PSEUDO MARQUIS SURRENDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14691, 27 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

PSEUDO MARQUIS SURRENDERS.

"DEAD MEN'S SHOES."

An odd reason has been given for the dramatic surrender of a well-dressed man, who said he was tho Marquis Reiss do Roqucfeuil, at tho Palais de Justice, Paris. Ho duly handed in his card, gilt-edged and bearing his name, surmounted by a coronet, and informed the Procureur of the Republic, who bent a searching gaze on him as ho entered the room, that he gavo himself up; he know the police had issued a warrant for him. The accusations therein set forth are bigamy and fraud. Living near Nantes if the Comtesse de la Bourmone, a handsome woman of fortyfive, rich, of noble birth, and beloved by all her neighbours. Three years ago her elderly husband died, and no ono was surprised when she "married" again. Tho fortunate husband was a charming and handsome young man, who let himself bo known as the Marquis de iloquefeuil. The marriage took place in Paris. Tho bombshell fell and burst in tho Paris household of the "marquis" when a caller announced, " the Marquis do Roqucfeuil died fifteen years ago, and you are Charlos Mario Reiss, sometimes called Paul do lietz, forger and bigamist." Son of Circus Strong Man. The story goes that when tho police came to arrest tho " marquis" ho had disappeared. Ho is said to be tho son of a circus strong man. He had been through niarriago ceremonies twice before ho met tho Comtesse do la Bourmeno. Roies is said to havo married a young women near Bordeaux, abandoning her soon afterwards, and taking with him what was loft of her dot.

Tho mysterious element of tho drama turns on the death certificate of tho man I who died in Algiers some years ago. It is assorted that Reise attended the dying man in the capacity of a friend, afterwards taking cliargo of his papers and appropriating .his title of nobility. i With tho countess he lived in a handsome flat in the Etoile quarter, and entertained largely. Tho pair appear to have had an apartment in Brussels, and tho marquis was very popular in Parisian society by reason of tho charm of his manner. There appears to be living in Paris a brother of the man who died in Algiers, and ho, having doubts, procured for himself tho satisfaction of calling on tho marquis. Then ho gave utterance of those doubts. The accused man was not in the least perturbed. He waved the death certificate airily u/?ide and said sententiously, " I am the Marquis do lloquefeuil, and I did not dio in Algiers. I disappeared for a time, that is all." Ho produced documents to support his claim. The police, however, decided to act, and tho surrender at, the Pate do Justice is the outcome-