New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-01-11
ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.
A Strange Louisiana Legend from g.
journal of High Authority.

| JOURNAL OF High AutuOA'S'
| fProm Chambers JOurnall
To Louisiana, in the beginning of the last
century, came an old German emlgrant
with his only daughter. and settled there
She was young and very beautiful, and at
tracted much attention, especially that q
! one Dauband an officer of the colony, who
so ipgratiated himself with her father that
after a time, they kept house together. This
officer had been in Russia: and what first
struck him upon seeing the young lady
| was the very remarkable resemblance which
J she bore to the late wife OF the Czarowitz
Alexis, son Of Peter the Great. The history
of tEis princess had been q very sad one
Though high-born lady, and sister-in,
law to the Emperor Charles vi, she
had been treated by her husband
with as much brutality as though she
had been his slave. He had attempted
on more than one occasion to make away
with her by poison; and at last he had
| struck her with such violence, when far gone
with child, that he had caused the death
both of herself and infant. All the courts
| of Europe had gone into mourning for her,
| and everybody but her husband had pitied
! her unhappy fate. After a great lapse OF
| time, the Czarowtz himself died. and to
| Dauband's watchful eyes it seemed that the
Intelligence of that princes decease was
received by his fair feilowlodger with such
!
| taxed her with being in truth that exalted
| but unhappy lady whom all the world held
| to be dead and buried. If such were the
| case, he declared himself devoted to her
| service, and prepared at once to sacrifice
| his prospects in the colony, in order to
| escort her to Russia.
Then Charlotte Christina Sophia de Wolf
| enbutter flor such had been her maiden
name) narrated her pitiful story. She vas
I'D &ln ha had nd hon
| to be, and had made use of a piOus fraud to
| escape from the cruelties of her late husband.
| The blow that had been given to her had al
most caused her death las it undoubtedly
did that of the Heir and All of Russias, whom
| she carried within her). but she had in truth
recovered from it. BY the help of the
Countess Konigsmark, mother of the Mar
shall SAKE, she gained over the women of her
bedcilamber, SO that it was given out she
was no more, and funeral was arranged
accordingly. Then, being conveyed to Sc
cret place, she was carefully tended, and,
when strong enough, removed, in the guise of
servant girl, to Paris, under the guardian
ship of trusty German servant, who passed
as her father; and, finally, from France to
louisiana Having heard her story, Dau-
band renewed his devoted offer to furnish
the means of her return to that sphere from
which she had fed under such pitiable cir
y
him, and said that the only service she re-
qured of him was that he should maintain
an absolute secrecy regarding her past, and
conduct himself toward her exactly as he
has hitherto done for the future. He en-
deavored TO obey her in both respects, but
ID affection for her was stronger than his
loyalty; he was young and handsome, as
well as impressionable, and perhaps the ex
princess, On her part, was not sorry when,
har 1aG fail er Hyi !
no longer possible for Dauband and herself
to be under the same roof without reprOach,
he offered himself to her as husband. If she
had really renowned all thoughts of resum-
ing her rank, he argued, why should she not
wed an honest man who loved her! Though
not queen, in him she would ever have "a
devoted subject. She consented, and in so
doing afforded one of the strangest exam
pies of vicissitude of fortune that history
has recorded-the marriage with humble
officer of infantry of one who had been des-
tined for the throne of Russia, and whose
sister was actually occupying that of Aus
tria. The marriage was a happy one, and
bore fruit in an only daughter. After ten
years Dauband, being troubled with some
disorders which the practitioners of Louisi- |
ana could not cure removed with his wife |
and child to Paris, to get the best medical |
advice, and, on his recovery, solicited and |
obtained from the government an appoint !
ment in the Isle of Bourbon. While in Paris, |
the wife and daughter went to walk in the |
Tuileries, and, cOnversing in German were |
overheard by Marshal SAKE, who stopped to |
consider them. Nine Dauband's embarrass- |
ment confirmed his suspicious, and his re- |
cognition of her was complete. She drew |
him aside, and persuaded him to promise |
secrecy. He called on her, however. the |
next day, and often afterward; aud when
she had departed for Bourbon, informed I
the King, his master, of what he had dis
covered. Orders were sent off to the island
that the greatest respect should be paid to
her; and the King OF Hungary was also
made acquainted with the position of his
amt. He sent her letter, inviting her to
his court, but on the condition that she
shSild quit her husband, which she refused |
to do. In l747 Daubaud died, having been
preceded to the grave by his daughter. and
the widow came to France, with inten-
ton of taking up her residence in con-
vent; in place Of doing so, however, she
lived in great retirement at Nitri, about a
league from Paris, where she died in l.72.