The record-union., 1891-10-01
Special to the REcoRD-UN1oS.

| langer has committed suicide
The suicide occurred at the tomb OF
Nine. de Bonnemain, his mistress, who
died here recently. Boulanger commit
ted suicide about noon. He stood alone
by the grave of his mistress for some
time, when the attendant, who stood
near by, suddenly heard a sharp report in
! that direction. Rushing to the spot, he
found General Boulanger lying dead
upon the ground with q revolver clenched
III his right hand. An examination OF
the body showed the dead man had placed
the weapon to his right ear and fired the
shot
The affair caused great excitement here
and some commotion among the Gen
erals followers in Paris.
The police and the dead mans friends
here have taken possession Of his Iodg-
ings.
The Generals position, financial and
political, has been getting blacl1er and
blacker recently. He had no hopes for
| the 1uture, and his remaining friends
were few and becoming colder as the
once famous General dropped more and
more out of public notice. There is no
! doubt the General was conscious of these
facts, and they preyed upon his mind.
! Coupled to this was the morbid love or
infatuation which he had for his dead
mistress, to whom he was undoubtedly
| greatly attached.
This evening friends admit that re-
! Gently he frequently openly ayowed his
desire for death, and it is even added that
the General several times of late made
attempts to take his own life In con-
sequence he has been watched as closely
| as possible by friends who remained
loyal. Even they, however, appear to
! have grown tired of their task and
! warned the Generals niece and the lat
ter's husband. The niece and husband
arrived few days ago, and the first
thing they did was to cause all weapons
to be taken away and hidden. General
| BOulanger must have noticed the precau-
| uons, and managed to secure and hide
the pistol with which he shot himself
Boulanger, according to stories told
! this evening, made no secret of his
WEAKNESS OF life since the collapse of his
party, and particularly SO since the death
OF Mime. de Bonnemain. His friends
| now recall the fact that when the coffin
lid was finally closed over the remains
OF his mistress he kept on repeating
| aloud in heartbrOken tones "Au reyoir
eta bientot." Every day, about O'Clock
i'll the afternoon, since her death, Bou-
| langer has gone to the cemetery and de-
posted a handsome floral emblem upon
/
| sometimes for an hour, either engaged in
prayer or in deep thought
| The family were surprised when this
| morning they heard him order his landau
much earlier than usual. Nobody, how
ever, seems to have the slightest idea that
he intended to commit suicide.
Stopping at Brussels at the present
time is one of Boulanger's most attached
adherents. His name is Alfred Dutins
and he came from Paris upon receipt of q
! letter from Boulanger about week ago,
announcing that he intended to commit
suicide at an early date. Dutins came TO
! Brussels for the express purpose of en-
deavoring to persuade the General to
alter his mind. DutlnS ana his leader
had several long interviews, during
! which the former did his utmost to per-
Suade the General that he should abandon
such morbid ideas. The Generals niece
| becoming alarmed after his departure
this morning, sent for Dutins, and to-
gether they started for the cemetery.
In the meantime, General Boulanger
had left the landau at the gate of the ceme-
/ terry and walked slowly and calmly to the
/ tomb Of Nine BOnnemain. He remained
! there some time in deep thought, and was
afterward seen slowly walking around
/ the cemetery, still thinking deeply. Con-
! trary to first reports received of the affair,
! the General must have walked about the
! cemetery nearly an hour and a half be-
/ fore he returned to Nine. Bonnemain's
tomb. All reports agree in the statement
! that as soon as the General reached the
| tomb the second time he Immediately
/ placed the pistol to his head and shot
himself The report of the revolver was
! heard by the coachman who was driving
! the Generals landau, and by the valet
4 who accompanied the suicide to the ceme-
! terry. They both rushed to Mime. Bonne-
mains tomb, and there found the General
| quite dead, lying across the grave. Death
/ must have been instantaneous.
As the police were bearing the Generals
! body away from the tomb of his mistress,
! with the intention of placing it in the
landau for conveyance to Brussels, the
! dead mans niece, accompanied by NJ
! Dutins, reached the cemetery. The niece
! tainted upon hearing the news, and Du-
| tins grief at being too late to save the life
/ of his friend WAS excessive.
The corpse has been prepared for burial.
| but is only being viewed by intimate
| friends of the family. The latter unani-
mously desire that the funeral shall be of
the most simple order. Some of the Cen
erals political friends are in favor of a
| public demonstration. The corpse re-
i poses upon a table draped with black
cloth. The remains are clad in black
frock coat, upon the breast of which are
! several decorations. notably the cross of
| the Legion of Honor, conferred upon the
| General after he had been wounded in
1859 at Turbigo, in Algeria, when Lieu
| tenant. The wounds in the temple
caused by the fatal shot have been hid
den by pieces of broad white silk ribbon,
so pasted as to almost completely conceal
the cause of death.
The relatives persiStently decline to
furnish the public with any definite in
formation as To written declarations which
he left behind him. Boulanger lett a will
and political testament in his desk. 1t
is stated that the latter declares unshaken
confidence in his party, enjoins his friends
to prosecute the great aims he always had
in view, and ascribes his own death
solely to inconsolable grief over the loss
of Mime. de Bonnemain.
The funeral will probably take place
Sunday afternoon. The Generals mother
aged So, is still firm in the belief that her
son went to fete and has not yet re-
turned.
Shortly after Mime. Bonnemain'S death
General Boulanger's wife wrote, Offering
to forgive the General and share his exile,
but her letter was unanswered. Toward
the end of August, after a violent par
oxysm of grief, Boulanger laboriously
carved on Mime. Bonnemain's tombstone
with penkDife: "a bientot, Marguerite. ,"
From that day he was a changed man
He became emaciated and haggard, al
most beyond recognition.
On learning of the suicide, Prince Vic
tor Bonaparte called and remained at the
residence for half an hour.
! a large photograph of Nine. Bonne-