The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-22

has been the heroine of several sensa-
tional scandals, and is known not only
to have lived with the prince of Mona
co, but also to have borne him two chill
dren previous to her being united to
him IN the legal bonds of matrimony.
Her character, indeed. was 50 no
torious that the princes father,
the late Charles Ill. OF Monaco. would
not hear of the match, which he pro-
nounced as in every way unworthy
even for his son, and it was not until
several weeks after his death that the
wedding at length took place. AL
though the prince possesses a long
string Of titles and is received with the
honors due to a crowned head at GER
tain of the courts Of Europe, yet the
blood that runs in his veins is of very
plebeian character, as his grand
mother, Marie Louise Gilbert, was
the daughter of small shoptSeeper at
Paris, while his grandfather was an
actor at the Ambigu theater in the
French metropolis. His existence as q
reigning sovereign tends 10 bring roy
atty into contempt and ridicule, while
his life as an individual is Of charac-
ter almost as ignoble as that of Prince
Constantine Radziwili, whose vices are
of the most Understandable character.
The prince of Monaco's career has been
one long succession of shameful scan
dals, which have been kept out of the
press mainly through the efforts of his
paymasters, the Monte Carlo firm, who
consider it 10 their interests to endeavor
by all means in their power 10 maintain
the remnants of his reputation and of
his prestige as much as possible uniIn-
paired. Few people are aware of the
fact that when, by his shameful imrnor-
allties, practiced even under his very
roof, he drove his first wife, Lady Mary
Hamilton, to seek refuge abroad with
her child, he attempted to subject her
to the same treatment suffered by
Queen Nathalie, OF Servia. few years
ago at Wiesbadcn. That is to say, q
commissary of the Italian police, accom-
panied by several constables in uni
form, called at the hotel at Milan
where she was staying and demanded
in the name of the Italian government
them her son; threatening to use
force unless she did SO. just as
they were in the very moment of
putting their menaces into execution
the door suddenly opened, and
Grand Duchess katherine of Russia,
who had been attracted to the spot by
the noise, darted into the room. seized
the little prince in her arms and re-
treated with him to her own apart
ment, daring the comnissary of police
to modest her in any way. Aware of
the rank of the grand duchess and also
of the trouble certain to ensue if SO
near relative of the car were to meet
with any official discourtesy in Italy,
the police withdrew, and on the follow
! ing day the grand duchess, accompa-
MED by the princess of Monaco and the
little prince, crossed the frontier into
| Switzerland without any further at
| tempt being made to seize the child.
| The latter remained with his mother
until her marriage was finally anhulled
| by the pope, since which time he has
| spent part OF each year with his father
| and part with his mother, who is now
| the wife of the Hungarian magnate,
| Count Tassilo Festecics.
| From this 1t will be seen that the
/ four men who own and run the gam
I bling tables at Monte Carlo are entire
/ ~ unworthy of any consideration, re-
spect or confidence. Indeed, there are
many other things that might be told
of each one of them, but which will not
bear repetition in print American
visitors to the south of France this
winter who enter the doors of the
Monte Carlo gambling establishment
will do well to bear in mind the char
acter of the owners of the place in
whose hands they place themselves.
Possibly. however, they may avoid this
beau tlfuI spot when they remember
that although the population of
Monaco does not exceed 1000 all told,
yet that there have been during the last
seven years no less than 4,212 duly
authenticated cases of suicide in the
principally.