Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-05-07
SHE GETS MILLIONS.
aEMARKABLE STORY OF A PLuckY
 FRENCHWOMAN.

Wandersr Yer Many Years-Deserted by
 Her Huaband-Now Falls Heir to a For
 tune of mt Least ST, ,OOO, ,O00-Her Many
 Struggles Iu Different Cities.
 Woven around the one great fact that Mrs. Eglantine Gaudin of Woodcliff, N. J., has unexpectedly fallen into for tune estimated at nearly $17, 900, 900 is a story which if written by a novelist would be treated as fiction only Yet every detail of it is true The wonder of those who have heard it is how any wo- man could have crowded so many events into the 52 years of her life.
 Married and divorced, her children dead, she has been q wanderer for years. She has walked the streets Of Madrid shoeless. She has starved almost for want of the necessaries of life. She has slept on hard boards for want of 8 bed. In fact. she is sleeping that way now,
 ''Yes, will inherit something like SIT, 900, 000," she said yesterday in tell ing her story, "but I am too feeble now to enjoy very much of it. Twenty years ago it would have changed the whole course of my life. Today it will bring no greater pleasure than the joy I shall feel ill rewarding the friends who helped me in my hour of need. '
 There was nothing like exultation ill the voice of Mrs. Gaudin as she spoke.
 Mrs Gaudin was born in Alsace, Germany. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother had a difficult task ill trying to educate and bring up her children. When Eglantine became old enough, she was taught dress making, and it was by this means in after life that she made her living.
 After the Franco Prussian war the Gaudin family refused to live in their native home as German subjects, so they started for Spain, and it was i'll Madrid that Eglantine met the man she after ward married, and of which marriage three children were born.
 Twenty six years ago, :" she said, s'I buried the last of my children, and with them I buried all hope My husband turned out drunkard. All the money that had saved, as we'll as considerable left me by my brother, who was Q mem Der of the Imperial guard, he squander- ed and then deserted me. l had been ill and wasted away. 1 was unable to work and was simply starving I applied for divorce, but the Spanish law was then very strict in the matter, and worked five years to obtain it. They would only grant divorce then for abuse and vio- lence. How lived do not know, but one day l wrote to my husband. told him was starving and for Gods sake ts send me something that might eat. He wrote back that he would give me nothing, and that the sooner died tho better
 ''I took his letter to the court and on 1t obtained the divorce. The day the de- cree was granted 1 did not have shoe to my feet and my dress was in rags.
 I worked harder than ever then and managed by dressmaking to save small sum of money. Then heard that my husband had become insane
 What was to do? Only one thing, of course. So I went to where he was and had him conveyed to private asy lum at Barcelona. Supported him there for three years, when he died l won't tell you his name. It is enough that l dropped it and resumed the maiden name of Gaudin ''
 Passing from this subject, Mrs Gau- din, as she has been known for years, told of her departure from Spain to Paris.
 There she set up a dressmaking estab- lishment and soon was doing quite an extensive business. She made dresses for many prominent women, among whom were many Americans. It was while in Paris she thought of looking up her Aunt Emilie-her mothers sister, whom she had not seen or heard of ill many years. While in France this aunt had married man named Pinaud and had started with him for South America. That was the last heard of her
 The lucky Frenchwoman's health again failed her. She was unable to at tend to her business, and six years ago she was nearly penniless.
 Among the American women ill Paris who took an interest in Mrs. Gaudin was Mrs. Louise Jackson. The latter had read somewhere that Pinaud had amassed large fortune in this country, and she supplied the dressmaker with money to come here
 On arriving and realizing the hope lessness of her task in searching for her lost relative, she began to work again as a dressmaker. She had many New York women as customers and managed to save few hundred dollars. With this she started for Woodcliff and bought couple of lots.
 She entered into contract with building and loan association to build house for her The plans contemplated a rather pretentious looking affair She made two payments and the house had been nearly completed when the builder failed. Mechanics liens were placed on