The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-06
French Woman Discusses Affairs
Of the Castellanes.
Children and Money Have Led to
Previous RecOnciliatiOns.
COUNT is HARD CASE
And His American Wife Knows
All About Him.
The Woman i'm the Case Is q
French Duchess.
COUNT is HARD CASE

--~e A-s1N-fh- - 1-J4E IN -AyAlIOllr DuA ~0Atc5
a French woman with very special
means Of knowing the exaet position Of
the affairs of the CasteHane household
said, laughingly:
"They are always separating; then
they make up again. You see, Count
Boni knows pretty well that the Could
millions are quite handy to nave about
the house. and i'm spite of his airs and
graces he is a very practical irdsvidral.
He is the Mauvis Sujet OF the Castellane
family, as was his father before him.
He never made any secret of his ez-
cesses, which are numerous, put because
Of the really great position of an his
belongings. he is tolerated, even If there
IS no secret made of his extravagances.
which are not limited to the splendid
home he and his wife creased-
Just a few months ago he furnished
a superb apartment Nhefe5 wI5sn he
desires, he lives en- garG3n. This estab-
llshment is not dedicated to any special
divinity, but he gathers about him there
q select variety of houris. who happen
ed to charm his, collectively.
Wife Knows Eccentricities.
The gilded youths of Paris tell weird
stories Of the orgies that occur in this
exquisite little cage. Nine. Anna knows
all these little eecentricities, but has
never bothered much about them, for
ces danes are accepted as a necessary
adjunct of the life of most polite rich
Partisan households. What she has Oh
Jected to recently with an unusual
amount of fervor has been the undis-
guised attention of Counte Boni to
Duchesse Dues Marie ThGssse, the
beautiful daughter-in-la.Nz-0 HE famous
old Duchesse, who is familiarity known
as Nine. Satan Comtesse.
The COuntesse BOni could occasion
ally overlook Boni's outrageous Iapses
ln other quarters, but to be insulted for
q grande dame of the Faubourg St.
German was too much for her to sWal-
low. This. L dare say, is the caYse of
this last quarrel, although I don't be-
neVe it is so serious as people say.
Anna, you know, has only been accept
ed and tolerated in Paris because she is
the Count Boni's wife and the mother
Of his two sons.
Family Ignores Wife.
Everybody sympathizes deeply with
the poor Comtesse Anna, but she has
no friends among her husbands peo-
PIE and they shrug their shoulders and
say that the bourgeois paid her money
for a great name,-and she cannot ex-
pect much more. ..-
1T is a strange thing that little
BOni. with his painted face padded
chest, laced waist, and high heels,
should have two of the manifest fell
whole French aristocracy. They look
Efth considerable horror upon the lit
tie an-mOnkey, but still he is accept
ed a all polite houses. His conversa-
ton is anything but edifying and
dare not mention the subjects he
chooses for gossip al dinner tables.
mo French girl is ever allowed to
converse with Boni. 1t is only the sea-
soned mondaine who viii indulge in
condolences with him. He is a curious
specimen OF twentieth century decad-
ence and glories in his disreputable
life and the extra vagances into which
81 leads him.
Thinks Woman Detests Him.
Il think Comtesse Anna honestly
detests him, but she has her children
TO consider, and BOni loves her money.
j don think permanent separa-
ton viii result. They are too depend
ent on each other ana Duchesse
d Uzes cannot afford to have an open
scandal. Were COmtesse Anna to with
draw her money she would undoubted-
ly have her life made miserable for
ever by every member of the CasteI-
lane family.
Had she come over to London she
undoubtedly would have gone to
Claridges, but she always runs away
from Paris when these squabbles are
on, and I don't place much Importance
in that fact"
Goulds in Ignorance.
New York. Feb. 6.-The Goulds pro
1ess entire ignorance of the marital
troubles of their sister and her French
husband.
When the couple left this country.
the countess, who was then in her
eighteenth year had as her share of
the jay Gould estate a fortune of SIS
600, 600. which yielded her an income
OF over 100000 year. This looked
enormous to every one but the count.
but it became evident within a few
months that he intended to show how
to live IN to it.
There wasn't a house in Paris that
was anything like what he wanted
Nothing would do him but a COW of
the Grand IrtanCn at Versailles so for
several years he bent himself to the
task OF producing the copy. He
bought palaces to cut out the mural
decorations and install them in his
Paris mansion. and he ransacked the
continent for the costliest art treasures
to furnish his palace. He built it on
the Bots de Bolcgne While he was
scattering his money Paris laughed
and the Goulds frowned.
He spent a great fortune on the mar
Bile foundations alone. and he was so
afraid that the $500. 600 a wear r,io77t
pile up before he could spend il that he
began to buy almost eve; ythfns- that
was offered to him in the lrt markets
Finally he was sp aldinay aster than tn
$4,000 600 could earn, ana friends of tbs
Casteilanes began to talk about their
debts.
While the palace was being construct
ed the count decided to have in t an
auditorium in which he couli seat kun
oreds OF guests at a d:lu4r. Just ahGBt
this time the first talk of separ7tt N be-
tween him and the countess was heard.
because Wall Street heard 9 ruror that
he was going to lump G great hoard Of
Missouri Pacific stock on the market
Creditors After Him Like Wolves.
Within a couple Of years the art deal
ers and money lenders OF Europe learn
ed that the Castellane fortune, instead
of being inexhaustible. was about to be
exhausted. and that the American
Goulds might not help out their French
brother-in-laW If he did not Ietrench
That precipitated suits. and Suddenly
the say little count, with his wonderful
mansion on his hands, FOUND himself
pursued by creditors who were ss saw