The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-13
MIME. DUPERRoN AT 75.
Still Sells Papers-Has Stuck to Her
 Part Thirty-Six Years.

One of the central figures of the opera
 house quarter in the City of Light" is
 Mime. Duperron. seventy-five years old. who has kept for thirty-six years a
 newspaper kiosk just to the right as one comes out Of the Grand hotel on the
 Boulevard de Cupuncines.
 Through the winter fogs and cold 2nd summer heat and dust of a full genera ton this eccentric but highly intelligent woman has been at her station daily with unfailing cheerfulness to wait up- on customers who come from all quar- ters of the gloge and speak all lan-
 guages.
 During the siege of Paris she sold evening extras with unruff1ed calm while shells were scattering death along the boulevards.
 Throughout the commune she contin- ued her task, wisely expressing no opin- ; ion on any question except that the
 public could not read too many newspa- pers, thus escaping interference or even insult.
 She once caused a great commotion in the Place de POpera at military re- view by Napoleon III. Somebody of not
 enough social importance to insure an audience with the emperor was keenIy anxious to bring to his notice letter. l The story goes, and Mime. Duperron has
 never denied it, that the letter was writ ten by a woman in Napoleon's house. hold whose husband had deserted her in l manner particularly shameful even for those times.
 Mime. Duperron volunteered to place the letter in the emperor's hands. While ! the em2eror was reviewing the troops, | surrounded by splendidly mounted ! chasseurs, she suddenly darted from the | crowd and, rushing to the emperors side. forced letter into his hands. A score of arms were outstretched to | thrust her back. but the emperor took l the letter, directing the mounted men to see that the woman was not tramDled 1 by their horses. Furthermore, it is said, l the writer of the letter achieved her end and that through the medium of the em- peror her husband was restored to her. The intrepid young woman who push ed aside an emperor's chasseurs three | decades ago is bent yet active old
 woman to-day. with intelligence un- 1 dimmed and memory rich in striking
 experiences and incidents.
 The American and English who live in | Paris or oeten come here call her af- 1 fectionately "Auntie." while their chill | dren know her as the good fairy of
 the Kiosk" though some irreverently call her 'old Madame Bendover" be- cause of her stoop from age. She is as kindly as ever. and no one follows the march of events more closely than does 1 she.
 1 Half English and half French-her parents having been born on different sides of the channel-Mme. Duperron is 1 not only an object of interest, affection and respect to foreigners, but she has a great clientele among the Parisians. For years one Of the most fashionable clubs in the city has sent stylish car-
 riage every night to take her home. Those who have seen here decade af- ter decade. taking in money and never spending any. say she is rich and con- l nected with a noble British family. To this Mime. Duperron responds "Non- sense! have no money. I am only an old woman who, from an advantageous point on busy thoroughfare of the
 most remarkabl city in the world, has had a chance to observe much. have had many experiences. and am content to go on earning my living so until the end, glad to hear the people call me 'auntie' Paris Correspondence New York Wold.