Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-22
COUNTESSGO
$4,000 MILES TO
PROVE WEDDING
French NobIeman Denies Ameri-
can Girl Is His Wfe-She
Gets Certificate.
BY W. ORION TEWSON.
.ciaI Gable to The American.

LONDON. March 21.-Comtesse de
Lesdain, who before her romantic
marriage to the French nobleman,
Comte Lesdain in Pekin in 1904, was
Mabel Carmencita Nettie Bailey. the
daughter Of the late John w Bailey,
a well known real estate man in Chi
cago. has arrived in London after q
journey to Pekin and return, some
$4,000 miles, undertaken for the sole
purpose of obtaining a copy OF her
marriage certificate. This she requires
in connection with the legal proceed
ings she is about to begin against
her husband, who is member OF
prominent French family.
The exact nature of the proceedings,
which will be brought In Paris, has
not yet been determined by the Com
tesse. but they will center around
the fact, according to the Comtesse,
that her husband has bigamously
married Miss Bruning, The daugh-
ter Of a well known London society
family.
She Was Missionary.
81 was married to Comte Lesdain
while he was an attache of the
French Embassy in Pekin," said the
Comtesse. AT that time ] was
a member of a party engaged in mis-
sionary work.
After our marriage he obtained
four years leave of absence from the
French diplomatic service and we
started on a honeymoon trip from
Pekin to India, which trip lasted
about seventeen months We trav-
eled mainly by mule and camel, and
during most of the time ! wore male
attire.
I'VE reached Darjeeling, India,
about the end of 1905, and there, on
February 26. 1906, my little girl was
born.
MY husband became greatly inter
ested in manganese mining, while In
India, and in the following May |
went to America to visit my mother,
who then was living in New Orleans.
The Comte did not accompany me for
business reasons.
H Ma7ries Again.
I'VE corresponded regularly for six
or seven months. Then he stopped
writing to me and | heard nothing
more of him until 1911, when |
learned he was in Paris. | imme-
diately returned to Europe and met
him in London, when, to my great
married again.
Il asked him how that could be
seeing that he had married me. lie
replied that our marriage was not
really marriage, and that | had no
proof Of it. This unfortunately was
true, for although our marriage took
| place in the French Legation in Pc
| kin, my husband took charge OF the
| certificate, which ! never saw again.
He laughed at me and my sorrow
| However. | determined to get copy
of the marriage certificate. Deter
mined to get my proof | went to Pc
| kin a few months ago and here is the
result"
Second Wife Sees Proof.
With these words the Comtesse
showed a copy of a marriage certifi-
cate signed by the French Minister
| in Pekip, to the effect that Jacques
Gustave Joseph Bouly de Lesdain
hereditary Comte of Saint Empire
Germanic. of the French Legation in
China, was duly married, according
to the laws of France and the Ro-
man Catholic Church to Mabel Car
mencita Nettie Bailey" Besides this
paper the Comtesse had the birth
certificate OF her daughter in which
the Comte is given as the father.
The extraordinary part of the sit
uation is that the Comtesse this week
showed to the parents OF Miss Brun-
ing, the Comics second wife. the
proofs OF her marriage 10 the Comte
The Brunings are anxious to get in
touch with their daughter, but do not
know where she and the Comte are
They do know however, that their
daughter recently became a mother
10 fe
now in school in America, where she
Is being looked after by the Com
tesses mother. who has become the
wife of Edward Emerson, of Los
| Angeles.