Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-12-10
A FEMININE MONTE CRIsTo


a FEMININE MONTE CRIsTo.
MIR. William E. Curtis, a member of the
South American Commission, writes an in
teresting letter from Chill to the Chicago
Inter Ocean describing the unbounded
wealth and splendor of Douna Isadora Cou-
! sino, of Chill, the richest woman in the
world. She is known by the sobriquet of
the Countess of Monte Cristo, and no one,
not even herself knows the exact number
of her millions. Her ancestry goes back to
the days of tho conquest, and were then
famous, as they had fought with distinction
under the ensign of the Arragons before the
alliance with CASTLE. The ancestors OF her
late husband, too, came over early and
shared in the spoils of the conquest. Their
creased by the addition of those of less
thrifty proprietors, until they became the
largest aud most valuable of all the hac-
endas of Chilli Both estates were united
twenty -four year., ago by the marriage Of
the late Don and his surviving widow.
While he lived he was the richest man in
Chill and she the richest woman, for their
property was kept separate, both managing
their own estates. The husband, at his
death, willed all his property to his wife, so
| that now she has millions of acres of land,
millions Of money, hundreds of thousands
of focks and herds, COAL copper and silver
mines, acres of real estate in the cities of
Santiago and Valparaiso, fleet of iron
steamships, smelling works, railroad
and other productive property that yield
her an income of millions year. She
exerts all her ingenuity to spend as
much of it as she can, and she
succeeds quite well. Her coal mines alone
bring her in the trihe of $4,000 a month,
and as they are the only source from which
coal can be obtained in South America, any
one who does not buy from the widow may
90 to Great Britain for it. 1t costs the
widow but 81 35 ton 10 mine and deliver
this coal, and che sells it for $3.50 ton just
shade less than the cost ofimported Brit
ish coal AS the deposit is inexhaustible,
and she has the monopoly, and makes about
600 per cent. on every ton oft, her income
from this source alone would suffice to keep
her in pin money. She has fleet of eight
iron steamships, built in England, 10 carry
the coal up both sides Of the South Ameri-
can coast. At Lolita she has copper and
smelling works, and her coaling ships bring
ore from Peru and Ecuador on their return
cargo, and flour and merchandise from
Buenos Ayres.
Nine. Cousino owns every house in the
town of Lolita, and its 1000 inhabitants are
dependent on her for support. 1t Coronel
| nine-tenths of its 5000 inhabitants are on
| her pay-rolls. Her bricks kilns and her
potteries supply all the tiles and earthen-
ware on the west coast. Sue pays out about
| $4,000 month in wages in these two
towns alone, most of which comes back to
her through her own supply stores at nice
profit. The widow lives most of her
| time in Lolita to superintend her bust
| ness She is now building million.dol
lar mansion there, the architects, build:
ers, decorators and designers, and most
of the material, being imported from Fran CO.
A short time ago she shipped q cargo Of
hides and wool in one of her steamers to
Bordeaux, and it is to come back with build
ing supplies for this mansion. The mansion
is in the centre of the finest private park in
the world, filed with statusry fountains,
caves, cascades and sll kinds of beautiful
| trees, plants and flowers, and wild and do.
mesticated animals. The improvement Of
its natural beauty cost over ST. 100000. She
has another park and palace at Macul, near
Santiago the finest plantation in South
America. In these valleys she has bound
less fields of grain, great orchards and vine
yards, and countless herds. She employs
here three hundred or four hundred men,
and more than one thousand poems or ma
tive Indians. The vineyard of Macu sup
plies nearly all the markets Of Chill with
claret and sherry wine, and her cellar there,
building 500 feet long and 100 wide, is al
ways full Madame makes her own bottles,
but imports her labels from France. She
has the most extensive racing stable in
South America, and bets heavily on her own
horses. At the last meeting her winnings
were over $100, 900, outside the purses won
by her horses which she divides among her
stable employees.
She has another large estate some thirty
miles from Santiago She has two houses
in the city, one of them being the former
residence of Henry Meiggs, the California
fugitive, which was the finest mansion in
Santiago ut the time it was built. The 9TH
er is palace of regal spendor and was
built by Partisan architects and artists at q
| fabulous cost. The rentals from her city
real estate amount to hundreds of thousands
of dollars year. She lately presented the
city of Santiago with park of 100 acres
| and q race course adjoining it.
Nine. Cousino, while generous to p,ofi-
gacy, is q remarkable business woman and
has weekly reports from her superintend-
ents-most of them are Scotchmen-on
eyery detail of her affairs. One of the lat
ter remarks that stick or o stone cannot
be removed but she knows it. Madame is
said to be fond of young men and keeps fif-
teen or twenty of them always around her.
She gives them all the money they can
spend and in turn expects them to entertain
her. When the United States fleet was at
| Valparaiso not long since she invited all the
officers to spend week with with her at