The Republican journal., 1875-11-04
Three Fatal Sisters.

The st. Louis Times narrates the fol
lowing traglcal story from real life:
Our readers may possibly recellect the
circumstances OF Il fatal duel, widely pub
lished at the time, which occurred on the
Sd OF April, 1874. on the old dueling
ground, on the sandy stretch OF shore
fronting Bay St. Louis The participants
We're Artelle Bienvenue, a broker, and
Andrea Phillips, L lawyer, of New Or
leans
Aside from the fatal termination of the
meeting, the contest between Phillips and
BienVenue would not have been unusually
remarkable but for the fact that Il was the
final scene in the tragic welded lives Of
three women - sisters whose husbands
tell by the hands of violence, melted by
the evil courses OF their wives Born of rep
utable creole parents, these sisters were
iuheritors of vast wealth ana a stainless
name, and distinguished torpersonal beau
ty in a land where the loyeliness Of women
was proverbial. Tcnderly reared and bril-
liantly educated, with possessions that III
vailed in extent and eXcclled in value .
German princlpalitv, it is not surprising
that they became the llattered bellies OF
society, and were the boast and pride OF
blIt DCilQA III tll but
wild coast country, That the brilliant
protege of the haughtiest aristocracy of
the old regime should be destined to ex-
ercise the fatal influence they exerted on
the men who loved them and made them
their wives is indeed surprising. But they
were flirts from their cradles. Born to
admiration, their lives were spent from
youth to maturity in an atmosphere Of
fictitious sentiment and unreal passion.
They looked upon men us merely the
ministers of pleasure, and as the mediums
through which their tlattered vanity might
grow and expand, as the flower blooms
in the warmth of the sunshine All the
aims and duties of life We're bounded by
the ambitions Of society. Admiration to
them was appreciation.
And now for the story OF their lives
The eldest sister was married to DR. Sharp,
of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, q polished, grace
ful gentleman, whose love and devotion
might have contented any woman less
prone to the alluremcnts Of society and
the admiration of men. 1t was the tilst
year of the war, and the most brilliant
society of the South was gathered at Mo
bile and New Orleans With an appetite
whetted to fever heat by a few months alb
stinence from social pleasures, she plung-
ed recklessly into whirlpool of gayety.
The married tlirt wears no armor OF in
nocence. Her love of admiration is pitted
against mans duplicity and cunning. She
staked and lost. From folly there is but
one step to imprudence. and that step
was taken, despite 4 husbands jealousy
and sense Of honor. The end was inevi-
table; challenge and duel, and her
husband fell, pierced to the heart by the
bullet of her seducer. There was no pity
for woman like this; society repelled
her, her friends discarded her, and she
fled to New Orleans to lead the life of an
adventures.
The second sister shortly alterward
married the son of a distinguished Jour
nalist in Mobile. The fate of her sister
was no bar to career of similar folly.
Society received her with open arms.
Wealth influential connections and ALI
ances with distinguished family obscur-
ed for time the recollections of sisters
imprudence. But gossip soon grew busy
with her name. From one folly to an
other she passed with fatal haste and
seeming Indifference, until in fatal hour
her husband learned that the woman he
loved, the wife he idolized, was thing
to be scorned. 1t broke his heart With
the downfall of his idol his reason waver-
ed and he perished by his own hand. For
all his brilliant talents and the promise of
a brilliant woman, he died the victim of a
woman's perfidy.
The younger sister became the wife of
Bienvenue, a young broker OF New Or
leans. Rich, beautiful and accomplished
she was at once leader in society. Court
ed, tlattered and caressed, she plunged
headlong into the vortex. Men lavished
praises upon her-women hated and smil-
ed upon her. What cared she? Beauti-
ful, reckless, heartless and Indifferent to
all alike, she cared only for that social ad-
miration which was the sunshine of her
life. Her large fortune gave her an in
come in her individual right This gave
wings to her extravaganza and enabled
her to contract bills in her own name.
One of them, milliner's bill, was over
due; suit was brought and execution is
sued, which Mr.. Phillips, the lawyer, had
leViea Tor satisfaction upon her carriage
ana horses In an interview subsequent
" hao with the lady regarding the settle
ment OF the bill, words which she con-
strued into an insult were charged upon
the attorney. Her husband resented a
challenge ensued, and then the fatal dnel
on that sad April morning. when q huS-
pands lie ebbed away its purple tide up
on the lonely beach, the last unhappy VIC
tim OF the fatal sisters folly and extraya-
gance.