The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-03-02
AGLAE SPINOTTE.
Some I.cidrufs in the Career Of a Woman
without "a Hart.

without Hart.
The day upon which General Love
and the Confederate forces evacuafe
New Orleans was sad dav 10 Maio
Spinotte, ,as 10 many others. The Major
sadness lay i'm the fact that he had {
leave his bride, Aglae, Just six week
married, and just sixteen years old
Whether it was sad to Aglae or not,
viii not decide, but presume il was, 70
Claude was handsome fellow, jus
twenty-fOur, ardent, handsome, rich
However, Claude had TO tear himsel
away, leaving his young wife in care o
his mother, and with a good store o
gold in her trunk When spring opened
and things got more quiet, Aglae and
the mother were 10 retire from the city
go to the plantation near 0pelousas, and
thence, if chance served, cross the rivel
and get within the Confederate line,
again, somehow.
do not know all the particulars OF
the affair, but it is certain that in less
than six weeks Aglae had left Nine
Spinotte's house and gone to live at the
st. Charles Hotel, where her beauty at
tracted much attention and a great
number of admirers. Among these was
a certain Captain Coale, from Maine, in
the Quartermaster' Department of the
Federal Army, person of fine figure
and complexion, with quick blue eyes
and fascinating manners. There was
some talk about the attentions which
Aglae received from Captain Coale,
but in the general whirl and disorder
of New Orleans life at that time the
matter went for little. In the latter part
of May young Nine. Aglae Spinotte was
sent "beyond the lines" by order OF
General Butler, for ''disloyal language
and reasonable practices" She took
refuge at Nine. SpinOtte's plantation in
Opelousas, where ClaUde's mother had
already arrived, and was most cordially
received, as became ga martyr to the
cause" A week later three steamers,
with a gun-boat for escort, came up the
Atchafalaya, landed at the Spinotte
plantation, and a Captain Coale, COM
ing to the house, arrested Madame Aglae
Spinotte "by order of the Commanding
General" =" and carried her off, together
with ! 100 bales of cotton, buried in the
woods, but which Captain Coale knew
how to find as if by instinct. There was
also a large quantity of sugar concealed
in the next parish, TO which Captain
Coale's prescIence led him straight.
Singularly enough, the proceeds of this
capture were never turned over to the
authorities in charge at New Orleans
neither the lady, nor the cotton, nor the
sugar; nor does it appear that Captain
Coale made any report of his operations
to the authorities. A British ship took
the cotton, etc, aboard in Atchafalaya
Bay and sailed for Liverpool, while the
steamers and gun-bOat returned to Bra
shear City. 1t is not my province to ex-
plain how these little ''irregularitieSn
were permitted to occur.
On the 20th of August, 1862, Major
Claude Spinotte deliberately threw his
life away in the battle of Clarksville,
Tenn, having received a letter the night
before from a friend in New Orleans; /;
and early in October of the same year,
Captain Rufus NJ Coale and lady, from
England, were registered at one of our
chief New York hotels. There seems
no doubt now that the lady :" was the
widow of Claude Spinotte. COale had
some difficulty with Kennedy and the
police, but apparently was able to show
clear record. At anv rate, he was
not interfered with, and the couple,
who had abundance of money, lived a
fast and gay life. As there is no evi-
dence to the contrary, it is only chari-
table to suppose that they were married.
About Christmas of the same year,
Captain Coale met with a fatal adven-
ture. He was enticed to an unfrequent-
ed part of Maryland, not far from the
military lines, by some device that was
never clearly revealed, and there set
upon and murdered, his pockets, which
contained several thousand dollars, be-
ing rifed. No traces of the murderers
were ever found.
Mrs. Csale left the hotel and went TO
private boarding house, her circum-
stances being much reduced, So she
said. 1t is ascertained, however, that
during the next eighteen months she
was very frequently on Wall Street, one
OF the boldest and largest operators in
gold, and one who never lost. In Oc-
tober, 1864, at which time she went to
Europe (under suspicion of being con-
nected with large embezzlement of
Government funds, her winnings at
the Gold Board were generally supposed
10 exceed S2,000,000 and it was known
that she had invested extensively in
five-twentieS.
After this Mrs Coale cannot be traced
with any certainty for a number of
years. There is, however, a legend
connected with her history which may
or may not have foundation. This
legend relates that in the spring of 1863
she married a Russian of rank, who
took her with him TO Hombourg and
there lost all his money and all she
would let him have. She, with her dew
lis luck, won back all she lost, but re-
fused to give it him TO lose again; so he
flew off with her to his estates outon the
steppes somewhere, in / know not what
desolate, God-forsaken region, and
there, an imbrutGd savage,
led her dogs life, between brandy.
women and the whip. One day, in a
fit of delirium tremens, after scOurging
his whole household, including a pale
faced Greek priest, named Urbain CAL
lamaehi, he drew a pistol upon his wife
and was instantly murdered by the
priest. There was a trial, but the proof
of self-defense was sufficient. Aglae
and Urbain were acquitted, but the lat
ter was sent to monastery and Aglae
banished. When she reached Buda,
on her way to Italy, the priest met her
at the hotel door and flung himself at
her feet. He had escaped. She sent
for the American Consul, and married
the priest. He was an opium eater,
this Urbain, and a year later, sailing
down the Nile, the hymns of the Coptic
monks at veSperS so erazed him with
despairing recollections of a holy past,
in the light of damned present, that
he slipped over the dahabeeah'S side
into the gurgling flood, and was
drowned.
This, mind you, is only legen What
is known is thatin the winter OF S72-73
Nine. Aglae Callamachi camsto Wash
ington, spent the season there, and the
next summer was seen at many Of our
fashionable watering-places. The next
winter she passed in Florida, and upon
the return of spring established herself