New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-08-02


chant ard q politician. He stood at the
head of bis rank, prince among class
whose luxurious and elegant lie has sell
dom been surpassed. Born at Sligo, In
ireland, an uncle in New Orleans, a bache-
| lor-as all the merchants of the city were
| had invited him to come to the New
| World, engage with him in business, and
| become his heir. The estate thus inner
tied had been boldly and skil'ully man.
aged. Fortunate ventures had added to it,
and Legitimate as well as strictly proper
means had probably gone to swell the
grand aggregate.
This is gratuitous that any transactions
of Daniel Clark were other than legiti-
mate. .
This merchant prince was man Of
strong eharac er, restless and far-reaching
ambition. whose imperious will little
brooked opposition, and knew no control
except the code which society composed
of such as himself rudely organized and
often violently maintained. Justice Wayne,
in delivering the opinion of the Supreme
Court at the term of 1884, described him
as "a man Of no ordinary character, or in
fluence on those who were about him. His
natural fitness to control became habitual
as his wealth and standing increased, and
| it was exercised and involuntarily yielded
to by all who associated or were in bust
ness with him. He was man Of high
! qualities, but Of no rigor or virtue or self
| control; energetic, enterprising. courageous,
aitectionate, and generous, but with a
| pride which had yielded to no mortifioa-
ton until his affection subdued it to a sense
| of justice in behalf of bis child"
Such character filed prominent place
in the political and social life OF New Or
leans. In 1898 he had acted as consul on
| behalf of the interests of the United States.
When, in 1902, he visited Paris, he was
treated with marked respect by the French
| government, which, having obtained the
cession of Louisiana from Spain by the Sc
cret treaty Of st. Ildefonso, was DESTROYS Of
learning its present condition and value.
General Victor, on behalf OF the First
Consul, listened respectfully, in a conf
dential audience, to the statements Of "the
merchant from New Orleans while Minis
ter Livingston, charged by President JEFF
ferson with the delicate duty OF negotiating
| for the purchase-"outside the Constitu-
| tion''-ot Louisiana at a price not too
| great for the necessitous economies Of the
American treasury, was full of alarm and
watchfulness at these intimate communiea-
| tons. Active and doubtless not especially
scrupulous, Clark, at home, was perpetual
| thorn 10 the side of the worthy but nervous
| Claiborne, the first American Governor,
| who denounced him at one time as secretly
an enemy of the United States, and who
was consequently annoyed and mortified
when in the same year he was elected the
first delegate from Louisiana to the nation
al Congress.
In the heated atmosphere of a society
ruled by passion, this proud chevalier
"became acquainted about 1902, with
Madame Zulime De Oranges, the wife of
Monsieur Jerome, of that name. The latter
was Frenchman by birth, "nobleman'
OF France, as was afterward testified of
him, but in New Orleans, in the language of
Judge Catron, only ga humble shopkeeper'
His wife, who had married him at the early
age OF thirteen, was Creole of rare and
vOluptuous beauty. They had been we'd
ded, when Clark made their acquaintance,
for about eight years.
The relationship that ensued between
the merchant and Madame De Oranges can
better appear by the facts hereafter recited
than by too positive and circumstantial
statement. We can hardly be charitable
enough to disguise the truth as it must
subsequently appear.
More than thirty years afterward Ma
dame Caillaret, the sister Of Madame De
Oranges, made her deposition in behalf of
her niece, the heroine of this story. She
affirmed that she knew Clark made
to her family propositions of mar
rage with Zulime, "after it had
become known that her marriage with
De Oranges aeas uoid, becausesa previous
wife, to whom be had been married in
France, was still living.
How and when did SO startling fact
become known? What was the intimacy
between Clark and Zulime when it was
discovered? A multitude of suggestive
questions arise, and must be dismissed.
Some time in the early summer of 1902,
however, found Madame De Oranges and |
another sister, Madame Despair, in Phila- |
delphia. They had come, says the latter |
Lady, by way of New York. In that city |
they had been diligently turning over old |
marriage registers in the Catholic churches, |
hoping to find the record Of De Oranges !
previous marriage. Nothing of the kind |
had rewarded their search, but they were |
told OF witness to the ceremony, Gar |
dette by name, whom they would find iu !
Philadelphia. Hence their presence in the
latter city.
[NoTx -Thecertifcate Of the marriage
of De Grange to Barbara NJ. 0rei, in July,
1870, was found, proven genuine, and adj
mitted in the record.1
Mr.. Gardette was found, and was ex-
plicit and satisfactory in his statements.
He had been a witness to the alleged mar
rage. He knew the wife then welded by |
De Oranges to be still living.
Was more proof necessary? Apparently
not. The wife Of eight years felt con !
vinced of her husbands perfdy. The
bond between them had been a guilty dis |
honor, not an honorable wedlock. The
rumors in New Orleans had their full CON
hrmation, She was free.
AT this luncture, who came upon the
sceneE The merchant-lover from New
Orleans. The consequence is readily i'm
agined. A private marriage was proposed, |
pressed, consented to, and according to
Madame Despair, according 10 the Supreme |
Court, the ceremony was duly performed |
by priest the good Despair, II. Doisier |
Of Louisiana, and friend OF Mr.. Clark. |
from New York, being Witnesses.
AT this point let us consider two facts |
established bigamy of De Oranges. |
and consequent nullity Of Zulime's union |
with him ; and the performance Of q legal |
marriage between herself and Daniel
Clark. Both these have been decided to
be facts by the Supreme Court. Both |
were, at different times, vitality important
in the decisions upon the claims Of Mrs. |
Gaines.
But the testimony In regard & sb;s Dbl.