The Washington times., 1935-06-29
"A Fantastic Career

4neTe is something VI GAlS
English countryside to the West
bury section of Long Island
tranquil, green, rolling and
wooded. Here the Whitneys,
the Huttons and the wealthy
families of New York have their
baronial estates, with blooded
stock and gardens. Here the
Meadowbrooks play polo and
here a golf course is to be found
at the end of every lane.
The taxi driver. or the boy
who totes your golf clubs, will
explain the neighborhood to you
and never fail to mention Phe-
nix Lodge, the haunted mansion
in which Jacques Lebaudy, the
mad, self-styled Emperor of the
Sahara, went to his death.
Less emphasis is placed on
the ghost angle these days be-
cause the Federal agents have
laid the spook. This they did
by making a raid on the So
room house. They found it in
a sad state of disrepair, with
its rich tapestries and curtains
hanging in shreds.
They found no ghost but they
did find an enormous moon
shine" plant-a 1.000-gallon still,
four 10.O00-gallon watts filled with
mash and $50 gallons Of finished
alcohol.
JACQUES LEBAUDY
Sixteen years ago. on cold,
blustery January day, group
of reporters stood in the halls
of the Lebaudy mansion in Old
Westbury. A mad dash from
the center of Manhattan, Is
miles away, had been prompted
by the police flash: Jacques
Lebaudy was shot and killed
today by his wife" We found
an hysterical woman and an
hysterical child, their daughter,
and the body of the fantastic
Lebaudy.
We knew him we'll for his &C.
centricities. In appearance he
was the typical Latin-olive-
skinned, jet black hair and
mustache, and having the
hawk-like nose Of the Bourbons.
He had been in America then
for about nine years.
He had made a million dol
lars in one deal in the stock
market. He would ride all day
in taxicabs, changing from one
to another while in motion,
thus, as he said, to escape the
spies which his enemies ever
had on his trail. We had seen
him in court convince a judge
that he should be released from
an insane asylum.
Lebaudy, son OF a sugar king
of France, was the heir to a
fortune Of several millions of
dollars. The mad streak in
him took the form of a Monte
CriSto-Napoleonic complex. His
career of startling the world
began in 1908 when he cabled
to France from the Canary
Islands for a crew of 20 sailors.
On board his steam yacht F'ras-
quita they found themselves to
be sailors of the Sahara with
a mailman as their captain.
He broke out his flag, a
large blue pennant bearing
three gold balls. Calling his
crew to quarters, he read them
his proclamation, founding the
Empire of the Sahara. One
paragraph will suffice to re-
veal the nature of it.
THE Sahara has been ex-
plOred and opened to civiliza-
ton for the. first time, in the
year 1908, by Jacques Lebaudy,
who has taken the title of EN-.
perOr under the title Of Jacques
I Of the dynasty of Lebaudy,
Emperor Of the Sahara, Su-.
preme Feudal Overload of all
the Gases of Occidental Africa,
Supreme IrrigatOr Of the DeS-
ert, Protector of the BerberS.
BedOuinS. KabyleS, Riffians and
Tribes of the Desert"
They sailed to a barren strip
of sandy waste on the Western
coast, 1875 miles of land which
was in dispute between the diff.
ferent powers. France. Germany
and Spain, whi1p none wanted