The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-17
MARIE ANTOINETTE'S WATCH.
MAYBE 1T WAS FOUND ON THE
EAST SIDE, MAYBE NOT.
AZ Amy Rate II Stirred Up the W ireless News
Wizard 70 Activity. and There Il .
watch Anyway OF which Its Told That
the Beheaded Queen Once owned II.

M ANY ttato II StlfTeu y u tue W uciCe9 NcWb
Wizard 70 Activity. and There Il .
watch Anyway Of which IT'S Told That
the Beheaded Queen Once owned IL.
Louis Zeitner, the whirlwind Wireless
News Wizard Of the East Side, was sitting
in his off &c opposite the Essex Marx ct
court yesterday afternoon mournfully
munching his mustache In sorrow. Things
had been going bad in the news line.
Suddenly the wheels Of the wireless
machine hat the Wizard always carries
around with him began to go round and
round, buzzing and sizzling at a great
rate. Hal git It; keep on. IL In a story;
all right calculated the Wizard. biting OF
both ends Of his mustache in his eagerness.
What is it? Mary Ann2 Oh. Mary An
tynett-the French Queen. l remember,
now. There's a story in hat sure. Her
Watchdog up after more than a century
on the East Side of New York; Sure, it's
a story" And turning of the wheels, the
Wiz went forth TO spread the wondrous
tale.
BY the time he had narrated the yarn
TO the third or fourth subscriber TO the
Wireless Wizards News Service it went
something lii e this;
Once uron a time there was a French
Queen by the name Of Mary Antynett.
Who was ri e? l don't know. exert that
she belonged to the Limburger family, that
Of Austria. Well, she had a watch. Fine
watch-with rearls all around II. For some
reason or other they chopT ed her head OF.
l don't know why. and it does seem a funny
way to do with queens-chop their heads
off.
Well. she was great pals with a Portu-
Ree7er He was an Ami assador or some
thing by the name OF Branco, and great
pals. az | said, with Mary Ann-weW call
her Mary Ann for short, help Well, there's
the scat old, and there she stands. all ready
20 have her head chopped of-W it'll regret.
Of course, with regret-and Of a sudden she
pulls this here watch out of her dress and
hands it TO Branco. Here. old pal. here's
sonnet ing to remember me by she says.
"Well. Branco takes II and puts il away
in the family safe. That's a long time ago.
Now here's the funny part Of it.
Il happen to know a ~Portugeeoer by the
name of Branoo. He's a great friend of
mine. We were walking along Canal
street right by Abey Feinberg's pawnshop
and | stopped to look in. I've been looking
for a pair of = lid gold link buttons to
wear on Saturday for about % cents and
l thought I'd see if any in ~Feinberg's win
dow had been reduced to that yet. Well.
| was looking anthem marked 81. Shocking
and wishing and wishing and looking.
All of a sudden Branco grabs me by the
arm. The heirloom of my family he
says. pointing to "A lit lie watch set in a sort
OF harp ,r Tyre with pearls all over it in
the window. And then he tells me this
yarn. He's the great g%ransdOn OF this
Branco, the Queens pal, he says. And to-
day l made up my mind it's true. Anyway
l can furnish you with photographs of the
watch
BY this time the Wizard was beginning
10 believe the yarn III every detail. He
dropped dark hints TO some of his friends
in the fish market along Ridge street. The
market was Instantly in n tiutter with tales
of the treasures that had been discovered
on the East Side. One story had IL that
a large slice of Capt. kidd's treasure had
been dug mp in eXcavating for a tenement
somewhere along East Broadway and that
thc finders were going to make hundreds of
thousands OF it.
All this time n tiny watch, set in a golden
Tyre for a frame, the whole set with pearls
and suspended 10y a slender chain from a
small gold ring, was reposing in the top
drawer of the desk OF David Byt on Of
Byt on Bros, South American exporters
with offices in the Pulitzer Building.
Il am sure ] do not know whether the
watch belonged to Marie Antoinette or not"
said Mr.. Bytton. My friend Freitas de
Branco Of Madeira Portugal, has confided
it TO my carr and all l now Of its history
be tells me. | suppose Mr.. Zeltner has
heard one OF the versions of that story.
"branco says that the watch was once the
property Of Marie Antoinette. Sho gave il
to one of her ladies' of honor somewhere
around 1888. II remained in the possession
Of that lady's family until 1870. In that year
it was Civ en- 10 his reat-srandfather, who
was Ambassador from Portugal to France.
IL was taken to the family home in FunChAl,
Madeira, and remained in the safe there
until about fourteen years ago. IL then
disappeared. and we never knew what had
become Of it until two years ago. when a
Portuguese who had emj grated TO America
returned and told us that one of our servants
had taken the watch from the vault n
gone TO America with IL.
"Branco. who is a great traveller. came
here a week or 10 ago and acting on this
mans information found the man who had
the Jewel and got il back from him, it being
stipulated that the thiefs identity should
not be disclosed m no punishment inflicted.
Branco says nothing about this, except that
the watch was recoI cred on the East Side
In the Tyre and watch are set altogether
l72 pearls. The back Is covered with a sort
Of Venetian mosaic work bearing a mark
sometimes found in jewels of the Hapsburg
family-a cross made by the joining of a
bar and a pole. and the whole surmounted
by an imperial crown. In the dial Of the
watch are the words: -Duchesne Fills
I'VE"