Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-17

read I'D all of the histories of the war, de-
tails of each noted battle, and there was no
real veteran who could afford to dispute
with him concerning these same details
His descriptions of engagements in which
he participated were so much more dramatic
and so much more true to life that the real
veterans 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 he
set up In Washington the role of an ex-Con-
federate, which he played with such skill
and such address tha. noted ex-Confederate
Generals referred to him in disputes concern
ing strategic points involved in the South
ern campaigns. The Colonel, instead of
coming from a military family, was the son
OF Presbyterian divine and was born and
brought up in Peru, Ind. He received at
the hands oshis father 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 vainlv
seeking to make place for himself in the
legal profession in the village of Harrods-
burg, KY, drifted South after the war as
an adventurer eager to seize upon the first
opportunity to better his fortunes.
Invented Pedigree for Himself.
The Colonel was at first content to play
the role simply of an ex-Confederate, but
he saw it would be necessary to invent
another chapter in his history. In the
South everybody is known, and fictitious
family would be only too soon discovered.
The Colonel by a bold stroke transferred
his birthplace from this country to Paris.
He built up in that country thoroughly
consistent story, which was accepted by all
of his Confederate friends as they would
the gospel In this beautiful story, which
he carefully compiled, the Colonel was
formerly a petted officer at the Imperial
court, where his mother was a maid of
honor to the Empress Eugenie, The Colonel
himself was graduate of the great military
school of ST. Cyr. The Colonel also served
as military attache in the Austrian
German campaign of sc. and was slightly
wounded in his right leg. This accounted
for his limp. The Colonel could not speak
over a half dozen words of French, and this
would have instantly stamped him as an
impostor, but in the easy going society of
Washington no one cared very much
whether the Colonel was what he said he
was or not. The Colonel might have mar
ried almost anyone of the great matches of
the day in Washington if he had been free,
but earlier in his career in New Orleans he
had married. There he had 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 Washington 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 ins 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
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.
The Cause of One woman's Death.
There was something so artistic about the |
Colonel, such an absence of swagger and |
such an apparent reluctance to talk about
himself that lew ever dreamed of disput- |
ing anything he said. He told his stories |
modestly and with such a minutenass of de- |
tail that il was inconceiyable to the aver |
age mind that his inventions were mere |
Iant astic lies. He became final authority |
On social matters as we'll as military. In |
his posing as hero he captured the heart |
of the wife of a very distinguished official |
Her devotion to this little insignificant man |
was one of the most ine1plicable and no.
,orious facts in Washington society at that
lime. Her death soon afterwards can be |
lirectly traced to her unfortunate attach
nent for this colossal humbug.
The Colonel reached the pinnacle in his
uccess in the early period of the Hayes ad-
His great stroke was made