The sun., 1919-08-24

under now? Are you still the priest
Baldini, or the waiter Prosper? In
your desire for vengeance you have
sold yourself to the devil. Ten years
you have devoted to the pursuit OF
three creatures you should have
spared. Me you dragged down to per-
iition. The diamond by which you
briped me was my undoing. I killed
him who cheated me. 1 was arrested,
condemned to the galleys, and for
years dragged the ball and chain.
When 1 made my escape my one
thought was TO reach and punish the
priest Baldini. You are in my power.
Do you recognize me? l am Antoine
Allut. How much will you pay for
bread and water?'
Il have no money"
you have sixteen millions" retorted
the captor. who went on to enumerate
with overwhelming accuracy the list of
his victims investments. These are
my conditions. l will give you some
thing to eat twice day, but for each
meal you must pay me twenty-five
thousand francs"
The prisoners cupidity proved
stronger than his hunger. He stood
the test of such acute suffering without
yielding that his captor saw that he
had gone too far. and at last reused
to fury by this persistent obstinacy
he threw himself upon Picaud and
stabbed him to death.
Hugo's Jean Vatican.
70 a.. r--o,ok ao+,o, .kn~o is aoa
character better known to American
readers than Edmond Dantes, Count
Of Monte Cristo, it Is the Jean Vatican
Of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables." and.
like Dantes, Vatican has had his coun-
terpart in real life. The name of the
actual Valjean was Urban Lemerre.
He was born in a small town in the
centre of France and was brought UP
in the most sordid and unpromising
surroundings. When still a youth he
committed a trifiing crime at the in
stigation of a comrade, was caught
and sentenced to imprisonment.
During his incarceration he was a
model prisoner and when he was re-
leased he was bent upon living hence
forth an upright and useful life. Re-
every door barred against him and
every way to honest employment
blocked. One evening he noticed some
horses grazing in a field. The idea
came to him to borrow one OF them,
ride to the seacoast and thence en-
bark to America, where he could begin
life anew under another name. He
rode bareback all night, reaching in
the morning the outskirts of Nantes.
where he turned the horse loose. But
being without papers, he found it i'm
possible to carry out his scheme Of
taking ship for the western world.
He was arrested for the theft Of the
horse and sentenced to eight years in
prison.
After serving three years he escaped
and made his way to Paris. In the
capital he found work, prospered. by
dint Of energy and ability winning
position and the esteem of the neigh
borhood in which he lived. Then. Sc
cure in the belief that the past had
been forever blotted out and that no
one would ever recognize in the success
full merchant Of the quarter the Urban
Lemerre Of the galleys, he married
and begat family. But one day he
was subjected to the scrutiny of a pair
of baleful eyes. They belonged to an
eX-convict who had turned policeman.
1t was the Javert of the Victor Hugo
romance over again. BY this Javert
Lemerre was denounced to the authori-
ties sentenced to serve out his incom-
pleted prison term and several added
years as punishment for his escape
When he was again toiling in the
galley the whole pitiable story reached
the ears Of the Minister OF Police and
Lemerre was granted a full pardon by
the Emperor.
The Original of Dickens's Fagin.
A story somewhat similar to that Of
the real Jean Vatican, though not
likely to enlist the readers sympathy,
has to do with the original from whom
Charles Dickens drew the Fagin of his
"Oliver Twist" The real Fagin was
certain notorious Ikey Solomons, q
notorious fence or receiver of stolen
goods. who passed through Newgate
prison in 1881. six years before Dickens
began writing his novel. Solomons had
been an itinerant street vender at 8:
at 10 he had passed bad money; at IA he
was pickpocket and seller of sham
goods. While still in his teens he was
sentenced to transportation but did
not get beyond the huIl1s at Chatham.
After his release he worked honestly
for two years, but having saved ESQ