The San Francisco call., 1897-03-08
WAS He NAPOLEON
BONAP AR TE'S SON?
Strange Life Story of an
Old Recluse Of the
Hills.
Claimed the Emperor as His
Father and Died in Alb.
ject Poverty.
His Neighbors Believ, He Had Docu.
ments to Prove His Tale-In
Pauper's Grav,.
Lowly lies the head that might have


No titled courtiers waited with bated
breath to learn the condition of the royal
i'll one; no masters of medicine battled
grimly with the dark shadow that
| hovered, no nation put on it's mourning
garb when the call came; no one shouted,
1.-THE king is dead, long live the king"
He died on a barren hilltop under the
splashing rain, with no one to catch his
dying words but the moaning wind and
his God. There were none to mourn, none
to weep, none to care.
A rough redwood box in a pauper's
grave is his last resting place, and yet
this man claimed the greatest monarch
that Europe ever knew as his father. and
many there are who believe his claim to
be just
Thirty years ago there appeared at Ocean
View little man whose accent proved
him to be of the land OF sunny France.
Despite his rough attire and applica-
tions TO the ranchers for menial la Dor, his
bearing and faultless LAM uage proclaimed
him to be an educated gentleman, and
helping hands were outstretched to aid
him TO make living.
at first he had little to say of his past,
but as his heart warmed to the children,
told strange tales OF his brth-that be was
the son of King, though an outcast from
his people.
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was my
father" he told little Valentine Wip-
f1er-now man grown-"and / should be
living in luxury, perhaps on throne, in
stead OF leading the life of common la
borer."
The children retailed the stories to their
parents, but their elders only laughed
and said 'the old Frenchman was crazy"
AS they gradually came to know him,
however, and learn from his own lips the
tale of his sorrows many grew to believe
him and by common consent he became
known as Napoleon" They pitied his
| decayed gentility and his mournful eyes.
II he ever gave any other name his
| friends have forgotten it and Napoleon"
| he lived and died. For years the old man
| lived and toled for the ranchers, always
| pleasant, always courteous, always pains
taking. Then as his strength waned and
his eyes grew dim he was dependent on
hia neighbors for charity and came regu-
| larly for his provisions to those he knew
would gladly help him.
| A charitable eighbor built him shan "
below one of the great abandoned euarries
| that dishgure the green hills south of
Ocean View. and there he dwelt alone for
| a decade. A few years ago he removed to
| an abandoned dwelling above the quarry,
and a fercely bearded German, also a re-
cluse, joined him. Here be died one day
last week. He went out one evening and
did not come back and next day hewas
! found lying dead by barbed wire fence,
| against which he had evidently faIle n
while trying to return to his companion
The Coroner OF San Mateo County was
notified and the body was taken to Red
wood City and consigned to pauper's
grave.
Fred Cuche, French Swiss, who is en-
gagged in the training of hunting dogs and
who lives just below the yawnlng quarry,
knew Napoleon" we'll and believes that
he was the son of Napoleon Bonaparte.
'Some people say the Old man was in
sane he said yesterday, but know he
was not, for I observed him closely for
years, and he never gave one sign of being
out OF his mind.
Even in his declining years he gave
every evidence of gentle breeding and al
ways showed fine spirit. His face bore
a most remarkable resemblance to the
portraits of Napoleon, and many times he
has told me OF the manner III VIII ch he
was separated from his mother and royal
father.
.'He stated that the woman who bore
him was one of the many on whom Napo-
leon cast his smiles and that he remained
| with her until he was two years old.
"He was born in 1910, when his royal
father was in the zenith of his glory, when
he had humbed Austria, taken her terri
tory, outwitted Wellesley, and by the
treaty of Schonbrunn had brought Europe
| TO his feet.
Two years later, when clouds were
gathering over the Emperor's head, his
mother and himself were hurriedly sent to
| America, amply provided with funds for
| their support. Through all of his VARYING
| fortunes and even during his exile al Elba
Napoleon did not forget his old love and
| her child, and the boy's education was
| begun by the best tutors procurable.
| "Then, when the father fe j at Waterloo
| and was sent into his final exile, the re-
| mittances ceased and his mother was
| thrown on her own resources. She man
aged with what she had saved to give him
a good education, and on her deathbed
placed in his hands documents that proved
| his birth.
"These papers the old man had up to a
| few wears ago, for l saw them more than
once. though / could not get glimpse of
! the inside, merely having his word for
! what they contained.
| ..Somehow he could never make livin 9
except as a laborer. He failed as a teache r
| and as a clerk OWN to his high spirit,
soon losing position after he gained it.
and he finally adopted the life of work
| iLgman."
Valentine Wipfer remembered the same
story as related by Napoleon" and once
| started to write the old mans history at
his dictation, but the task was interrupted
and never finished. The portion written
has been lost.