The evening times., 1898-10-31
IONDON'S MODERN CRUSOE
"Cecil de Rougemont" Is Plain
Henri Grein.
HIS YARNS OF ADVENTURE
ExDIofts His Life fn the Milds of
gorth-rn AurtraIia-His Tales of
Priceless Treasure Not N"rthcd.
was n Pearl Diver i'm sydney-Let-
ter From His Wife.

San Francisco. Oct. 3l.-More light and
more mystery, too, envelop the career oil
the man recently exploited in London as
a modern Robinson Crusoe, for now there
comes from Australia letter. purport-
ing to be from the wife of the strange
being. who is either q second Munehausen
or the hero OF some Of the most weird
adventures ever recorded
His name. It is asserted, in the light OF
the last news concerning him, is really
Henri Louis Grein, that of De Rougemont
having been that of a companion, who dis
appeared, and which he assumed. De
Roucemont sounded better with the stor-
les Grein had to tell, perhaps. Even the
woman claiming TO be his wife does not
pretend to make clear the mystery of his
life
IL the woman's letter be taken as au-
thentic il appears that leading London
newspaper when il recently published the
story of an old diver Of Leeds TO the eff
feet that Louis De Rougemont was none
other than Henri Louis Grein. Of Aus
tralia, il correctly established the iden-
tity of a man who has been setting all
England sgog with his stories of Crusoe-
like life on a queer island Of the Micro
nesian Archipelago.
Mrs. Grein was mentioned incidentally
in the narrative, but there was a hack Of
confirmation concerning the wOman's
marriage. A missing chapter in the ca
reer of Grein or De Rougemont. was sup
piled yesterday by letter from Sydney
containing an interview with the woman
and details Of her husbands early life.
THE portrait which you have shown
according n this
letter. after viewing a picture OF the So
called De Rougemont, lis that Of my hus-
band, Henri Grein. have also heard from
him in England through relatives there. .
Mrs. Grein then entered into particulars
of her husbands assumption OF the pen
name of De ROugemont. Cecil de Rouge
mont" she explained, was an old chum
OF my husband Some years ago the two
men were engaged in business among
the islands Of the Pacific. Cecil suddenly
passed out of Henris life. and am una
bic to say whether the man died or is stiil
alive and living in America, as j have
sometimes suspected
MY husband afUerward adopted his
chum's name. The stories told by my
husband are not altogether new to me.
When I first met him in Sydney he was
pearl fisher, and he used TO tell some
queer tales OF his early life among the
= =
him We were married, at Newtown. This
was in 1863.
Henri used to relate stories OF North
ern Australia and tell Of his adventures
there. His narratives We're fully as re-
markable as those told by him 10 the peo-
pie of London. He was well posted on the
peculiarities of the natives, and he pro-
fessed TO speak q number of bush dia-
lects. His body was scared In places and
these wounds were made. he claimed, by
spears and knives OF bushmen into whose
hands he had fallen and was held captive
for six months, narrowly escaping death
at their hands Last May my husband
left home presumably for New Zealand.
/ have not seen him since"
Ten years, II has been learned, Grein
was engaged in mining in Australia. He
used to visit the assay Office at Sydney
and Auckland and relate stories of his
adventures in search of mountains of
gold in a country so infested with fierce
savages that few white men had visit
ed II. He formed several corporations for
developing mines and It is said that he
succeeded in interesting a great many
people OF Queensland and other cities
disappearing mysteriously about the time
the mines were found to be of little value
II seems that De Rougemont, or Grein,
is by no means a commonplace man, but
one whose talent, If directed into legiti-
mate channels. would have brought him
into prominence in the scientific world.
He was an inventor OF merit and well
Versed in historical and scientific lore
Mrs. Grein is the daughter OF a Queen
land property owner, and is connected
with some OF the best families of Aus
tralia.