Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-07-17
II. WUITMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor
ARIsTOCRATIC SnOP.LIFTERs.

n Lovely KIeptOmRntae- Sho Con.
iesSeB her Guilt 60 Save her Illus.
band = Justice from "a French
Court.
Paris Cor. New York WOrld.l
A singularly romantic and pain
full scene was witnessed in the court
of the Eleventh chamber couple
Of days since, On the seat allotted
to defendants cited to appear but
not restrained Of their liberty, sat a
woman some thirty years of age, of
imposing appearance and naughty
demeanor, with a head such as one
sees on a Roman cameo. She toyed
negligently while being questioned,
with a ieweled fan, and gave her
answers disdainfully. Beside her,
but upoSGhe prisoners bench, was
a girl of eighteen, a tall and slight
brunette, whose great dark eyes,
wet with tears, resembled those of a
Madonna in ecstatic prayer. They
were aunt and niece, both of Span
ish origin. The elder, Virginia
Pulgar, is the wife of Venezuelan
General, who in 1874 represented
Venezuela in France then became
governor of Il province; then re-
volted and was defeated. He is
now planning another revolution,
while his wife lives, or rather lived,
an elegant life, having an ample
fortune of her own, in one of the
most elegant hotels on the Champs
ElySees. The niece, Carmen Los
soda" Nina" as her aunt called
her-is the daughter Of an cx-Prcs-
ident of Venezuela, wife of hand
some young colonel, Lopez Mondez,
aged twenty-iour. They were mar
ried last winter, and came to Paris
to spend how sad a honeymoon
In some respects the case resem-
bles that of Mime Koutwitchinski,
the wealty Russian, who forced her
little daughter of twelve years.
Nodine, to steal in the shops
they visited. According to the
prosecution the young woman
"lfted" every thing She could
seize at the counters, while her
husband and aunt kept the shop
man occupied. Why people so
rich should steal us these stole, why
they should steal as omniyerously
as these stole, the prosecution did
not pretend to explain; but at Nine
Pulgar's residence the police found
articles Of all descriptions and
every value from a 1900 franc ring
down to a pair of coarse WOODEN
hose, from gold bracelets to hand
kerchiefs at five francs a dozen
eight cents apiece.
The young girl indicated as
principal offender took upon her
self with touching resignation the
sole and entire responsibility for
the thelts. She had but one thought,
one dcsire-to save her husband
and her mothers sister by estab-
fishing that she had taken the
articles in question without their
knowledge or assistance, and she
set herself to make out her own
guilt as piteously and as resolutely
as another woman would have
striyen to prove her complete inno-
cencc, The principal witnesses
against her were two jewellers; from
one, Boucheron, she had stolen a
sapphire ring; from the other, Fop-
tana, gold chain. Bouch6r6n
missed his property just as the trio
left the store on the first of May,
and had them arrested, Their
rooms were found full of goods still
bearing the trademarks OF the
great shipping emporiums, the
Louvre, Printemps, and Bon
Marche.
NJ. de La Fuye, who, prose-
ented called for a severe SEN
tenee upon the husband and
aunt, asserting that they had
shamelosSly worked upon the poor
girls Ignorance, ga child scarcely
conscious Of What she did" as the
Venezuelan minister wrote to the
court. Metre Georges Lachaud
defended the two women. Virginia
Pulgar, he claimed, had not been
moved entity of the SLIGHTEST con-