Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1894-06-22
AVE BY PARlsiANS.
The yuperstitlon Found in All Classes---
some Stories OF What the Number
Has DoneA Strange Tale OF Fatal
Diuner OF Thirteen.


spread of the superstitions of France
is the belief in the efficacy OF num-
bers, lucky and unlucky. There is
scarcely Partisan who has not his
number, and. the recurrence OF this
number in dates. either in the week
or month, marks his day Of fate.
How men decide UPON this nun Der
it is hard to say. Sometimes it is
handed down from father to SON.
much as the pet boyle Of an English
manor house. Sometim whole
families acknowledge the efficacy of
a single number, which is as valued
q property of the family as its coat
of-arms and which becomes the
scapegoat Of all the family sins and
misfortunes.
Some men have their lucky num-
Der combined with their Monogram
in seal ring, and women wear
theirs on their garters. French
sailors sometimes have their lucky
number tattooed on their right arm
and their unlucky number on the left.
The rarity Of the number thirteen
on the streets and in hotel and office
rooms show to what extent this old
est Of superstitions is believed and
regarded in Paris-so carelesS and
apparently caring so little and be-
lieving so little in what cannot be
felt with the hands. Very few Paris
ians would care to live in house OF
the ill-omened number, but be it
only omitted, or let it's place be
filled by '.12 bis" as the French put
it, and the evil charm is broken.
The superstitious fear OF the num-
Der thirteen is met with everywhere
in Paris. says the Philadelphia
Times. It belongs not only to the
bourgeois, but to the nobility as we'll.
Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III,
Louis Philippe and Plon- Plon were
said to be morbidly superstitious in
regard to the baleful influence Of
thirteen at table. So also, it is said,
was Robespierre. Some of the most
brilliant writer's OF modern French
literature have admitted their aver
sion to this number. and even Victor
Hugo was not free from this weak
ness.
There is scarcelya salon which
does not hand on some tale
of the number thirteen. Perhaps
strangest of all, and most
remarkable because of the rank
and position Of the parties CON
cerned, is the following incident.
often told and commented upon by
members of Paris Royals circles. a
Some years ago well-known Eng
lish woman. a widow. moved to
Paris and took apartments in
hotel in the Rue Goujon, in the
quarter Cnur la Refine. She was
wealthy and very beautiful, and be-
fore long fell in love with, and be-
came engaged to, an. attache-a
young Hanoverian baron. who had
been aide-de-camp to King George
OF Hanover, when Prussia made, the
latter province independents Early
in the fall the young baron was sum
moned hurriedly back to Hanover,
and on the evening before his de-
parture from Paris his English
fiance gave an impromptu dinner in
his honor. Among others invited
we're the Comte and Comtesses de NJ
- of Poland, the latter Of wnom
told me the story. Dinner was served
at 10 o'clock and all was proceeding
merrily. when the comtesse suddenly
made an exclamation which drew ali
eyes to her. There were just thir.
teen at the table.
Some laughed incredulcusly, some
fearfully and all counted.
'.But there is somsthing more
strange still. said she, II think we
are Of exactly as many Municipalities
rs we are persons
Strangely enough it was true.
There were present ia Hungarian
friend of the baron's, a Scotch cousin
Of the hostess. an Italian painter,
IN attache of the Russian legation. q |
iaytian, Mexican married in Paris |
and q Partisan counciloro OF state The
hostess herself was English the
Jomte dc W was Pole and his
wife by birth an American.
Ibis discovery was hailed as lit
~ oloiG VI marvellous ana the dis /
,ussion which followed served to
make the company in measure for
get the fatal number.
The next morning the hostess ac-
'ompanied her tiance to the station
ind on her return. as the weather
vas intensely hot, sat at her garden
window clothed only in a light wrap
Der. The same night she was strick-
m with pneumonia and in two days
she died. before the baron could /
each her.
A strange fatality seemed to PER
Tue the guests OF that curious and
lnpleasantly cosmopolitan dinner.
)n her return to her home in Scot
and the cousin of the hostess was in
! railroad accident in Wales, and
vas made cripple for lie. The
anne year saw a quarrel between
he baron and his friend who had
'een entertained at the repast, and
) duel in which the Hungarian was
atally wounded. The baron lost
himself in India. The comtesse was
livorced from her Polish husband.
The Russian attache died in Siena of
he Roman fever and the French