Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-03-07
JOHN MAG WILSON DURANT
Is NOW A NEGATIVE HERO.
HIS SCHEME TO MAKE BELIEVE HE
GAVE UP LIFE IN A DUEL, mis-
CARRIED WOEFULLY.
wRoTE LETTERS HIMSELF
AVN SENT TELEGRAMS TELLING OF
HIS DEATH, WHICH HAS NOT,
AS YET, OCCURRED.

uuIllS tuO ldoL wv So
with his mother, had been killed at
Ostend in a duel with a Russian count,
was an invention of his own. Mr.. Du-
rant is still alive.
No duel was fought. The whole
story was a pure fabrication. This
was definitely established last evening
when it became known that two letters
had been received in Paris from MI.
Durant, one dated Ostend, March 3, and
the other London, March 4. In the
former he asks the recipient to make
certain personal arrangements and to
forward his mail to Glasgow care OF
"P. S. Peat" Kelvinside; and in the lat
ter he exposes himself by saying, after
! requesting that a change be made in
the arrangement suggested in the first
| letter and that his mail be forwarded
| to London, 'You will understand that
I officially died yesterday. Keep up
the illusion"
These letters are in Mr.. Durant's own
handwriting. The evidence originally
| appeared to establish conclusively the
| fact of a duel. The first clue was the
following death notice appearing in the
| European edition of the New York Her
aid:
"DURANT-At Ostend, Belgium,
March 8, John MacWilson Durant.'
The attention of the American con-
| sulate was called to this and an inves-
tigation was Immediately opened which
revealed the following telegram, writ
ten in French, that had been received
by Mr.. Durant's betrother, Mile. Laure
| Mangin, yesterday morning:
"OSTEND, undated. My friend Dur
ant is dead. Count is very seriously
wounded.
(Signed)
LOUIS THERROITT DE GREFFIN."
The signature is the name of one of
| Durant's friends and the supposition is
that Mr.. Durant sent the telegram him
self.
Mile. Mangin, who was interviewed
last evening said Mr.. Durant told her
of his trouble with a Russian Count at
| his hotel and said he was going to fight
| him at Ostend. He had also talked
| freely at the hotel to friends regarding
| the alleged coming duel.
Mr.. Stevens, of Boston, Mass, urged
him to abandon the idea and endeav-
ored to persuade him to return to the
| United States with his mother. Mr..
Durant replied: NO, it is a question
| of honor and I intend to see it through.
The Count is coming from Nice and the
encounter will occur at Ostend."
Throughout Saturday he was engag-
ed in making the final arrangements.
| He shaved his mustache and declined
to recognize friends whom he met
accidentally.
He left Paris Sunday for Ostend,
whence he sem the first letter and
! took the night boat for London, send
| ing the second letter On his arrival
| there. The hotel people assert that
| some one telephoned Monday and ask
| ed when Mr.. Durant's body arrived.
Up to last evening all the informa-
| ton tended to show that he had car
ried out his alleged intention and
been killed. Doubts arose when a rep
r~esentative of the Associated Press,
who had started an investigation at
Ostend, received dispatches asserting
that there was no trace of a duel in
Ostend; that nothing of the sort had
been heard of by the police, doctors or
hotel people, and, moreover, that no
death had occurred there of any per-
son named Durlnt, or Garter" the
name under which MIR. Duranc had an
nounced he would travel, or of any
other American.
Investigation in Paris then brought
to light the receipt of two letters which
revealed the fact that Mr.. Durant was
responsible for the whole dramatic
story.
He has been without occupation and
has lived extravagantly. He had an
| apartment at So Boulevard st. Michael,
to which he sent the death telegram
addressed to his betrothed. Mile. Man.
gin. who belongs to a poor family. He
introduced her among his friends as
his betrothed, and a notice appeared
in LIE Journal. February 18th, announ-
cling the betrothal, in which it was
stated that the marriage had been fix
ed for the second fortnight in March.
Possibly he reconsidered this inten-
ton and conceived the duel story as a
loophole for separation.
Mile. Mangin. her sister and bro
ter-in-law. were called upon yesterday
regarding the matter. the women ex-
pressing the greatest establishment at
the absence Of any confirmation OF
the death telegram. Mile. Mangin's