Evening star. [volume], May 14, 1910, Page 3, Image 21

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
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?
AN International Band of \
Swindlers Described by F
the Countess X. ? Mrs. J
Paine's Suit Against the t
Count de Gatigny ? The i
Strange Tempting of a Poor
' Aristocrat.
t
PAKIS. May 5, lUlO.
RS PAINE of Bos\
I 7 ton has been raon- j
i?b) vy nl umentally s w t n - f
mT I k - A rwV died by the Count '
ML7 / /A >\ \ U ln*" The ^mark- v
\\iII vVl UP abl? tb?n? is her ?
*5/1 \ Y courage to make t
/ fey_ _rjA I Public complaint,
I P^SS!^j \ Hundreds of rich ^
V_J v 7 Americans are be- a
iitg c o n t i n ually r
swindled in silence by titled friends picked i(
up in Europe. It is nothing. The remark- s
able thing is the international "nobirlity" v
band that makes the majority of the b
hauls. f
Nobility is its lure, although its leaders Jj
are slick men of business, hidden in their
offices of London, Paris and New York; C
and while d'Aulby de Gatigny?whom the v
' Paris police believe to be certainly affil- "
iated?is bogus, they tried to make him a
noble. And the experience of tire young j
Countess X. shows them securing accom- c
j ___
CH.1TE.tr WHERE MRS. PA1SE WAS
AMERICANS MA
pHees in p<>or but authentic aristocrats. C
"For a poor girl, without brothers, with- i
cut dot. yet bearing an old name and ^
passionately devoted to the ruined home ^
of her ancestors, it was a real tempta- t
tion." says the countess. "They called it 1
..aristcyratic commerce, free from all vul- *
garity. or business hidden under social l(
graces. They offered to restore my be- ,
loved ruins and put me in as chatelaine." i
x
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Words by
'? M. E. ROURKE
1
%' Moderaio.
j [fea^glg
i'. 1. What is the
v?
' 2. There in my
s;
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"You would have only to receive the
ich Americans they sent you." I said,
'and aid In the sale of old paintings, furdture.
porcelain and art objects supposed
o be inherited from your family?"
"Yes: and only when the rich Ajnericans
should try to buy. Also we should make
inds in villages and farmhouses on autonobile
trips. They would be tilings put
here on sale, yes. but genuine or nearly
*o, and dearer than their worth?to give
:he Americans the pleasure of picking
hings up by their own intelligence and
nek."
O-!s
r
"It would be a romantic adventure for
;he unsuspecting Americans." I said.
"They would prize the objects."
"They would be on visit to my chateau,
raying heavily in "London or Paris for the
invitation; but I must ignore it. So the
missaries of the band explained it to me.
Mow I see that I should have been their
'lave, as much as the unhappy bogus
i'Aulby."
Two years ago. at Vichy, she met the
>and's agents, a fashionable English
ouple. loiter, in Paris, thej- tried again
o tempt her, doubtless because she
leemed so promising a tool, without a
roublesome family, really noble and with
in ancestral pile, easy to restore?a gold
nine, ready for the salting. In their anxety
to secure her they introduced three
o-ealled directing members of the band,
rho told her anecdotes of affiliated nor
es and save her a glimpse of a powerul
association, laughingly called the "nolility,"
which took good care of its memers.
How well it takes care of d'Aulby de
latlgny remains to be seen; and if he
reakens under the third degree it relains
to be seen how much he can betray
hem?probably with only a few worthless
ddresses in London and Paris. The
Tench police have not been able to disover
how the bogus Tittans, Van Dycks,
L O
? b' 3
o m_ 18
f ^5?p^Tf^S
.t^^^ooog
<il'EST AND MANY OTHER RICH
lDE "FINDS."
^orregios, Murillos and other oTd masters
rot into the Castel de la Tour.
The d'Aulby s had not a single canvas
when they moved in; and there are no
races of paintings being shipped them
hrough the Tours railway depot. No one
cnows where they were painted, although
he general detective service had waning,
three years ago, that an important
enter of false paintings existed somewhere
in Touraine. They must have
eached the d'AuIbys by automobile, as
THREE LITTLE
LOVE
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Featured by KITTY
The Girl and th
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m m m ?* at +
ae - cret of ann- shine and a
heart you have tak - en your i
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fiow'rs, What are the word
grace, Won by those three
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age of the dear lit tie birds.
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Copyright, MCMVni, by WALTER JJ
International Copyright
Used by permisrion, MURRAY XU
tvqmyi
mysteriously as in an Arsene I-upin ir
romance. tl
Throughout the Paine-d'Aulby adven- L.
ture we run up against these mysteriea ra
of an occult band. " o<
Eight years ago Mrs. Paine's swindlers,
quiet and correct couple, bought a ti
lialf-ruined Renaissance chateau outside si
Tours for I6.00U; and, although they b
never paid but >1,000 of It, they put on a
L ' ' A
THE COI XTESS AND COIXT
>40,000 worth of restorations. In none -of fii
his accounts of himself 19 u aui y ? ie u "]
explain where he got such a lump sum tn
at that moment. In
* si
* * at
Their restoration of the castle and their in
unextravagant but kindly hospitality
won the newcomers all the recognition
they wanted from the local gentry and
made them favorites with the officers of C?
the Tours garrison. The idle officers pr
played tennis with the refined American ,J'
chatelaine and her frequent American ol
guests. How could they imagtne that hi
they were acting as stool-pigeons to hi
guarantee the d'Aulbys' nobility?
A retired high school professor, beloved
in Tours, was tutor to their four nice Sl
c?. uren. When d'Aulby would say to tc
him: "That Titian is worth >160,000!" or
"That Murillo is worth $00,000!" nothing
uoubting, he would reply: "I would sell
them." And when the count answered: '
"You woulu do wrong. Each year the N
values of such paintings mount $10,000." q*
he wou.~ innocently put it into his smalltalk
with tne rich American guests. *
While it seems certain that d'Aulby's L
American wife, from Boston, was victim a
rather than knowing accomplice, it was a]
she who made Mrs- Paine's acquaintance
on a transatlantic liner; and the Paines,
iiusband and wife, were Soon guests at w
the Castel, playing tennis with the P
French army officers?who had honor j1,
written on ineir iaces?ana listening to .
the artless prattle of the tutor about
Titlans worth >itK,OCO. ^
Mr. Paine was a i iard-headed copper 11
speculator, wno had wrested millions
from a hard-hearted market. You know *r
the rest. He fell on unfamiliar ground. d
He did not know paintings or furniture. P
.~e may have h.ard vaguely that there
are art-artisans who will duplicate you "
any antique chair or chest-of-drawe s in O
the Cluny museum, shooting worm-holes ni
into It with bird-shot, and that for' the
tapestry upholstering there are artists
like "the Alsatian" who yearly make two If
copies of a certain Boucher screen, si
thread by thread, from scrap tapestry of nc
the epoch. Bach copy costs $250, but is s<
sold as the original for $1,250 to really P
Knowing collectors. tc
Such stories merely put Mr. Paine on g;
guard against the Paris dealers. Here oi
was an expert who would Ccst h.m noth- ti
ing, the Count d'Aulby with a chateau
on the Loire, who said: "Leave it to me!" w
The Paines had rented a great mansion ai
WORDS
YOU"
jf
GORDON
ie Wizard"
Music br
FRANK H. GREY
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how - era, Whet is the te cret <
place, Queen bj the pow'r of j<
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s of the songs of the birc
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Chorus. Moderate.
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E_ AL-L_ J S ?w?
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1$; |? j J>=Jn.-"g?Z
I MI & 9 I
iCOBS, Boston, Moss.
Secured *
SIC Co., Hew York A'o. )
frAND^tjJRG
^^ir"TyTTirffn[
i the Avenue du Bois, and the forty
tousand dollars' worth of counterfeit
ouis XV furniture put Into It with such
Lagical rapidity by the count reveals the
ccuu gang again at work.
Such a collection of bogus old furnijre
takes a deal of getting together at
hort notice. The number of pieces must
e decided, their designs selected here
nd there, their execution must be conW
y - \J
f' W I
f - *i| ''ftiKki -r . I
D'AULBY DE GATIGXY.
Jed to several contractors and their
papers" or false history of their origin
ust be concocted. How are we to
uaglne one man?the dreaming d'Aulby,
lut up in his room, composing music?
t anything more active than entertainig
Mrs. Paine?
* *
It is the same throughout d'Aulby's
ireer. Whenever lie needed a lot of
ecious old oil paintings they fell into
is hands by magic. Confessedly the son
' a poor English tailor named Daulby,
? tells the French judges that he inerited
the paintings from an uncle; but
here the latter lived, died and made
ich valuable collections remains a mysiry.
In the chateau of the Loire Mr. Paine
Imired a quantity of them, by Rigaud,
an Dyck, Corregio, Vanloo, Rubens,
attier, Rembrandt. Murillo, Greuze,
itian, Bonington and David. First, fie
;nted the collection for $8,000 a year,
ater he bought a Corregio for $15,000,
Mingard for $9,000. a Corot for $8,000
nd a Titian for $7,000. If real tliey
ould have been so cheap that Mr. Paine
ould have been victimizing the count,
ossibly there was such an audacious
ope, because d'Aulby's wife explains a
heck of $1,300 from Mrs. Paine as a
Ift for persuading her husband to sell
le Paines that Titian!
Mr. Paine died in Boston, while Mrs.
aine was hunting art antiquities with
Aulby In Austria?where the band had
lanted them. Had the poor English
lilor's son really made this situation
>r himself he would be admirable. As
le puppet of an invisible band he is
lerely tantalizing.
He was born plain John Daulby. Quitng
school at seventeen aand refusing to
am tailoring, his parents managed to
jpport him two years as a student of
tusical composition in the London Con rvatory.
Music is the man's passion,
ennlloss in J?ndon, he worked as valet
> a Czech professor in return for postraduate
lessoris. He had no knowledge
f paintings, no education to fake noble
ties.
He quit the Czech suddenly, to work his
ay through musical studies in Paris;
nd, suddenly, in a cheap boarding house
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of the rue Mogador, his life and fortunes
changed.
He had met the nobility band.
At once he was put in possession of
such a collection of precious old paintings,
Ga'nsboroughs. Zuccheros. Rembrandts,
Titians, Lawrences and Nattiers.
as few amateurs possess. He almost sold
a Flower Gipsy by Murlllo to the Louvre
Museum; and Goupil was sufficiently tak- <
en in to make an engraved plate of it.
He was still John Daulby; but he traveled
luxuriously to New York, where he
left old masters on deposit, and back
to Dresden, working the American colony.
There is a glimpse of a I*aris architect
who made "original papers" to certify
the paintings; but the real members of
the band remain in the shadow, pulling
the strings of their puppets.
*
* *
Suddenly, they told John Daulby to embark
for Italy?where a title of nobility
awaited him. The band had tried lnm
and found him worthy. He was a firstclass
"nobility" operator.
One Pietro Carducci negotiated the title
of nobility for Daulby in Daulby's own
name. It was the domain of Borghetto,
near Naples, carrying the title of count.
The band did not appear in the matter;
hut the poor tailor's son found the $9,hQ0
cash purchase price fall magically into
his hands.
Where did he get that $0,000? Daulby
cannot explain; but It gave him his papers
of nobility, including Italian naturalization.
Arriving in New York as Count d'Aulby
dc Borghetto, he found his old masters in
the hands of the law. Yet he showed
none of the distress of a man working
alone. Instead, he looked about for a
countess. In his hotel he met the young
woman from Bostqn and her mother. The
father or grandfather was that old-time
literary man who wrote still-remembered
poetry and was the friend of Washington
Irving. Hater, Daulby persuaded
his mother-in-law to borrow $S,000 for
h m; and his failure to repay while putting
$10,000 worth of restorations on the
chateau of the Loire caused tragic trouble
In a worthy family.
It is the marK of the swindling bandlavish
capital for immediate business, but
not a dollar for sentiment or superfluity.
Daulby needed $12,000 to redeem the
paintings left in the New York man's
hands, and the sum came to him immediately.
At this moment, when everything
smiled on the Boston family, a
first catastrophe overtook them?and
caused Daulby temporary annoyance.
Regularizing their marriage before the
Italian consul, he was disgusted to learn
that all Carducci's naoers were forgeries.
Had Carducci swindled the band?
Or had the band swindled Daulby through
Carducci? Daulby certainly continued
confidant. "I shall soon have a real
title." he assured his bride, and he certainly
had honeymoon money. With her
and his precious old masters he sailed
for EuroDe?and the chateau of the
Ixdre.
I asked the voune Countess X.. who is
painfully interested in the Daulby-Paine
case, whether the agents of the band
ever offered to put into her hands such a
sum as the $40,000 which Daulby found
so magically to restore It.
"They must trust their puppets to keep
their own skirts clear," she answered.
"I am sure that they meant Daulby to
buy a real Italian title. They offered
me a greater sum to put my old place in
order to receive Americans. The profits
are immense. You will see. Money, witnesses
and documents will fall into the
hands of Daulby's lawyers. They know
the laws of all countries. Why, they
are suing Mrs. Paine in Boston."
"In whose name?"
"In the name of Daulby, for 1,000,000
francs' worth of paintings alleged to be
bought from him. The Paris papers say
that if she pays up she will get back,
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THE CO I
Who almost joined the international n
(Photograph Copyrij
gratuitously, a quantity of letters al
leged to have been written by herwhlch
shows the band's blackmailin;
weapons. Of course, they must ge:
Dauiby off to reassure their other oper
ators."
"Have you an idea who they are?" ]
asked.
"Fine establishments and real titles."
said the Countess X. "The American!
come to them with letters of introduc
tion"
"From whom?"
"From fashionable agents of the bant
in London and New York. They an
men and womm who live well, yet n<
one knows their income. They trave
back and forth. They make acquaint
ances?and pass the rich Americans along
Thpse most followed are millionaire wid
ows. very rich men just retired fron
business, parvenus who have made sud
den fortunes and rich parents of dream
ing daughters."
% *
"But why always Americans?" I asked
"Who else will buy things without pay
ing experts to examine them?" shi
laugneu. ""wno eise is rea.uy iu aeuep
sudden hospitality? So what can we di
for these charming Americans? Taki
them an automobile trip to Count Henri'
chateau. Poor fellow, it will cheer hin
tip. Perhaps he will fall in love wit)
L,ucy. When they are shown througl
the feudal place, admiring its portraits
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JATESS X. ,
obllity band to swindle rleb Americans.
;ht by Sterling Hellig.) ,
- wood carvings, furniture, porcelain and <
- tapestries. Lucy is fluttered and mamma
t touched to tears on hearing it whispered:
t "What a pity he must sell it. He is too
- proud to marry for money!"
In her gay malice the poor, proud <
[ French girl of title gave away an animus <
that I could pity?a jealousy against
' these rich Americans who lay their hands
s on everything they want In Europe by 1
- a new kind of divine right. I
"You think that they deserve being
duped?" I suggested. i
* "I stand aside." she answered. "I re5
main poor, but I permit myself to smile (
J when Americans calmly propose to take ,
1 advantage of a falling family's misfor- ,
* tunes?when they are there on visit."
; "Oh. no!" I said. :
"Surely, that is the nobility band's j
chief bait. They accept the invitation to j
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Uill iicr, U-iui wucii <x. cau uiu uu>\ ttgcx i aiin
their attention to the real Sevres service,
whispering. "Our unhappy hostess is
about to sell it to a dealer for 16.000. a
downright robbery?and all because her <
. husband gambles!" their fingers itch to
- write the check out! Quick, a find!
B Write out a check, quick, for J6.1O0!"
t "Mademoiselle," I said, "you completely
misunderstand our people."
0 "The nobility band understands them."
e she answered gaily. "Listen. I live in
s five rooms of a ruined chateau in the
ii Garden of France. The family portraits
1 are gone. The furniture has little value,
i I shall live there, monotonously, ali,
ways."
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"It will be your own fault," I said, poitely.
"But if I yield to the international
and." she continued. "I shall be courted
y charming American families, rolling
11 money, thankful for my Invitations,
nxious to buy my family furniture and
or traits. I have the cold mine?ail K
leeds is salting!"
STERLING HEILIG
a
a *
Fame.
\ Washington dentist praised ?a
thusiastically the respect paid to the
rvemory of Horace Wells by the French
rovernment. It has erected recently a
'atue of him in the Place des Etats
Tnis. in Paris, and the unveiling cereiiony
In March was attended by dlrlagulshe.l
scientists from all over the
i orld.
"I*rof. Wells." said the dentist. "rg?
rorn in Hartford In 1815. He waa a
doneer la the use of nitrous oxide ge.s
n dental operation* to prevent pain, ana
or his discoveries in aneetheela he m?v
.? regarded as a benefactor to mankind
Wells has been dead fifty years. and
"Vance is the first?a tardy first?to acknowledge
the Importance of his discovery
and raise a tribute to his almost
orgrotten memory. This case reminds
ne of a conversation betwen a Uttle boy
md his father.
" 'Why are statues erected to famous
nen. father?* said the child.
" "So that they may become known,
lear," was the answer."
A Cynical Synonym.
linOOR Myra Kelley." said a magazine
k editor at the Authors" Club In New
fork, "was almost as distressed as Mr.
'arnegie at the spirit of graft and crook?dness
ramimnt among us.
"The young writer, at a dinner of magizine
contributors, said that we worihiped
wealth?that was our trouble.
I'hen she crystallized her meaning in an
u.ecdote.
"She said that one man asked another:
" 'What position does Blank hold In the
community?*
" 'A very honorable position,* was tho
-eply.
" 'Is lie wealthy?'
** 'Wealth and honor.' 6aid the other,
are synonymous terms in America tolay.'
"
Very Monopolous.
SENATOR BEV BRIDGE, discussing a
certain monopoly, said with a smile:
"This company reminds me of the old
man in the train who said to his neighbor:
" 'Would you mind lending ine your
specs, sir?'
" 'Why. certainly,* the neighbor answered.
and he took off his spectacles and
surrendered them with a courteous gesture.
" 'And now,' said the old man. 'since
lou can no longer see to read your newspaper.
I'm sure you'll be willing to let
ne run my eye over the sporting pages.'"
In Mourning.
O OBERT GOBLET, during the Easter
pasade in 5th avenue, stood in conversation
with a group of friends when a
ladv in a beautiful eom-n nnsse<l
"Why, there goes Mrs. X.," said a
young matron. "She was gray last year,
and now her hair is as black as jet!"
Mr. Goelet, buttoning his smart morning
coat, answered, with a smile:
"Well, you know, she has recently
come a widow."
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