The New York herald., 1874-08-25
A FOOTBALL OF FORTUNE.

A FOOTBALL OF FORTUNE.
The Extraordinary Career OF M. Marie
ERNEST Troncin du Mersan, Lnte Menu
ber Of M. Thiers' Stan.
H., PARIS. August s, 1874
curious story OF the career Of q social and
political adventurer came 10 light before tine Paris
Court OF Assize on she 18th inst The rise OF NJ.
Tronctn du Mersan from obscurity. .ahis career
under the late Empire and his disast1$us fall be-
fore the bar Of justice, arraigned on i charge of
forgery, make altogether as remarkable . nara
tive rs that OF Le Sage's young adventurer
OF Santillane. It Is not probable that such
an ignominious downfall will trretrievably ruin
such an unscrupulous tactican as M. Mersan We
expect to hear OF him again, should he live to
again return to the world The history Of his life.
condensed from the acte d'accusatt0n, contains o
moral for those whose heads are turned by the
brilliant examples OF successful knavery:-
HIS EARLY LIFE.
Marie Ernest 1roncn du Mersan was born at
education and became q medical student but, un-
fortunately tor him, the Revolution OF l84S broke
out before he had taken his medical degrees, and
he immediately plunged headlong into the vortex
OF politics. NJ. Ledru- ROlin appointed him to the
subprelecture OF Compegne. but ne was
cal studies. In 1858 he obtained MIS- diploma
as doctor or medicine, and contrved to get himself
appointsd az one Of ths occasional physicians o. the
tached In his medca! capacity to one Of she Bouie-
ward theatres specially devoted to what may be
Dramatiques. THIS theatre was then in the hands
ol M. Moures gen tleman who thoroughly appre-
fortune BY eras.fying it. II was he Who nrss in
troduced what are known as ''des pieces Jem-
mes" mes, g dramas 10 which the only attraction was
tive OF deshGonles. n. Mouries presently died;
but he left behind him widow, remarkably well
OF ID. Tronctn du Mersan.
MARRYING UPWARD.
w Us % tSe osss Of
sum OF ready money. he started an establishment
entertained. he received. he gave dinners, ne
proved q munifcent patron to several of the
into his head to start mode lode farm. ~ At the % same
time he appeared to have shrewd idea that this
pleasant state OF things could not last forever, and
peror's pc secretary 4 .ocqnare, who had str Strange @
Ioibie for all unscrupui0us adventurers and gave
HIN berth M 10 bis once He did not keep Il long.
Parisiens
As AN 0RFICIAL BLACKNAnER. 4
After q couple OF years he got into bankruptcy.
AND was then. through the favor OF that evi genius
OF the late Emperor, n. de Persigny made an at
Mersan was the original .sbiack MANI His func-
and gong round to the Otices Of the various news
papers Those journalists who, to put IL in q civil
way, were accessible" were made to understand
the Empire Those who were not accessible had
the honors Of suspension and suppression vtv1dly
80 much TO the satisfaction OF MS employers that
he got an appointment 70 the press department Of
the Corps Leglslatl aud was IN the endowment OF
talnaDie, when the 4Lh OF September swept away
the Corps Leglslati and the Empire.
n n0n nCr Cnrrn nnnVru
Mersan His patriotic soul revolted at the notion
possession Of the Ministry Of the interior Interior very very
mucn At sea as to waat was TO be done, M Troncin
as M az ne Mno neS 0o se
warded the telegram announcing to the projects
the prOciamation OF the Republic in Paris. He
when GsmDetta was upset at Bordeaux IN the
ensuing month OF February, and France was placed
in the hands OF NJ Thiers. M. Troncin introduced
himself to M. Thters. who made him useluL
THE CROSS OF TIE LEGION OF HONOR.
During the Commune NJ: Ironcin du Mersan,
whose courage IS quite equal to his enterprise AM
Intelligence. acted as middleman between Yer
salies and Paris, and he did such good service
gave HIM the Cross OF the Legion OF Honor; he also
received decorations from SPAN and Portugal.
Al, tais w1is. aoweyer aa,1 M ,irons,a dn Msasap's
described as unsatisfactory. Hard hearted credi-
tors mad repeatedly seized his furniture, and In
1884 he had circulated bills, to which ne had forged
his wile's signature. so long, however, as ne CON
there was not much chance Of his being detec % ed
But after N. rhiers' fall he got dismissed from MS
oiicial position. and then ne got into serious df
cuitles. He took 1t into hts head to get UPON his
own nO0k-a universal exhibition, which was 10
take place at the Palais de pIndustrle. In the
Champs ElySeeS, In 1875.
'THE RUGGED EDGES OF DESPAIR
But In spite OF this Ingenious device he found
thas tine raising sing OF money WORK Of
some $lO.000 refused to look aG his paper any
more; 80 ne changed his batteries. ne went to
and asked him end a% As 'aat secnpy enae
ne produced an !. 0. u lor $5,o00 signed by NJ Le-
lebvre, Under secretary Of State for Finance. NJ.
Tapln advanced The money. But few days after,
on rroncin applying Tor further loan Of 500, M.
Tapln thought ~ odd That q man VINO could lend
$4,000 to so exalted financial functionary should
be hard up for small sum.
IN THE TOLLS
he communicated with the authorities. NJ Le-
febvre denied that ne had ever borrowed a sou
from NJ. du Mersan, and asserted that he had
never seen him. ~
The case was put into the hands OF the police,
and M. Tr0neln du Mersan's adventurous career
was summarly cut snort by hts arrest and re-
mova 70 ,n Mazas T prson % he appeared on August
prisonment his mar and beard had turned white
and he looked broken down old man, while
or between iOrty ana fifty.
THE PROCEEDINGS IN COURT.
, he was put INTO the DOCK and the following con:
and the prisoner, nowhere TO be found outside of
o French criminal court, took place.
President-Ironcn. stand up. You are ffty years old
you are married, you have got child you have lot
been tried before this but your past has been
stormy one however, we shall only revert what Is
essential TO the present You were very young
man when you nrst took part In public life At tweI
sy.aoar, IN $50 you were made suo-preect Of Com
your doctors diploma cut presently you plunged into
speculation You had no money OF your own yet you
married the widow Mour.es VINO brought you mar
riage portion amounting to $1,000 irancs dl6,00W per
w - -
Prisoner - beg pardon the sum you stated was 100000
A MODEL MAGIgrRATK.
rresident-Well, THAI Is very much the same thing;
put let tnat pass capiia OF S0,0U francs s hand
some fortune Yet n SIX years time you managed
get through the whole OF her fortune. How are we to
account tor such rapid ruin People have said that
you ramped tnat You led fast ie that You kept mis-
resses You became manager of the Bonffes, and tho
result Of that speculation liabilities 10 the tune OF
2,O0O0 francs (Sf0UU while the assets amounted pre-
cisely TO ten centiInes (wo cents). -
Troncin--Ihat Is the cause Of the bills
TELLING HIN
rresluent UaklnB MIN up shoru-Yea the forged bills
f0u were thoroughly at tue OF your tether other
wise would have Been still wicked to raise funds
Dy means OF iorgeries However, In addition 70 your
VIE lortune you had other ways and means-you were