The Washington times., 1919-03-23
CHAPTER VI.
CONTINUED from Last Sunday
Copyrirht. 1919. BIZ star Company.


4 LTHoUGH Lebaudy had thought it best to make
hasty fight from London he was not entirely dis
= couraged as he opened his imperial headquarters
in Belgium In the best hotel in Brussels the Emperor
established himself with such retaners he had brought
with him from London The eamOrous thrOng OF adven
turers and soldiers If fortune he had left behind at the
Hotel Savoy in London
Lebaudy felt vindctiyey toward the British govern
ment which he believed in league with the French
government discredit him. To the British government
he attributed all his troubles He believed the fcetOus
articles in the British newspapers making fun of his i'm
peral plans and the hornets of law suits which
nOyed him were stirred up by the French authorities at
the instigation of the French Foreign Office.
But in Brussels Lebaudy thought he safe from
British persecution and he had certainly shaken of the
oud-voiced gant and fortune seekers that had made
his last weeks at the Hotel Savoy London disagree
able In Brussels Lebaudy sympathic ears and
an American visitor at mis- hotel told him the story OF
New York woman and her ambitious exploits which
greatly impressed the ambitious Emperor of the Sahara
with such woman" shouted Lebaudy my Em-
pire of the Sahara would already have been accom-
plished fact
Americans exercised a very strong influence LIE.
baudys life 1t has already been explained how Jimmy
Langerman American gentleman of fortune, drfted
into Lebaudy's life in Paris and inspired the ambitious
project of establishing the Empire of Saraha
1t was an American whom Lebaudy met in
Brussels who put other ideas into his head This young
woman a very good New York family and related
in a collateral way the famous Madame Jumel. The
extraordinary exploits of this remarkable American
perhaps worth relating briefly here because
they profoundly interested and impressed the young
French multi-miIIionare and of his exploits
later on were clearly influenced by Madame Jumel'S
career.
Call her what you wil-unscrupulOus adventures or
clever. ambitious woman of the wOrd-Madame Jumel
remains one of the extraordinary figures real life
fiction has vet produced In her bOundless ambition for
wealth and power and her passion for imperial pOmp she
had much in with jacques Lebaudy 1t is there
FORE at all strange that the Frenchman should have
been fascinated by the stories he heard of this American
and that his subsequent career should have
been Influenced by his knowledge of the peculiar methods
she used to accomplish her purpose
The W know Madame Jumel, whose name
linked with of the most famous of her time,
INCLUDING former VicePreSident of the United States,
came into the world under the most adverse circumstances
She born the illegmatP daughter of a notorious
woman living in Providence. R. l. She given the
name of Betsy Bowen and by the time she had budded
into precOciOuS wOmanhOOd she had more than local
reputation for beauty, daring and aarOund briance of
mind and body.
She was not long in beginning the romantic in
which for many years destined sway the hearts
of men almost at will. Her first husband was Captain de
la Croix noted French army officer whom she cOntrved
to marry during Of his visits to the United States