Evening star., 1886-10-30

Capt La Rue'1 Pretty Cracker Girl and
Her Remarkable Career.


Capt La Rue's Pretty Cracker Girl and
Her RemsrkaAle Career.
From the Atiant. Constitution.
When Capt La Rue OF Sherman's army
dashed into Blankyills, at the head Of . party
| Of raiders. one fine summer morning, his first
| impulse was to swear and his second was to
| laug b. Being versatile young fellow of in
finite resources he did both. The tired troop
ers saw at q glance that there was nothing In
| this little north Georgia mountain village. OF
| the forty or dfty houses struggling around the
public square, not more than dozen were oc-
cupied. The majority of the Inhabitants had
fed to the mountains.
"You. jimmie! You. Jinnie!" shouted an old
woman who had her head poked out Of her
cabin window.
Capt La Rue languidly turned his head, and
| then look Of keen interest flashed from his
bold black eyes. Jimmie is worth looking at y
saa as tne young oGer after critical survey OF
Jimmie had never seen any Federal cavalry
men before, and in her anxiety to secure q
upon the gate In a position which showed her
of TO the best advantage.
ss pe s,s gr said big
attention.
The girl was evidently not more than sixteen.
figure revealed every line and curve of its
graceful contour through the soft, clinging
ses o aGsl a raso
nat was perfect face. Her complexion was
dazzling and contrasted well with the scarlet
shy eyes OF blush gray. Her hair was glory
In ITSELF 1t rolled down her shoulders like q
hood OF molten gold.
'Such q girl, muttered Capt. La Rue, "has no
there Is trouble in store for her"
The raiders searched the house and stole
everything worth carrying of. They burned
tne unoccupied dwellings, and spent the day In
making ma nn the villagers miserable. The captain
his hands. He made his headquarters at the
house occupied by jimmie and her mother, and
woman busted herself in the kitchen, leaving
ner daughter to keep the self-invited guest
before the rode Mas 1ng a1,sr si
way back to the main body OF the army. How
IL came about was never fully explained, but
the captain IS spirited charger carried double
ly like jimmie!
vice In Maximiiians army, after our war was
over was Capt La Rue. The captain had a
wife VINO was the toast OF all Mexico, from the
Capital city to the Rio G. ande. In the Ameri-
can colony there were strange rumors about
this beautiful woman. 1t was said that she
looked Ts like an angel and acted like she devil
ahere were queer stories, too, about her early
nIe IL was whispered that La Rue picked her
up with lot OF other piunder in q mountain
out serious business. 1t seems that the girl
took 1t into her head to fall in love with him.
and she made lite burden to him until he
married her and took her to Mexico.
La Hue was killed along with Prince Salm-
Sam, aud when the princess widow sailed for
Europe, Mrs. La Rue went with her. Almost
anything can be done with girl, provided she
Is caught youn-. A year or two more in that
bleak and poverty-slricken mountain hamlet
young woman. AS 1t was sne was thrown into
q strange circle just at the time when she was
above her in the social scale. She striped OF
Tue provincial husk that enveiOped her. She
so s.uaiea men, women, costumes, manners,
throw light upon the great mystery called So
ciety. For such a woman TO learn to talk well
tn IN French ana Spanish. as well as in her own
tongue, was small matter. With her beauty
ana the subtle witchery OF her mag netism, what
wonder is IL that Eugene La Rue was soon
anathematized by all the prudes in Paris?
1t was some time In 1870 that certain claim
became the talk Oi hotel circles in Washington
Inc cialmant charming woman, swore that
she Was u Unlonist and that Shernlan's raiders
had destroyed something over a hundred thou
SAND dollars worth OF her property in north
Georgia She was backed up by a few decayed
Federal veterans, VINO advocated her cai,se
She had quite an array OF receipts and affi-
uaviis, put The case looked doubtful from the
was shown that she was almost pauper had
never h lost any property. and mad eloped from
officer named La Rue.
Ihe adventures left Washington after this
exposure, but in a few years she was back
there again in the role of a lobbyist Her COS
tunes were gorgeous, her equipage resplendent
ana her little Wine suppers were voted delight
iuiiy dangerous. In the long run, however the
lobbying business Jailed. Men were afraid to
nave dealings with the La Hue woman, and
she disappeared.
Sucn career always tends down ward. A few
years ago Mrs. La Rue married rich old man
He died in a short time and she lost his fortune
IN la', Wail street Then the greedy, srasping ad-
ton. She was wanted in one city ior swind-
ing and In another for biackmailing. Society
every where ieagued itself against her
"A lew days ago PhiiadelDhi,a cOurt
out q suit brought by this woman against a
weak old man who had placed himself in her
power. There was found forgery and perjury
In The case, aud 1t collapsed before it got fairly
under way. As the plaintiff rushed from the
court room In a Mt OF impotent rage, bystander
caught GeOrgian's arm and said:
ihat woman was Eugene La Rue She
married Old --, you know
Inc Georgian was thunderstruck Could that
frowsy, wrinkied old hag, with gray hair and
req eyes, be the charmer who had once been
the talk oil two continents?
Inat was her, last public appearance She
Will next be heard ofwheu she registers at an
asylum 9r a prison, or is fshed out Of the river
and carried to the norgue 1--we