Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-12
1|PRESS EUGENE
DIES AT AGE OF "a
Widow OF Napoleon III, Tragic
Figure Of 18th Century,
Realized Prophecy
SAW FRANCE REDEEMED

s Madrid July ~ FIX FmnTcss Fn-
6frie Of France. widow nj Napoleon III.
ed here yesterday morning. She wi
- her ninety fifth year.
Desth was due to acute intestinal in
Qammation. The OK empress passed
9way quietly in tho nrcscncc only Of
her lady in waiting. Her ncnhcw. the
Dixie OF Alba, Mt whose residence she
Died. was In France. and the otf'r
& members Of the family were absent.
The former empress was ~ only few
hours before her death. She was ex.
cfptionally we'll SATURDAY, morning. At
Midday she lunched heartily. cating
chicken and some ham.
A short time later she became ILL.,
experiencing severe abdominal main. DR..
Gcnda. physician to King Alfonso. was
called and, finding her condition seri.
Gus, summoned DR.. Moreno Tancudo. a
specialist. and also two other nhvs,
Cans. They were. however, unable t.
relieve the patient.
Empress Eugenic sccmed conscious
that death was approaching and those
Who stood by the bedside sav she an
( pesred glad to die in Spain. her native
country.
During the course of SATURDAY after
\ noon when the condition Of Euecnir
Hecnme worse. all her relatives still in
Sp8in were notified The DuchcSG San
tona, with her husband. arrived. and
then the Duke of Pencrando. Dowagcr
Duchess Tamames and the Count and
Z Countess Mora.
\ The body was embalmed today
ID preparation for its transportation to
England. where Eugcnic will be bur =
viii probably depart from Spain We'd
lesday.
Lendon. July IA dispatch to the
Times from Madrid says that. although
sAtely ex- Empress Eugenie had been in
feeble health. due to her extreme age.
Aer death was quite unexpected. She
went daily into the garden of the resi-
dence of the Duke Of Alba. Saturday
afternoon she was stricken with an in
testinA disorder and took to bed. Tho
empress had intended to proceed to
London next week and had arranged for
transportation.
How a gypsy prophecy was more than
fulfilled is witnessed in tho career OF
little girl whom a woman of that no
Inadic race picked up out vt tho dust OF
q street in Madri in which the child
3 vas romping back in the early thirties.
\. The little girl was Eugenic de Montiio.
Ae predicted that she would become n
queen. also that she would live to hc
no years old. POGO mas menas. "
which in English means little more or
As ii turned out. Eugcnir became not
merely a queen bat an empress. and as
for the century mark there are those
Who hold that she came closer to Il
than the ninety four wears officially in :
ecribed in the Almanach de Gotha.
Birth Record Obscure
According to that publication Eu-
genie was born in Granada. May 3.
1895. But much plausible evidence has
heen advanced that she came into the
world at least three years earlier, and
b Italy. not in Spain. The parish reg
faters of births and deaths at Granada
we're mutilated about the time of Eu-
eenie's marriage to Napoleon III, and
Il has been difficult. therefore. to con-
trovert the story that both Eugene and
her sister, the Duchess of Alba. were
really the offspring Of secret mar
riage between an English artist named
Ward and Princess Christina of Bour.
hon Naples. later queen OF spain.
The cid Countess of Montijo. daugh-
ter of a Scotch Irish American named
Kirkpatrick. who was the principal
dnenna of Christina when she came to
Spain to marry Ferdinand VII, won her
confidence. it is related. and assumed
charge of the two children of the secret
marriage, bringing them up as her own
daughters. Spanish judicial records in.
dicate that Count dc Montijo Gied in
1924, two years before the alleged date
Of the birth of Eugcuie. who possessed
many of the strongly marked features
Of the Bourbons.
Eugenie received what education the
rowing disposition of the Countess de
Montijo would allow. spending somc
time In converts, but il was the worldly
side of her nature which was most
cultivated. From tho first she was ac-
eustomed to the society of brilliant
people. Among the Montijos's friends
we're Stendhal. Prosper Mcrimpc and
George TicknOr. and thC little Eugenic
was dandltd on the knee of Washington
Irving.
At the Spanish court in her early
teens Eugcnic's beauty. daring horse
rnanship striking costumes and uncon
yentional manner attracted attention
from all Her sister early made a
splendid ducal marriage. but the young
hidalgoes were afraid of taking to wife
young person who was said to ride
in mans attire. who had originated n
whose hand a riding whip and dagger
were quite as much at home as a bou-
Duet or fan"
Meets Louis Napoleon
Countess de Montijo became involved
IN a scandal in Madrid in the late for.
ties, and she and her unmarried daugh-
Ter driftcd to London. where they met
certain royal exile, Louis Napoleon
Bonapartc. \ few ve"?s later Bonn
parte was in Paris as prince president
of France. and at a state ball in 1851
again met the young Spanish beauty.
Soon afterward he was proclaimed en-
peror, and Eugene. in whom oven in
childhood the MOntijo family cOnncr-
tions with the first Napoleon had in
spired a romantic admiration for his
nephew. became one of his court circle.
On New Years Eve 1S53), at a
.