The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-20
HER QUEER PHILANTHROPY.
SHE MADE HER MANSTON A NOM ~
FOR THE DYING,

The city of Limoges Up i'm Arms Ovel
the Course of u Young Woman MIL
Iioneire- Fighter as Well as PHI
lanthropist.
This peaceful town has been lately
the scene of very peculiar happenings.
A fair inhabitant of the municipality
has been the principal actress in the
exciting events of the past few days,
and her stubborn perseverance upon
the path which she considers correct
has already resulted in rioting, violence
and some heated debates in the French
Parliament.
Limoges reckons among it's inhabit-
ants beautiful young millionairesS,
Mile. Nouailher. This wealthy and
aristocratic maiden owns a vast estate
in the neighborhood of Limoges, as we'll
as a palatial villa in the very heart or
the city. Some years ago she decided
that her mission in life was to make
other people happy But her benevo-
lent mania found expression in very
peculiar way. Only the unhappy vic
TINS of the dread tuberculosis attract
her pity, and among these none but
those in the very last stages of con-
sumption meet with the least sympathy
and consideration from Mile. Nouailher.
She converted her spacious mansion in
Limoges into a hospital where she har
bors those dying of consumption. RAJ
Their, she made of her residence vast
death chamber. For she has not the
least idea of either curing the fell dis
ease or stopping it's ravages even for
time. All she considers herself COM
missioned to do is to smooth the brow
of the dying, to whisper words of con-
ISOLATION into the ears of those on
deaths brink, to surround their beds
with flowers and things of beauty.
She gains access into the hospitals of
Paris, where hundreds of consumptives
are treated yearly, and approaching
those who to her experienced eyes seem
to be nearest to death, she pictures to
them in glowing colors the delights to
her country home, the prospects of pos
sible recovery under the benign sun of
Limoges, the wealth of flowers and
plants that exhale their fragrance for
wan face lights up with enthusiasm as
picture after picture pass the patients
longing mind; the chance of recovery
buoys up the foolish heart, and the in
valid clamors to be discharged. The
hospital authorities are not loath to get
rid of a HOPELESS case, and Mile. Nouail-
her obtains another object for charity.
Thus two years ago the pretty little
Central Depot of Limoges began to wit
ness the arrival of numerous persons
in the last stages of consumption. They
generally arrived in patches of six or
eight. Some of them suffered evident
agonies; all were in pain. AT first the
citizens stared, shrugged their Shout
ders and passed on, commenting ON fe-
minnie folly. But soon they became
alarmed. Day after day hearses bear
ing the bodies of Mile. Nouailher's patti
ents could be seen vending their way
from her villa to the churchyard. This
began to be filled at an alarming rate
1000 new graves having been added by
her endeavors in four years. After six
months of her practice Mile. Nouailher
was invited to appear before the City
Council of Limoges and she was told
by the Sanitary Inspector that the
death rate of tuberculosis had increas-
ed50 per cent. among the inhabitants of
the city, not counting the inmates of
the home. She was asked to consider
the ACCESSIBILITY of converting an other
wise healthy city into a pesthole and
respectfully begged to remove the insti-
tuition. The polite tone of the City
Councils remonstrances Is explained by
the fact that Mile. Nouailher owns half
the town.
The eccentric milionairess, however,
was deaf to all entreaties. She re-
proved the city council for being a lot
of heartless, selfish brutes, and finally
declared that as the lawful owner of
her villa she could extend her hospital
ity to whomsoever she pleased.
Baffled in their efforts to secure relief
by peaceful means, the mayor of Linn
oges thereupon assumed the aggressive. I
He sent to her villa number of po-
1icemen with a resolution of the city 4
council, which they were to deliver
into her own hands, branding her insti- 4
tuition as menace The young Anna
ION, however, fairly frightened the
guardians of the law into fits. She met 7
them with revolver in each hand I
threatening to shoot any person found I
on her porch within five seconds. /
There was a hurried exit. While the
discounted minions were reporting to +
their chief and hurried consultation
was being held in the city hail. the res
dilute friend Of the consumptives tele-
era phed her agent in Paris, and the .
next train brought twenty-five armed
men, ready to die fighting in her ser
vice. The next step on the part of the +
city authorities was to force the under
takers of Limoges, under pain of re-
voking their licenses to refuse to bury
the inmates of the House of Retreat
This proved ineffective. Nine NouaiI
her ordered an undertaken and hearse
from Paris.
After this a general cry Of indignation
arose among the inhabitants of Limo
ges The member of parliament for the
city received petitions signed by ten
thousand inhabitants praying him to
use his influence to abolish the null
sance. The city was slowly being in
fected with tuberculosis. Tourists,
once so frequent in the town, avoided