The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-04

As he was then playing lie Tolc OIL DtiHS
an extreme Southern gentleman he could
| begin by being nothing less than an ex-
| Confederate officer. No ape was ever
more initiative He studied the ways of
| the Southern brigadier, and the imitation
was SO perfect that l never heard South
ern gentleman at that time dispute the
verify of his assumption of being an ex-
Confederate The Colonel had fine lit
erary mind and such powers of magma
| ton that if he had applied his talents in
the direction of literature alone he GER
tainly would have made name for him
self. He read up all of the histories OF
the war, details Of each noted battle, and
there was no real veteran who could af-
ford to dispute with him concerning these
same details His descriptions Of engage
ments in which he participated were 50
much more dramatic and so much more
true to life that the real veteran blushed
and sat back when the Colonel had the
floor.
1t must be remembered that this artist
never was in the South in his life till after
the war of the rebellion. He had never
had real uniform on his back, not even
that of militia company, up to the day
be set up in Washington the role of an ex-
Confederate. which he played with such
skill and such address that noted ex-Con-
federate generals referred to him in dis
putes concerning strategic points involved
in the Southern campaigns. The Colonel,
instead of coming from military family,
was the son of a Presbyterian divine and
was born and brought up in Peru, Ind.
He received at the hands of his father a
good education, and afterward studied
law His father was too poor, however,
to do more than launch him in the world,
and the Colonel after vainly seeking to
make a place for himself in the legal pro-
fession in the village of Harrodsburg, Ky
drifted south after the war, as an adven-
turer eager to seize upon the first oppor-
tunity to better his fortunes.
The Colonel was at first content to play
the role simply of an ex-Confederate, but
he was so often asked about his family
that he saw it would be necessary to in
vent another chapter in his history. In
the South everybody is known, and fic-
titious family would be only too soon dis
covered. The Colonel by bold stroke
transferred his birthplace to Paris.
He built up in that country
thoroughly consistent story, which
was accepted by all of his Confed
crate friends as they would the Gospel. In
this beautiful story, which he carefully
compiled, the Colonel was formerly pet
ted officer at the Imperial Court, where
his mother was maid of honor to the
Empress Eugene. The Colonel himself
was graduate of the great military school
of St. Cyr The Colonel also served as a
military attache in the Austrian German
campaign of 'e6, and was slightly wounded
in his right leg. This accounted for his
limp. The Colonel could not speak over
half dozen words of French. Such story
told in Europe would have involved its re-
lator instantly. The fact that the Colonel
could not speak the French language
would have instantly stamped him as an
imposter, but in the easy-going society of
Washington no one cared very much
whether the Colonel was what he said he
married almost any one of the great
matches of the day in Washington if he
had been free, but earlier in his career in
New Orleans he married. There he had a
wife and two children which he never
mentioned, but some of his friends living
in that town knew her and made known
to their Southern associates in Washing
ton that the Colonel was married.
During his second winter the Colonel
set up as a mentor to various sons of high
officials who came to Washington from
what the Colonel called the provinces.
This polished graduate of the society of
Peru, Ind, instructed all these young peo-
pie as to the ms and outs of high society.
He even purchased the clothes for a small
army of youngsters who looked up to the
Colonel as the glass of fashion. He was
also great authority on duels He had
fought at least six and had left his man
on the ground twice. In the last four
cases he had grown weary of blood and
gave back the lives of the men who met
him on the field of honor. There was
something so artistic about the Colonel
such an absence of swagger and such an
apparent reluctance to talk about himself
that few ever dreamed of disputing any
thing he said. He told his stories mod
estly and with such minuteness of de-
tail that it was inconceivable to the aver
age mind that his inventions were mere
fantastic lies. He became final author
ity on social matters as well as military.
In his posing as hero he captured the
heart of the wife of very distinguished
official Her devotion to this little insig
nificant man was one Of the most mex
plainable and notorious facts in Washing
ton society at that time. Her final death
afterwards can be directly traced to her
unfortunate attachment for this colossal
humbug
The Colonel reached the pinnacle
in his success in the early period of the
Hayes Administration. 1t was during the
winter of that election dispute that the
Colonel was at his busiest and best. 1t
was period of great uncertainty. Wash
ington was filled with intrigues and plots
The Colonel was never more at home than
in the atmosphere of an intrigue. His
face at that time was solemn as that of
mask. The gravity of the situation was
outlined upon his classic countenance. He
never smiled except with his closest init
mates, and to them he complained bitterly
of the terrific responsibilities of the stu
alton. To the ex-Confederates he would
say, Il am in the confidence of the North
ern leaders" and to the Northern leaders