National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-10-07
alatiunaI aepnblitaa
A MALE BELLE.

HOCSE-MRS. RUPER'S DAZZLING DIS
PLAY AND HOW II ENDED.
Three or four weeks ago. a gentleman corr
ING to New York city from the West. became
acquainted in the course of long hours Of travel
in the cars with an unusually interesting, ac-
cOmPlished, beautiful, stylish woman. She
also was on her way to New York, was going
10 a hotel, would prefer a boarding house, but
did not know any. The gentleman named
highly respectable house where he was &C
qualified, which was centrally ard pleasantly
situated, and frequented by class of wealthy
and Travelled foreigners: particularly French,
Spanish and Spanish Americans. On arriving,
he politely took her to this boarding house,
paid for the carriage, introduced her to the
proprietor, spoke word aside in favor of the
stranger, and went away.
The lady took rooms at fifteen dollars a
week, and was left to dOif her travelling suit
and dress for dinner. nabOUt an hour she de
seended to the table. Her Jewels were superb,
her couture imposing, and an Elizabethau friH
of the richest lace was fastened closely under
her chin by a brooch holding bouquet of rose
buds. A similar bouquet surrounded her fore
head and repOsed against the hair, cOrOnet
of bloom. Her conversational accomplish
ments were as remarkable as the elegance Of
her dress. In short, from her first appearance
at the dinner table the new bOarler was the
envy Of the ladies, the admiration Of the geu-
tlemen, and the sensation of the house. Every
day brought variety in a new and more raYish-
ing toilet than the day previous, and, in addi-
ton to the use of French and Spanish, that
were the yeTnacular Of the table she talked
Swedish with the Swedes, German with the
Germans, and Italian with the Italians. Her
eli al hat Of A.
least little interesting touch of foreign ac-
cent. No wonder that with all this, added to
an affable disposition, versatility of ideas, hu-
ency OF anecdOte, the accumulated knowledge.
of things in general that comes from extensive
travel, united with stately figure and superb
toilet, all the gentlemen were fascinated and
all the ladies jealous.
Time brought the end of the first week, and
beautiful Madame bowed her lofty head. to
apologize to the landlady for the noR-arriYat
of an expected remittance, wherefore she Wa
unable to meet the bill. The landlady stated
to an old boarder the incongruity Of lady
having such wardrobe and not fifteen dollars
with which to pay her board. The rich and
WhOle-sOuled SOutherneT, to whom the land
lady mentioned her little perpleIity, gave her
the fifteen dollars, eniOined her not to annoy
Madame, and, should similar difficulty agaia
arise, to apply to him and not to the lady
The SOutherner's still richer friend was -
thoroughly enamored with the fascinating
foreigner that he gave uD his lodgings in =
fashionable hotel, and took up his abode III
der the same roof.
But the bewitching cosmopolitan wanted
and she won the good gTaces Of the women A.
well as the homage of the men. Accordingly
she exercised her powers of fascination, ana
their envy and anger melted as wax beneath
the sun at her sweetly insulating advances.
When to them beguiled into private tete-A-
tete in the penetralia of Msdame's sanctum,
she opened her trunks and boxes and gave
them scrutinizing view Of her rich robes and
her Jewels, they were enchanted, and before
the end Of the second week Madame was -
firmly fixed in the tender affections of the
ladies as she was in the manly bOsOms of their
lords. Her laces were the finest, her silks and
satins lustriOus in the extreme, the extreme,
the jewels dazzling, the perfumes were Gle
g.snce itself, while the one eOquettish point,
Enthusiastically Madame Ruper's sWn, Was
the unfailing lOyeknOt of rOsebuds smuggling
her throat under the chin.
Without one word of warning thundercIap
burst upon the clear sky of that summer
boarding house. One evening, near the cd
of her triumphal week, . friend called to see,
the landlady, and after hearing an account Of
this wonderful woman, who drew men froR
their hOtels-fOr another gentleman was o.
the point of removal-the friend answered:
81 suspect your lady is man" showing the
l1LulatuN AC"opapGA dAtACAC AGduCds ne -
She!' detailing the career of Christopher
Lund, and concluding with New Workers be
ware.
''If the impOstOr appears as a Spanish Doa,
or as the Countess KnUth, beware; for n
either character he, she or it will sWindle y0a.
give ynu to boot more genuine solid lying THAI
any creature that ever donned PeEtic0ats o.
pants in this or any other country"
The article, first printed In a Chicago news
paper of August 8, 1874, described how, a
year ago this fall, young Dane of prepossesS-
ing address arrived in Chicago fresh from
Europe, and got employment through the A.
sistance of a gentleman who had been feI-
lOw-passenger in the steamer coming over
He obtained various situations in hotels, which
he lost through indiScretiOn, had pupils in
French, gaining access to persons of place and
affluence and was interpreter for the Relief
and Aid Society during the greater portion Of
last winter, position which he filed with
considerable ability and credit to himself eK-
hibiting no bad habit except that of telling
long and fluent lies. The employees dubbed
him "Maria" from his etfeminate voice and
countenance. At one time ne was the lie
Ultimate son of the high Baron LoYenskjOld,
at another he was the offspring of the Count
Knuth, then he was Alexander Luntf, and in
the next situation he was JeOTanini Dominique
de L'Unti, then Spanish don, and then Mrs.
Isabella Roshe, wearing the finest fabrics Of
foreign looms, and the tiashy ieWelry worn at
an earlier stage Was replaced by rings aud
bracelets of the cOstliest kind. Then she was
acountess from Denmark, the Countess KnUth,
and had been a maid of honor to the Queen,
and lastly she was known as Mrs. Isabella
Rupcr.
A BELLE WITH BEARD.
Here was a terrible hint to act upon. The
alarmed landlady instantly sought the pres
ence of the beVitcher, and on drawing verV
ha of adj
closely the embroidery of the Elizabethan frill,
saw to her horror that rouge and pearl powder
had hitherto concealed the deep blue of
scant and clOsely-shaYen beard, and on gently
opening the ruff, she saw a well developed
and significant Adams apple rearing itself
from the bed of roses. The landlady, quickly
retreating, assembled a domestic council and
spread before them the amazing fact that the
idol of the gentlemen, the confidential COM
paniOn and bosom friend of the ladies, was ne
more nor less than Christian Lund, the maa
who fascinated men as woman, and sWindled
women as a man.
The CONSERVATION that followed this an
in a house filed with emotional
foreigners may be imagined. The gentlemea
wished to drag him from his dOwny couch and
fling him out into the darkness of the uight
The fearful landlady besought them to leave
the double deeeiyer 70 his unmerited slumber,
and themselves also to sleep over the dis
closure, winch Lney consentedtO 90 after long
consultation. She, he, or it was always late at
breakfast. twas determined to lock her room
until the gentlemen Of the breakfast table had
dispersed for the day, and then summons the
first available expeditions cart, and into it
pitch the impostOr's dainty baggage and Gust
the pOssessor thereof. The next forenoon an
express wagon was quickly piled with noun
tain of trunks and boxes, and Mr.. Madame,
in her genteelest pettieOats and bonnet, sprang
liohtIv down the stairs The feminine part of
the household watched the scene frOR the
windows. The lovely adventurer bounded up
to the seat by the driver, and with smile Of
perfect sslEpOsSessiou, looked back at the
house, touched his lips, and gracefully kissed
his hand to the ladies as the express Wagon
dashed out of Great Jones street, transferring
the little drama, in all probability, to some
other quarter of this City. Y. San.