DEATH OF DE ROUGEMONT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18316, 5 August 1921, Page 8

DEATH OF DE ROUGEMONT

THIRTY YEARS AMONGST CANNIBALS. HERO OF AN AMAZING ROMANCE. HIS* LIFE SINCE THE EXPOSURE. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, Juno 16. Louis Do Rougemont, the amazing romancer, whose tales of life among cannibals were the talk of England in 1898, has died in Kensington Workhouse Infinnary. The books of the institution give his age as 78 years, but there is said to be a birth certificate in existence which, if correct, would prove that he was within a year of being a centenarian. Though his means were scanty, he had enough to live upon in his

own simple way, and when he was in hospital last year for an operation he made a weekly contribution towards expenses. For some years past he had been living quietly in London, first at Hampstead and latterly at Queen’s Gate, where he had three second-floor rooms in an apartment house. His circle of friends was large, and he was, in spite of his great a-ge, a frequent guest in houses in Kennington and Hampstead, for ho retained his mental vigour to an extraordinary degree. During the war De Rougemont, who was a vegetarian, is credited with having invented n special food to take the place of meat, and part of his income apparently was derived from the proceeds of this idea. In an assumed name he wrote stories for periodicals, and he has left behind great quantities of MSS. Much of his time was spent in public libraries or at the reading room at the British Museum.. By a will darted last year he leaves all his belongings to a personal friend of whose kindness he always spoke gratefully.

A QUIXOTIC MARRIAGE.

So recently as July, 1915, De Rougemont married a London business woman at a registry office. Tills was an act of quixotic chivalry on his part. The woman was .n trouble because she had ft Genu an name, and she seemed likely to bs driven from England. De RougemOnt married her, and parted from her at the register office door, the two remaining friends, but nothing more. De Rougemont’s wife is said to be living now in the South of France. His death, naturally recalls the great hoax of 23 yeans ago. It was in the beginning of March, 1898, that a seedy ■ and wild-eyed adventurer calling himself Louis de Rougemont landed at the London Docks from the Waikato, having worked his passage, from Wellington. Before many days he wae telling a story of his 30 years’ life among cannibals in Australia. It caught the public imagination. He told of a shipwreck in 1864 among the South Sea Islands. By a series of accidents he arrived in dfte of the most desolate places in Northern Australia —a spot on which no white man had ever put foot. ENGLAND IMPRESSED.

While there, by sheer force of personality —so bi« own riotous imagination made out—ho dominated the tribe, became the chief, and incidentally rescued two white women destined to the most hideous form of slavery Adventure followed adventure. He married a native woman; he had escapes from crocodiles ; he rode turtles; he had wives offered to him, bub to their charms he proved adamant in favour of Wamba.. England was impressed. The story of his adventures appeared in the Wide World Magazine. Do Bougemont lectured before the British Association. Bombarded with questions, on dialectics, on geography, on anthropology, he came out, if not unscathed, with a certain plausibility. “ FLYING WOMBATS.”

But in the meantime people -who knew Australia began to think. There were gape in the story. The customs of the natives, the fauna snd the flora, as described by Do Bougemont, did not coincide with known facts. Mr . Louis Beck, the Australian writer, who was on the staff of a London daily; was one of the first to voice his suspicions. There were elementary points that struck everybody. The .“flying wombats” stood out primarily as grotesquely wrong, the wombat being a quiet little furry beast without wings, whose normal home is a hole in the ground. That might have passed as the mistake in a name; but habits, customs, climate, conditions, all failed to agree with recorded facts.

The story is told how De Bougemont was invited to a newspaper office to clear up doubtful matters. He was invited to tell his story, end he did so. Then came the crosses ami nation. It was conducted by a member of the staff, a barrister, who had hie subject at his fingers’ ends. , Do Bougemont broke down. He became confused, burst out in a passionate as serration of the truth of his story, then faltered miserably, and refused to say more. In the meantime investigations were set on fool in Australia and all the facts were brought to light. So great was the public interest at the time that the true story of De Bougemont was published in popular book form and sold extensively at 6d a copy unirf’ - the title of “Grein on, Bougemont: the Story of a> Modem Kobinson Crusoe. witls humorous drawings by Phil May, and pantomime skit by Barry Pain."

“ NO VULGAR ADVENTURER.” Do Rougemont'e real name was Henri Lopis Grin. Ho wen bom of respectable parentage in tlie Canton Vaud, Switzerland. His father was a former, and his relatives belonged to the well-to-do “bourgeoisie,” one of his brothers being a much-respected Swiss pastor. He started his career as courier to the well-known actress Fanny Kemble. Later, about 1874, ho went In 'a similar capacity to Australia. He drifted about a great deal; he went pearling; he formed various mining syndicates; he invented a diving dress—rwhich resulted disastrously to the experimenter—and eventually arrived in England, havmg .worked his passage from New Zealand. But Do Rougemont (writes one who know him) was no vulgar adventurer. He made little out. of his narrative, and he had no axe to grind. If he had written his story frankly as a work of fiction it might have been selling to this day, and tho author mignt have ended his days in greater comfort, if not in luxury. WONDERFUL CONVERSATIONALIST. Captain Alfred Pearce, the artist who illustrated the story when it first appeared, and remained D© Rougemont’s staunch friend when the' world turned the oold shoulder on him, gives some interesting facts of De Bougemont’s later life. "No matter, what , company he woe in, De Bmgemcnt was the I most aristocratic-looking- man in the room, ” says Captain Pearce, "and the best talker. ( \odWHt very vri'ih \«sg, / grey hair down hie back, end an old overcoat on, but when he went out anywhere j be put on an evening dress suit, and be ms ■ Vosvsn. vo. a, %eoA xccamj DssnAcn. dxe.w\n%-' ) rooms. He had a wonderful flow of conversation and heaps of friends. I never knew / whence he derived his means, hut he lived \ very simply, and he always seemed to have enough. He was attacked for his stories about showers of fish end underground lakes. Ans- . traiian travellers have since confirmed him in both these things, and also as to his story of the treasure mountain, but inateau of the treasure being silver it was mica and tin. De Rougemont felt the exposure very bitterly, and went to the courts end took an affidavit that his story os he himself told it was true. He was afterwards confused with a man named Le Crin, who died in Australia, and the papers reported that De Rougemont was dead. It was suggested that ho should contradict tho report, but he allowed it to go unchallenged.

DE ROUGEMONT AMtD THE MAORI CHIEF. “When the exposure came he had nothing to do, and nowhere to go. I offered him a cottage at Flitwick (Bedfordshire), and he stayed there for some years. He claimed healing powers, and while there he tried to cure a lunatic boy whom he took to live with him. I was told he received £350 for his articles in the magazine. This money he put in a bank, but, to add to his troubles, the bank came to grief. He found money, however, somewhere to go travelling, and wont to Russia, where ho stayed about five years. He claimed to be a priest of many tribes. He was at a house in London a few years ago when one of the Maori chiefs was present. The chief said: Who is that man? he has given me the priest sign. I do not like him. He has no business to be a priest of our tribe.” AN EXTRAORDINARY MEMORY.

“Do Rougemont’s memory was extraordinary. One day he met a policeman in London and eaid: ‘You look like an. Australian.' The constable replied that he was. irid ho come from Sydney ?_ De Rougemont asked, ‘North of that,’ said the policeman. To every place De Rougemont suggested the constable kept saying: ‘North of that.’ At last De Rougemont said l : ‘I only know of one house further north, and that is a house that has eeven poplar trees in, front of it.’ ‘Good heavens! Who are you?’ exclaimed the constable. ‘That is my father’s housel’ ” De Rougemont some time ago ordered a coffin from a London undertaker. The man asked where he should go to measure the corpse, and De Rougemont, replied: “Here is the body standing in front of you.” The coffin, he explained, was for himself, jt was made to his order and payment made for it “LOOTS REDMAN.” His funeral, at Kensal Green, was of very simple character, The body was brought m n motor hearse, and the mourners were Ser-geant-major Mitchell and Mrs Mitchell (sister of Dc Rougemont), Miss Whittington (housekeeper), Miss Lawson, Captain Pearce, and Mr C. J. Whelan. The plate on the coffin bore the inscription, '.“Louis Redman, Aged 74.” It was in this name that De Rougemont was taken to the infirmary for treatment, and the medical certificate of death eas made out in that name