New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-06
Charles Lanltte, alias Major Frfd0lin
Partisan hi1h life haa lafelv Lost 0ne of III

prominent figures. Charles Laffitte, known
in the sporting world under the pseud0nym
Of Major FridOlin, though he has been for
many years PROBABLY the most public man
of Paris, has never played any important
part in political affairs. Nevertheless, his
notoriety extended far beyond the borders
of France. Wherever sport has become q
fashion among the wealthy classes OF So
ciety, Charles Laffitte and his horses were
widely known. Bearing as he did the name
of the celebrated banker and minister OF
Louis Philippe, and that of the still more
| celebrated vineyard, his name was easily
retained by the mass of the people.
The name of Latfitte is rather frequent in
| France. Some OF it's bearers spell it with
one f, others with two. Jean La6tte, the
| celebrated cOrsar, prlvateer and smuggler
of Louisiana, was one LATTE, and so Is
Jean Baptiste Pierre Latte. the prolific
| litterateur, who is still living and still
writing, though already over seventy years
| OF age, and OF whose novels and theatrical
pieces only "Le Pour ct LIE Contre" will
ever survive the author. On the other
hand, Jacques Laffitte, the banker and
minister, the friend Of Beranger and the
patron of Theirs was two Laffitte; and
the now departed Charles was distant
relative of his.
Like the celebrated Premier, Charles
Latiitte was banker, and began his career
| lust at the time when the old Latfitte was in
power A shrewd business man, he con-
siderably increased the fortune he had in
herited, and taking advantage of the
prestige of his name, launched himself in
| full career among that moneyed bourgeois
aristocracy, which began to form itself at
the close OF the reign of Charles X. and the
prOpensities were transmitted to France TO-
gether with English parliamentary fashions
and forms. Among learned people and
politicians the study of England produced
the doctrinaire school of Guizot and its fol-
lowers; among men Of the world and rich
people it gave rise to what is known as
AnglO-mania.
Charles Laffitte, then q svealthy man of
some thirty years old, was among the first
to Join the latter of these movements. He
began to breed race horses, established vari-
GUS kinds of races Including the steeple
chase at one of his estates. and later became
one of the founders of the Paris Jockey Club.
His taste for hOrse-racing must have been
Unborn, for he was in 1922 one of the organ
izers of the first race that ever took
place in France. A handsome ap-
pearance, extremely winning manners.
and a peculiar capacity for remain
living in the whirl of the fashionable
world, made Charles Lsfitte all the more
popular, because almost everybody living
in the same circle with him either became
ruined or grew old and died off, while he
still stood there gay, fresh, elegant, and
with apparently no end of money in his
pocket. He has been celebrated as the
only man in France who had not lost money
on the turf; and yet who, notwithstanding
bis having been connected with the turf for
over half century, never knew anything
even about his own horses, except their
colors. His friends frequently played upon
him the joke of inducing his trainer, Pratt,
to change the horses in the stables, and the
owner coming to visit the stable, was then
never able to make out which was which.
The way in which Lafitte first accumu-
lated hie fortune is unknown to US; but his
accumulations during the empire were all
due to speculatiOns in stocks and foreign
loans, especially the Italian ones. Being
on most intimate terms with Morny and
Fould, he had all the facilities for making
several large fortunes, though he had prob
ably to give portion Of them to the ma
pipulators of Napoleon's cabinet.
The notoriety Of Charles Laffitte is, how.
ever, not exclusively due to his lea dership
in the sporting and fashionable world. He
also became widely known through fire.
quent lawsuits of q more or less sensational
character. In 1854, for instance, he was
separated from his wife, the tribunal COM
polling him to pay her $1,000 year, and to
deposit with the court something like
$3.50, 900 a. security tor these payments, be-
sides another elO0, 900 which he was bound
to settle on his two daughters. In French
money this outlay amounted to over mil
lion and q quarter, and was very heavy
sum for man to disburse for the sake of
getting rid of q wife whom he disliked
Just as much az she disliked him. Another
celebrated lawsuit of Lafittes was
with Khalil-Bey, the Turkish charge dat
fairee, about some turf matters; and here
again Lstfitte had very round sum of
money 10 disburse. Later on came the d.
vOrce suit of his eldest daughter from the
banker Erlanger. The French Catholic
Church not admitting divorce, the question
had to be brought before the Pope, and it
was only by the sanction of the supreme
Pontiff that the lady was separated from
ErlanRer and married TO NJ. COrdier, who
wac of late years general collector at Tours.
The marriage of the second daughter ended
also in lawsuit with the Marquis de Calf
fet. In this case, however, the separation
was not complete. The couple were not
property, and the Marquise de Galitfet still
bears the name of her husband, though che
has not lived with him since 1871. Her
mansion in the Rue Rabelais became the
home of her father, and it was in her arms
that the old sportsman died at the age of
seventy-twO.
The indulgent affection which Lafitte
had for his two daughters was quite pro
verbal IN Paris. The scandalous gossip to
which they exposed themselves did not
seem in any way to affect his feelings. The
more he heard Of the escapades of his
daughters, the more he was pleased. He
al Toe ,sa,or do
When the fast society Of the empire was at
it's summit, the two daughters Of Latitte
had just reached womanhood. and became
quite notorious for the extravaganza Of
their dress and manners. Chatting once
with the Duo de Morny at the Bots de
Bologne, and looking at his two children
driving by in the most improbable turnout,
he said:
"Ar'n't they charming! know only of
one woman faster than they. and that is
The remark having been made shortlv