The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-04
From a Letter By Henry Watterson the Louisville Courier-Journal.

the Louisville Courier-Journal.
 RsENE IJJPIN, it will be remem- A bered, impersonating a French
 4 ! duke who has died in the wiids of Africa. deceives not only his family and friends, but his fiancee' Arthur Orion. the butcher of Mapping, actually duped old Lady Tichborne into the De- lief that he was her long-lost son. me nresent incident in real life seems cut out of the self-same cloth.
 An actual warrant was the other day issued for the arrest of person known AS the Marquis de Roquefeuille' re- siding in the fashionable rue Pierre Charron. in the gay French capital The charge against him was forgery of official papers, bigamy and swindllng. When the police arrived he hads got wind of the proposed visit ana hao ouitted Paris. He was supposed 10 pc III Brussels where detectives were sent 10 arrest him. But, quite as nimble as Lup- in. he had disappeared from the Beigiafl capital. and. as it now appears, had come to Luxembourg
 If seems that member or the
 Roouefeuille family, having heard that a "Marouis de Roquefeuille' had recent ly married, whereas the last Marquis oe Rouuefeuille had died in Algeria Ill lsss, made an inquiry and then lodged com
 plaint with the police. When questioned the Marquis Roquefeuille' said that
 while travelling in Algeria he had los' his papers and that the person who found them had died under his name in the nos nItal of Algiers. Then the police got husv. It did not take them long to run tbe "Narouis' to earth. They now have his whole career. He certainly played hold game. It seems that he lived some years in the rue des Batignolles under the name of Paul Reiss, alias Le T1sser- and. His brother, Henri Reiss, Of the avenue de Clichy, occasionally came to
 see him in the rue Pierre-Charron, pass ing as a friend named Gallet. They cer- tainlv manage such comedies very deftly | in France sS
 Truth is stranger than fiction. The
 mans life story which the police hunt this brought to light does recall in some par ticulars the Tichbone case. The son or a | wine merchant named Reiss, our Samuei Rrohe. alias Arsene Lupin, alias the Mar ouis de Roauefeuille. passed an equaiiy adventurous life, being in turn fnancier' planter in South America, Trappist monk, explorer and journalist. Whilst in Algiers he made the acquaintance of the real Marquis de Roquefeuille, subsequently shut up in a lunatic asylum. Here he died. On his deathbed the Marquis, hav-
 ing a lucid interval, unwisely handed his | identification papere' to Reiss. with re- | quest to give them to the Marquis fam- I iy. After the real Marquis died Reiss' following the example of Brohe and Lup- in. assumed his identity.
 1 If is not known precisely when he ap- .oropriated the title of his dead friend
 but A few years ago it is certain that he made his appearance in society as the
 Marquis de Rouuefeuille and became inn
 mensely popular Good lookins' wei
 dressed and a devotee of sport, ne
 moved in the best circles and finally married a wealthy widow. Mime. de
 Boumene, who lad a splendid fiat in the rue Pierre Charron and owned cha | teau at Paimboeuf. Here the Marquis and his wife entertained largely and made
 themselves universally liked
 It was only when the brother of the
 real Marquis. who had died in the lunatic
 asylum, called on the self-styled Marquis
 that things began to be cloudy He
 traved 1t out protesting that he was real
 ly the brother of his visitor, and basins
 his claim on the papers he produced. The
 brother although half convinced, as ne had not seen his weak-mnded reiatiV'
 for many years, resolved to keep tap OH the movements of this new addition to tne
 family. Then the marriage to the r'c'
 widow transpired Finally he became sat
 ished that the nterloper was 1rauo and the order of arrest was issued t' find the Marquis non est comeatious skipped, absquatuiated, "out ana gon' like Rangers eye Nowhere, except in France, could suci a comedy have had an extended pos
 session of the stage. Reiss would hav' been brought to bay in London within
 nonth.l Even in New York the boy
 would have been Ion to him." Titulal
 arlstocracy having gone out in France
 makes a certain opportunity for impos
 ture and impostors. A few of the St