The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-07-12

Southern Pacific who does not put much
faith in the biographeTs. Ills name is
Thad Phillips, and his work consists in
looking after the hand luggage of such
! patrons of the Southern Pacific as do
not care TO be burdened with grips and
shawl-straps during the ride over the
bay. Thad does not believe in biogra-
piers. because he has read about a
score of books labeled. Life of Lola
Montez, and has not found any OF
them truthful according TO his ideas of
the eventful history of the notorious
woman. The old mans own ideas on
this subject were gained by three years
OF association with her in the capacity
OF servant and valet
m little mixed in my opinion Of
Lola to this day" says Thad, "She was a
mighty woman for "A man to fool with,
and yet she had some good traits that
about balanced her bad ones. | have
nothing to say about how she got her
money but | know she was the most
generous and charitable person / ever
met"
The present baggage carrier was a per-
son oil some consequence himself at one
time. He knows about every Californian
OF note and has lot of pioneer secrets
locked up in his breast. In the flush
DAYS OF the COmstock and Pine street
one of the old residents gave him some
stock pointers and advanced him few
hundred dollars to test the soundness of
his tips Thad found himself i'm a posi-
ton to sell out for $4,000 at the end of
few weeks, but here he neglected his
patrons advice and hung OH to his shares
with the idea of doubling that COM
Portable figure. The market slumped
and Thad was worse off than nothing
when the hammering down of the stocks
in which he was interested ceased
But II was long before this that Thad
was in position To know anything Of
the history of Lola MonteZ. He first met
her i'm Sacramento in 1854. when he was
employed as "A sort of messenger for the
American theater. His business was to
look after her diamonds and wardrobe
see that what she wanted to wear in
the way of costume was ready and to
attend to her many little commissions.
In his opinion she was not "A handsome
woman, but possessed the power Of faS-
cinating men TO an extraordinary degree
she could catch any Of them, says
Thad; Just how l don't know. but l
think it was with her eyes. Maybe she
was hypnotst-she lived in India for
quite a while. and they have all sorts of
charms over there to hear her tell it"
When questioned concerning her ma
tiouality. Thad answered that he defied
any one not present at her birth or haV-
ing actual knowledge of her parentage to
discern the strange wOman'S origin. She
WAS ROnNeISdllI WIN no less IMAM lIllf-
teen languages and he never heard her
ella i'm the same nationality twice. If she
sought 10 please she was a French
woman TO Frenchmen, an Irish woman
10 Irishmep. "A Spanish woman To Span
iards. and even German to Germans;
and so on through the list of civilized
people As near as Thad could come to
believing her she was "A native of Linn
erick and the daughter of the youngest
son Of an Irish nObleman named Gilbert
and one Of the Montalvas Of Spain.
whose antecedants were MOOrs. Her
baptisnIal name was Marie Dolores Eliza
Rosanna Gilbert. and the death of her
father i'm India left her mother "A widow
at the tender age Of eighteen. At four
teen Lola married a Capt. James in order
to defeat her mothers plan of marrying
her TO an elderly Indian merchant. Capt.
James eloped with The wife OF his host
before his Child-wife realized what mar
riaEe was, and this ciTcuu stance always
seemed to afford the woman much food
for merriment
Il was with her on her trip to Austria
liza and there were several exciting eXpe-
riences for all Of us before we got back.
There were twenty-four people in the
company when we left here on the bark
Fannie Major. and the first stop made
was at the Navigator islands, or Samoa.
as they call Their now. The bark an
chOred there fol. six days, and every
Jones, who was engineer in the San
Francisco mint for a long time, was the
manager He and Lola both had claims
on the Empire mine in Grass valley.
and that is how he came to go out with
the company, for he wasn't much of a
manager.
AT Sidney the company commenced
playing Lola Montez in Bavaria at the
Royal Victoria theater TO very poor bust
moss. The women in the colonies would
not go to see Lola on account of her rep
utation at first but she got acquainted
with the governor and made him bring
his wife. and after that there were full
houses all the time. The engagement
ended with a big row in the company.
An actress named Ormsby or Crosby.
I forget which, quarreled with her hus-
band over something between him and
Lola. the company took sides In the row
and the papers had a lot 70 say about
It, Lola wanted to skip out and leave all
those who were against her, but they got
out an attachment just as she was about
to sail for Melbourne. She was on board
the steamer with the Misses Fiddes and
some others when an officer came off to
serve the papers What does she do but
run down to her staterOom and strip
herself stark naked and defy the man to
take her
The officer tried TO set a signal for
help and woman to come off and dress
Lola, but some Of the passengers cut the
halliards and threw the flags overheard.
and finding that he could do nothing
alone he rowed ashore and got away.
Il was only a kid when 1 entered her
service" said Thad, i'm rehearsing the
dead adventures career a few days
ago, land / forget "A good deal that
would have been valuable TO anybody
that really wanted her true history.
She didn't brag much out here about
the title of countess of Landsfeld that
Louis / of Bavaria gave her and about
all | ever heard of her doings in upset
ting the throne and that country gener-
ally was in relation to her escape with
the aid of the kings gardener, a man
named Buch.
I'VE went to Grass Valley shortly
after she hired me. and about the first
thing she did there was TO try TO horse
whip an editor named Shipley who crit
icsied her mot as an actress) in his
paper. She called him to the door of his
Office and hit him a couple of sharp cuts
with cowhide before he could take it
away from her. Shipley left Grass Val
ley soon after that and went to Oregon.
where he committed suicide. He killed
himself, I've heard. because some Ore
gOn paper ridiculed him as a man who
had been horsewhipped by a woman.
1T was Lola Montez that first discov-
cred and brought out LOtta, or little
Charlotte Crabtree. as she was at that
time. Lola saw the little girl I'm an
amateur observation-disclosures school
affair, 1 think-and took a great fancy
to her. She sent for Lolita, taught her
some dancing steps and stage business
and really made a professional of her
Business did not pay very well in
Melbourne, and Lola abandoned every
body but the manager, one actor named