DE ROUGEMONT

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 49, 26 August 1921, Page 4

DE ROUGEMONT

THIRTY YEARS AMONGST

CANNIBALS

AMAZING ROMANCE RECALLED

BY HIS DEATH)

HIS LIFE SINCE THE EXPOSURE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 16th June,

Louis do Rougemont, the amazing romancer, whose tales of life among cannibals were tho talk of England in 18S3, has died in Kensington Workhouse Infirmary. Tho boolu oi the institution give hi 3 age as 78 . years, but there is saicl to bo a birth certificate in existence which, if correct, would, prove that _ hoi was w-ithin a year of. being a centenarian. Though his means were scanty he had enough to live upon in his own simple way, and when he was in hospital last year for an operation, he made a weekly contribution towards expenses. For some years past he had been living quietly in London, first at H&mpstead and latterly at Queen's Gate, where., he had three second-floor rooms in an apartment house. His circle of friends was large, and he was, in spite of his great age, a frequent guest in houses in Kensington and Hampstead, for he retained his mental -vigour to an extraordinary degree.

During the war, De Rougemont, who was a vegetarian, is credited with having i invented a special food to take the place of meat, and part of his income apparently was derived from the proceeds of this idea. In an r.ssumeu name he wrote stories for periodicals, and ho has left behind* great quantities of MSS. Much of his time was spent in public libraries or -at tho reading room at the British Museum. By a' will dated last year he leaves all his belongings to a personal friend of whose kindness,he always spoke gratefully. . / A QUIXOTIC MARRIAGE. So recently as July, ' 1915, Do Rougemont married a London business woman at a registry office. This was an act of quixotic chivalry on his part. The woman was in trouble because she had a German name, and she seemed likely to be driven from England. De Rougemont married .her and parted from her at the registry office door, the two remaining friends, but nothing. more. De Rougemont's wife is" said to be living now in the South of France. His death naturally recalls tho great hoax of < twenty -three years ago. It was in the' beginning of March, 1898 that a seedy and wild-eyed adventurer, calling himself Louis de Kougemont, landed at the London Docks ♦Rom the Waikato. having worked his passage from Wellington. Before many clays t he was telling .a story of his 30 years life among cannibals in Australia, ".caught the public imagination. Ho told of a shipwreck in- 1864 among the (south boa Islands. By a series of accidents, he arrived in one of tho most desolate places in Northern Australia—a spot on which no white man had over put foot. ' . . ENGLAND IMPRESSED. 1 While there, by sheer force of personality— so' his own riotous imagination made out—ho dominated tho tribe be.came the chief, and incidentally rescued two white women destined to tho most hideous form of slavery. Adventure followed adventure. He married a native woman; ho had escaped from crocodiles; ho rode turtles; ho had wives offered i to him, but to their charms he proved adamant in favour of Wamba. England was impressed. Tho story of his adventures appeared in the Wide World Magazine. De Rougemont lectured before tho British Association. Bombarded with questions on dialectics, on geography, on anthropology, ho oarno out, if not unscathed, with a certain plausibility.

"FLYING WOMBATS."

But. in the meantime, people who know Australia, began to think. There were gaps in the story. Tho customs of the natives, the fauna and tho flora, as described by De Rougemont, did not coincide with known facts. Mr. Louis Beck, the Australian writer, who was on the sta(E of a London daily, was one of tho first to voice his suspicions. There were elementary points that struck everybody. The "flying wombats" stood out primarily as grotesquely wrong, tho wombat being a quiet little furry •beast without', wings, whose normal home is a hole in the ground. That might have passed as the mistake in a. name; but habits, customs, climate, conditions, all failed, to agree with recorded facts. '

The story is told how De Rougemont was invited to a newspaper office to clear up doubtful matters. He was invited to tell • his- story,* and he did so.. Then came the cross-examination. It was conduoted by a member of tho staff, a barrister, who had his subject at his fingers' ends. De Rougemont broke down. He became confused, burst out in a passionate asseveration of the truth, of his story, then faltered miserably and refused to say more.

[ In the meantime investigations were set on foot in Australia and ail the facta were brought to light. So great was the public interest at the 'time that the true story of Do Rougemont was published in popular book form and sold extensively at 6d a copy under the title of "Grein on Uougemont; the etory of a- modern RobinsoD Crusoe with humorous drawings, by Phil May, and pantomine skit by Barry Pain." "NO VULGAR ADVENTURER." Do Rougemont'e real name was Henri Louis Grin. He was born. of respectable parentage in tho Canton Vaud, > Switzer land. His father was a. farmer, and his relatives belonged to tho well-to-do "bourgeoisie," one of his brothers being a muchrespected Swiss pastor. He started his career as courier to the well-known actress Fanny Kcmble. Later,_ about 1874, he went in a similar capacity to Australia. He drifted about a. great deal; lie went pearling; he formed various, mining syndicates; ho invented a diving dress— which resulted disastrously to tho_ experimenter —and eventually arrived in Eng-^ land, having worked his passage from Now Zealand. But'De Rougomont (writes one who knew liim) was no vulgar adventurer. Ho mado little out ofhia narrative, and ho had no axo to grind. If he had written his story frankly as a work of fiction, it might have been selling to this day, and tho author might have ended his days in greater comfort, if not in luxury. WONDERFUL CONVERSATIONALIST. Captain Alfred Pearee, tho artist who illustrated the story when it first appeari ed and remained De Rougemont's staunch friend when the world turned the cold shoulder on him, gives some interesting ■ facts of De Roußomont's later life. "No j matter what company ho was in, De i Rougemont was tho most aristoorat.ic-look-j ing man in the room," says Captain I Pbarso, "and the best talker. Ho looked very shabby, with tho long, shaggy grey hair down his back and an old overcoat on, but when ho went out anywhero ho put on an evening dress 6uit, and he was known in a good many London drawing rooms. Ho had n. wonderful flow of conversation and heaps of friends. 1 never know whenoo ho derived his rngans, but ho lived very simply, and ho always seemod, to* hayo enough. Ho wes attacked for his stories about showers of fish and undorgrouujd lakes. Australian travellers have since confirmed him in both these things, and also as to his story of tho treasure, mountain, but instead of tho treasure being silver it was mica and tin. Do Rnxtgemont felt the exposure very bitterly, and went to tho courts and took an affidavit that his story as he-liim-eelf told it was true. Ho was afterwards confus?d with a man named Lo Grin, who died in Australia, and the papers reported that Do Rougomont wo 6 dead. It was suggested that he should contradict the report, but he allowed it to go unchallenged. DE ROUGEMONT AND THE MAORI CHIEF. "When the exposure came lie had nothing to do, and nowhere to go. 1 offered him. a cottage at Flitwitk (Bedfordshire), and tin stayed there for some yaar«s. Ho rletinwl lioaliug powers, mid ; whilo there hn tried to euro a. lunittio boy | whom he took to live with him. I was

told ho received £350 for his articles in tho magazine. This: money ho put in a bank, but, to add to his troubles; the bank came to grief. He ..found money however, somewhere to go travelling, and went to Russia, whore he stayed about five years. Ho claimed to bo a priest of many tribes. . He was at a houses' in London a few yeans ago when ono of the Maori chiefs was present. The chief said, 'Who is that man?' He hag-given mo the pnost sign. I do not like him. He has no business. to'be a priest of. our tribe.' AN EXTRAORDINARY MEMORY. "De Rougemont's memory was extraordinary. One daj\. he mot a policeman in London and aaid, 'You look like an Australian.' The constable replied that he was. Did he come from. Sydney? De Rougemont asked. 'North of that,' said the policeman. To every place Do Rougemont suggested tho constable kept saying, 'North of that.' At last De Rougemont said, 'I only' know of caie house further north, and that is a house that has seven poplar trees in front of it.' 'Good heavens! Who are yoii?' exclaimed the constable, 'That is my father's house.' " De R-ougemont sarnie time ago ordered a coffin from a London undertaker. Tho man asked where he should go to measure the corpse, and De Rougemont replied, "Here is the body standing in front of you." The coffin, he explained, was for himself, and it was made to his order and payment made for' it. LOUIS' REDMAN. His funeral, at Kensal Green, was. of very simple character. The body was brought in a motor ■ hearse, and the mourners were Sergt.-Major Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell (sister"of De Rougemont), Miss Whittington (housekeeper), Miss Dawson, Captain Pearce, and Mr. C. J. Whelan. The plate on the coffin bore tho inscription, "Louis Redman.' Aged 74." It was in this name that De Rougemont was taken" to the infirmary for treatment, and tho medical cartificate of death waa made out in that name.