Year: 1869

journal tells, and tells well, the following
remarkable story:


" Among the noble families of France
there IS none Of more ancient aoblssss
than that Of the CraOns. At the close
Of the thirteenth century their great
ancestor, Pierre de Craon, was a power
tua prince, with palace in Paris aud
large estates between the narrow domain
Of the then King of France, Charles
VIA rsVing maniac-and the vast
possessions of the dukes of Burgundy.
lie took an active part in the politics Of
those days, and made himself famous BY
numbering the Lord High Constable Of
France, Oliver ClissiOn. The crime vas
an unusually atrOeiOus one, even in those
days OF rapIne and bIOOdshed and
Pierre de-Graen was tried by defaaIt- BY
the Parliament of Paris. Entrenehed
in his stronghold in the country be
could afford to laugh at the sentence Of
death recorded against him, but he was
made to suffer pretty heavily in purse
His palace in Paris was razed to the
ground, and street was built on the
spOt-which may still exist, unless "
HRssman has demolished it-whieh re-
ceived the inauspicious name Of RRe les
AaRUaiS Garc0RS


The family Is now represented by the
princely house Of Beauvau- Craon, which
an extraordinary lawsuit and the tragic
death Of one of its members have
of late brought into notice You may
remember that Prince De Beauvau Craon
was accidentally killed last summer as
he was getting out Of 4 cab at the door
of the jockey club. He had loaded
pistol in his pocket, and somehow or
other it went off and the charge lodged
in his body, inficting a wound which
proved Immediately fatal. People won
dered at the time what on earth could
induce young man of high birth and
moving in the highest circles, to carry
loaded FIRE arms about him in place
like Paris.


The lawsuit now going on has Afforded
an explanation. The deceased had a
sister, the Princess Isabeau, who enjoyed
a large fortune in her own right, aud
owns the magnificent Chateau Of St.
Ouen. She lived there in utter seclusion,
refusing to sec any member Of her family,
and receiving only two persons Rus
sian spirit rapper, well known in Paris,
Baron Guldenstubbe and his sister.
They are not adVenturers Ike most Of
the spirit rapping brotherhood, but pro
pound the most extraordinary doctrines
respecting the communication between
the spirits of the dead and the senses Of
the living-a communication which
takes place in hieroglyphics winch no
one but the baron is able to decipher,
The family of the Princess Isabeau ad-
judged her to be mad, and thinking thar
the company Of the Guldenstubbes must
increase her insanity, and perhaps
doubling the disinterestedness OF these
spirit rapping intentions, made every
effort to induce her to break of the CON
nectiOn.


Prince LeUis went with has pistol to
try and frighten the spirit rapping Rus
sian into leaving his sister alone, but
failed and it was on his return from that
sinister dwelling that : e perished in the
tragic way stated above The family
then sought to have the Princess lisa
beau "plaeed under interdict, and 4
curator appointed to take care of her
property A decision to that effect was
taken by the CORSeiI dc FdB5itls (an in
stitution which some recent occurrence
ought to recommend for adoption in
England.) The Princess first took to
flight 50 as to prevent the possibility Of
an inquiry into the state of her mind by
the faculty, and appealed from the
decision of the CoRseiI de FdBtilis to the
civil tribunal.


The family joined issue, and the case
has been going on for some time, and
extraordinary disclosures have been
made. The Princess charged her family
Cher mother included with trying to
poison her. The princely chateau
where she and the Guldenstubbes used
to live was visited and found to be in =
state Of filth and dilapidatiOn of which
no words can give an adequate idea.
The ground was strewed with bits Of
paper, scribbled over by the spirits.
Innumerable bottles, denOting the pres
ence of spirits far more eOnelusively
were all scattered about, and u e0rres-
pondence with spirit raPper, who ap-
pears to have bagged check for e25O,
was also discovered. The course Of the
tribunal under such circumstances would
appear plain enough but there exists a
great difficulty in the case.


The Princess keeps out Of the way
and cannot therefore be personally
examined, and her correspondence with
ono of her relatives, the Duke de Morte-
mart, are models of epistolary compost
tion-witfy, lucid and sensible The
government advocate, however, recon-
mended the court to confirm the judg-
ment of the Ganseit de F0miie, and
quoted many instances when persons NOT
fit to be left at large, yet wrote and
sometimes spoke far more eOgently and
sensibly than humdrum people IN the
/ full possession Of their senses. The
court has taken time to consider its
decision, which will be transmitted to
you in due course"