Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-01-23

AN AMERICAN LADY IN AN EGYPTIAN
HAREN.

II AA
HAREM.
From Marseilles, France, comes de-
tails of a singular case, the principal ac-
tress being a Miss Bertha BigelOw, who
some six years ago visited that city with
her father, who was formerly a New
Orleans merchant. Miss Bertha was
then aDUuJ eighteen anu very beautiful.
Among her admirers was one Maurice
Kervel, naval officer, whom in com
pliance with her fathers wishes she re-
fused. In 1853 she married merchant
named JOuYinet, with whom she lived
happily for year. In June. 1869, her
husband returning home found her gone
and could afterwards get no traces of
her.
JOuyinet, after mourning her loss
for eighteen months, applied to the court
for an annullatiOn of his marriage with
Miss Bigelow, and he was waiting for a
rendition of the decree, when, on the 81
OF November last, an event Of the most
startling character occurred. He was
seated in his counting room in the Rue
Grand, pouring over his ledger. when
the door was suddenly opened, and a
yelled lady stepped in. She drew back
her veil, and dlsplayeda bronze face. the
features of which he knew only too well
In the next moment he rushed into her
arms eXclaiming, Bertha, Bertha :"
1t is his long lost wife. The cxDlana-
tiOns she gave him while they sat locked
in each others arms, about her sudden
and long absence, are so strange that
even the Chroniquer of the Marseille
N0n0ellste, to whose pen we are indebted
for all these particulars, confessed that
he had rarely met with anything more
romantic in his long journalistic career.
Nine. JOuvinct stated that on the
evening that she had been parted from
her husband she had gone into the gar
den TO breathe a little fresh air All of
sudden she had been seized by several
men, who rushed from behind a shrub
In an instant they had blindfolded and
gagged her, and carried her to a carriage
which rapidly drove off with her. Then
she had become unconscious. and when
she awoke again, she found herself in
the cabin of a ship, which was rocking
on the waves, To her dismav, Maurice
Kervel was the first to enter the cabin.
He told her cOolly that he bad long ago
left the naval service of France, and
was now master of a barQue in the Lee
want trade. She then implored him to
restore her to liberty, which he refused.
informing her at the same time, that she
would henceforth have 20 live with him.
at his villa in the enyirOns Of Alexandra.
and he threatened to kill her in case she
attempted to escape. Her prayers. her
tears, her despair, were unayailing. and.
trusting to meet by-and-by with an OPP
portunity to communicate with her folks.
she went with Kervel to Alexandria.
The house to which he took her there
was situated about three miles from the
city. 1t was well furnished. and She
was well treated except she was not al
lowed to leave the place. 4 very strict
watch was kept over her by the servants.
whose language she was unable to under
stand. She began already to despair.
when kervel one day told her she must
go with him up the Nile. Two DAYS af
forwards he brought her to the coratry
place OF awealthy Egyptian, Ba'an Bey,
and to her horror, she foupd that ker-
vel had ceded her to him, and that she
was henceforth to b. the inmate of an
oriental harem, filled with Egyptian and
Abyssinian women, who looked with de-
cided aversion upon the fair new conner.
For four months she endured all the
horrors of this life, when she was one
day introduced by Balan Bey to an ell
derby man, who was no other than Nu-
bar Pascha, a noted OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
and conversant with the French Ian
guage. She confided herself to him and
he Immediately promised to restore her
to her husband. A few days afterwards
she was on board the Alexandrian steam
ship Calathee hound for Marseilles.
The Marseilles papers, in commenting
on this extraordinary case, demand that
President Theirs should insist upon the
eXtradition of Kervel on the part of the
Egyptian authorities. Kervel is said to
be quite favorite of the Khedive, and
a man of the most desperate character.
Sir Robert Peel, many years ago tried |
to Introduce iron plows into England, |
but the farmers refused to accept them, |
saying they made the weeds grow, and |
we have not the least doubt but that |
they were right. If good tillage makes
the crop grow, why should it not also