, 1889-09-26
AMERICAN ADvENTUREssEs.
Beautiful Women Whose Careers
Have Been u Scandal In Europe.

AMERICAN ADvENTUREssEs.
Beautiful Women Whose Careers
Have Been u Scandal In Europe.
Paris Letter to Philadelphia Press.l
Women, sprung from families where
every female member In their own and
the preceding generation have been far
above reproach, have spurned all the
traditions of their race, and have troddcn
the paths of evil with answering feet.
Take, for instance, the case of the all
notorious Mrs. Blackford, whose career
added more than one chapter to the
annals of European scandal. She was
born of a highly respectable family OF
Pennsylvania, her father having been a
Presbyterian clergyman of high stand
ing. She was related to several promi-
ncent and celebrated personagcs of her
native state. She was possessed of ex-
guisite beauty and almost irresistible
fascination. One of the leading lawyers
of Philadelphia, who had charge of her
affairs after the death of her husband,
related to the writer the following story,
which depicts this woman, and others OF
her class, better than whole pages of
analysis gnd description could do;
After the settling up of the deceased
VII. cNtdtt OiilN u ltN tIOU-
sand dollars remained for his widow and
her little girl. "Now, Mrs. Blackford,"
quoth her legal adviser, ''you are a
young dnd very beautiful woman. Go
to Washington, engage handsome
suite of rooms and entertain elegantly.
There arc so many wealthy single gon-
tlemen attracted to Washington during
the session of congress that you will
have no difficulty in winning II rich
husband" In language too coarse and
too vile to admit of transcription here,
his lovely client announced her deter
mination OF devoting herself to IA life of
wickedness. She came to Europe and
she fulfilled her intent.
In this most famous of her Infamous
class there was no trace of the false sem
timentality that lures honest women TO
weep over the woes of ''La Dame aux
Camelias." She knew neither shame
nor repentance, nor even the one holy
instinct that often fingers in the hearts
of women otherwise wholly depraved,
namely, that of maternal love. There
| was no reason whatever for her entrance
upon the path that leadeth to perdition.
In contemplating the career and the
character of such u creature one Is
tempted to believe in the old legends OF
infants changed In their cradles by the
fairies who took away the human child
and left an unnatural imp in its stead.
hliolutl well hIlONll "
American residents in Europe is that
of beautiful woman who came thitheT
from the United States ostensibly To
study music. She was past the age OF
girlhood. She came. of thoroughly re-
spectacle family. She was in command
of an income sufficient for all her wants,
and she was placed under the chaperon-
age of a well-known American family
living in the city in which she was to
pursue her studies. Without any reason,
and without any temptation, she hurled
herself leadlong into the ranks of the
dcmi-mUndo. Her career made more than
one European city ring with its scan
dals. Like Mrs. Blackford, she sCorned
hypocrisy, and openly announced her i'll
tention ofliving as she liked and doingus
she pleased Her still brilliant but now
largely artificial beauty occasionally at
tracts the glance of her former friends.
They knew their fair countrywoman In
the days of her modest and unassumine
manners and mode of existence in past
years. Now, like Dante in his pilgrim
age through the Inferno. they can but
'look on her and then pass on" She
has no need of help or OF pity. She
leads II gay life, dresses superbly and
boasts openly of the luxurics and in
tluencc that she enjoys.
1 Mrs. Blackiord died of drink when she
was only little over 40. The notorious
hES. ipctCHCI, WllO llcu from Lllt lnlltO
States after trying to shoot former
lover, did indeed achieve marriage with
a titled European. But she has since
mysteriously disappeared, and no one
knows what has become of her.
A beautiful and gifted young Ameri'
can prima donna, who went some years
ago To sing In Russia, and who became
family, returned to Paris and died here
of typhoid fever soon after
the birth of her infant. A terrible
and tragic incident marked the
catastrophe of her blief, erring life
The physician called in to attend her
telegraphed to her mother in America 1t
soon as the case assumed a hopeless
form. The poor old lady reached Paris
only a few hours after her unhappy
child had expired. She knew nothing
of her wrong-doing and believed her tS
be still the fair, innocent girl that hac
left her some few years before. The
nurse, thinking that the young mother
had been married woman, brought a:
consolation the little infant to tho
reavcd parent realized the situation at 1
glance and Tell fainting to tho floor.
The late Nine. Musard was one of tn,
few American women in Europe tina
closed u life of wrong-dong in splendo
and luxury. Up to the last the gor
gcousncss OF her hotel, and her dresses
and her jewels, were the talk of Paris
The sale OF the latter attracted crowds L
the Hotel Drouot for week. TIN
whole of the two principal rooms in tina
great auction mart was lined with show
cases, where sparkled this dazzling col
lection, u fortune in ITSELF beginning
with tho Empress Eugene's bri
dial necklace of large pearls
and going down to hand-mirror
and glovc-buttoners set with gems. Blu
she was neither well-born nor well-brcd
She began life as a dishwasher and stair
scrubber Mt hotel in Boston. Sh
closed Il in IA madhouse, her once Lowell.
face distorted by fatal stroke O
paralysis which had caused the perma
nent closing of one of her eyes severa
years before. Yet, inasmuch as sh
died neither poor nor forsaken, her cn'
may be considered as more fortunat
, than most of her country women VIII
have occupied u similar position.
. Death Closed the Book.