Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-09
SHE MARRIED A DUKE

One of the things which it is hard
for the American citizen of average in
telIigence to understand is the action
OF hard-headed business man like
Levi p Morton in allowing one of his
daughters to become the wife of a
scion of played-out and disreputable
family OF the so-called French nobility.
This occurred a few years ago and the
results as now reported are that, al
though hundreds of thousands of the
New York bankers money have been
transferred to the pockets of the Tai
leyrand- Perigord family for no good
consideration whatever, the arrange
ment is declared by the. people who
have taken the cash to be failure.
The mother Of the young man who
was married to Miss Morton has asked
the pope to annul the marriage, and
Mr. Morton appears to be equally de-
sirous of having it dissolved.
In France as everybody knows such
marriages III high life are regarded as
business affairs, yet as good a business
man as the head of the Morton Trust
Co seems to have been willing to shut
his eyes and go 1t blind" when there.
| came an opportunity to obtain the title
of duchess for one Of his young daugh-
ters. Consider what sort of a bargain
lady, who is called the Duke of Valen-s
cay, is son OF the paretic Prince de
Sagan, who has been content for many
| years to remain in the background,
while his wife, known as the Duchess
1 de Talleyrand and also as the Princess
| de Sagan, has figured with great prom
! inence in French society. Gossip has
made very free with the names Of these
| people for a long series Of years. and
/ certainly it was not difficult to know
what was said about them. One of
| the sons was convicted Of forgery some
years ago and served a year and a
| half in Jail. Another brother, Charles
| Maurice de TallyTand-Perigo has
been divorced by two American wives,
Miss Ehzabketh Curtis of New York,
4 was number one, and she obtained her
| divorce in 1886 He then married Mrs
/ Frederick Stevens, who ran away from
i a splendid home in New York to marry
! him. She obtained divorce from him
1 early this year on the ground of mis-
4 behavior. A great deal might be said
about this "noble'' family, but very
little Of 1t would prove edifying!
/ Tt was reported when the marriage
4 of Miss Morton took place in 1901 that
\ the young man was very rich, but in
la short time Mr. Morton was called
upon to advance, 100000 to save an
ancestral estate for the family. Mr.
MortoIl's allowance to his daughter
was $4,000 a year which went, OF
course, to keep the Tolleyrand Peri
gord-de Sagan family pot boiling. Now,
after investing about million of dol
i lars in this illustrious collection of
French degenerates, the aged banker
lis staying in Paris at the house where
his daughter has taken refuge, and
where he finds it necessary to remain
i in order to protect her from bodily
+ harm.
II Wouldn't a marriage with a poor
but respectable young American have
lbeen q good deal better and a good
deal more comfortable for this family
of rich New Workers? We suppose
that alliances of the Valencay- Morton
variety will continue to be made, but
we do wish our countrymen would be
little more cautious and business
like in picking out their ducal sons-.n-
Ilaw-HartfOrd Times