The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-02-12
HOUSTON POST LETTER BOX.

tThls department Is intended to answer
questions that are OF general iater interest," ,as,s
main object Is to supply out-of-the-why, tastp
and curious Information. Questions 9, pGSa
sonai Interest only VIII not be answered, ,s ~
business or personal addresses VIII % s'r Nh
All correspondence should be addressed 70 az
Letter Box. care Houston Post. Cwins " sns
large number Of questions received answers
can not always b. given promptly
Please give the truo history OF the 80 90
nond uecklace' affair between Arcnolsnop
Rohan. Nine. Lamotte and others. during tae
reign o. King Louis XVI,
The diamond necklace affair was sw'a-
ding transaction. practiced In 17s6. by the
Countess de Lamotte, with one or more cen
fedsI,atcs upon Cardinal dc Rohan ana Marie
Antoinette. the queen OF France. the Car
dinal. a notorious prohisate, was In love
with the queen, and Nine. de Lamotte took
advantage OF the fact to persuade MIN %
purchase certain diamond necklace made
by a Paris jeweier q the finest stones to be
found In the capital. The necklace had oeen
offered to the queen by the jeweler. but was
refused on account OF It's price, $4,000 pounds
sterling, or $4,000. The Countess oe La
motto was clever enough to make the Car
dinal believe that the queen wanted the neck
lace and would accept 1t as present troin
him. He fell into the trap. his delusion bang
fostered by an interview with Nine. d'olivia'
who resembling the queen. personateo ner
in clandestine interview In the garden or
tho Tuleries. The countess secured an order
from Rohau on which she forged the queens
signature, obtained the necklace and fed with
it to London. where 1t was broken up. and
the gems were sold to dealers. The jewelers..
after waiting reasonable time. sent in, their
=, "a bo r.hn med all kuOwl-
edge OF It. The whole affair became public. the
countess was arrested. tried, convicted
branded on the shoulder and imprisoned for
life. She escaped and found refuge in Eng
land. where she published her account OF
the transaction. which WIS believed In France
at the time to be truthful and had an in
fiuonce in tanning to flame the smold ring
hatred against 1.-The Austrian"
Please tell me the number Of days occupied
by fighting In tho Spanish-American war;
also cost per day. and what It amounted
to at the close of the war.
Active hostilities began on April 81 when
Minister Woodford left spaln to August II.
the signing Of the peace prorocol. The first
fighting was the bombnrdnent of Matanzas.
April "a. The cost to the United States dur
ing the ia days OF active hostiiities i1-
GLIDING amount actually paid out and liza
biities incurred was s150o00 900. OF which
SOS, 600 900 had been actually paid when the
truce was declared. Beginning with March
1. when the arst increases in the expenditures
in anticipation OF war became apparent in
the daily expenditures of the treasury. the
actual disbursements of this account have
been approximately as follows: Marcha-Army.
SGao 600; navy. s9,4NoGOO; total ss,o0o0Oo. April
Army. si,2o0oeo; navy, s9,soo,Ooo; total.
81, e00, 900 May--Army. sl2. 900: navy. ST.
ooo o0o total. $40, 600. June-Army, $751;
100000; navy, sG5d0,0Co; total s23 100000. July
Army $50, 100000; navy. 100000; total.
s35, oCo. 900. To August ls--Army, $500, 600:
navy, 81 500 600; total. 100000. Total CHARGED
to war department se5, COO. Total charged
to navy depa. tment. sS2.f0Oooo. Grand total.
sos 900 The appropriations made by con-
gress on account of the war aggregated about
1860. cor, coo, and cover the time to January I.
1899
Can YOU name some of the richest :, negroes e z
in the United States? C.D'o'
The following list is tho only one tina.
could be obtained. and it may contain some
errors:
DR. Jemes ~ Gloucester. Brooklyn. 5000, 900
J NJ Herbert, Trenton, n. J............ 100000
g. ", Watson, Camden, n. J........... 1000
Joseph Thomas. Baltimore. ............. $4,000
w. IL Lee, Washington. ................ $1,000
samuel Harris, Williamsburg .......... $4,000
William Lyons, Richmond Va.......... $1,000
william Gray Alexandria Va. ..... 1900
Noia Foster. Augusta, Ga............... 100000
Henry Todd Dsrien. Ca. ................ $4,000
Amnuda Eubanks Rome. Ga,........... 100000
j. =. Wall Arredenda, Fla. ........... 10000
Ne. ever Bros. New Orleans. ........... 100000
=. y. s. Pinchhack New Orleaps.... 100000
Ms. Thomas St. Louis. ................. 900, $50
L-"ls Winters Nashville. Tenu........ 1000
Mnreck & emery, Nashville Tenn. 100000
K. Il. Church, Memphis. Tenn.......... 1875 0Hl
Daniel seals, Cleveland, Cho.......... 100000
Rev James Hamsey, Hancock county,
z j sanierlin, Denver. Colo. .......... $1,000
Henry Green, Denver, Cclo............. 10000
Mary Fltasauts. San Francisco. ........ $50, 0JO
II is said that Only one negro has ever been
known to be worth million. That ono was
Francis Lacroix of New Orleans He wes of
Freneh extraction, ana at one time was worth
1looeoo. He lived fast life and died poor,
about twenty years ago,
Please give me the exact pronunciation Of
JNrano de bergerac, the leading character in
Re-tand's famous play F.TW.
II Is pronounced Seer-rah-no der Bair-zhair-
'a'ik. The first syllable of the Christian name
IS the same as seer. prophet The de IS
sounded as Is the last syllable in under, minus
-ho r. In the surname the In the second
syllable has soft sound which can be ex-
pressed In English only by zh In the last
'sllab'c the hard is given clearly. A word
rs to accent. Many persons who have seen
Nj. Richard Mansfield in "Cyraao de Ber-
serac' claim that he pronouncss the first
lame Seer-a-no, with the accent on tho first
'Slinple. On the other hand, some who have
zen the French actor NJ. Coquein, in the |
IL.
anne role, maintain that he says se-rah-no. |
Win the accent on the second syllable Our |
'plnlon IS that Mr. Mansfield does not intend |
o lay all the stress on tho first syllable any
more than NJ. Coquelln means to accent the |
second The fact is, all the syllables are M.
ehted alike. and the reason the Frenebna,
sens 70 say se-rah-no is that a is the most
OF the powels. So In the surname
nc last syllable, rae, seems to have mos, =,
he accent though each syllable sho,,d ~
distinctly, and all equally.
Who Is the author Of the o,o.,.,
oucn oil nature makes the whole wapii ,, one
II ,s ,rnu, a., MAC.
y from the famous old Play. .TrocIus
ma cressda." and is generally r,,s,,,sa
loo'' When Ulysses. arguing With AchiIlrs
ess one touch OF nature makes the wbo,s
sofid KIM he does not mean that ~, ,nnn
'Iu are drawn together or animated 70 nohIs
noushts by the exhibition Of some s,a ~
ION. out that everybody Is alike IN follow;n
ne latest new fashion or thing.
NAT all with one consent nra,.a