The Washington herald., 1911-02-18
Can Gambling be A Abohshed atMonte Carlo

I Honore, who died in 1S41. and Florestan,
who succeeded him and who during the
reign of Emperor Napoleon, earned his
| livelihood as an actor in Paris, marrying
Caroline Gilbert. daughter of a Partisan
| ''delicatessen'' vender. The ex-actor and
the pork butchers daughter are, there
fore, the grandparents of the present
| ruler of Mona
This actor prince and his plebeian wife
are the only occupants of the throne
of Monaco, who seem to have ever lived
happily together. The matrimonial expert
ences of all OF the others have been un-
fortunate. mis- fact is recalled by an
aged tree in the courtyard in the palace
square at Monte Carlo, known as the
Tree of knowledge" 1t received its name
during the reign of Prince Honore 1,
who was married to Mile. de Gramont.
Not being fond of Monaco, nor her hus-
band, she returned to Versailles, declin-
ing to style herself Princess Of Monaco,
but using one of her husbands minor
titles, that Of Duchess OF Valentinois.
She was greatly courted and every now
and then stories would reach Monaco Of
her conquests- This exasperated her hus-
to prevent her indiscretions, or to keep
her within bounds. But he had his re-
venge in another way.
Whenever his spies brought reports
from Paris of some new "affaire de couer"
on the part of the duchess and a de-
scription OF her new favorite full-sized
dummy to portray the latter was man.
ufactured. and hung by the neck to one
of the branches OF this particular tree
in the palace square. The prince then
summoned all his loyal subjects. and it
was their duty to pelt this dummy coun-
terpart of the successful rival of their
monarch with mud. In course OF time the
dummies on the tree became 50 numer-
Gus that a special gallows had to be
erected around 1t, until the matter finally
was brought to the attention OF Louis
XIV Of France by his then favorite Nine.
de MalntenOn, whose religious ''princi-
pies it offended. Accordingly. a special
mission was dispatched to Monte Carlo,
which resulted in the disappearance of
the galIOws and also of the dummies
from the tree, which latter, however
remains, and is known to this day as
the Tree Of knowledge"
The present prince has been married
twice. His first wife was Lady Mary
Hamilton. sister of the late Duke of
Hamilton, to whom her son, Crown
Prince Louis OF Monaco, bears a con-
siderable resemblance. Prince Albert be-
haved so badly to her that she was COM
PEELED to fee with her baby boy, who
would have been torn from her arms
At Florence by the Italian police at the
instance of her husband. had it not
been for the intervention of Grand Ouch
,ss Helen Of Russia, who took the grief
stricken mother and her child under her
protection. The marriage subsequently
was arnuIled by the Vatican, on the
ground that Lady Mary had been forced
into the match against her will by her
mother. who was a Princess of the reign
ing house Of Baden, and by her cousin.
Napoleon III. Lady Mary now is the
wife OF Count Tassile Festitics, one Of
the greatest mobiles Of Hungary.
Although her marriage to Prince Albert
of Monaco was annulled, the son was
declared legitimate. He is now the
crown prince He served a number OF
years in the French army, chiefly in
the ChaSseUrs d'Afrique. He was popu-
lar with his comrades, is unaffected and, !
owing to an ENHANCEMENT with a Nine |
Louvet, got into unpleasant notoriety, !
through his efforts to obtain !
control OF his daughter, now about
twelve years old. He never was we'll
treated by his father and became in
volved in debts, whereupon the father |
published an advertisement in all the
Partisan and Continental papers, an
that he would not be respons- |
ible for his sons liabilities.
FLASEUR-
Copyright 1911, BY Mcclure Newspaper syndicata)