Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-04
A ROMANTIC STORY.
An Alleged Bourbon Prince Who Was Ex-
lied by the Great Napoleon.

An Alleged Bourbon Prince Who Was Ex-
lied by the Great Napoleon.
The Reading Times has for several days past
published in connected form strange story.
The story is of French Bourbon prince ex-
lied in infancy to New Orleans by Napoleon
Bonaparte and resident Of Reading nearly
fifty years-Wiiliam L. de Borbon, proprietor
of Readings most fashionable hotel the Man
sion House. and for a time a resident of Lam
caster. who died last year. over eighty years of
age. The child when exiled was, according to
the story, but five years old. His father was
killed during the terrible French revolution
and the young prince was struggled to America
by two reliable maids at the behest of Napoleon.
The mother died broken hearted soon after
while the child was taken TO New Orleans.
After the French restoration the most vigil
liant search for the lost prince during many
years failed to find him. and it became uni
versaiiy conceded by the family that the child
was lost at sea or made away with. The child
was baptized by q priest whose we'll known
loyalty to the house Of Bourbon was uuques-
toned. and was named Guillaume Louis de
Bourbon. after one of his distinguished ances-
tors. Mr.. de Bourbon came TO Reading from
New Orleans and settled here when young
man. He was possessed of gentlemanly bear
ing. refined appearance, of punctilIous dress.
all of which stamped him as a man of no ordi-
nary ancestry.
The writer Of the article saws: ''IIis age cor
responds with the eventfui period of the French
revolution. He often told me that his parents
died while he was infant, and that his aunts
had raised him. He spoke in his native Ian
guage when he chose to. One of the stpula-
tions made BY the willy emperor with the maids
was that he should receive no education. but he
was taught trade on his arrival at n proper
lQyal a IN at nf
their master, for the reason that monthly
pension was at stake. ard the sagacious en-
perOr well knew that education would invite
the prince TO investigate as to his true origin"
In support of this 1t may be stated that MIR.
de Borbon. when he came to Reatling, a
wood carver, and the article declares that the
maids who took the young prince away from
France received their regular monthly allow
ance until Napoleons Punishment to st. Helena.
MIR. de BorbOn was never married. and when he
to his aged and lifelong housekeeper and pub
lie charities.
One OF the concluding paragraphs of this in
teresting article is AZ follows:
with the death Of William Louis de Borbon
another link of the Bourbon dynasty il biotted
out. He had 10 issue and was, therefore, the
last of the blood royal in his line. There was
strong resemblance in his face and build to
many Of the Bourbons, whose life-siZed por-
traits can be seen in many Of the art galleries
OF Paris to this day."
The writer of the article is an aged physician
in a neighboring city. who claims that be OBJ
tanned his information while on visit to Paris
over forty wears ago and by n visit to New
Orleans, and that he was on terms of confiden-
tial friendship with Mr.. de Borbon. The arti-
Gle has created great public interest by reason
of the mystery surrounding the early life Of
Mr.. de Borbon and the position he attained in
Reading as one Of the Oldest and best known
hotel proprietors in eastern Pennsylvania