The Washington times., 1905-07-16
BEATRiX VINANS
AND HER TITLE
Claimed She Is Only Frac-
tiOnal Princess.
FURTHER TANGLES DETAILED
Was Once Feared Prince de Sagan
Would Denounce Bridegroom
at Altar.
FURTHER TANGLES DETAILED

gest that Miss BeatriX Winans married
the Prince de Bearn only that she
might have the right of bearing the
title ot Princess de Chalais, one may sup
pose that she was not averse to the
prospect. But what are the facts?
Supposing that the courts do not for
maily prohibit her from using the title,
winch might very Well be, Miss Winans
could never be anything more than the
third part Of the Princess of Chalais.
There are, in fact, three persons who
now have some right to this. one of the
most glorious titles of France
First-There is the Prince de Sagan,
the eldest of the house of Talleyrand-
Perigord, who claims to be properly in
vested with the title by royal decree
dating from the fourteenth century
Second-There is the Prince d'Aren-
berg, who says TO his nephew, the Prince
de Bearn: IF the right to the title
comes as you claim from a Spanish
title of nobility, it is not to you but to
me that 1t belongs, as 1t is attached to
the estate. and I am proprietor of the
domain of Chalais'
Third-There is the husband of Miss
Winans who claims the title by virtue
of having descended in direct line from
the female branch of those to whom the
title first belonged. nobilities having no
sex.
Such is one position of this strange
affair
Still Other Complications
Another queer complication OF tllis
AFFAIR is that all of us who attended
the wedding-whicl took place at St.
Clotilde's-were more or less excited
f,x-e1,- ff,x1
would carry out his threat and formally
denounce the bridegroom at the altar as
al imposter If he persisted in his inten-
ton of being married as the Prince &c
Bearn ct de Chalais. The f1re-eatfng
dc Sagan was not present, however,
although it is quite possible there may
Yet be a duel between the rival claim
ants.
In a statement which the Prince de
Bearn issued just before his marriage
defending his title against the claims
OF the Prince de Sagan, the bridegroom
asserts that his bride comes of titled
family. Here is what de Bearn says:
Monsieur Ross Winans is the chief
OF the elder branch of the house of
Ninans, descending from Jean Winans,
lawyer, of Anvers, born in $780, and
whose sons established themselves in
i
is descended from the Viscomte Goswin
ssVf8ans, OF whom mention is made in
the history of Brabant, written in the
fifteenth century,
A Daring Authoress.
Each year Countess Matthew de
Noailfes produces a novel or a volume
OF poetry. Last year she acquired fame
through the publication of a volume
which she entitled lie Visage Emer-
yoiile, in which shs showed us young
nun haunted by sentimental notions
and engaged III all coaceiva BILE love in
trigues. This book had caused consid-
cradle scandal in the world to which
the countess belongs, and, for that mat
ter, in pretty much all intelligent cir
ples in the French capital.
But her last years book was mere
nothing as a shocker compared with her
latest production. Domino ton"
Here the author shows us all the pas
sions of which mans heart is capa-
bic. 1t is not necessary to point out
that some Of them are far from proper,
and it must be admitted that, to say
the least, Countess Matthew de Noailles'
last novel is frankly immoral. Decid-
edly, the longer i live the more con-
rinced ! become that women We're
created to be mothers. not writer's.
Serving Warning of Death
The unfortunate Russian proprietors
have been reduced to pretty pass,
About a week ago u good woman, If
ever there was one, widow, and
adored by all her tenants and people,
and the benefactress of crowds Of mis-
erabie beings who never asked in vain
for her charity, was waited upon by a
deputation from the village over which
she ruled, and when the deputation was
received they addressed her in the fol-
loving words:
Little mother, you know how much
we love you. You have always been the
most generous and amiable of mis-
tresses. We should be ready at any
other time to give our lives for yours.
But now if the Revolutionary Com
mittee should order US to assassinate
you we should do it. because for us the
committees orders are law
Therefore it is, little mother, that
we come to implore you, before they
speak in this sense, to go away"
And with all kinds of deferential gem
tleness. with the tears in their eye>.
these good folk conducted their bene-
factress to the nearest station. where
she took a train for abroad. The
heroine of this true story is Princess
Emerytinsky, one OF the greatest ladies
of Russia, and who is regarded as the
personiffcation Of charity.
Perennial Queen of Fashion.
Countess MeIanie Pourtales holds un-
disputed sway over fashionable Paris.
and though other queens may come and
go she is always the leader when II
comes to organizing social entertain
nents This year she closed the sea-
son with a grand ball. Never has her
beautiful home IN The Rue Tronchet been
more superbly decorated To receive her
guests than il was upon that occasion.
Il seemed on crossing her Threshold as
il one had suddenly entered some en-
chanted palace of the Arabian Knights.
From the entrance door 10 the last long
garlands of roses and hortensias. in
which the flowers were OF glass, III up
by an electric current hung in graceful
curves across the ceiling and encased
the doors and windows. The effect was
such as the most famous fairy prin-
cesses in the children's books might
have enyied.
Countess Melanie PourtaIes has ali her
lfe long been celebrated in Paris as
besu'tfyins everything she touched. and