Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1912-05-17


piece of work. Written with great APP
parent frankness, so far as her own
mode of life is concerned. it has. at
the same time, certain reticences, no
tably in her suppression of the names
of all but the greatest of her lovers
in the government and the magistra-
ture. 1t explains many things that
mystified the prosecution and the
world at large, but, on the other hand,
adds some new mysteries to the case,
which certainly give the book all the
qualities OF first-rate detective story
minus the solution. These new mys-
teries will be touched upon later on.
1t may be well here to review briefly
Nine. Steinheil's own account OF ner
childhood and marriage.
Marguerite Japy was born on April
16, 1869, at Beaucourt, a village near
Belfort and the German and Swiss
frontiers. Her father was rich man,
the son of a manufacturer, her moth
er the daughter of an innkeeper at
Montbeliard. Nine Steinheil pic
lures the home life of her parents and
her own childhood as an idyl Of love,
happiness and innocence. Lombroso,
on the other hand, who. no doubt,
drew his data from the Investigations
of the French department of Justice
had 1t that both parents were gross
sensualists and addicted to alcohol1c
excuses, holding them responsible for
wi n which
Nine. Seinheil was accused. There
was also mention of an illegitimate
child born to her in her teens.
In July, 1890, Marguerite Japy mar
ried Alexandra Steinheil. man nearly
twenty years her senior. a painter OF
some merit, but of retiring disposi-
ton. which prevented him from shout
dering his way upward in the world.
He was a nephew of Meissonier, and
poor. The young couple settled IN
Paris, the wife, according to her own
account. beginning at once to advance
her husbands material interests IN
every possible way. Eleven months
later their daughter and only child
was born, Nine. Steinheil leaving the
conjugal roof shortly afterward on
account of some offense on her nus
bands part, which she does not spec
ify, but leaves to the readers mag
nation. She consented. however, to
a formal reconciliation for the sake OF
their child, at the request Of M. B.,
"a famous barrister and attorney gen.
eral," who appears to have been the
first of bewilderingly long success
sion of her elderly, rich aud innuen-
tial friends.
All Sought Her Influence.
my salon was more crowded tnan
ever before. Invitations were snow
cred upon me both from quarters
friendly with the government and
from quarters in league with the oppo-
sition. My friends were legion, and
my enemies-you cannot possess IN
fiuence or power without making enc
greater fiatterers than the
others.
''Then there were men who tried TO
persuade me of this. that or the other
so that / should in my turn persuade
the president, and those who laid traps
for me, men whose entreaties were
disguised threats, whof tried to know
what knew, and who did not seem 10
realize that their ver3 attitude re-
vealed quite plainly then shameless
scheme.
"And I hasten to add that / sided no
more with one party than with an
other"
Faure she describes as ar, ardent pa
triot and an optimist who passed
attacks of deep depression
over conditions in France. The coun-
try, he told her, did not hold its prop
er rank among the great power be-
cause its public men did not come
from the "elite" of the nation, as they
did in England He had unbounded adj
miration for the craftsmanship OF
Clemenceau, but disliked him, and
called him the most dangerous man In
France, adding tersely, land what is
worse. he knows 1t" According to
Nine. Steinheips pages. he expressed
himself to her with amazing frank
ness on the men and the events of the
hour. And often, according. to her, he
formed impossible plans to end cri-
sis. One can well believe the report
that the French government of today
has tried to suppress this book, and
looks forward with anxiety to the eff
feet of it's publication.
Faure's Secrets Were Hers.
Knowing himself to be surrounded
by spies, Faure, fearing that the
manuscript Of his memoirs might be
stolen If kept in his trong box In the
Elysee palace, requested Nine. Stein
he'll to keep it in her own house, sub
stituting dummies for the originals. |
All Paris knew that she entered the
palace on certain days by side door.
No doubt, she says, she was Swallowed,
and the papers thus traced TO her.
With the sudden and mysterious |
death of the president of the republic |
on February 16, 1899. began the turn
o. A -