Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-27
BRAVE BOULANGER.
Interesting Facts Told of the
Partisan Idol.
CAREER AND ONCE HAPPY HOME
The Actress Who Now Dominates
the Mind Of the French Hero.
His Ancestry.

father was born at Rennes. After study
ing law in that city he married young
English woman, Miss Griffith, a native
Of Wales, whose family had settled at
Rennes after the peace Of 1915. AT that
time the cheapness OF living in Brittany
attracted many straitcned households
from the other side of the Channel. This
was the case with the Griffiths.
The Generals father was far from
wealthy; but he was intelligent and a
hard worker, and the couple prospered at
first. But neither husband nor wife was
economical--quite the contrary. They
always lived beyond their means. They
had horses and carriages and entertained
a great deal, so that finally M. Boulanger
was forced to sell his practice in order
to pay his debts. He then moved
to Nantes, where he became an
insurance broker. But the family
remained only short time in that city.
and about 1860 settled permanently
in Paris, where M. Boulanger busted
himself with several different occupa-
tious. He was an insurance broker, a
counsellor -at-law and money lender.
Among his clients may be mentioned the
Marquis de Caux, the former husband of
Patti.
M. Boulanger was such good business
man that when he died six years ago he
left fortune that produced an income OF
about "a 900 a year, not small sum in
France, and piece of property of some
value at Vile d'Avray, near Paris.
The Generals father was OF medium
height, OF a nervous temperament and
stiff in his manners. He always wore a
moustache and goatee, which gave him
a military air. In politics, he was an
ardent Bonapartist and an active mem
ber of the Imperial Electoral Committee
of his city district. This is one of the
reasons why the political opponents Of
his son declare that the General is now
backed secretly by the Bonapartists and
is trying to play the role of Napoleonic
Caesar.
M. Boulanger left three children, a
son named Ernest, another son, Georges
(the General), and daughter, who to-
day is about fifty and married to M. LIE
Predour, Naval Commissary at Lorient,
and nephew OF Ad niral LIE Predour.
Nine. lie Predour is on bad terms with
her brother, the General, whom she
never sees.
The newspapers often confuse the two
brothers, calling the General Ernest.
One of General Boulanger's names is in
deed Ernest, but in the family his elder
brother was alone known by that name.
A curious story is attached to Ernest
Boulanger. Three or four years ago,
when the General was Minister OF War,
a murderer under the assumed name of
Campi was condemned to death.
Throughout the trial the culprit refused
to reveal his identity. M. Laguerre,
Campi's counsel, declared that his client
would not make himself known out
of regard for relative who held
high rank in the army and
who would receive terrible blow
if the truth were told. The assassin was
guillotined and the public, misled by the
Tribouilet, believed that it was the broth
er Of the Minister of War who had been
beheaded. Many people still cling to this
notion, although there is not a word OF
truth ip the report.
The Generals only brother, Ernest,
would be to-day fifty-five. But Campi,
if he had lived. would now be scarcely
thirty. But whit gave some ground to
this false rumor was the giddy existence
and myterious disappearance of Ernest
!. Boulanger. After having led as young
ilsp such wild life that the family
w6S i not pronounce his name, he disap-
peared. His cronies say that he went to
thefJn nited States and was killed in the
war Of secession, but whether on the
Northern or Southern side nobody seems
to know.
Nine. Bonlanger, who still lives and of
whom we shall have something to say
further on, gave birth to Georges at Rem
nes, in the house Of her parents: This
happened on April 80, 1887. The boy
was educated at the College Of Nantes,
and on January 10, 1855, before he was
eighteen, entered Saint-Cyr, the French
West Point.
General Boulanger has served in diff
ferent branches OF the army. He has
belonged to the Algerian tirailleurs; he
fought IN the Italian campaign and was
wounded full in the breast at Turbigo
he has seen service in Cochin China
from 1867 II 1870 he was attached to the
Saint Cyr corps OF instructors; he was
wounded IL the shoulder at the head oi
his regiment in the war of 1870; he has
commanded cavalry brigade; he head
ed the French delegation to Yorktown in
1881; he was chief Of the Infantry Bureau
in the War Department; he commanded
the French expedition to Tunis in 1882
he was Minister of War nearly two years,
and finally Commander-in-C Chief of the
Thirteenth Army Corps at Clermont-
Ferrand.
Apropos of his wound at Turbigo, Bou-
langer relates himself the following anec-
dote. heard it from his own lips some
time ago:
II commanded that day platoon oi
Turcos, or natives Algerians. The fight
was q hand-to-hand one with the Aus
trians. Suddenly I noticed Tyrolese
soldier taking aim at me, but before
had time to move his ball struck me in
the abdomen. l reeled, and just as |
was falling saw one of my Turcos strike
down the Tyrolese with a bayonet thrust.
During the whole Of the rest Of the day,
until the wounded we're picked up. l lay
in a ditch, bleeding terribly, with this
Tyrolese at my side. But the poor fellow
died before nightfall."
Boulanger's second wound was received
in the arm, and was made by an Anam-
ite lance in Cochin China. Saint-Cyr
cadets between 1869 and 1870 remember
seeing their instructor going about with
his arm in q sling and with slit in his
uniform, for he could not put his wounded
member in sleeve.
Boulanger was wounded again at the
siege of Paris, and the fourth time dur
inh the suppression Of the Commune.
1t was in 1865 that General Bculanger
was married at the Eglise de la Trinite
at Paris. He was then Captain in the
army. His wife was the daughter of NJ,
Renouard, who owned large printing
establishment in the Rue Garanciere
near st. Sulspice. M. Renouard had nc
fortune Of his own, was timid in buss
ness, did not keep up with the times in
the wny Of improvements, so that bis
printing office gradually went from bsd
| to worse. In order TO escape bank
lsfuptcy he sold out and entered the Con
| eular eorvico. His loot poet WAS that ol