A PARING WOMAN AND HER VICTIMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11986, 7 June 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

A PARING WOMAN AND HER VICTIMS.

SKOBELOFP AND CECIL RHODES.

[FROM OI'H OWN OORRKSVO.N'DRNT."]

London. April 25. Pv.obabi.y many people have wondered what was he association between the lute Mr. Cecil Rhodes and the Princess Rudziwill, ] who stands committed for trial on several charges of wholesale fraud and swindling. Some light appeal's to be thrown on ilie i affair by the revelations which M. de Blowitz. the Times' special correspondent in Paris, ami Mr. T. P. O'Connor respectively have just published. The story as evolved from a collation of the various accounts is a remarkable one. Some New Zealand readers may still recollect Skobeloff, the brilliant Russian general who was the hero of the Russo-Turkish war of 1878. "Taj- Pay" says : —"He was the wild, feat less, beautiful vouug knight who led the troops of Russia in the worst moments of the war with Turkey, lie himself was at the head of the column on that awful day when the frontal attack on Plevna laid some eight. thousand Russian soldiers in the dust; he it was whose plume, like that of Henry of Navarre, in the old French, wars, rose and fell, rose and fell, but always led when the awful slaughter of the tight was at its worst. Indeed, Skobeloff was more like the creation of a Wagner than a mil human being, or like some survival of the age of mythical demi-gods, half-man, balf-diviuitv. He was tall, very finely moulded: had features of dazzling beauty ; while his courage was of that supreme kind that stood out in relief even in an army of brave men, solitary and unattainable, indestructible. And to complete the picture it should be added that he was a dandv of dandies, loved the finest, of fine linen, and could spend hours over is looking-glass even in the midst of a campaign." Toward the end of that fearful day o£> Plevna, according to the .statement of Mr. M&cGahan, the special correspondent who shared his tent. Skobeloff was "a picture of all the horrors of war; blood on his sword, twisted out of all shape, his face black with powder and red with blood. h?s eves straining with the frenzy of battle, ot horror, of grief and rage over the deaths of all his men and the failure of the attack, and his clothes a mass of torn tatters and almost filthy rags." And then that same night. Mac'Gahati awoke and was astounded to see Skobeloff before the glass, with a new and brilliant uniform, bis hair carefully curled, his hands manicured, his beard trimmed, even perfume scattered over his face and his clothes. And then, in a few moments more, came a third transformation; tiie perfumed dandv threw himself on his cam]) bed, and burst into a wild Hood of passionate tears, crying over his poor men, whose corpses lay in thousands on the tinconquered ramparts of Plevna." The war over, Skobeloff seemed to have a splendid career before him. , He. was the military idol of all Russia, including the Tsar himself. And then suddenly his death was announced. No particulars were given at the time. None have been published since. He was dead. Rut. now M. de —writing to the Paris paper Le Matin —asserts that Skobeloff was madly in love with the same Princess Radziwill who is !in gaol at Capetown, and who is pictured as " dazzlinglv beautiful, clever, full of that incessant movement and intoxicating 'go' which make up the fascinating woman "who rules the hearts and the minds and the wills of men. and devoured by all the ambitionsthe ambit-ion to rule in love, in politics, in finance —in short, turbulent and fascinating, beautiful in face, and daring and resourceful in mind; a woman to inspire grand passions and to inspire them in the grand." She is, moreover, connected with the "greatest and noblest families of both Russia and Germany." "Skobeloff (writes M, de Blowitz), was madly in love with the, Princess; .'but she for some reason, resolved to, break, off the association. He. told her she. had passed'sentence of'death on him. Two days after this stormy interview he was dead —in circumstances of horror aud mystery. This was a terrible awakening for Princess Radziwill, and for some years her life was hidden, from the world under the dark shadow of remorse." " Then." says " Tay Pay," " came a return to life and hope, and with those things the old desire for conquest. Mr. Rhodes was for years the lodestar of every woman in the world who had an adventurous disposition and the greed for power and money; and his reputation as » woman-hater was probably due to his attempts to escape the always-pursuing figure of the female lover of adventure or money or power. Where so many woman had failed Princess Radziwill—with all the scalps of so many infatuated admirers of so many lands solved to conquer, and thus began a chase on her jKivt —in which she was ever the pursuer, and Mr. Rhodes, poor man, was now and then the prey, trapped and helpless. and usually the fleeing and terrified victim, seeking escape anywhere. . . . Once, in South Africa, her turbulence filled the colony. She insisted on publishing a newspaper devoted to the glory of Mr. Rhodes. She lived in fine style, "and there were, plenty of people found ready to believe that the granite heart of the Colossus had at. last been conquered, and that the Princess might become his wife—when th** other husband in far-off Germany had been brought to reason. Hut poor Mr. Rhodes sickened of the constant pursuit, and on one occasion changed, his ship simply because his haunting and pursuing spirit was found to have made herself a fellow passenger on the vessel originally chosen by him." Next Mr. Rhodes found that this woman had put in circulation bills in his name to (he amount of £40,000. '• Mr. Rhodes,says Mr. O'Connor, resolved to repudiate these bills which were being floated in his name; and even faced the hideous exposure of a petty and squalid trial. And perhaps here is partly the secret of the poor man's early death., There are moments in the life of many men when it requires but a straw to break the back; the merest trifle becomes a black aud gigantic and overwhelming mountain of trouble. We have most of us known those hours, and probably Mr. Rhodes had reached such an hour when this petty, squalid, almost disgusting little trouble came to irritate, annoy, and perhaps, finally, to overwhelm him." Here we have once more the "old, old story," with its cynical motto: "Cher-chez la. fern me!'' But I should like, to add to the story so far as it includes General Skobeloff an incident which excited much at"tention at the time it occurred, but is now forgotten by most people. Skobeloff, the splendid Apollo and brilliant- soldier, was at an earlier period of his life desperately in. love with a very pretty young Russian girl of high family. She encouraged him to the utmost- through mere vanity and love of admiration. but when he proposed she rejected him as of unsuitable rank to be her match. It was this, in a large measure, which impelled Skobeloff to the amazing feats of flaring and soldiership which rendered his name celebrated throughout the world. As time went on he found reason to Iwlieve that the voting lady had become dazzled by his military glory and that, thus set off, his charms of person had asserted their sway over her heart. 11l point of fact she in her turn fell passionately in love with him. Skobeloff fell in with her changed views. He. wooed her with apparent ardour, won her, and led to the altar a devotedly-attached bride. They were married, and then at the altar Skobeloff bowed coldly to his bride and quietly informed her in accents of the iciest ]>oliteire»ss that his turn had now come: that he would never live with her or meet her or speak to her again, but that at the church door he should part, from her for ever. She is said to have, died of a broken heart. He, it was rumoured, had meanwhile come under the influence of this same Princess Radziwill who was the evil genius of poor Cecil Rhodes' last days on this earth. Truly this world is small and time is short! The Princess was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.