A COUNT'S EXTRAORDINARY LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13146, 7 April 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

A COUNT'S EXTRAORDINARY LIFE.

MARRIES; A :■ AMERICAN : MILLION-

AIRESS.

AND SQUANDERS* A § FORTUNE.

A £600,000 DOWRY.

' All the world knows that Anna Gould married Count de'Castellane, but few know that even before the fragrance of the orange blossoms had died away the little American girl was to be called upon to make good her share of the bargain. ■ There had been a marriage settlement, of course. The pink-and-white, Frenchman hadn't come to maaTy money—he himself : had said it— his lawyer of necessity .must make the little arrangement with Mr. George Gould. .He asked for £1.000,000 as a marriage portion; He got £600,000. And then, right'on the heels 'of the .honeymoon", the bills! They came at first by mail and then in person. Her bridegroom had actually staked his chances of n.'vryingjier against his credit. He was pracf.'caijy penniless; lie had lived in a, back room over, a dressmaker's. He had not even met. Miss Gould when he meant to marry her. But his opportunity had come. Give a dinner and a kind friend will bring Miss Anna. That would pave the way. But how? His pocketbook was pitiTuliv low. But here was indeed opportu- • nity. He seized it, staking his all. He went to a well-known restaurateur and -told the brutal truth. If he otild land the prize all would be well and he- would pay roundly for the credit fie asked. he restaurateur pondered and ihen consented. . It was a superb, affair. There were twentyfour present, . aanong them Miss Gould! Within the month' the wedding was arranged In another month the engagement was made pub! That very- day Count de Castellane moved from the dressmaker's to at magnificent suite at the Waldorf. He went to ai Fifth Avenue jeweller's and bought thousands of dollars' worth jewellery— on credit, of course.- Flowers, bonbons, hue clothes, shoes, hats, linen, everything, was bought on credit. The bills were sent' to the Waldorf ami paid at the desk. Even his elibonite,wedding outfit .was paid fur in this way. , • '■■ - . '.. _. - 1896—the £20,000 fete.* • Plans for the spending of the millions of Jay Gould were now put on foot. Count Boni.demanded that his wife's money build a, replica of the Petit Trianon, the retreat of Louis XIV., home of the infamous Mine, de Maintenon. ■ The young daughter of the money-grubbing American, himself a leather of alb display, was ordered by her husband to copy the building where dwelt the most profligate, the most riotous, the most licentious Court the world has ever known. Some of the Gould money went for a grand site on the Avenue Malakoff. More millions trait into a great red sandstone pile, which was crammed with antiquities and tapestries, paintings, sculptures and articles of vertu, lot which the count spent fabulous amounts from the fortune of his wife. He contracted to spend twice as much more. And so the era of debt—debt for a .woman-of

nyffiions—began early. The money was.not - -going fast enough. " The count determined upon a grand fete. ' It cost £20,000. and :' was given in the Cevcles des Acacias, in the Bois, and 3000 invitations were issued. It ~„ took a. host of workmen a week to prepare ~" the grounds and tradesmen gave themselves up for a month in advance, so elaborate were the orders of ' the count. ; The fete ■'■ opened with a dinner, and at this va series of surprises were offered. Afterward came an exact reproduction of the fifth day. of the fetes celebrated at Versailles on the occasion, of the marriage of. Louis XIV. to Marie Theresa of Austria. . 1897—EXTRAVAGANCE AND BLACKBALLS. Barely two years had passed. The plans --for the Trianon had been accepted. Hundreds of workmen were busy in building what was planned to be the most wonderful residence in all Paris. And debts were piling up while the count's extravagances increased. For the first time in her life this girl of the Goulds' was called upon to face actual necessity, though her income- ■ : was just £20,000 short of £200.000 a. year. One item of £67,100 bought from Wer~'J theimer was to raise the r wind—he had bought it to sell at a profit, ."getting the ~ cash, while he lot Wertheimer whistle for .his money. Count .Boni wrote him that he had not the money to pay as he promised. Millions had quite turned the little Frenchman's head- He had anticipated the vast income of his American wife. It was spent before it was earned. But that didn't deter the count. He craved an Italian- palace. One at Veronal was bought for a stupendous sum. It had eleven ceilings painted by Tiepolo, and the count wanted them' transferred to Paris. It was done. After that he had no further use for the palace/ It was sold at a •■greatloss. ■ ■ ' : ' But the American countess was doomed to witness more distress that year—the distress of seeing the fashionable men of Paris, the men with whom Castellane craved companionship, because of their position, ignominiously reject him. - _>_ • His name and family gave him the rightto come up for membership in the Jockey Club, the smartest, club in gay Paris. One . blackball is sufficient/to exclude' a man from entering. When the votes were counted there were 288 blackballs against the young count. At the same time his younger bro- '■> ther was .elected, which spoke volumes for the unpopularity of Boni. -- 1898—AX APPEAL TO THE CODE, ■ The little count, with his painted face, bis padded chest, his effeminate heels and his undulated hair had become. the jest of Paris. It was up to" him to do something to retrieve himself. And so his appeal to the duelling code. Not that the puffed up, tiny fellow had not ; done so before, but then it was only threats. But at last a real Frenchmana gentleman—made such sport that Count Boni had to do something, despite the frantic appeal?, of his American wife, who was not used to duelling, and feared for the life of the husband she still loved. M Henri Turot didn't like the '■'■■' count and said so just as publicly as he could. Castellane challenged. Turot accepted. They met near Ncuilly, just outside ; of Paris, and Castellane pinked his adversary twite. '- He was more puffed up than ever. But his American countess trembled for his life. 1899 STUBBING THE GOULDS. It was a year of; ups-and-d'owns for the poor little America)) countess. Her count j grew more and more arrogant. Before he | had always spoken at least respectfully of ! his wife's family, the Goulds, but" the ap- i parent control of millions had been too :' much for him. He openly assailed American, society, accusing it of aiming .to ape British nobility. 'the countess could stand that, but when he' attacked Miss Helen .;'..:';■' Gould at, was too much. Miss Gould had been doing much for the soldiers. ■ But Bonis eccentricities were the talk of ■ Paris and the '-'despair of his wife. There were races at Auteuil. Boni planned a riot directed against the President of France, M. Lcubet. His hat was smashed over his I: ;ad, insulting epithets were applied to him ; "i" I ■ more than ; 130 arrests were made. Among the arrested was Count Boni.; He \ was afterwards released. He had been 'elected to the Chamber of Deputies by his wife's money. Instead of assuming a manner of dignity ho tried to -■':■:■'{' play the buffoon, coming to the register - three times and making faces at his friends '...' in the galleries. M. Fallieres, now President of.France, sharply and contemptuously rebuked the little count and .threatened: , to have him ■ committed for disrespect. Boni ;.=■;■ subsided.,. ;.:'':;'■..■■';.. • '.:■•■;■- And in this year the overwrought- coun- '- tess had to hear • even her title attacked. }■■■■'■:'■ It ;whs" done by the gambling King, the Prince of Monaco, He said the Castellane* . were bogus. Boni challenged. Monaco '■laughed and returned the 'answer that he could only duel with gentlemen. Boni was furious, but that ended it, to the. laughter of all Paris. "But his saddest blow came when he was barred from yachting. He had tried to defend the Cup" of France, : but failed igiumiiniously, and the yacht club re- , fused to let him try it again. It was a sad year for.'- the pool little American countess. .../-/.-'.■■.:'-- NEARLY £1,000.000 CONK. . ' This was the year of years for the poor, •'v distracted girl, who hail never known be- '. •- fore, what necessity was. . mm

Her yacht, the Valhalla, was seized for a debt of £150,000. She had to pay the gambling -debts of her father-m-law the Marquis Castellane, to save the family honour. Boni's extravagances were getting worse than ever. He bought every thing,his-, fancy dictated. He -was- fleeced right and left" He bought a painting for £12.000 which had cost the seller just: £10. He bought a pair of 'j candlesticks .purported °to be Marie Antoinette's for £3600. They were clumsy imitations that had cost £12 to manufacture. The Trianon's exterior was done, but the Gould millions couldn't begin to finish the interior.; When Mrs. Potter Palmer dined there she was forced to eat in the luxurious bathroom, because it was' the only apartment that wa,s completed;/'much 'to the countess' mortification. : But Boni passed it off as an eccentricity;'; But dining in bathrooms had never been forced upon the Goulds before. George and Edwin Gould furnished £320,000. to save:the family pride and to paw the immediately , pressing debts of the "'count. They made tip a list of debts. Boni had spent £600,000 in five Years and owed £920,000 more. ' : * \; -, .1901—t.v THE COURTS. . • 'this was' the year when the Castellane debts got in open court. Many : creditors sued. ," hi this transaction Boni, Count de Castellane, shows himself as mean and thoroughgoing a scaimp as can well be conceived." :' ■■' ■ ; -'' " So said Samuel Untermyer in court in America, appearing upon a, motion to • restrain the Goulds from paying any more of her income, to "their sister, the Countess Anna. Mi. " Untermyer declared that the countess owed no less than £800,000. c "Broken promises,! commercial dishonour,'' was the comment of, Justice Beach. As am upshot a receiver was appointed for the countess in the person of her brother George. Her income was cut clown to £40,000 a year, nad, the family lent the £920,000 to pay hack the debts, reserving the remainder/of the countess' income to repay themselves the loan. This saved her fortune, noy/ almost doubled. Free for the nonce of debt, the count went right back to his extravagances. He also tried another duel, Vis third. Fernand de Rodays had saicl.ihany insulting things in Figaro about C'a;jtellane. The editor accused him of marrying for money. He printed a cartoon depicting Castellane going to New York for more money. Castellane slapped his face and De Rodavs challenged. Castellane gave a banquet oh the eve of the tight, at which his wife presided in tears with apprehension. The men fought on March 16 with pistols. De Rodays was hit in the leg and Castellane' honour was satisfied. His extravagances continued. In October he gave a boar hunt for the Grand Duke Boris. It was a. royal entertainment in the forest, a la Louis. XIV. . All the haute monde were present, Count Boni acted as master of the hounds. A band followed the hunt on horseback playing descriptive airs of the chase. Massenet wrote two pieces especially for the hunt, and Castellane Jiad them copyrighted for his own use. Sixty mounted keepers followed the huntsman and aided Boni in despatching the only boar caught. .". 1902—OUSTED BY TEE DEPUTIES. . It had cost Count Boni £60,000 of Gould money to be elected' to the Chamber of Deputies from th-: 1 district of Basses-Alpes. He had evinced the desire, to enter politics and perhaps be the President of France. A band of political schemers took him in hand at once. He was nominated in a district where he couldn't lose, but was milked for the Gould money, right and left. : —DEBTS OF HONOUR. He was so pressed that he couldn't even pay what he had always paid before—his •'debts of honour." These, in plain English, were gambling debts. He was sued, as usual, and put in the defence that; the notes he had given were invalid because they were not drawn up in the proper legal form. He didn't deny the debts—that would have been lying, which is dishonourable. All he did was to claim that the acknowledgment 'oi the debt wasn't legal and therefore he didn't have to pay. ■ , . .'■'. 1904—his BACHELOR- QUARTERS, Debt, at least, could be extinguished by payment, but *in : the passing of the years something happened to the countess which even the Gould millions could hot prevent. She had to hearr of " ces dames"" these women." •

Boni set up a suite oil apartments where he lived "en garcon," as a bachelor. These apartments came to be the centre of a certain sort of life for which Paris is celebrated." .:'■ ■' j She could do nothing. The sentiment of the society into which the count had introduced her would have been. with him had she then ca.st him off.

1905—MOKE EXTRAVAGANCES. The money went furiously. The King of Portugal only recently got*a year's income of the Gould's countess at a. single visit. He graciously ."...condescended to accept' a fete.- It was* wondrously beautiful. Two valets stood beside his place to see that once he sipped a glass of champagne a fresh one Was placed there at once. The story is, not all told yet. , "Ces dames" was one story; a woman of her own station was another. So the countess left her husband, took,her children and applied, to the .'French! courts for relief. The calendar of her eleven years as a countess had come to an unhappy end indeed.