the civil war Mrs. Polk took her two daughters, Antoinette and Rebecca, and her son. Van Leer Polk, to Italy to live. It was in Rome that Antoi nette Polk met Karon de Charette, then serving at the Vatican. The im pressionable Italians had already hailed the fair American as the most beautiful woman who bad ever come to their shores, and the Karon de (’harette agreed with them. He laid siege to Miss Polk's heart, won her and brought her home to Paris as his bride. One son was horn. Antoine. From his mother the young man inherits splendid plantations in Tennessee and from ltis paternal side some of the greatest art treasures in France. Among them is a portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette by Mine. Vi ego Ie Krtin, given bv the queen to the Duchess de Choiseni. now coming in direct succession to the young baron, fourth in line. At Present in America. Young Antoine is at present here in the i'nited Slates attending to the properties of his mother and the in terests in tile estate, because of the sudden death of his uncle. Van Leer Polk, who dropped dead a few days ago in Memphis. He had been I'nited Stales consul-general at Bombay, tin- j der President Cleveland, and lately had been appointed by President Roosevelt as one of live delegates to Brazil. .Miss best mor | prince so far forgot himself as to fall desperately in love, though well ' lie knew that he must marry royalty to inherit the kaiser's throne. Could Not Share Throne. He immediately proposed. 1 Deacon knew very well that the : the prince could offer her was a | ganatic marriage, and she rejected his ■■ suit. Thereupon the gallant emper I or-to-be offered to renounce Ms rights | of succession and to leave Germany j forever, if need be, in order to marry Miss Deacon on terms of equality. Of course the kaiser got wind of ' what was going on. , The young lover wras promptly or : dered back to Merlin. There a stormy ] interview took place. At first the i prince bravely stuck to his guns. But when the emperor threatened to look j up his eldest son in a fortress the i heir capitulated. To-day the crown prince is happily married to a wife of his father's choice and is a proud papa to bool. A year went by and the chance of society threw Miss Deacon and the duke of Norfolk together. The duke, j a scholarly man well over 50, heredi tary earl marshal of England, a wid ower and without a son who was men tally fit to inherit his vast fortune, estates and the premier dukedom with its privileges at court, became im mensely interested in the brilliant American girl. His sister. Lady Mary Howard, in vited Miss Deacon to visit Arundel Castle. Norfolk's ancestral home, and rumors began cropping out every where that it would end in Miss Dea con's wearing the strawberry leaves of a duchess By reason of Norfolk's j In France all the match-making mammas have had their eyes on young lie Charette. As his wife the baroness would step into a premier position in Paris, where Mine, la Ha ronne has an undisputed position. For all her high position in royalist so ciety. the former Miss Polk is intense ly American and delightfully demo cratic. In her salons many an Ameri can has made her llrst how to fashion able Paris. i ne iiii i!i t iiarumnis ue v. iiart*up will become chatelaine of three lovely homes—an apartment in Paris, a villa at Cannes—where the tragedy took place, strangely enough—and a charm ing chateau in Britanny. which for 800 years has been the homo of the de Charettes. It is at Basse-Motte. Chateau Nef. Ille-et-Vilaine. near St. Malo, and only eight miles from Ilinard. one of the most fashionable of all European wa tering places. Here at the old chateau Mine, de Charette entertains such im portant persons as the king of Naples, Queen Amelie. the widowed queen of Portugal: Prince von Bnelow, Prince von llohenlohe. the princess of Wales, the Duchess d'Eu, the duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mrs. Rob ert Goelet. Miss Deacon’s fiance Is only 27 years old—tall, handsome. broad shouldered like the Americans, with Bourbon features and patrician man ners. The wedding takes place at the fashionable season in Paris and will be one of the social events of the year. And then the matchmakers can no longer play fast and loose with Gladys Deacon's heart and hand. * * * * +-±-4 +■ * t -J£- V -V PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT A -j- j. * * * .?• •:• •!• N -t- * 4 * * ** * i■ ••• * i- * MINING EXPERT RETIRES John Mayes Hammond, the noted mining en gineer, has severed his connection with The (iiig genheint Kxuloration company and the salary of I2S0.000 attached to his position as consulting en gineer. t Hammond has been in poor health ami his first assistant, A. Chester Beatty, lias done most of the work since .Mr. Hammond went west sev en*! months ago. Mr. Beatty is the likely . ue oetsor to Ml. Hammond. The latter was operated on for appendieitis a few days ago. John Hayes Hammond was born in San Fran cisco at! years ago. He is a graduate of the Shef field Scientific school of Vale. Mr. Hammond is one of the greatest mining \ I experts in the world. Oiren he has taKen as . for reporting on claims shares in new companies and always they have turned out. valuable. Hammond became an international figure when he went with fecit Rhodes to the Transvaal and Rhodesia. When first engaged his salary was $5,000 a month and in less than a yeai he was getting $100,000 a year lie be came consulting engineer to the Consolidated Goldfieftis of South Africa, in cluding most of the richest properties in South Africa. Hammond was one of the leaders in rlie proposed rush on Johannesburg, but Jameson, impatient at delay, made his raid with Hammond and others still on the evenings camp. They were sentenced to death. Kuglaud inter fered and on payment 01 $125,000 fines were freed. Hammond came to America and in less than a year was making $20,000 a month. in later days his work has been principally done in his office, acting on tlie reports of his assistants, some of the smartest mining men in tile country. LED TRANSVAAL RAID Dr. Deander Starr Jameson. in resigning the premiership of Cape Colony, revives in* tnorics id tli*' days of old Kins Lobengula. tin- Transvaal raid, the reform movement, which led to the im prisonment of .John Mays Hammond, the American engineer, and otitur reformers, and. finally, the Boer war. the cost of which to Great Britain, as President Kruger foretold, did "stagger humanity." Dr. "Jim." as he was popularly known in his hustling days, is about .">.*> years old. was bom it: Scotland and educated for the medical profession. I He went to South Africa in tile early days of the discovery of the Kimberley mines, made the ac quaintance of the late Cecil Rhodes and became bis warm friend and confidant. The young Scotch doctor soon developed into a South African diplo mat. went alone on a mission 10 rung uiucnsma of Mataheleland. in behalf of Mr. Rhode.-' Ilritish South Utica company an.I persuaded the warrioi chief in exchange for a few firearms and oiln truck to permit the company 10 settle his country, exploit his sold mines, and so on. Fort Salisbury was soon established in .Mataheleland. and then > me- the Matal.ele war. in which the native warriors were mowed down in lie - . ids by rapid-fire guns. Cecil Rhodes, who was premiet of Cape Colony when Jameson started on his raid into the Transvaal, exclaimed that • Jim" had "upset the cart.” and resigned the premiership, but never blamed his friend Dr. Jameson, on the resignation of Sir John (Jordon Sptigg. the premier of Cape Colony, in February. 1!*04. was tailed upon to form a new cabinet, lie has held the premiership ever since, and. in addition, bits served as a director of the De Deers Diamond Mining company and of the liiiish 3ou:h Africa company. FIGURES NATION'S DEBT William F. MacUennan. chief of the book keeping and warrants division of the treasury de partment. is the man who keeps track of the pub lic debt. This debt amounts to the enormous sum of $2.Ht7.St59.991. including gold certificates and United States treasury notes, which are offset by an equal amount of cash in the treasury. While Mr. .MacUennan does not actually have possession of this vast sunt, every cent that the United States treasury receives from internal revenue customs and other sources is turned over ' to him. and the cash is sent to the United States treasurer, who is under heavy bond to secure the government against loss. Kvery dollar that is dis bursed by the government is disposed of by Mr. MacUennan. by means of warrants. ilr. Macl.ennan lias a marvelous mind for figures. He has been consulted, during his 30 years of service, bv Presidents Garfield. Arthur. Harrison. Cleveland and Roosevelt, and every secretary of tlie treasury has depended on him to a large extent. He is a native of New York and went to Washington first to lake a position in the Freed men's bu reau. He began his service in the treasury as a clerk. His work soon at tracted the attention of his superiors and his promotion was rapid. He prac tically organized his division, which is one of the best equipped bureaus of the government. His books are exhibited to-day as models of artistic penman ship. beauty and accuracy. One of his chief duties is to prepare the annual estimates of expeditures of the government which are submitted to congress by the secretary of the treasury at the beginning of each session of congress as a basis for the ate propriations. Mr. Macl.ennan is the most modest man in the employ of the govern ment. He positively refuses to talk about his duties, his accomplishments or his home life. He lives in the fashionable northwestern district of the city, but is in no sense a society man. He is 60 years of age. of medium height, has deep blue eyes and wears a mustache and whiskers, which arc tinged with gray. Serveral times a position as assistant secretary of the treasury has been offered to him. but he has declined, preferring to remain at his present post. FAVORS LIMITED MARRIAGE George Meredith, the English novelist, who has just celebrated his eightieth birthday, is one of the best examples of pertinacity. Early in life he determined to become a literary man. and he was only 23 when he published his iirst volume of poems. They attracted practically no attention, but the author kept on. turning out both poetry and prose until, af'er more than 30 years hard work, the public was forced to recognize his genius. It was his novel “Diana of the Crossways.” that made him famous It was published in IKS.', just 34 years after his first book. Then people began to road his earlier works, of which there were 14. Since then Meredith has been turning out about one book a year until 1897 when h.. dropped lus work almost entirely. on his seventieth anniversary lie was presented with a letter of appreciation signed by 30 of the leading literary men and women of the United Kingdom. On his sightieth birthday there were over 100 signatures to the letter sent him it was in book form, handsomely bound, and the novelists, poets and scholars whose names were not attached to it did not belong to the first class. It was 1 tribute from his fellow workers such as is seldom paid to an author Meredith scandalized the world a little over three years ago by declar ng in favor of limited marriage. In a sensational interview he predicted a state of society permitting marriages for certain limited periods, the state en 'orcing a provision of money during that period to provide for and educate rhildren, the government possibly taking charge of this fund. Mr. Meredith is a widower and has a son and a daughter. He is a great reader, especially of French literature. He used to be fond of long walks He lives at Boxhill. Surrey. His studio is a two-roomed chalet in the higher part of the grounds surrounding his house.