The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-06-07
A CELEBRATED TRIAL.
THE PONTALBA CASE.

THE PONTALBA CASE.
The attempted assassination of Madame
De PontaIba by her father -in-law, and thu
protracted litigation between that lady and
her husband which resulted therefrom, hav
ing been some time ago rather inaccurately
alluded to by one of the city papers, we have
procured the original pleadings of Messrs
Hennequin and Leon Duval before the civil
tribunal Of Senlis in 1885, and those OF
Messrs. Philippe Dupin and Leon Duv;d,
before the same court in February, 1876,
when separation from bed and board was
finally granted to the Baroness. AS this
case is now a matter OF history, ana IN
wolves many curious and interesting partic-
ulars, we think there can be no possible OBJ
lection to a clear and correct account OF the
main points touched upon by the dis
tinguished iurists who argued the case.
There could be no more perfect contrast
than that between Mr.. Leon Duval, the
young, acute and remarkably witty and sar-
castle counsel for Mr.. de Pontalba, and
Messrs. Hennequin and Philippe Dupin, who
conducted the case for Madame de POntalba
to successful issue. Mr.. Hennequin was
q very dignifed, impressive speaker, whose
ponderous eloguence could not withstand
The keen, fiery thrusts of his youthful
opponent but on the SECOND trial
subsequently granted to Madame de
Pontalba she had the advantage of being
represented by, perhaps, the ablest civilian
and most accomplished lOgician Of the
French bar, Philippe Dupn, who persist
emily refused to notice his ingenious oppo-
nent's fervid and impassioned appeals, and
by combining himself to rigid clue daton
of the legal merits Of his case, won an easy
victory for his client.
The facts Of the case were briefly these:
Don Andres AlmOnaster, the father of Ma
dame de Pontalba, died in New Orleans, in
1898, leaving widow and two daughters,
one Of whom, Andrea, did not long survive
him. By his will, his widow was made his
universal legatee, reserviug, however, the
share Of each daughter. On the death Of one
of them, her share of the estate naturally re-
verted to her mother, who subsequently
married q Mr.. CastillOn. On the death of that
Iadys second husband, which occurred soon
after, Michele de Pontalba remained the
sole heiress Of the entire Almonaster estate,
as the only issue of the widow Castillon, her
mother.
Young, handsome and immensely wealthy.
it is not to be wondered at that Mile AL
monsters hand was eagerly sought, not
only in her native city, but also in Europe,
where she had many relatives. Among the
the latter was MIR. de Pontalba, a native of
Louisiana, who had served under D'Estaing
in the American war, and afterwards i'll
Spain under the orders of Marshal Ney. Mr..
de Pontalba, who was himself a very
wealthy man, applied, in behalf of his
son, for the hand of Mile Almohaster.
This overture being favOrably received by
the young. lady's mother, NJ. de Pontalba
fls, and his mother, Madame de Pontalba,
arrixy in Ma Orl ha nf npf
1911, and on the 23d of the same month, the
young couple were united in the bonds of
matrimony, and Immediately after went to
live at Mont Leveque, splendid chateau
belonging to Mr.. de Pontalba, ST., and stu
ated about a days journey from Paris. In
that palatal country seat the honeymoon
was spent, but when the young wife was
about to become mother she was sadly
awakened from her dream of welded love
by an effort which her husband, at the insti
cation of his father, made to induce her to
draw up will in his favor, in case she
shonld die in childbed.
The cloud thus interpOsed between the
husband and the wife soon became more
threatening, an effort being made to prevent
the young wife's mother from coming to live
with her in France. A lawsuit was insti-
tuted by the advice Of the elder POntalba to
compel Madame CastillOn to give up pOr
tiOn of her property to her son in-law, and
the family quarrels rose to such height
that one morning Mr.. de Pontalba fts aban-
iOned his wife at a country seat called Mig
not. where they had been staying for some
time, taking with him his son, then about
awelve years of age. A reconciliation was
effected, but upon the death of
Madame Castillon, in 1926. it was found
that she had made will, leaving all her
personal property to her daughter, on the
condition that her husband would have |
nothing to do with the administration of
the estate. This provision of Madame
de Pontalba's mothers will was bitterly |
by Messrs. de Pontalba pere ct .fls
who initiated lega! proceedings to have it
set aside, and shortly after. on the Sd Of
January, 1927, M. de Pontalba left his wife
IN Paris, alleging that he was going on a
hunting expedition to Mont Leveque, but
informing her that he had
finally made up his mind to take up his
with his father at Mont Leveque,
and was determined hereafter to live sep
arated from her. Thenceforth the chasm
between the ill-mated pair daily grew
wider. Finding that her interests in New
Orleans required her personal supervision,
Madame de Pontalba came to this city to
assume the control of her affairs, and while
she was still here her husband obtained in
April, 1882, an order compelling her to re- 4
turn to her husbands domicile at Mont
Leveque, and authorizing the latter, in
case she should fail to comply with that
order, to stop her allowance and to take
possession of her revenues.
But here an unforeseen difficulty stood in
the way Of Mr.. de POntalba's scheme. The
Chateau Of Mont Leveque was majorat which
NJ de Pontalba senior had to constitute in
order to obtain his title of Baron, and was
therefore his personal property. In order
TO makeit appear that it was the legal dcmi
Gle of his son, a deed of sale was passed
whereby M. de Pontaiba fills became the
owner Of one-twentieth Of the property, and
as the Judgment of the court was rendered
on the 18th of April, the deed, although
made on the 10th Of May of the same year,
ante-dated so as to bring Mont Leveque
within the scope of the decree of the Court
On her return to Paris, Madame de Pontalba
was refused admittance to her private resi-
ience in the rue du Housaie, AID received a