The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-04-20
THE MAN WHO MADE MONTE CARLO.
Traits of the Man Whose Peculiar Enter
prise Ruined Thousands.

Traits OF the Man Whose Peculiar Enter
prise Ruined Thousands.
One evening in the days of the second
empire a crowd of men were reading the
evening paper in salon in the Rue de Ri
voli.
"Ah," said one, breaking the silence,
$50 five millions are still wanted to finish
the new opera house."
A silent listener took up pen and fill
ed in and signed check for that amount
without a word. By and by, when the
new opera house was finished, that silent
man was somehow the only person forgot
ten in the distribution of seats for the
grand opening night.
Charles Monselet is responsible for this
curious little anecdote, the hero of which
was Francois Blanc, director of the Casino
of Monte Carlo. Blanc was a man of vast
ambition, a born financier and admins
traitor, who might, under certain condi-
tions, have been a Rothschild, but who
lives in history as a mighty organizer of
gambling enterprise, and was really one
of the simplest of men. To see him in his
brown overcoat, his gold spectacles half
dropping off his nose, one would have TAX
en- him for petit RENTER, whose widest
dreams were of the construction of little
grotto in his little garden, with little plas-
ter rabbits, and fountain which, like
Wemmick's, would almost wet the back
of ones hand.
Before his Monte Carlo days he had been
the guiding spirit in the direction of the
Casino of Homburg. Benazet, according
to his fiatterers, was the Louis Quatorze
of Baden-Baden. Blanc, who was imper-
vious to flattery, might with equal justice
have been called the Colbert of HON burg.
A hard headed, silent man of bourgeois
exterior, man without enthusiasm and
weaknesses, who kept lavish table and
ate sparingly, who directed huge gam
bling machine and permitted himself no
more exciting dissipation than a quiet
game of billiards after dinner. have
heard it said in the Tattersall family that
old Dick, the founder of the historic cor
ner, never made bet of more than pair
of gloves in his life.
So Francois Blanc rose superior to the
attractions of his own table, despised
trente-et-quarante and was afraid Of rou-
lette. What he was not afraid of, how
ever, was spending money. To compass
his business ends he laid it out lavishly,
and he might, so they say, have been cred
tied with many acts Of genuine benevo-
lence and public spirit, whereof the story
Of the opera house at Paris may serve as
an example.
After the war the glories Of Homburg
and Baden departed and on their ruins
rose Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo was the
great, the browning achievement of Fran
co.'s Blanc's life-the desert cape, which,
by mere force of millions, he turned into
one of the most wonderful of the gardens
of the Mediterranean littoral. But it was
not done without keen opposition. He
made the fortunes of the Nicols in spite of
themselves. At every fresh opposition he
simply opened his purse, and the golden
shower fell in the sacred name of local in
terests. Nine. Blanc, the most excellent
of wives, was tower Of strength to him.
Where questions of art and elegance
came in, hers was the directing spirit, and
the good man, whose thoughts and talk
were of figures and finance, was content
that her taste should crown his work. 1t
needed a hard head to Withstand the at
tacks that were made upon him. Every
days post brought with it hundred prop
ositions and threats. They were people
"AO hdu AOoO OhSAA LhOhCy anu
its return with fierce menaces-specula-
tive and inventive people who proposed
combinations; there were even tempta-
lions offered of the kind which assailed
the sainted Anthony, pitiful applications
and warnings of intending suicides-place
and date carefully specified, so that there
should be no mistake.
Once, even at Monte Carlo, the Villa
Blanc was actually assailed, and two serv-
ants were seriously wounded in its defense.
But the equanimity of Francois Blanc was
equal to adventures Threats, prayers, all
temptations left him untouched. He liked
best to stay in his own family circle, re-
fusing all invitations and indulging him
self only with good dinner, bottle of
Chateau Lafitte, a cigar, a chat about
financial operations-which would some
times excite him-and game of billiards.
The only outlet which he allowed for
his irrepressible energy was frequent
change of abode. In one year he lived in
Paris, Avignon, Monaco, Dieppe and
Loueche-les-B ains in Switzerland, where
he died at last of asthma-a respectable
man, as respectability goes, fond of his