New-York tribune., 1909-12-29
S0LANGE TO WE'D
Ducat Coronet for De Lesseps's s
Fauo1tc Daughter.

nounced, was the favorite child and IN
the closing years of his life the constant
companion OF old Ferdinand de Lessons
the creator of the Sucz Canal She came
with him TO America as am extremely
pretty little girl. on the occasion of his
last visit TO the United States in his vain
attempt TO interest American capitalists
I'm his Panama Canal enterprise. shortly
before the collapse Of the company which
he had organized, and will he remembered
by mast OF those who met him here at
that time She is his only remaining un-
married daughter, and since the loss OF her
mother. a couple of years ago has sr,ert
much Of her time with her kinswoman. the
Empress Eugenie. in he South of France
and IN England. One of her sisters is
married To the Co1nte de Miramon, another
70 Baron Prosper de La Grange the third
10 The tomte de La Begassiere and the
fourth to the Baron Louis de La Gaze
The relationship of the De Lesseps fam
lily to Empress Eugenie arises from the
fsct that old Ferdinand de Lesseps's
mother and the grandmother of Empress
Eugenie were sisters. They were both
daughters of Henri Grevigny. who was the
head of a thriving grocery business at
BruSes in Belgium. OF Grevigny's two
daughters, one married a French officer of
of the creator of the Suez Canal, and the
other became the wife Of a native of Bel
fast named kirkpatrick, who was the nm
paid United States Consul at Malaga where
ne was engaged in trade as buyer for a
number OF Belfast and Dublin grocers 1t
was on one of his visits to America in con-
nection with his business that hessecured
the appointment of 7-nited States Consul
al Malaga
Only when the CoTnte de GIontijo became
infatuated with one of the daughters of
Consul kirkpatrick did the latter put for
ward pretensions TO lineage and blueness
Of blood in order TO overcome the opposi-
ton raised by the Montijos to a member
Of their house marrying his daughter on
the ground that it was a mesalliance He
claimed the nobility of the Netherlands
for the Grevignys although the latter
had been IN trade for generations: honest
retail merchants, figuring as such in the
guilds Of Liege and of Bruges He also
insisted that he himself belonged TO the
Scottish house OF Kirkpatrick of Closburn
2 claim which was Indignantly denied by
the late Sir Charles kirkpatrick of Clos
burn. sixth baronet, and likewise by his
SUCCESSORS, the seventh and eighth bar
onets the chiefs oe the Kirkpatrick clan
OF Closburn.
Solange de Lesseps in marrying Don Fer
nardo Mesia V Stuart is wedding a rela-
i've. Fer the young fellows mother, the
DCchess Of Tamanes, is a sister of the
late Duke OF alba, and her mother was
Empress Eugenie's elder sister, married
&c the fifteenth Duke of Alba. The future
Duke of Tamanes is. therefore ike SoIange
DE Iesseps. descended from Henri Grevigny
the Bruees grocer. Empress Eugene is
very much attached TO her niece, the Ouch
ess of Tananes. and TO the latters hus-
band, the duke. and is credited with having
been the fairy godmother who mas brought
about the marriage between their son and
her favorite. Solange de Lessers. Tie
Duke Of Tamanes win be recalled by many
here as having accompanied the Infanta
Eulalie when she visited this country at
the time of the Columbian celebration TO
represent the kingdom of Spain at the
festivities in connection Herewith AL
though he is now somewhat elderly, and
impresses mere acquaintances with the
possession of all that gravity and i'm
pressiYe dignity which We are wont 10
associate with lie grlndees Of ;he old
Spanish nobility. yet he has a very keen
sense of humor, and during the lifetime
of Alfonso MI vas his boon companion
IN all sorts of merry pranks.
One one occasiCn-it was during the last
few days before the beginning of Lent
the King complained to the duke that the
carnival was frightfully duh, and that Of
al duh things in Madrid there was moth
ing that he found more Greary than the
Cabinet meetings. one of which was sched-
uIed for the following morning. The duke
took the matter 10 heart, and the next
DAY when the King entered the council
chamber to take his seat at the head of the
table around which the Cabinet officers
.Ial L..
with laughter al the spectacle presented
by one of their number, namely. the Min
lister OF Agriculture, over whose head and
shoulders The Duke of Tamanes had un-
expectedly dropped large sack of -four,
from which he was endeavoring in vain TO
dissngage himself. scattering the -four
about in every direction. Like a sensible
man when released from the sack he
joined in the merriment, and on that day,
al any rate, the Cabinet meeting was far
from dull. In fact, the amusement afforded
by the aspect of the Minister of Agri-
culture was so great that but little buss-
Itsss was accomplished
For time the Duke Of Tamanes was
Governor of Madrid, and. as such, chief OF
the metropolitan police. While in Office
of those mysterious murders took place
which completely nonplussed the ordinary
police officers. Their superintendent, visit
ing the duke one morning to report that
progress had been made in the discovery
OF any cIews found Tamanes surrounded
10y yellow paper-covered novels of Gaboriau
dealing with the adventures of Lecocq,
that French prototype of Sherlock Holmes.
The duke, seeing the superintendent's gaze
directed toward the novels, declared that
he had found therein what he believed TO
be cIew 10 the mystery. 1t was followed
up by the superintendent with immediate
success, it being ultimately discovered that
the criminal, man OF birth and breeding
had also been constant reader of Ga
boriau's books, and that he had found in
one of them the inspiration for the extraor-
dinary ingenuity which he displayed in the
preparation of his crime and in the con-
cealment of its traces.
This incident often recurs to me as an
illustration OF the harm which NAV be
done by novels of the Gaboriau and Sher-
lock Holmes order. furnishing, as they do,
ideas 10 criminals which might not other
wise have occurred TO them. and it may be
questioned whether this disadvantage is in
any way set off or atoned for by the fact
that occasionally the head Of a police de-
partment may find in the perusal of these
novels clew to the perpetrator of some
mysterious deed Of evil.