New-York tribune., 1901-03-07
DCRANT ALIVE; NO DUEL.
THE WHOLE STORY OF AN OsTEND AFFAIR
SAID To BE A FABRICATION.

Paris March The repor, that John Wilson
Durant If Albany y y. who had been living dur
ing the last two years Paris with his mother at
the Hotel Iafonde Tremoill-. had heen killed at
Ostend in a duel with Russian count vas an In
vention Of his own. Mr.. Durant is stil alive.
No duel fought. The whole story was
pure fabrication. This definitely established
last evening when it became known that two let
teTs had been received in Paris from Mr.. hurant
dated Ostend March g. and the other Lon
don. March 4. In the former he asks the recipient
TO make certain personal arrangements and TO
forward his mail TO Glasgow. care Of p 5. Peat"
Kekinside, and in the latter he exposes himself by
saying after requesting that change be made in
the arrangement suggested in the first letter and
that his mail be forwarded to London. You will
understand that ] officially died yesterday. Keep
up the illusion
These letters are in Mr.. Durant's own handwrit-
ing
The evidence originally appeared to establish
"onclusively the fact Of a duel The irst clew
the following death notice appearing in the Euro
pean edition of The New-York Herald":
DURANT.-At Ostend Belgium March = JOHN
MACWILSON DTRANT
The attention of the American consulate was
called to this and investigation was immedi-
ately opened. which revealed the following tele-
gram. written in French. that had been received
by Mr. Durants hetrothed, Mile. Laure Mangn.
yesterday morning:
Ny friend Durant is dead. Count is very serI-
LOTIs THERRIorr DE GREFFIN.
The signature is the Of one Of Mr.. Durant's
friends. and the supposition Mr. Durant sent
the telegram himself.
Mile. Mangin. who interviewed this evening
said Mr. Durant told her OF his trouble with
Russian at his hotel and said he was going
ia fight him Ostend. He had also talked freely
At the hotel 10 friends regarding the alleged coming
ABANDON the idea, and endeavored to persuade him
10 return TO the United States with his mother
and intend TO it through. The count is coming
from Nice, and the encounter will occur Osteud'
Throughout Saturday he engaged in making
the final arrangements He shaved off his rnustache
accidentally He left paris on sundsv for Gstend
whence he sent the first letter and took the night
boat for London, sending the second letter on his
one telephoned Monday and asked when Nr Du-
Up TO last evening all the information tended to
and been killed Doubts arose When REPRESENTA-
tive Of The Associated Press. who had started an
ing that there trace Of a duel in Ostend:
that nothing Of the sort had been heard Of by
the police doctors hotel people, and moreover.
that no death had occurred there Of any person
named DUrant Carter the upder which
Mr.. Durant had announced he would travel Of
any other American.
Investigation in Paris then brought 10 light the
receipt Of the two letters. which revealed the
that Mr. Durant Was responsible for the whole
He has been without occupation and has lived
eAtraNaEantlN He had an apartment al No g
Boulevard 81. Michael. to which he sent the death
telegram addressed to his betrothed. Mile Mangin
belongs to poor family. He introduced her among
his friends as his betrOthed and notice appeared
IN lie Journal February Is. announcing the
betrothal, I'm which il stated that the mar
riage had been fixed for the second fortnight in
March.
When Mile. Mangin. her sister and brother-in-
law called upon yesterday regarding the
matter, the women expressed the greatest aston
ishment a the absence Of any confirmation OF the
death telegram. Mile ManRin's brother-in-law y.
who declared himself better judge OF Mr. Durant.
hit the nail on the head by expressing his belief
that the telegram 4 stupid humhug.