Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-11-30
SCANDALS lid AN b N EV..

"Reminiscences Of Adah lsaacs Menkpn and the
| Way She Came to Be Photograp hed in the
Arms of the AIRED Dumas n. 81
Plucky Nine. Clovis Hu:s.u,eys and the Method
! She Adoptsd "a sAyenge' Her Sian
| NJ: - ? s-o31 dered Honor. >s>s 's = = !.
| PARIS, Special Correspondence, Oct 81,
ts1S93.-A few nights back M LarocheIle, one
| OF the managers of the Gaiate theater, found
| himself seated alongside Of good-looking
English girl in the Winter circus, away up
yonder by the old Bastille grounds. His fair
neighbor made 8 remark about ono OF tho
riders which led him to suppose that she, too,
| was an artistic; and, as this was really tbs
case, they soon got into conversation.
What she wanted wass 80 ehance;" and
| in the end the manager asked her to come and
see him the next day at his private office. She
kept the appointment; and then the manager
said that If she had the fine form which lie had
guss sed she possessed he would give her a
Egs cd engagement She soon proved to him
! that her physical proportions were most ex-
! celent; anG The engagement was made, six
months, at 500 francs week. The next day
the manager Informed the press, and the press
told the public, about the Gaete's director get
| ting into conversation with the hand
| soonest woman that ever was seen; how
| he asked for her name; how her reply,
| Miss K"n," suggested the name Of Menken,
who years ago made such success at the Gazette
| in the Pirates do 10 Savane; and the theatrical
| reporters wound up. their remarks with the
information that Miss Ken will soon ap-
pear in the same spectacular piece which
| brought Adah Isaaca henken- Heenan so promi-
nently before the Parisiau public. saw the
Menken once, in Louisville, during the 'wah. !"
| She was playing in that city, and Mitcheil's
| army corps WAS camped At Lebanon Junction
| and Elizabetl.town Ten thousand 'sblue-
bellied Yankees"~ wanted to see her
in the Three Fat Women, and I wrote
her note to the effect that If she'd put herself
up for benefit aud play that naughty piece,
we'd pack the house. She wrote me an auto
graphic, letter, in which she fixed the date,
named the play. and hoped we'd all put in an
cary appearance, which we die. in number about
thousand. And how we applauded when
Mcnken came on! and how she gagged" her
s'brave soldiers;' and then she suddenly said
some hing about the Nineteenth Illinois, which
| caused about hundred OF us fellows to
| yell ourselves hoarse; for that was
''ours;" and was there ever such an
| honor given another regiment? That
! was the FIRST and only time I ever saw this
| famous, well shaped person; but always had
| "hankerin'" after her hotoyraphs; and
| looking some of them over to-day find one of
her in her Pirates de la Savane costume pair
of tights, and silk skirt equally close fitting
! also curious picture which in its day made no
| little STIR 1t represents an old man With gray
| woody hair aud moustache, and a sensual,
| laughing face Of the African type. who is
| coated in his shirt-sleeves, holding handsome
and admirably formed woman, in full suit
of tights, In bis arms. whose head ia nestled
| lovingly to his ample breast The photograph
| is that Of Alexandra Dumas pere and Adah
Menken. When she was in reduced to Dumas
| the celebrated author was LIVING in the Boule-
ward Malesherbes, near the Park Monceaux,
| with his daughter, Madame Petel,
rather odd parsonage, who divided her
| time between religions practices, tho
! painting Of PICTURES Of devotional character,
and the translation into French verses from
| the works Of the Greek poet Theocritus Alex
! andre Dumas, who had become firm believer
in sp ritualisnn and magnetism, had fallen into
the hands OF q lot of charlstans and rogues,
who took advantage of hlS crtduli,y in every
conceivable way. The chief Of these were two
female mediums, who had wormed themselves
into his confidence. and who rarely, if ever.
left him, even when lie went on Journey.
They were both handsome women and they
lad acquired much Influence over the old fell
low, to, whom they sought to render themselves
indispensable. It was strange spectacle to
see this talented man, after twenty years
Of avowed atheism, during which he had
secuted at everything that in the least ap-
preached the supernatural, allowing himself to
be deceived by tho pretended magnetic sleep
OF two girls, and accepting the most transpar-
ent tricks as supernatural prodiRies
cow ADAH CAUGHT HIM.
Adah lsaacs Menken, after more than
usually fast life. had ''got religion in Amer.
] lea, whence she had just come accompanied by
| her mother and a sort Of private chap ain. to
whom she submitted all questions that troubled
her conscience. AS soon as she met Dumas,
she cav that if she played her cards right she
could get the very biggest kind of an adver-
tbs ement out of the intimacy which almost i'm
mediats'y sprung up between them. The old
fellow was like wax in the hands of this pretty
taken in the tolls Of flattery and pettrg that the
shrewd actress cast Around him. 1t was not =
hard thing for her to persuade him to have
their picture taken in the position that L have
described, it being understood between. them
that the photograph WAS to be solely for their
joint admiration. A. week later it was in every
show window III Paris, thousands Of copies
were sent to Engand and the United States, aud
Tout Paris was Sughing,over the joke which was
g. huge advertisements Of the haDdsomest
eeuyere of the capital. No one considered Dn
mas a pattern of virtue; but this exhibition
Paris, aud the scandal it stirred up,was tre-
menduus. At first Dumas tried to laugh the
matt"r down, as be had laughed down 80
many previous scandals with which. his name
had been connected; but his sou 60, angry,
and wrote very sharp, letter to his father. in
which he insisted that something should be
dOnef' to put an end to the. exhibi-
| ton that was rendering their name ridic
| ulous. Upon this Dumas had the photographs
seized and began a suit against the phutosra
! pher. The matter came before the COURTS. and
Dumas had the aullacity to be present at the
Argument For two whole hours be- was the
| butt of the eloquenoe and wit Of the attorney
! for the photographer, and he revenged himself
| by stepping up to the legal gentle man at tho
close OF his speech and, warmly congraiulating
HIM in open court. invited him to dinner in a
| tone audible over the whole The court
ordered the photographer to destroy the mega
! tive, but the incident has manned the one
| which has been ~ most unfav orab'y
interpreted against the novelist, who, accord
| ing to his friends. was in it on che dupe Of q
| sharp woman. Dumas and Meuken are both
| dead; but there is another parsonage, one who
! has played . far more important rola1n the
| affairs of this w,rld, who once allowed Himself
| to be caioled in a similar way by pretty
woman. The story is not a very old one; and
VINO Is there that now remembers having seen