MAN'S DECEPTION.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 189, 27 April 1925, Page 3

MAN'S DECEPTION.

MASQUERADES AS WOMAN.

"LA BELLE SUZANNE.'

Having- recovered from a surprising shock, Parisians are laughing- heartily over the exploits of "La Belle Suzanne." For nearly ten years "she" was known as a breaker of hearts in the Quartier Latin and at Montmarte, yet never once did "she" accept the advances of admirers.

"Her" peculiar type of beauty, embodying somewhat large, but strikingly regular features, brdught offers of love and wealth innumerable; but Suzanne remained faithful to "her dearest girl friend," Madame Grappe, a charming war widow, whose • husband, Paul, was listed missing in 1915. Then came the astonishing disclosure that "La Belle Suzanne" was not a girl at all, but the lawful husband of Mme. Grappe.

The hero of the masquerade explainI ed that he deserted in 1915, and made his way to Paris, where he and his wife hit upon his female disguise as a plan of concealment. Now that the Amnesty Bill has become law, and all charges of ordinary desertion by men who spent not Y less than six months at the front, haye been wiped off the slate, Paul Grappe decided to. give up high heel shoes and dainty under-gar-ments for woollen sock's and the freedom of a lounge suit. The caretaker of the house where "Suzanne" lived could scarcely believe her eyes when her handsome tenant left the place attired as a man and wearing the blue beret of the French Chasseurs. "I am no longer declared. "Henceforth I resume my Suzanne Langlarde," the pseudo girl real name, the rightful husband of Mme. Grappe. I am now goi«S to garrison headquarters to give myself up." At the provost marshal's office Paul Grappe was taken before an officer, and made the following statement : "I went to the front with my regiment, and on November 4, 1914, was wounded by shrapnel that tore off my right forefinger. The wound looked suspicious, and I was accused, before a court-martial, of wilfully mutilating myself. Only the evidence of men who saw me wounded saved me from being shot. On rejoining my regiment I was told I was not wants;, and had been transferred to another unit. Feeling disgraced, and still unjustly suspected, I deserted. Reaching Paris with a forged permit, I went home to my wife. It would have been out of the question to remain there as a civilian, so I decided to adopt woman's garb. "At first I only ventured out at night, and spent the days indoors getting used to female clothes. When my hair grew long I wore it in a topknot, and when the fashion changed I had it bobbed. At the end of two years my disguise was perfect. My moustache had been removed by electrolysis, and I had a highpitched voice which I do not think I can now get rid of. My wife taught me to sew and make my own clothes, and, feeling sure of escaping detection, I lived the life of any other girl. For months at a time I worked alongside other women and girls without one of them having the slightest suspicion that I was of the opposite sex." The officer had no alternative but to leave Paul Grappe at liberty. He now lives peacefully with his wife in the same rooms, still strewn with his discarded faminine apparel—all that is left of his amazing impersonation.