River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-05-28

duke Of Lambay" was phrase which
was often uttered by the lips of the
gamins of Paris.
II the grOtesque appearance OF his
mansion was such as to awaken sus-
picions of the owners insanity, one
might infer upon second thoughts
that there was method in his madness
and that he hoped to inspire fear
thereby in the minds of his enemies
And the number of those enc
mics was legion, ranging from
the lowest to the highest mem
bers of society. Not only did
his chosen associates of the gutter
hate him, but his family ever treas
ured resentfully the memory of the
fraud by which, when cast out of his
duchy, the discrowned prince succeed
which rightfully belonged to the
crown.
But the duke was far too cunning
to rely entirely upon the outside ap-
pearance of his forbidding lair and the
man traps that lurked here and there
in the grounds, for protection. Ere
a hostile step could approach his
apartments thousand bells would
startle the air with their brazen
clangor. Every door was equipped
with a bell and all of these doors
converged towards the bedroom and
private study of the duke. In the
rear of these two rooms reposed the
strong box which contained the dia-
monds. And here a row Of loaded pis-
tolls communicated by unseen wires
with electric bells.
Should a careless hand unwilling
ly press one of the buttons which op-
Grated the alarms a sheet of flame
and volley of bullets would scorch
and shatter the luckleSs intruder
The ghoul-like appearance of the
possessor of this great treasure was
such as to shock the sensibilities of
the most hardened citizen. His age
was an unsolved problem guarded by
q mask of paint that lent a frightful
| fiXity to a set of cadaverCus features
encircled by false whiskers and sur
mounted by wig of nondescript
color. In his movements he resem-
bled an immense puppet, walking with
tense, jerky steps as though every
stride were controlled by invisible
strings worked by a concealed opera
| tor. A curious rattle, caused by the
striking against his corset steels of
chain mail shirt which he wore
constantly as a protection against the
possible stab of an assassin, awoke
in the mind of the observer the no
ton of living skeleton
Living as he did the person of this
erratic nobleman was an object of no
small solicitude to the police of Paris
who were constantly called upon to
extricate him from the intrigues and
/ plots of the ruffianly partakers of his
! pleasures. 1t might be imagined that
he must inevitably have fallen vic
tim to some of the many schemes
| Matched by those DESTROYS of acquiring
| his wealth, but though the perils to
which he was exposed We're numerous
and deadly it pleased an inscrutable
/ providence to enable him to avoid the
| pitfalls which surrounded him. Nor
were there wanting instances where
! this degraded scion of a noble house
was compelled to appear before the
authorities in the role of a defend
ant In most of these cases the duke
was selected as an object for black
mail, but on one occasion at least
there was scant doubt of his guilt.
! Among his servants there was a
pretty young English lass named Ellen
Crosby who had not been long in his
service before attracting the admira-
ton of the duke, who made advances
to her which were Indignantly spurned
by the girl, the latter evidently being
a different type from the class of fe-
males that usually belonged to his
/ grace's household Exactly what
Eranspired within the walls of the
gloomy mansion after Ellen repulsed
her master was never brought to
light. but the fact remains that on
! the morning of November 20, 1863,
| her lifeless body was discovered ly-