The San Francisco call., 1908-04-22
STUDENTS FIND
WOMAN'S BODY
IN Open GRAVE
Mystery of Famous French
Nurses Disappearance
May Be Solved
Many Believe Costly Casket
Contains Remains of
Eugene Clogenson
Romance of Exile and His COm=
panion May Have New
Chapter Revealed
SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE CALL
PALO ALTO, April 21.-Through
the grewsome discovery today by
some Stanford students of an open
grave on the Stanford estate, with
rich casket containing the body of
beautiful, magnihcently dressed wo-
man, exposed by the hand or some
vandal, new chapter may be added
to the romance of the famous rene
gade Frenchman, Peter Coutts, the
memory of whose life fingers as one
of the most noted traditions of pre-
days.
The investigation which is sure to
follow the discovery of the well pre-
served body in its ancient casket it
is believed may reveal the secret of the
mysterious disappearance years ago of
the dashfng, talented woman who was
known in the then sparsely settled val
ley as the companion OF the owner of
the Matadero rancho, when the plains
and the rolling foothills that were
later to be purchased by Senator Stan
ford and still later to become the seat
of great university were still the do
main and the stronghold of the half
mad fugitive from France.
FIND OPEN GRAVE
A party of students. walking from
one Of the fraternity houses on the
university campus over cemetery hill
nesr San Franeisquito creek came upon
the open grave this afternoon. When
and by whom the grave was opened is
a mystery, but when found the dirt
had been removed and the leaden top
of the casket was turned back.
an aperture in the casket.
which had once contained a sheet Of
glass, was visible the face of the
corpse, fresh and we'll preserved.
though every evidence pointed to the
fact that the coffin has been in the
earth for many years.
A closer examination OF the casket
showed that it was made OF the heav-
lest metal and was OF marvellous work
manship The womans body within
the coffin was strikingly beautiful and
dressed in grave habiliments of the
richest texture.
The find was reported to the author
tiles and an attempt will be made to
establish the identity OF the body.
MAY BE ExILE's COMPANION
The antiquarians about the univer-
sity have suggested many theories to
account for the presence of such q rich
sepulcher in such a place and the most
plausible of these is that it is the
body of Eugene Clogenson, the COM
panion and confidential adviser of
Peter Coutts, the eccentric French
exile. who was reputed to have stolen
$4,000 from the French govern
ment Coutts was paymaster of the
armies of France at the time of the
Franco -Prussian war, and 1t is deemed
certain that he decamped with large
sum before that conflict was over.
BUYS HUGE ESTATE
He bought Matadero ranch and the
his invalid wife. two children and
Eugene Clogenson.
He bought Matedero ranch and the
deed was made out in the name Of
Eugene C1ogenson. A large deposit
was also maintained In the woman S
name in a Sam Francisco bank. Under
the direct control of Eugene Clogen-
son, who seems to have been a woman
of marvellous business capacity, those
works which have made the French
mans name famous about Stanford uni
versity were carried on. Immense barns
were constructed, and blooded stock
was imported. A running track was
built and the horses raced there aft
erward became the nucleus of the ia
nous Palo Alto stock farm The
medieval brick tower with its quaint
and an artificial lake which is now one
of the show features of the Stanford
estate was constructed
Trees were planted on the two hills
near the rear entrance of the campus
and it was planned to erect twin
chateaux on them. but the exile, chief
Iy through the efforts OF his cousin.
Baronee Burdett-C Coutts. was allowed
to return TO France before they could
be started
JEALOUS OF WOMAN
Madame Coutts was insanely jealous
of Eugene clogenson, who was nomi-
naIiy the nurse of her children. but
in reality the companion OF Coutts
and head of his establishment. To
break the nurses power Madame
Coutts conspired with the French con-
sui at San Francisco and Baroness
Rnffor. CoIur~.v o