CLAIM TO FORTUNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19714, 13 August 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

CLAIM TO FORTUNE.

DUCAL DANDY'S MILLION.

AMAZING CAREER RECALLED,

DISINHERITED DAUGHTER. The news that Francois Brunswick, a foreman dye worker, and Isidore Brunswick,o a boarding-house proprietor, are claiming the fortune of over a million pounds left to the city of Geneva by Duke Charles of Brunswick recalls the colourful life of that amazing personage. Duke Charles of Brunswick, was reckoned one of tho dandies of his day, besides being remarkable for his follies, his eccentricities, his tyrannical temper, his silken wigs—and—his diamonds. He was literally obsessed by diamonds and silk wigs; diamonds of tho first water glittered upon his garments like dewdrops, and it is said that he possessed the largest and finest collection in the world.

This extraordinary person rose at 3 p.m., and, after spending three hours on his toilet, he rode, walked or drove, a3 the fancy took him, and his appearance never failed to excite universal interest and amusement. His face was painted red and white, he sported one of hi 3 collection of silk wigs of various hues, and, as he was barely of middle-height, the duko wore heels inside as well as outside his boots. His silk -wigs, which were kept on stands on the shelves of a large glass-fronted wardrobe, consisted of one make of tight corkscrew finglets, which hung round the ducal head and produced a most, weird effect, combined with the painted mask lace of the wearer, whose make-up always varied with the colour of the wig of the hour!

An Arrest by the Police. Many stories are told of the duke's eccentricities. One of his most piquant adventures occurred when he ' was making love to a married woman, whom, profiting by her husband's absence, he had arranged to meet one evening at Shrewsbury. Arrived at the rendezvous, the duke ordered a private room and supper for two, but his peculiar appearance, and his equally peculiar English, roused deep suspicion in the minds of the then all-British waiters, and a gentleman staying at the hotel advised the landlord to call in the police, as the stranger had the " attributes" of an escaped French prisoner. The police were sobn on the spot, and the duke was arrested. As nis visit was of an intimate nature the secret lover thought the safest way out of the awkward predicament was to say. that he was an officer in the Duke-of Brunswick's German Legion. No one believed him, and at last, in a terrible explosion erf German and English swear-words, he declared himself to be none other than the Duke of Brunswick. At this there wa3 a whole-hearted shout of laughter. - "You, a duke!" guffawed the landlord, " why, strike me, you are more a dancing-master than a duk»!" "Or a French hairdresser," hazarded another wit. " Don't tell us these tales; just wait until a magistrate hears you are a duke—then you'll find out what he thinks!" ... Identification and Apology. While the dispute was at its height Mr. Forrester, a son-in-law of the Duka of Rutland, arrived" most opportunely on the scene, and naturally inquired the cause of the disturbance.

To the landlord's unmitigated terror, he soon learned that the dancing-master was Duke Charles of Brunswick, and profuse apologies and excuses were, offered, which the duke had rio choice but "to accept, as he was anxious to escape from Shrewsbury without betraying his reasons for being there. The duke's adventures would supply material for half-a-dozen "best sellers;" his character was made up of contraries, and his strange and lawless mode of life rendered him equally notorious in Paris 7 and London. Yet he might have made a great reputation as an engineer, as the various mechanisms he invented f and applied puzzled the heads of half the inventors in France.

These inventions were designed to enable him to live as a mystery man, for he trusted nobody. He* kept under his roof a mine" of wealth in notes, specie and jewels, which were hidden so cleverly that no one could obtain access to them but himself, the " secret" being hidden by the most delicate satin-covered furniture.

Duke's Dread ol Poison. In order that he might never be betrayed, the duke made separate working drawings of every portion of his mechanisms, which were carried out in different parts of Europe, each portion having no intelligible meaning until put together by himself. The dread of poison always darkened his existence, and he never, ate at home, dining each day, without notice, a different restaurant, his diet being as curious as himself, as he was a glutton for ices and pastry, and was wont to indulge in these at any hour of the day. The duke's mansion in Paris, originally built by. Lolo Montes, was surrounded by a fortress-like wall topped by a revolving chevaux de frise, the slightest touch of any part of which started an alarum of chiming bells. The two entrance doors were composed of massive iron studded with heavy nails and painted bronze-green, but once inside, the visitor found himself i% a milieu which bespoke the sybarite, "the lover of jewels, colour and beauty, the " amateur" of executions. Although the duke possessed an infinite capacity for intrigue, he is supposed to *have contracted a secret and short-lived marriage with. Lady Charlotte Colville, by whom he had one daughter, whom he never forgave for her conversion to Roman Catholicism —a strange trait in a man who possessed no religious principles. Daughter Left Penniless.

The duko made no opposition to his daughter's marriage, and always declared himself immensely proud of her eldest son, the Comte de Civry, but he refused, after she became a widow in straitened circumstances, to pay the smallest heed to her appeals for help. Thus, the duke's only daughter and her eight children were left penniless as ''perverts to Catholicism," and the duke bequeathed his immense fortune to the city of Geneva, simply because he did not know what else to do with his wealth. What a display of " hate" ! But what could be expected of a man who once had a wooden model made of his greatest enemy, and spent two hours daily riddling it with bullets ? Fifty-four years have passed since the Duko of Brunswick died, unhonoured and unsung, and the city of Geneva's right to the fortune has always been disputed bv the Comto de Civry, whose claim, based on the duke's supposed marriage, has hitherto been rejected by the lirencli Courts.