The National tribune., 1906-12-13
PEOPLE.

tali lldt mas u TOP. MISS Annie -. ReCK,
Americas greatest mountain climber,
who has cone everything in Switzer-
land had an overwhelming ambition TO
do Mount HuascGran. in Peru. which
looms up $4,000 feet above sea level.
She started TO make the ascent May "a
accompanied by two men friends and
five half-breeds. One of the friends
backed out soon after the start. and
the other was half crazy and lost her
SIS barometer. However, all this was
nothing to the way the half-bree1
guides acted. After reaching Il hight
of $4,000 feet they refused to go farther
without more pay. and actually started
to desert her. She offered them three
times what she had been giving them,
but they We're so lazy and she had so
much trouble with them that she finally
gave it up and returned to Yungay.
Again, in August the plucky little wo-
man made another attempt, and this
time her troubles with her guides were
even more serious. They drank the al
cohol with which she had provided
herself to heat her food, and they hatly
refused to go to the summit, because Of
their superstition that they would De
turned to stone if they did, so again
she was obliged to abandon her cher
ished project. Miss Peck is sure she
could make the ascent if she could have
Swiss guides. but with these Peruvian
half-breeds she thinks no one could
possibly get to the top. She wished to
prove that Huascaran is the high est
mountain in South America.
The affairs of the Duke and Duchess
of Marlborough still continue to inter-
est the great world The latter has
given up every indication of her high
rank. the ducal crest and livery of the
house of Marlborough, the splendid
china with the family crest. the antique
silver and innumerable other heirlooms
which have been in the family for nun
dreds of years. All these have been
sent back to Bleinheim, and her SER
wants at Sunderland Place now appear
in plain black clothes, instead of the
gorgeous plush breeches, silk stockings
and velvet coats of the Marlborough
livery. 1t seems to be an accepted fact
that there will ultimately be a divorce
and the disposition of the two little
boys the rock of contention between
the Duke and Duchess. 1t was reported
that with the abandonment of every
thing connected with her rank she had
also agreed to give up her children, but
that Is now StrenuOus1y denied. The
Duchess has always been an unusually
fond and conscientious mother, and her
young sons are devoted to her. and are
heart-broken at the idea of being sep
arated from her. The Duke is. how
ever, determined to have the children,
and Is making arrangements to carry
on their education under his control.
There was very pathetic scene the
other day when the children We're or
dered by their father to leave for Blen-
helm a. once He is said to have aged
perceptibly under his troubles. and in
tends to bring his own alleged wrongs
into court when the proper time comes
The Duchess is living quietly in Sunder-
land House, to which has been trans
ferred the modern French furniture
which adorned her boudoir at Blan-
helm, together with other possessions
which We're considered peculiarly hers.
They do say that Count Boni Castel-
lane will soon lead to the hymeneal
altar the divorced wife of Menier, the
chocolate Manufacturer. She is now
a widow and immensely rich, the own
er of . chateau. hotel, yacht, race
horses and has great influence with the
will thus be speedily over, the ugly
black clouds which have lately hung
over him dispelled, the sun of pros
perity will, again shine upon his good
looking, worthless head, and, in short,
Richard will be himself again. His
creditors cases are still being tried, and
fresh instances of the Counts extrava-
gance continue to come to light. one
way of obtaining money successfully
employed by him was to get it from
the Countess's dressmakers, who
squared themselves in the BILL The
Count was openly snubbed recently i'll
the Chamber of Deputies, of which he
is member, when he made a speech
on the Moroccan question Half
dozen of the Deputies Immediately left
the room, but Boni airily continued, not
in Iaa1 1Alc .Ii tod t. tad
he has been engaged to write political
articles for Figaro.
John Alexander Dowie. so-called Eli
jah and once powerful head of Zion.
Is raving maniac His final break
down came while delivering a sermon
in Shiloh House, Dec. ?, before his few
remaining followers. In the midst OF
an incoherent harangue he was taken
out of the room, and ii Is believed that
his end is near. His remarkable career
certainly proves the truth of the saying
that truth Is stranger than fiction"
AS the head of Zion he had a position
of almost incredible power, controlling
the lives and fortunes of his immense
following. Now he finds himself like
Macbeth, bereft OF "honor, love, obedi
ence, troops of friends" for even his
wife and son have deserted him. OF the
SIS, 100000 which he collected in the
II years of his reign, nothing is left
except S6,000,000 of debts
A woman who had done good every
day of her long life passed away Nov.
2S, at the home of her son in Brooklyn
Mrs John Ferguson was known to
Grand Army men as Mother" Fergu-
son. and was the widow of Corpl John
Ferguson, of the 1st n. Y. Lincoln Cav.
She served four years in the hospital
corps of her husbands regiment AS a
nurse. She was wounded in the knee
at Antetam by fragment of a shell.
Since the war she has been active in
Grand Army circles; was n member of
the First Lincoln Cavalry Association.
and leaves son, five grandchildren and
five great grandchildren. Her last days
were embittered by the loss of her
youngest daughter, who was victim Of
the San Francisco disaster. Her funeral
was attended by the Post to which her
husband belonged and to which she had
been all her life actively helpful.
The question of who would succeed
Mr.. Spencer as President of the South
ern has been settled by the appointment
of w. w. Finley, former Second Vice
President. 1t had been rumored that
j. =. Morgan was. going to have Stuy-
vesant Fish elected to the office, partly
to even up an old score between him
and e. II. Hartman. Ever since their
fight over the control of the Northern
Pacific there has been considerable bit
haf hA tirtn