Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-06-10

member enligrated to France several
 hundred years ago--it is generally SUD- | posed the NornanS came to England in
 that way-and there founded the house
 of Oliver, which held the title of Mar l qnis de Leuville This is a fabrication
 altogether, and the story of the French
 ohvers other than this particular Oliver
 family being extinct is all nonsense. for Fyou will find in the directories of Paris. 1 Marseilles, Lyons and other big cities
 of France any quantity of people of the
 name. They did not come from Eng
 land at all, and they are just as pure French stock as the marquis, so called, and all his family are English: and
 peasant stock at that until Mir. William
 k. Divers father, through his natural genius, became a water colorist and taught drawing and painting in London
 boarding schools.
 "A friend of mine has copy of his cer- tificates of birth and he is simply de- scribed therein as the son of an ordi- nary person of the name of Oliver. He was born in 1S4S and it was not until he was about twenty-five years old or so that he blossomed out into the mar quis.' M. Houston, the French minis ter at Washington, knows nothing of him and it is asserted that when he tried to be presented at the British court, the lord chamberlain pooh poohed his pretensions and referred him to the French ambassador at the court of St. James. On account of the Siclles matter we have got him down very fine and for another cause, too, and that is he stated publicly on a certain occa- sion that Americans were a race of cow ards.
 About the year 1868, we have dis covered, he lived at lodgings in Foley place, leading out of Langham place, in London. He was then simply known among his associates as Billy Oliver. His friends were principally group of actors who called themselves the Kaffirs' because they used to meet at the Cafe de rEurope. Among these were such members of the stage as Blackstone, the comedian, Walter Lacy and others, from whom he used to get plenty of dead head tickets. Oliver was notorious in those days for his general appearance, just as he is now.
 "You may probably know what a re- markable looking man he is now. Then he used to affect bigger checked panta- looms than the professionals, exagger- ated hats, mosaic jewelry and enor- nous rings. By the by, Richard Mans field, the celebrated actor, knows a great deal about him, and this was around the years 1875 and '76. He never was member of the Greenroom club, but he used it for all it was worth through associating with the son of William Hepworth Dixon, the author, who strictly forbade him to bring the pseudo-marquis to his house for what l am informed, were very good req sons. Young Dixon was also told after a time that the Greenroom club men objected to his presence in the club rooms. But he managed to catch on elsewhere and I suppose through asso- ciating with that son of the Countess of Cathness, by her first marriage, who called himself the Duke de Medina Pomar, and who has been exposed in American newspapers, Oliver thought he would be noble too, hence proba- bly, his marquiSate."
 "Have you ever seen the marquis?" the writer inquired.
 'Never, but I am informed he is cross between whiskered Austrian general and an Assyrian bull, as to his tonsorial arr angements. They say he is bald on the top of his head, and that he wears kind of semi-wig formerly known as a toupee which he fixes with hairpins on the top of his bald pate by the aid of his long back hair which he has allowed to grow to fully twenty inches, and plasters it in position by the further aid of bears grease with which he also lubricates his trailing mutton-chop whiskers. Shocking to relate it is rumored that he paints his ears shell color, india inks his eyebrows, darlSens under his eyelids to make him look interesting, rouges his cheeks and works up the rest of his complexion with the Bloom of Ninon. It may not be very genealogical to tell you, but valet of his let it out also, that he wears under clothing heavily padded on the chest, back. thighs and calves which are a proper accompaniment to his high heeled boots that are narrow at the edge with point in the center of the sole to give height to his figure"
 ''That is more or less personal and re- minds me of question want to ask you. What about his red ribbon deco 
 The answer was: "Mr. William Oli- yer, the so-litant Marquis de Leuville, claims, in addition to being nobleman, that he is also a grand officer of the Legion of Honor, for he is not contented with being a simple chevalier, except it | be chevalier of industry. Since he has gone into the old furniture busi- ness think can also safely style him | what the French satirically call a l 'gentlehomme chiffonier,' or in vul- l ger American a gentleman of the side | beard" DAVID WEcKsLER.
 An Ingenious Creditor.