The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-01-13
WIFE HELD FOR
Staying HUSBAND
Nine. Lebaudy is Kept Pris-
oner in Her Home.
lis ACCUSED OF MURDER
Wife Of Self-StyIed Emperor of Saba
"a, III With Bronchitis, Unable to
Give Connected Story of Shooting.

Wife of Self-StyIed Emperor of Saba
ra, III With Bronchitis, Unable to
Give Connected Story of Shooting.
Westbury, l.. l., Jan. 13.-Still in
the semi-stupor into which she col
lapsed soon after shooting and killing
her husband, Jacques Lebaudy, the
self-styled Emperor of the Sahara,
Nine. Marie Augustine Lebaudy has
not yet been able to tell of the events
Immediately preceding the shooting,
which took place in the big hall of the
Lebaudy home, "The Lodge" which
Westbury sometimes called the "House
of Fifty Rooms"
Her condition was such that it APP
peared doubtful that she would be
taken to the county Jail at Mineola at
once. Her fifteen-year-old daughter,
Jacqueline, who telephoned to her
mothers attorney that mamma has
just shot papa" Is also near collapse
md apparently has told the authori-
les little as yet. The servants in and
around the house are French, and they
all say that they did not witness the
shooting
The dearest story thus far gather
ed by District Attorney Weeks in his
preliminary investigation is that told
by a trained nurse, Miss Minnie WED
er, who was in attendance upon Nine.
Lebaudy, who has been suffering from
a severe attack of bronchit for sew
eral days.
The front door was locked and Le-
baudy entered the house from the rear,
passed through the kitchen and other
rooms and came out in the spacious
hall or foyer in the front Of "The
Lodge"
The nurse heard him making great
disturbance in the hall and after
few minutes, she says, Mrs. Lebaudy
rose, and slipping on a dressing gown,
went down the stairs.
The district attorney would not tell
If the nurse told whether Lebaudy at
tackled his wife, as he had done on
previous occasions and which it was
at first reported he had done. The
nurse said it probably was five min
utes before she heard a shot fired and
then came several others in quick sue
cession. Mrs. Lebaudy crawled, rather
than walked, upstairs and staggered
into her room, pausing only moment
beside her dresser, and then fell across
the bed. 1t was on the dresser that
the authorities later found the revol-
yer, its five chambers emptied.
Lebaudy, whose escapades had fill
ed columns in New York newspapers,
made for himself the title of Emperor
Of the Sahara" in 1908, shortly after
his father had died, leaving him an
estate, the value of which was esti-
mated at S12,00O,OOO. Conceiving the
idea Of establishing a great maritime
city and Kingdom" on the coast Of
Africa, Lebaudy sailed from France on
his yacht Frasquita, accompanied by
three followers. After landing and
taking formal possession of the shore
under the tile of Jacques I, Emperor
Of the Sahara, he returned to Europe
and collected a colony of nearly 500
persons whom he transported to his
Kingdom"
Difficulties with the French, Span
ish and Swiss governments followed,
and Lebaudy hauled down his flag,
three bees on a field of purple, and
returned to France.
In 1912 Lebaudy came to the Unit
ed States and in 1915, shortly after
he had lost a $1,6OO,OO0 suit against
the Carnegie Trust company, which he
had employed to dispose of his hold
ings in France, Lebaudy was confin-
ed in the State hospital at Aimtyville,
escaping one night to be recaptured
home. Ne was released by court Or
der a few weeks later