Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-10
HAUNTED BY GHOSTS
Strange Stories Told of the
Chateau of Malmaison.
HOME OF. JOSEPHINE
A TUENING POINT IN THE CA
REER OF NAPOLEON.
How the History of All Europe Might
Have Been Changed
On June 90.
HOME OF. JOSEPHINE
cial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| PARIS. September %. 1903.
| Here are some strange facts which. at
| the least show how a present-day financial
speculation may be injured by the ghost OF
a mighty past. At the most, put the word
ghost in the plural; and they will be the
| shades of the great Napoleon. Josephine
and some of their faithful followers, Gid
ing in the twilight through the groves Of
an historic park two miles from Paris, and
once each year on June 30. as evening
steals on, standing dmly in the darkening
parlor of a chateau that has this week be-
come a public French museum, in the atti-
tudes of last almost unknown historic
drama.
The chateau is the chateau of Malmaison,
back in its grounds behind stone wall, on
! the broad, shady, ancient royal road from
| Paris to ST. German. Today an ignoble
but hustling little steam tramway line
passes it. So do many automobiles and
few bicycists who, as evening steals on, do
| it scorching There is something in the air
| that scares you. 1 myself have felt it
| cycling out at VeSinet.
Here In this low-roofed. rambling villa
chateau Josephine spent her life after the
| divorce from the great Napoleon Here
| after taking a boat ride with the invading
Russian emperor. May %, 1914. Here
she and Napoleon had spent happy days
in his first time of power consul From
| Malmaiscn he led his generals to the con-
quest Of all Europe. Returning to Malmai-
son. they rested, feasting. And after his
abdication-after Waterloo. when Butcher
was close on Paris-it was here at Malmai-
son that last chance came to him unex-
| pectedly; and here he lost 1t by trif1ins
accident occurring far away. 1t Is in
shadowy scene from this last tragedy that
| the ghosts are said to pose.
History of Malmaison.
At the present moment Malmaison is
empty. Josephine had purchased it in 1888
After her death It remained the property of
her children, Eugene and Hortense. Under
the restoration Eugene sold most of the
park and transported the furniture to Mu-
Mich In 1925 a Swedish banker bought the
| chateau and remaining grounds. In 1912
it fell into the hands of the eX-Queen Chris
| tina of Spain. Later Napoleon III bought
| it. And after his fall it was sold to Mad
anne Doria. who held it thirty years and
| then sold it 70 Monsieur Daniel Osiris
about five years ago.
OF all these Madame Doria was the only
! one to resolutely try to live at Malmason.
The ex-Queen- Christina. after several at
! tempts to use it AS country villa gave it
| up to a caretaker; while the Swedish ban
ker had openly held the property as but a
pouS investment, and Napoleon III con-
tinued the trust for obvious family reasons.
Madame Dorfa strong woman and
| strange one, did really live at Malmaison,
for periods extending over many years.
Again and again 1t was observed that she
| would quit the place for equally long pc
RODS Breath-bated gossip had long ago
| attached an uncanny reputation to both
| house and grounds. Madame Doria had
1 SPOKEN strangely but equivocally of these
matters on a few occa sions, Being on the
| Riviera or in Paris; and in the vague lc-
gend there Is testimony of a nephew of
hers that she often threatened never to re-
! turn to Malmaison-Sayingt that sit was no
place for any one to live and keep his rea-
| SON." $50
| Certainly. time grew on, Madame
| Doria grew stranger; and with her grew
also strange" the two old servants, man
| and wife, with whom she lived alone, for
| the most part, while occupying the historic
| chateau. In particular it was observed
that never once, in all the thirty years she
owned Malmaison. had she permitted either
friends or relatives to visit her in it during
the last week of June the first week OF
| July Finally 1t should be noted that as
might well be imagined from her clinging
to the place. Madame Doria was an ardent
BOnapartfst.
Presented to the Republic
Monsieur Daniel Osiris. a Paris Million
aire and given to the cult of Bonaparte
| bought MalWaison from Madame Doria
during her last Illness. He has always de-
clared-and the world believes him-that
he bought it for the pious purpose of pre-
senting it to the republic as kind of Bona
| parte museum He had never dreamed of
occupying the chateau. When he says this
| he says 1t with a peculiar gravity; and
| there reAhose who affirm that Madame
! Doria told him extraordinary things con-
| corning what occurs in the small parlor
near the central door in the late twilight of
each Goth of June This in particular
| Five years ago. few months after 1t
became his property NJ. Osiris presented
Malmaison to the republic The republic
asked for time to think about it. There
are natural reasons why its present lead
ers hesitate to revive anything like Bona
| partist sentiment. They hesitated five
the public. they accepted Malmaison as
property of the republic" This was only
last week. One of these days they will put
| a few guards in 1t and admit the public as
| to Versailles and Fontainebleau between
the hours of 10 and O'clock
| Years ago. while Madame Doria was still
living her strange lonely life at Malmaison
Mr. Edward Tuck. one of the best-kno
of Americans In Paris. purcha sed the cha
teau of VertMont. close by for summer
residence. and was delighted with the situa-
! ton Being practical. he cast his eyes on
the surroundings. For the most part they
were composed either of the then remain
ing park grounds of Malmaison or grounds
bought up by Josephine to add to them and
sold by her son, Eugene Beauharnais in
the restoration.
Bought by an American.
Little by little Mr.. Tuck bought up strips
Of these properties until he came to own
most all the land which had been the fine
old park known to Napoleon when he and
his generals. with the ladies of the consul
| late and early empire, made of 1t the bril-
liant scene that many a French painter has
revived. Attached to Malmaison itself
there remained scarcely more than two
| wide strips of park. extending from the
chateau to the park gates on the high road.
The one practical thing now would have
been to exploit this lively and historic cor
ner-the more so from the fact that its
| long desertion through three-quarters of a
century had permitted lordly trees to grow
up in 1t and It's natural scenery to become
| unrivaIed In all the suburbs of Paris Mr.
Tuck had but to cut 1t up into small villa
sites and sell them wisely to the proper
kind Of people, to make financial specula-
". aN-k nla