The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-11
CHAPTER FROM MHISTORY
STRANGE SEQUEL OF THE DIA- MoND NECKLACE PLOT.
Countess De la Motte, Beautiful Swindler, Died Almost where Her Story Now is Being Played
 on the Stage.

London Letter by Curtis Brown.
 Real life drama and the drama Of the stage are mixed up in strange and romantic coincidence here. It was odd enough that Marie Antoinette and the famous diamond necklace, after hav- lng repo,ed peacefully on the dusty yhelves of history without being dis ,urbed by the dramatists for several years, now should be bodied forth sud- lenly in two rival London theatres al- most the same day; but far more re- markable is the discovery that the flashing adventures who was at the bottom of the necklace affair lived in desperate poverty, and came to & vio- Ient end on almost the exact spot now occupied by the stage of the Garrick Theatre, where her exploit is being en- lcted nightly.
 It might be supposed that some willy press agent had arranged for his own purposes the story of the last chapter of Countess de la Motte's stormy life, but it must be recorded in all kindly feeling that the London theatrical press lgent isn't up to that sort of thing and has many tricks of the trade to learn from his American confrere. Besides and this argument is conclusive-this story is true.
 After promoting the most audacious swindling scheme on record and play Ing no small part in bringing about the downfall of the French throne, the Countess de la Motte landed in the saltpetriere Prison in Paris and there, with both ner lovely shoulders branded. history took leave of her, and there Dumas and the other dramatisis leave her, too.
 Her Fate in London.
 But instead of dying in cell, as 1t would have been better for her to do, the beautiful wretch escaped after year or two and came to London, where she joined her husband. That choice scalawag had gone through by that time most of the fortune that his wife's wit had won for him, and their life together here was one of desperate poverty and probably of degrading dis sipation. They lived on the top floor of A suualid old house in St. Martins s Lane. just off Trafalgar Square.
 Accounts of the last scene differ. One of them has it that the French Government, unable to secure extradi- tion of the Countess, hired several English bailiffs to appear at the door one day and raise disturbance in the hope of frightening her into volun- tary submission. The other story goes that the bailiffs were sent by neighbor- ing tradesfolk upon whom the precious pair had lived without paying their bills.
 In either case the outcome was the same. The Countess. who was nervous and high-strung to a degree, was frightened almost out of her wits, and running to the rear of her apartments made a daring leap. It is likely enough that if the Garrick stage had been where it is today the adventures would have dropped plumb upon it. Unfortunately, the house from which she jumped had been destroyed long since, and it is impossible to determine its exact position.
 That flying leap put an end to the Countess's mischief. for it caused the fracture of her thigh. The bailiffs took possession of her maimed hody and a few Joys later she died. No mention is nl of her husband-probably he deserted her-and as she had no other friend and no money she was buried in the pauper cemetery in the Lam bretk district of London. close to that picturesque old palace of the Archbish- op of Canterbury, which most Ameri- can visitors to London today go to see.
 All on Account of Boehmer.
 Neither of the two plays now on the boards here would have been written and Alexandre Dumas would have lacked a plot for a novel and Carlyle the subject of one of his most brilliant essays and the lonely and forgotten grave in a pauper cemetery would have been tenanted by other dust than that of Jeanne de Ia Motte had it not been for pardonable ambition on the part of good NJ. Boehemer. who held the post of jeweler to the Court of King Louis NV. of France. He had been successful. this worthy man. but he yearned for fame as we'll. It would