The Portland daily press., 1867-01-30

The Paris papers chronicle the death of one
who was for some years notorious in partic
ular section of Partisan society. AT break of
day following the last opera bal DadSque a
strengthening figure was seen to lean for a
moment or two over the parapeJ of the Pont
DIES Arts, and then to jump into the river. A
fisherman who witnessed che incident after
long searching brought the body TO the sur
face of the water. developed as 1t was from
head to foot in a long hairy covering, it SEEM
ed at first sight TO be an ape, but was soon
recognized as human being. Attempts
were made to restore animation, but In vain.
In one of the pockets OF the unknown the
following letter was found, which helped to
clear up the mystery:
1t is useless to attempt to identify me.
am the descendant of a noble family whom
my follies have dishonored. All my patri-
mony is dissipated, and l prefer suicide to
misery. 10 those who affirm that it is ne
cessary to be brave to kill ones self reply
that absinthe gives courage. l am drunk; it
is thus that / ought to die nave been sur
named "Caoutchouc;;" let me be buried under
this name. May my death serve as an ex-
ample to youth. CAoUTCHoUC.
Caoutchouc, say the Paris papers, was the
old Count Chicard of modern public balls.
His reputation extended from the Chateau
Rouge to Mabille, and from the casino to the
opera. There was always a crowd to see him
dance, aud it Was certainly an extraorlnary
performance. In appearance he was far from
progressing; he had coarse, brutal-)ooking
face; his dull, lustreless eyes had an odious
leer, and his swollen, rckety figure also told
the tale of his excuses. But dull and listless
as he seemed in the intervals OF the dance,
the music no sooner struck up than a sort OF
fury seemed to seize him. He writhed and
bounded like mailman. In a quadrille his
steps were so many commissions none of the
CLOVIS OF the cirque could dislocate their limbs
after the fashion OF Caoutchouc in the
figure OF Cavalier seuL" He had a method
OF shorte ming himself, OF fattening himself,
of balancing himself on his hips, OF bound
ing about q la Quisimodo, which thrilled the
wild Bohemians among whom he danced with
enthusiasm and envy. The cdncan is pro-
hibted by the austere morality of the En-
pire, but Chicard managed to introduce
snatches of 1T In defiance OF the police. Al
together this old buffoon-old, at least, in
looks, with his bald head and crimson face,
his frenzed contortions, his horrid drunken
leer, and Srotesque gestures-was one of the
saddest and most disgusting spectacles that
Paris had to offer.
This year Caoutchouc was at the head of
the orgies Of the masked balls of the opera
where he exceled himself, so his admirers
said, in the wild eccentricties of the quad
rifle. On Saturday, the 22d of December, dis
gulsed as an orang outang, he exhibited be-
tore the crowds in the theatre of the Rue Lee
pelleter tue marvellous elasticity of his body
He leaped ON the shoulders of his compan-
ions, sprinsins from one to the other with all
the ease and more than the mischievousness
OF a Brazilian ape. AT five o'clock in the
morning he was dead.
On leaving the opera, Caoutchouc declined
to sup with a band of maskers. After drink
Ing fivei glasses of absinthe in a cafe on the
Boulevards, he betook himself to the Pont
DIES Arts, which he scaled to perform his last
piourette.