Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1875-10-06
A TERRIBLE STORY.
THE FOLLY AND FATE OF THREE BEAuTI.
ruL SISTERS.

Our readers may possibly recollect
the circumstances Of fatal duel,
widely published at the time, which
occurred on the Sd Of April, 1874, on
1.-THE old duclling ground, on the sandy
stretch shore fronting Bay st. Louis
The participants were Article Bien-
venue, a broker, and Andrea Phillips,
q lawyer, of New Orleans. 1t was on
the same spot:wherc the fatal bullet OF
Rhett, Of the Picdyune, sped TO fight
the gallant spirit ofthc intrepid Cooley
the ground on which the rifle shots Of
Badger and Carter were exchanged
where Scott and Campbell met and
where many a previous bloody episode
had explated a real or imaginary fault.
Aside from the fatal termination OF
tl.ee-i mcetipE.. tho contest betwoon
PniInps ana Bienvcflue would not have
been unusually remarkable but for the
fact that it was the final scene in the
tragic welded lives of three women
whose husbands fell by the
hand of violence, melted by the evil
courses of their wives. ~
Born of reputable creole parents,
these sisters were inhciitors OF vast
wealth and a stainless name and dis
tinguishcd for personal beauty in a
land where the lovelness Of women
was proverbial. Tenderly reared and
brilliantly educated, with possessions
that rivaled in extent and excellod in
value a German principality, It is not
surprising that they became the fiat
tered bellies of society, and were the
boast and pride of the merchant and
planter beaux in all the wild coast
country That these brilliant pro.
tcges OF the haughtiest aristocracy of
the old regime should be destined to
exercise the fatal influence they ex-
erted on the men who loved them and
made them their wives is indeed sur
prising But they were firts 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 as merely the minis
ters of pleasure, and as the mediums
through which their fattered vanity
might grow and expand, as the flower
blooms in the warmth of the sunshine.
All the aims and duties of life were
bounded by the ambitions Of society.
Admiration TO them was appreciation.
Taught to regard their individual pleas
ures as superior to all considerations of
convenience TO others, ii is not sur
prising that selfshness, Indifference
and folly became the mainsprings to
their actions
Nor is II astonishing that they ex-
ercised the fatal influence they did up
on men. Their beauty was glorious.
The youngest was the living type Of
the other two. AS the writer saw her
a little over year ago, she rises be-
fore his vision now, tall, graceful,
slender woman, 1.-THE, willowy form Of
splendid contour and exquisite sym
metry. The oval, tinted face glows
with health, and is rsdient with intel
uniat6omabIe in their depths, Which q q
word can kindle with excitement or
make aglow with passion; quecnly
woman, regnant in youth, grace, and
the empire of mems hearts The rich
coils of hair, black and intense, were
wound above the low, broad forehead,
and formed n ravcn-like crown to the
dusky splendor of dark Egyptian
face. Men paused to look at her, and
women sighed with envy as she passed.
What she was in her youthful bride
hood has been imperfectly described ;
what her sisters were in their matured
and splendid womanhood, the enthusi-
ast's imagination alone can picture.
And now for the story of their lives.
The Oldest sister war married to DR..
Sharp, of Tuscaloosa, Ala, a polished,
graceful gentleman, whose love and de-
votion might have contented any
woman less prone to the allnrements
of society and the admiration of men.
1t was in the first year Of the war, and
and the most brilliant society in the
South was gathered at Mobile and
New Orleans. With an appetite
whetted TO fever heat by few months
abstinence from social pleasures, she
plunged rccklessly into n whirlpool
of gaiety. The married flirt wears no
armor of innocence. Her love of ad.
miration is pitted rgainst mans du-
plicity and cunning She asked and
lost From folly there is but one step
to imprudence, and that step was
taken, despite a husbands jealousy and
sense of honor. The end was inevita-
ole challenge and duel, and her
husband fell pierced TO the heart by
the bullet of her scduccr. There was
no pity for woman like this society
repealed her, and she fled to New Or.
leans TO lead the life Of an adventures
The second sister shortly afterward
married the son Of distinguished
journalist of Mobile. The fate of hei
elder sister was no bar TO u career oi
similar folly. Society received hci
with open arms Wealth, Influential
connections, and alliances with dis
tingushed family obscured for time
1.-THE rccollections Of a sisters impru
dence. But gossip soon grew busy
with her name. From one follyto an
oihor she passed with fatal haste ant
seeming indifference, until in n fata
| hour her husband learned that th,
woman he loved, the wife that he idol
lied, was q thing TO be scorned. l
broke his heart. With the downfall
of his idol his reason wavercd, and b,
persisted BY his own hand, For al
! his brilliant talents, and the promise
of splendid woman, he died the vic
tim off woman's perfdy. aila'n
The younger sister became the wifi
4 of Bicnvcnuc, young broker of New
Orleans. Rich, beautiful and &C
complished, she was at once lcadc
, in society. Courted, battered an'
f carcsscd, She plunged headlong int
the vortex. Men lavishcd praises upoI
her-womcn hated and smiled upol
her What cared she ? Beautiful
r reckless, heartless and indifferent to al
, alike, she cared only for that socia
admiration which was the sunshine Q
her life. Her largo fortune gave he
an income in her individual righl
This gave wings to the extravaganc
/ and enable her TO contract bills in he
I own name. One of them-a millincr
bill-was overdue, suit was brough
, and execution issued, which Mr. Phi
r lips the lawyer, had levied for satii
:. faction upon her carriages and horse
!, in an interview subsequently, ha
|. with the lady, regarding tho settl'
mcnt of the bill, words which she col
n strucd into an insult were charge
. upon the attorney, Her husband n
!. sentcd it--a challenge cnsued-an
Ia -. = A