Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-08-14
..THE rid
singular IDfatuaCiOn Of a Ken.
lucky Belle fOrIhe Celebrate
ed Scion of a DespOtic
Family.
Louisville Courier-JournaI.l

Louisville COurier-Journal'l
Last week a m~iddle-aged lady Great
ed considerable sensation about the
Gait house by driving up in her car
riage and demanding to see the Grand.
Duke Alexis, ofRussia, "her a~fianced
husband" She was richly attired and
wore a bridal veil and jewels. When
informed that he was not in the hotel
she became incensed and informed the
clerk that they could not prevent her
from seeing him, as he had made an
appointment to meet her there. She
also went to the Louisville hotel and
made the same inquiries and as sud
denly disappeared. Nobody knew
whence she came nor who she was. A
correspondent from New Castle, KY,
sends the Courier journal the follow
ing interesting accounted the lady and
the causes of her insanity:
The unfortunate lady in question is
now, and has been for some years
past, a resident of this town. Perhaps
an explanation of her strange hallu-
cination may not prove uninteresting
to the readers of the Courier j Journal.
She is about forty-two years of age,
but still retains traces of the beauty
which made her so popular in society
some eighteen or twenty years ago.
She was carefully educated by a
wealthy and indulgent father, and,
having free access to her parents ex-
%cellent library, her reading was most
extensive and varied, her converse
tional powers were remarkable, and
in every way she was eminently fitted
to adorn u high station in society.
Her maiden name was Kenton, and
she was born and lived the larger
portion of her life in St. Louis.
At the age Of twenty-five, while
visiting her aunt in Chicago, she
made the acquaintance of a young
Captain Reilly, who was stationed
there with his regiment. The friend.
ship soon ripened into love, and, after
a brief courtship, they were married.
The marriage was in every respect a
happy one. They continued to reside
in Chicago, and she, by her beauty
and brilliant mental endowments, be-
came a great favorite in the best So
ciety of the city. Unhappily, after
seven years Of welded facility, her
husband died, and at the early age of
twenty-nine she was left a widow with
no children. Her grief was almost in.
consolable, and she left society to
mourn for the loss Of the husband
whose memory was so dear to her.
Her sorrow was so intense and
enduring that grave apprehen-
sions were entertained by her rela-
tives in regard to her mind, which
they thought was impaired, and at
their urgent solicitation she was in
duced to leave Chicago and return to
st. Louis, her former home. Her
friends, who thought that the change
would benefit her, were not disap-
pointed, and she rapidly regained her
beauty, but, as the sequel proved, she
never recovered the perfect use of her
faculties, Her melancholy almost en-
tirely disappeared, and, to the aston
ishment of her friends, she began to
take a lively interest in the gay
world of society, of which in past
years she was so brilliant a member.
About this time the Grand Duke
Alexis, in his tour through the
United States, visited st. Louis, and
Mrs. Reilly attended the grand ball
given by the city to its royal guest,
Although not in the flush Of
youth, she was still an extremely
handsome woman, time and sor.
row had but chastened and