The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-30
MYRA CLARK GAINES.
The Story of Her Parentage-The Loves of
Her Father and Mother.
Orleans Letter. in PHILADELPHIA Press

the outbreak of the French revolution, an
emigre nobleman, Jerome de Grange, who
He'd to this country to escape the gullotine,
and who had lost his large fortune in that
great popular outburst. There was nothing
left for him to do but go to work, and to
work he went and established a cafe and
| confectionery on st. Anne street, opposite
the Place d. Armes in what was then the So
eial and fashionable center of the little
creole city of New Orleans. Here he met
graceful, voluptuous little lady, Marie Julie
Carriere, Provencale, with dash of gypsy
blood in her veins, mere child in years, but
with the form, figure and development of
full-grown woman. The exiled nobeman
saw, loved, and proposed. and dazzled by his
title and aristocratic origin, the little girl
she was not quite thirteen at the time-con-
sented to become his wife.
| 1t was an ill-omened and ill-assorted mar
riage. De Grange was more than twenty
years older than his chid-wife very ugly,
taciturn and unsoeiable, while Julie. or, as
they nicknamed her-for no creole girl ever
bears in later life her baptismal name
Iulime. was gay and lively, pleased with the
attentions of gentlemen, devoted to balls,
masked or otherwise, and loved, in fine,
every species of fun, gayety and enjoyment.
The marriage, however proved very profit
able investment for the confectioner count,
for. although his little wife brought him no
money, she brought to the confectionery
great deal of business and patronage, and the
great men of the then Spanish colony of
Louisiana freQuented his establishment, Sc
duced there by the smiles and Establishments
of the pretty gay Madame Zulime.
Among these patrons came certain young
lrishman Daniel Clark, the wealthest mer-
chant and perhaps the first man in the en-
tire colony in fortune and influence He
was dangerously attractive man to any
| yvfNf,1 bofN xrhi 10 no
Grange was small, weazen, and insignificant,
with all the soft, seductive hattery Of Ire
land, a dangerous Lothario indeed, when he
spoke of love-in his soft mixture of brogue
and creole He was in the very prime of
life, slightly over thirty, millionaire in an
| age when million was fabulous fortune.
a man, moreover, of talents, ability, cour-
age and influence, and of aristocratic if not
royal origin; tracing his deScents from the
ancient kings of Ireland
At balls, at routs and festivals of all kinds
and often at the confectionery, pretty little
Madame Zulme met this young cavalier.
Carried away by his gallantry, his grace, his
elegance, SO much above that of ereoles she
saw around her, she awoke one day to the
fact that she loved this young Irishman far
better than she did her liege lord and hus-
band. At the same time she was Mortified
at another discovery, that this husband of
hers, Jerome De Grange, was villain of the
very deepest dye, scoundrel who had be-
trayed her innocence, a Blue Beard who had
an army of wives elsewhere.
This terrible disclosure was made to her by
one of De Oranges victims. his first Ameri-
can wife. Barbara Jeanbelle dOrsi, who had
come TO New Orleans in search of him. AL
most at the same moment a third wife, a
young Spanish girl, Maria Yulah, turned up.
The three deceived women Zulime Barbara
and Maria, all young and handsome, min
gled their tears together over Jeromes viii
/ iasr or.1 AIn., t,al he,
old cabildo to lay their charges against this
French Mormon.
In those days cases of this kind against
! public morals, were tried, not by criminal
court, but before his grace the Bishop of Or
! leans and the Floridas. The unlucky De
Grange was arrested and brought before this
ecclesiastical court on the charge of immor-
ality and bigamy-if it be bigamy to have
three wives. Zulime, Barbara and Maria
each testified against him, aid told their sad
stories, how this ugly, pock-marked, red
faced little fellow had succeeded in winning
all their hearts. So clearly was the confec-
toners yillainy laid bare that his grace the
Bishop sentenced him at once to the Gala
bosa.
The days of Spanish dominion in Louisi-
ana were drawing rapidly to a close just
then. In the excitement that followed the
rapid transfer of that country from Spain to
France and from France to the United
States, friend of De Oranges assisted him
to escape from prison, and chartered a YES
sci for him in which he fled from Louisiana
and his triumvirate of woes.
ZlIlime was not without comfort and con-
ISOLATION in her widowhood for her former
admirer Clark, redoubled his attentions to
her, and whispered dangerous counsel in her
ear. She was absolYed he told her, from all
bonds to De Grange, for their marriage, being
bigamy on his part was, in point of fact. no
marriage at all. She was free woman to
yhnp oh nhn fDVtl1
she not choose him?
The temptation was certainly a strong one,
for here was wealth, position love, happi-
ness, all before her; but Zulime hesitated.
for, while the marriage of De Grange had
been sufficiently proven to Justify his incar-
ceration, it was not so legally demonstrated
as to Justify second marriage on her part.
1t would be best, she saw, to secure further
and legal evidence of De Oranges previous
marriage, and to do this it was necessary to
go to New York. Clark readily assented to
this, especially as he himself was about to
take trip north to Philadelphia on an i'm
portant political mission.
On the very day of her arrival in New
York Znlime hurried to St. Peters, in which
the marriage between De Grange and Barbara
had taken place. She learned, with sorrow,
that all the records of the church had been
burned just before her arrival. When she
and Clark met again in Philadelphia after
this failure, he renewed his suit so vigorously
that she yielded to his arguments and con-
sented to a secret marriage, not to be made
public until they could secure some better
evidence of De Oranges bigamy. The mar
liage--on which Mrs Gaines's claims rest
took place in a strange house in a back street
in a retired portion of Philadelphia. There
were present an unknown Irish priest, who
performed the ceremony, two unknown wit
nesses, friends of Clark, and Sophie Desban,
Zulime's sister,
Alas Poor Zulime soon found that it was
'out of the frying-pan into the fire." Clark,
who had been the most devoted of lovers,
proved cold and careless as soon as he had
trapped her into this secret marriage. He
left soon after for France, and although