Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-08

<wY YHEN rich person dies any
= where there is pretty sure TO
AF be a squabble over his money
WV But apparently the Duchess
Bevalacqua la Masa was not
content to take the ordinary chances OF
having her memory kept-alive by litiga-
ZION She died recently leaving fortune
OF % 100000 lire-in American money SZ'oOo'-
Goa prodgious sum for Italy, where Il
lire goes as far a dollar Will In the
United States. To insure big fight for II
she left a most singular will She lett heF
Yuouey to charlty-or to her heirs, II they
could prove they were her heirs.
As the duchess doubtless foresaw, her
will has started q tremendous scrimmage.
No less than fifty claimants have already
entered the lists IN the battle for her o.
100000 lire. and some OF them certainly
would not hesitate to tell that many Hes to
get It. They constitute a motley assem-
blage. Among them are tramps. beggars
and mouutebanks, youths struggling to &C
Quire an education and old men whose lives
have been chiefly devoted to forgetting all
they ever learned at school. and ugly old
women, and pretty young ones. and chill
dreu not yet old enough to know the value
Of money. Most Of them are very poor. but
even those who are absolutely penntess
and whose claims to kinship with the DEAD
duchess rest on the most shadowy founda-
lions can still find lawyers to take up their
cases for them. or course. the charities
which will benefit so largely II no heirs are
found are conducting a most determined
fight against one and all the claimants.
-
Incidentally, the contest has led to the
discovery that the Identity OF the duchess
is ghrouded in mystery. II is not positively
known who was her father or who was her
mother. or whether she really married the
duke whose name she bore. Beautiful.
rich charitable she figured for years as
one OF the best-known women in ltaly' ana
now her friends have learned, with shock
OF surprise. that they really Knew very
little about her. That has led 10 the con-
yfction mat her motive In leaving such a
strange will was not primarily TO preclpi-
tate a fight for her millions, but to secure
the unrayeling OF the mystery that sur
rounds her birth and antecedents. So far it
has not been cleared up, but enough has
been disclosed 20 show that her story Is
most romantic one.
isis to 1910 a girl known as Felicia Zaran-
tonello Bevalacqua lived at Naldagno in
the house OF q lawyer, Bettino Bevalacqua,
as a member of his family. She was excep-
tlonaily beautiful amiabIe and good. but
the rest Of the household showed the
strongest aversion to her.
In the answer to that question probably
lies the solution of the mystery or her own
p3rentdge. W ny should they nave ulslikeQ
one who was admired and made much OF
by all the rest OF the VILLAGE It renders
plausible the explanation which has been
advanced 10 account for !tz-that she was
linked with discreditable chapter in the
he OF Eevalacqua-that her existence was
proof that he had not always been the emf
nentiy respectable man he appeared TO be-
and on this account his wife and other
children resented her presence among them
No record has been found OF her birth.
Who was her mother has never been salts
sacterily proved
whatever may have been the cause of the
beautiful Felicita's unpopularity with the
rest OF the household. curious neishbors
saw her leave the house one day weeping
bitterly. and enter a waiting carriage The
spectacle caused a sensation. There was
not a young man IN Vaiagno who weulG not
gladly have jumped at the chance to