A Strange Career.

Evening Star, Issue 7404, 27 December 1887, Page 3

A Strange Career.

Nothing stranger has ever been conceived by a novelist than the life of the swindler Dr Grant, who recently died in the House of Correction at East Cambridge, Mass. It was only after his death that the man was identified as Dr Louis Contri, an Austrian who claimed to be a natural son ot Victor Emmanuel. He was very accomplished, and before the Civil War he so captivated an American named Dr M'Sheehy, then in Paris, that the doctor offered to bring him to America. Arrived in New York he gave his patron the slip, and that was the last known of him under his right name for many years, fle ran a singular course in this country, having married no less than eight women. He was arrested and convicted of bigamy in 1873, but spent only a few months in Sing Sing. Recently, he adopted the role of a wealthy Australian and married two widows in quick succession. He was. captured by detectives in a little New Jersey town, and it was while awaiting his trial for bigamy and swindling that he died. In many respect? he bore a strong resemblance to Cherbulie?’s ‘Samuel Brohl,’ but he certainly excelled the French novelist’s character in audacity success.