News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-02-05

| tune, ne Instituted the Giided lam
ing Palace That Now Wins Million,
Yearly For Its Wealthy Owners.
Francois Blanc, an ex-convict from
Homburg, bought the principality OF
Monaco, boots and baggage. The gen
lus of gambling had claimed many al
Individual, many noble and his estate
and not infrequently an entire city
but it had never before underta ken
such a conquest as this.
Francois Blanc is one of the most re-
markable of all soldiers of fortune. OF
his early history little is known. He
was seized by the authorities of HON.
burg for having made fraudulent use
of the telegraph in relation to stock
exchange news received from Paris.
His method was one of the very oldest
namely, the corruption of the en-
ployees. 1t seems that at this time the
German law did not precisely cover
this species of swinding, and he ana
his twin brother escaped with sen
| tence of seven months.
Francois Blanc was not discouraged.
He had accumulated 100000 francs,
| and with that sum he established the
Kursaa at Homburg.. The Kursaal
| flouriShed. and Blanc might have gone
on there to the realization of his am
| billions but for the national sentiment
| he was shrewd enough to foresee.
| Blanc realized that the time was not
| far distant when the German people
| would put down the sort of gambling
in which he was engaged. so he began
to look about for some new country in
which to set up his temple of fortune.
On the coast of the Mediterranean,
between the Kingdoms of France and
Italy. there was a little independent
prncipalty. 1t was not more than
two miles and quarter long and hard
ly three-q quarters of mile wide. but it
was an Independent kingdom, with an
old and royal house
Charles III. was the reigning prince,
but he was a tattered Tonarch, and his
court was a beggarly make believe. In
his desperate situation it is said he APP
piled to a shrewd Partisan for counsel,
who advised him to set up gaming ia
bles and thereby ruin other peoples
subjects since you have already ruined
your own"
Charles Ill. followed that pregnant
advice. He sold Il gambling concession
in the principality to two Adventures,
Duval and Lefevre. These men built
the casino, but their venture was not
particularly successful. They asserted
that Charles avarice could not be salts
fed, and when Francois Blanc arrived
on the Mediterranean, around 1860, he
bought the concession and moved his
gambling establishment from the Kur-
saal at HOmburg to Monaco.
Francois Blanc was a bold and dar- |
ing adventurer. The little principally |
was divided practically into three |
towns-Monaco, Condamine and Monte |
Carlo. 1t was the last that Francois |
Blanc occupied. He employed the best |
architect to be had, built a great ca
sino, laid out beautiful gardens and ter
races and expended over 100000 |
upon the mere prospect of making |
Monte Carlo the gambling headquar-
ters of Europe
Francois Blanc. the eX-convict from
Homburg. was no ordinary man. Lord
greatest financier of his time At any
rate, his great financial adventure justi-
fed itself. Blanc came to live in splen-
dor. He married his daughters to
princes, he accumulated a fortune of
25O,OO0,000 francs, and he left behind
him an establishment that nets at least
S., 100000 a year in profits.
More than this, Francois Blanc
bought and paid for the principality of
Monaco. He paid Charles III. 100000
francs year and all his expenses. with
4 percentage of the profits; he kept up
Ill the roads and gardens for the prin-
cipality; he paid the police and magis-
rates and all fixed charges of the
kingdom. Moreover, when the mer-
chants of Nice endeavored to persuade
he French senate to resist gambling at
Monte Carlo and when the subjects of
he principally threatened to revolt
Blanc, daring and full of resources, had
Charles issue an edict abolishing all
axes in the principality, and out of his
in addition to what he had
llready paid. Blanc paid all the taxes
# Monaco.
When Albert Honore Charles, the
resent Prince of Monaco, came to the
hrone he remained under the thumb
f the famille Blanc, and in 1898 the
oncession they had obtained was re-
ewed for fifty years upon the pay
lent of 100000 francs down, 10000
90 to be paid in 1914 and other vast
ums. together with practically all fixed
harges of the principality. All this is
one by a company called La Societe
es Bains de Mer de Monte Carlo
And so the genius of gambling ate a
ing and his court, monarch of one of [
he oldest reigning houses in Europe
palace. an army, a principality with {
$ subjects. and bishop and cathedral
, boot,-Melville Davisson Post, in the
aturday Evening Post