The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-11-27

which the spendthrift started his RED
Marble palace" which was to repro
duce the famous Petit Trianon. An
other $1,000 went for starting the
palace. A chateau at Pau cost $780,
600.
To get his wife into the sr,artest set
in Paris, the Faubourg St. German
aristocracy. Count Boni dropped $780,
OOO at a most marvellous fete on the
grounds of his residence at the corner
OF the Avenue du Bots de Boulogne
and the Cercle des Acacias.
The fete was a m~odernized reproduce
ton of the fete given to celebrate the
marriage of Louis XIV and Maria The
resa, daughter of Philip Nv of Spain.
There were 700 performers, 500 serv-
ants and 5000 guests. After the fete
Paris society accepted the American
countess. .
But this was only a drop in the
bucket. The lively little count want
ed to get into the chamber of deputies.
Frances congress-. He did. His cam
self spent $40, 900 for a site in the Rue
Pierre Charron for the erection of a
permanent charities bazaar in emo
Of her mother. "
The counts clothes were the wonder
of Paris. He made it a rule never to
wear a pair Of trousers more than
twice. He accumulated 1000 pairs,
which took. together with his clothing
and personal adornments, 100000
frcr, lie, v,;foSe o,- RI L.,.L4
$5OO,0OO worth of bric-a-brac. jewels
and furniture. One silken~ coverlet cost
$4,000. His stable cost $15O.OO0 What
was left Of the 81. 900. 900 went for the
countess clothes, living expenses, char
tty, the maintenance of the yacht and
the keep of the stable. The cheapest
item in the whole list was the support
of two children born to the noble pair.
Two years ago the Castellanes began
to get hard up for ready cash-these
multimillionaires who received every
year from America the magnificent
sum Of 100000 earned by the great
railway and telegraph companies built
up by the late Jay Gould. All Paris
knew this. Several times work STOP
ped on the splendid red marble pile
along the Bots de Boulogne because
the count couldn't raise the wind to
buy more material or to pay his work
men. Occasionally a creditor sued. The
count took a 1ier on the bourse to re-
coup. He dropped $4,000 OO. The pal
ace Is yet unfinished.
A year ago the count was actually
pressed for funds-not that he couldn't
come over here last January in regal
style, with II trunks. two baby boys,
several maids. nurses and Wallets. a
superb suit of staterooms on the Bre-
tagne and plenty of fine clothes. But
married a Gould? The trip cost but a
few thousands and the short stay at
the Waldorf-Astoria a mere bagatelle.
Castellane was here for millions with
which to keep on electrifying tout
Paris"
A cold shoulder greeted them. The
bridal pair had departed in 1895 to the
acclaim of hundreds who came to see
them off and the kisses Of all the
Goulds. Not a Gould met them on
their return. The little countess wept.
They drove in a public hack to the no.
tel Next day the count strobe haugh-
tily into the office of George Gould. In
stead of the fond giver away of the
bride five years before he found the
calm. Shrewd a of business, who T.
was perfectly affable. but absolutely
.unbending. Parbleu! No money!
MI. Gould smiled and very frankly. ,
~ - H. -A--
brother-in-law that he would have to
live within his wife's income. The g.,
count demanded some of her principal. /
He ran up against a snag in the codicil
Of Jay Gould's will prohibiting this. /.
The count strobe out again. Soon after, /,