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The Washington Post from Washington, District of Columbia • Page 25

Location:
Washington, District of Columbia
Issue Date:
Page:
25
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

KjeafLife one of Jacques Lebaudy, Recently Killed by itle Exploits of This Real Personage gmation of tne Great Novelist uuca down with his family and get some enjoyment out of the great wealth that was his. But all in vain. As everybody who has been reading these pages knows, Jacques Lebaudy was a man who stuck to a thing he had undertaken with bulldog tenacity. Nothing that his wife could-say or do was capable of shaking his determination to gain complete I possession of Jacqueline bring her under the protection of all, the. strange plans he was perfecting to safeguard himself from his enemies.

Again and again by every means in her power she endeavored to free her husband from the, fascination of the African sands, whose glitter had so long held him captive. But she might as well have tried to check the rise and fall of the Atlantic tides. To his dying day Jacques Lebaudy 's life was ruled by the determination to make himself ruler of Sahara and to insure his daughter's succession to the throne. I The difficulties of Mrs. Le- baudy's position were greatly in- creased by the almost superhu- i man ingenuity her husband dis- played in pursuing his end.

If she employed detectives to guard I her daughter, he found ways of outwitting them so successfully that on several occasions he just missed taking her away with him. If she undertook to have him committed to a sanitarium, he would either make his escape or promptly consummate some great business deal so shrewdly that the alienists could not help being convinced of his sanity. '-At last Lebaudy's efforts to gain possession of little Jacqueline became so bold and frequent that Mrs. Lebaudy was obliged to abandon her plans to send the girl to school. So the unhappy child crew on toward vnnni womanhood barely able to read ni Tcrrito Tion Ttrn noma anA oil because her father insisted that she one day to be an empress.

Friends to whom Mrs. Lebaudy confided some of her endless anxieties advised her to arm herself with a revolver and not to hesitate to use it in case her husband became unduly threatening. And this advice she pondered carefully. One day. after a particularly stormy scene with Lebaudy, she had he courage screwed up to the point of arming herself for protection against her husband.

But she abandoned the plan when she picked up the morning newspaper and read what had taken place only a few hours before at Sing Sing prison. A young man had been strapped into that grim chair a powerful current of electricity turned on his life snuffed out in the twinkling of an eye. And all because his hands were red with the blood of one of his fellows Presently, however, something happened tot upset all Mrs. Lebaudy's previous ideas and embolden her to arm herself. It was the killing of John L.

de Saulles by his beautiful wife, Bianca. The de Saulles were near neighbors ot Mrs. Lebaudy. and she knew them both well. -Her shock over the tragedy and her grief over the awful punishment which she felt sure awaited Mrs.

de Saulles gave place to overwhelming amazement when she learned that the law had set her friend free and that public opinion justified her deed. In the situation which had led up to de Saulles 's death Mrs. Lebaudy saw an almost exact parallel to that in which she found herself. The young business man had been shot for doing precisely what her own husband was trying to do deprive his wife of a loved child. If Mrs.

de Saulles had been justified in shooting to kill under Little Jacqueline Lebaudy, the strange child of the "Emperor' whose education has been neglected so that she can little more than read and write, IKTtaNATlOW I II I LbEbbbP J-i MfcjLjtflklllrMfjMWiCry V3Xmamlt jmnJkaW )i mwyy m. vfkkkkr I Si )(. I ikkkkmkmbsr-fSSLkr-'rWk-Sw NHkSq mwr kkkmr I Aril IHs kkkkmklkwksikmKLLJBt-makri BS WmimKP kW II Li W-': kMBkWkWkWmr 'f- EmHHI ylV I 0 Sc I lakkkwkkkkkkmWkmi JSff5fkkkkkkkMkwBtS tdkkkm "srS5Sr- mS ri "SSSHSHl HKK' kkkm vJrJkkkwSSfiakkrSBmGmkkm ZkJ kWm HBBlL -''s C(BBB7 i yr- I ifSte HBBcaBBaBaMHSSlnHBBMBBEcBflBVBBBlBBBBBBBHBBBBBk-- j- 'fJ' 'Jlfanvrr-SSHJ Ihi JsaSmKirGJr HHHHHHH IbPHkj! 9DBBQBaDBB9B9BBB3BBBHyVBBHBBBBMSBBBBBBBBBHHMk sl -jdHm -flBUt. jnaaFjryr BflHBHBBBBBBvBBBflMBBB9lB9MBBBBBMMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB lSflSC9iBBBHHi9BMBi bmSSiaiBBBBVv kkmkkw rTiWii'iP KK -HH. JiHIUlRM TMlr VJ7.7"VU.- 4" I J7.y iBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBViflBBBKBBBBBBBBBBVlH BBBBBBBBbB BBBHm MBbHHHIbHBbBBBBBBBBBBbBBBBBBBBBBBBBbW --V ml 38r la7BlBrHBs9l9KfllBBIISsZ UBBoSSSlmi RvflBlwvBrVBSBBllllllllVV km Ml iikSTtte KaBSiRS l.BBHB'HRBa WBMMMMbH fiHSl fktBSBttaSEoESkr kWWWWWr kmkm'Mw''MT "mBTi MEBBBlBBnBHKBBBHEk JBS 4fcS BBBBK mWBBBBBr BBHBBBPah hBHBBBBP vABBrBBBBrrO -k- 4S .1 SBBBlr AaBBBBBBBK 08B N.

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3bbED i Ssv AbBBBBBBBBBK. BBBBBBbVSbBBBBBBBBBBBBBHbBbBHbVjB I BBL "fiVJ BBBBBBBBfeBBBBH 3v jBBMSBlBMMBHKnBHlR.BlBP"BBBMfci?jaAjK. nm' tl kYmStktd fiuflBRSt-'' JIM bbbbbbbbbbbb1bbbbb IBbKBpB BfllBBBBBBBiBafllBBBBHBHB JBBP-bBbBIbHb BbBBT' TOT -li'A-. I soi JBBBBBBW 'SbBbBbbI iBlBBwB i---' bbbHhK ISBbbKv bHIbbHB BHBBB'-'SiBHH TC'bbBb'bBBbBBBBBBHP' Vi2i Tttija ji MbwFt -BaBMBlittMHBMggBliBfeiACTaiBBMriyT Kv'KtvFh flBJpr BbVk Hp L9iBBBlBDBBitaf TWWfcrfcBBWTBBBTBWFBJltlBfff TBBffJTBBBBT TtT BV "TaffMTrTSw j4. 1 mje 2t ttL bbbBB' JMBKiBff 3BJBIifiBMPggWBifcJBWL 'i bbbbbB II bbIbBbbbSPShbbbbibIbbHI SbW WIKfsFKSKaSKBBtVmKfmKUSii-'t B.

Ty ss I "MS mkWS atBBBBBBBBaiBEBHf t-HHBHHBBBHlllBHWf iH 'aBBSwWWWg'WWWHiMBR-. Kf LtlHBBHHHHBllBHIIHRBiBBHHHMRI BBKtV-MaplMBMMMIlMgBriBllllIlllli bbbbbbbbbbHBbJt fr-rfSl jjMwa6bgl UaHHiHWBBBBWBBHKaBBm BbM 3t IMbhEbMbBBbbbmEHB MBPBBgl bm'EPB t3BBBBgySaBBlBBMBBBBMBBBaBBCSSSaaCjlB JLLLjigrtggg BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBlBHP'MHMMIMHHIP'KilMBM Jli "As Lebaudy saw his vril he leaped upward two steps at a time toward her. With. one hand Ee seized her 1 the wrist, with the other he reached for his hip pocket. "But the determined woman with the pistol was too quick him.

Before his hand had found the weapon it ight her Snger had pressed the triggeronce, twice. five times in all. And each bullet found its mark in a vital spot of Jacques Lebaudy's The Lebaudy home at Westbury. Long Island, where Mrs. Lebaudy shot and killed Jacques those circumstances, why should Mrs.

Lebaudv not do the same? She procured a revolver, filled its chambers with cartridges and hid it where it would always be within easy reach. It was the last thing needed to complete the stage setting for the final tragic scene in Jacques Lebaudy's life drama. For a week preceding the night when he met his death had been a disagreeable mood. Several times he had visited the house at Westbury, Long Island, where his family lived, to repeat his demands for possession of Jacqueline. And each time when his wife refused him he had gone away in a rage.

On the Saturday he was seen approaching the house about 6 clock the evening. Mrs. Lebaudy hurried Jacqueline upstairs, telling her to bolt and lock her door and put place the iron bars which made her room a tower of safety. Lebaudy was even more excited than on his last previous visit. Seeing the futility of trying to reply to the torrent of abuse with which he greeted her, Mrs.

Lebaudy quietly withdrew to her own room on the floor above. This only served the heighten the "Emperor's" rage. For an hour he stormed through the rooms on the lower floor, smashing glassware, overturning furniture and shouting curses at the top of his lungs. Then suddenly the tumult ceased. Mrs.

Lebaudy, kneeling in prayer at her bedside upstairs, was quick to notice the ominous hush that had fallen over the house of tragedy. She jumped to her feet, tiptoed to the door and strained her ears. But no sound reached her save the low moan of sobs from behind Jacqueline's barred door. "Thank God! He is gone, and we are safe for one night more," she murmured. She was about to knock on Jacqueline's door and relieve the agony of the child's fears when she heard the heavy tread of feet in the corridor below.

It was Lebaudy! He was coming upstairs, probably armed with an axe to smash his way into Jacqueline's room, just as he had threatened. For an instant Mrs. Lebaudy stood irresolute, trembling in every limb. Then, with a prayer for heaven's cruidance on her lins. she glided swiftly to her dressing table and itememdenng how her neighbor, Lebaudy took out her revolver.

Mrs. Jack dt- Saulles, killed her husband with impunity, unci uie pressure oi tne weapon against her palm giving her courage, Mrs. Lebaudy walked out into the dimly lit hall. By the time she reached the head of the staircase Lebaudy was already mounting the first step below. Taking a firmer grip on the revolver, she advanced to meet hint.

As Lebaudy saw his wife he leaped upward two steps at a time toward her. With one hand he seized her by the wrist, with the other he reached for his hip pocket. But the determined woman with the pistol was too quick for him. Before his hand had found the weapon it sought her finger had pressed the trigger once, twice, five times in all. Each bullet found its mark in a vital spot of Jacques Lebaudy's body.

Yet such was the man's vitality that not until the last of the volley had pierced him did his rip on his wife's wrist relax. He toppled backward, thudding heavily against stair after stair, to land a crumpled, bleeding, lifeless heap on the floor below. Mrs. Lebaudy fell in a faint. It remained for little Jacqueline to unbar her door, walk down the stairs past the pool of blood in which her father's body lay and give the alarm.

"Come quick!" she snouted over the telephone. "My mamma has shot my papal" This, of course, was Mrs. Lebaudy's story of the shooting and her excuse for killing her husband. What would have been Lebaudy's version of the tragedy will never be known. And thus ended the extraordinary career of "Emperor" Jacques Lebaudy not as he would have wished, in one of the marble palaces he had planned for the African sands; not while leading a victorious charge of his invincible Saharan guards; not even at the hands of the conspirators he had long dreaded.

There were no silk-clad, bejewelled courtiers to shed tears over his bier. No cathedral bells tolled, no cannon boomed, no flags dropped to half mast as his eyes closed for the last time. In the streets no throngs of loyal subjects gathered, to mourn his passing -and to acclaim his successor, the Princess Jacqueline. And his funeral, with its handful of mourners and curiosity seekers what a strange contrast that was to-the imposing cortege which would have escorted him to the grave in the capital city of Troja! At the last minute it was actually questioned whether his body had the right to rest in consecrated ground. Death made mock of all his vaulting ambitions when it laid him low in this unromantic way the victim of the very woman he had chosen to share his throne.

Whether Jacques Lebaudy deserved the fate he met those who study his life closely will always regret that his peculiar genius never found the right opportunity to exert itself to the world's profit and make its influence felt for many generations. If all his dreams had come true if he had been per-mitted to conquer the African desert wastes and dot them with populous cities and fertile fields what inspiring chapters "Emperor" Jacques I. might have added to the world's history! Mrs. Lebaudy was arrested, but was freed by the Grand Jury, just as she had expected she would be after the experience of Mrs. Bianca de Saulles.

A cruel disappointment awaited her, however, when che walked out of jail a free woman. As will be told hft-e next Sunday, she was confronted with the most surprising obstacles to prevent her taking immediate possession of Lebaudy's huge fortune. The problems which she had thought solved forever when she shot him down suddenly gave place to new and even more distressingly perplexing ones. (To be Continued Next Sunday).

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Pages Available:
607,996
Years Available:
1877-1939