Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1894-07-28
THIRTEEN IN FRANCE.
THE NUMBER REGARDED WITH
AWE BY PARISIANS.
The superstition Found In All Glasses
some stories of What the Number
Has Done-A Strange Tale of Fatal
Dinner of Thirteen.


bers, lucky aud unlueky, 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 number
il Is hard TO say. Sometimes II Is
handed down from father TO son,
much as the pet boyle Of an English
manor house Sometimes whole
families acknowledge the efficacy OF
a single number which is a. valued
a property OF the family as It's coat
of-arms aud which becomes the
scapegoat Of all the family sins and
misiOrtunes.
Some men have their lucky mum
Der combined with their monogram
in a seal ring, and women wear
theirs on their garters, French
sailors sometimes have their lucky
number tattooed on their right arm
and their uulucky number on the left
The rarity ~ 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-
lieying SO little In what cannot bs
felt with the hands Very few Paris
ians would care to live in house ~
the ill-omened number. but be it
only omitted, or let its place bo
filled by "l2 bis, AS the French put
il, and the evil charm is broken.
The superst, tious fear Of the mum
bcr thirteen + met with every where
in Paris says the Philadelphia
Times. II belongs not ouly ~ iaG
bourgeois, but 10 the nobility as we'll
Napoleon Bonapartc. Napoleon ILL.,
Louis Philippe and Pton, P.on we're
said to be morbidly superstitioIs III
regard TO the baleful influence Of
thirteen at table SO also, il II said,
was Robe spierre. Some % the most
brilliant writer's Of modern French
literature have admitted their aver
sion to this number. aud even Victor
Hugo was no; free from this weaz-
ness.
There is scarcelya salon which
does not hand on some tale
OF tho number thirteen. Perhaps
strangest OF all. and most
remarkable because Of tho rank
and position 81 the parties con
cerned. is the following incident,
often told and commented upon by
members Of Paris Royalist circles
Some years ago a well-known ing
lish woman, widow. moved 20
Paris and took apartments r.
hotel in the Rue GoujOn In the
quarter Crur Ia Refine. She was
wealthy and very beautiful, and be-.
fore long fell in love with, aud be-.
came engaged TO. au attache-a
young Hanoycriau baron. who had
been aide-dc-camp % King George
% Hanover. when Prussia made the
latter province Independents Early
in the fall the young baron was sum.
mOued hurriedly back 20 Hanover.
and on the evening before his do.
parture from Paris his English
fiance gave an impronptu dinner In
his honor Among others invited
were the Comte and COmtosse do w
- Of Poland. the latter % wnom
told mo the story. Dinner was served
at 10 o'clock and ali was proceeding
morrily, when the comtesse suddenly
made an exclamation which drew ali
eyes to her. There were Just thlr.
teen at the table.
Some laughed iucraduously. some
fcarfully and all counted
But there Is something more
strange still. said she. III think we
are Of exactly as many nationalrties
as We are persons
Strangely enough IL was true.
There were present a Hungarian
friend OF the baron's. Scotch cousin
of the hostess. an Italian painter,
an attache OF the Russian legation, a
Iaytian. Mexican married in Paris
and a Partisan councillor OF state The
hostess herself was English tho
Comte dc w was a Pole and his
wife by birth an American.
his discovery was hailed as q lit
tic short Of marvellous and the dis
cussion which followed served to
make the company In a measure for
get the fatal number.
The next morning the hostess ac-
companied her fance to the station
and on her return. as the weather
was intensely hot. sat at her garden
window clothed only in n light wrap.
per. Tho same night she was strick-
en- with pneumonia and in two DAYS
she died, before the baron could
reach her.
a strange fatality seemed to pur-
sue the guests OF that curious and
unpleasantly cosmopolitan dinner.
On her return to her homo in Scot
land the cousin Of the hostess was in
a railroad accident in Wales, and
was made cripple for life. The
same year saw q quarrel between
the baron and his friend who had
been entertained at the repast. and
a duel in which tho Hungarian was
fatally wounded. The baros loaf
himself in India The comtesse was
divorced from her Polish husband
The Russian attache died in Siona Of
the Roman fever and the French
deputy was deposed. arrested on
charge OF bribery and conspiracy and
committed suicide.