July 30, 1975 (8 pages)

ve Eccentric July 30, 1975 Wed., The Nevada County Nugget 35 Na SRE a remem 7 So em a -_—/ Be _ AND THE NEWSPAPERS By Doris Foley of Lola Montez, to judge of what followed. f true love never did run smooth, it is more than as not particularly so when the prince returned journey to the south. irn to Berlin, where we left Lola and the prince. 1 went to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and it it her name first became involved in politics. The h, viceroy of Poland, an old man, fell most sracefully in love with her. Old men are never n love, but the vice-king was especially foolish. IG IS an excerpt from a letter to Mrs. Ethel of Grass Valley. ''! enclose a photo of my la Montez. This picture has been in my "Now the director of the theatre was also Colbnel ofthe Gensd’armes -a disgraceful position itself, and rendered peculiarly by him from his having been a complete spy for the Russian government. Of course, the Poles hated him. j i ~ ‘While Lola was on a visit to Madame Steinkeller, the wife of the principal banker of Poland, the old viceroy sent to ask her presence at the palace one morning at eleven o’clock. She was assured by several ladies that it would neither be polite, nor safe to refuse to go; and she did go in Madame Steinkeller’s carriage and heard from the the viceroy a most extraordinary proposition. He offered her the gift of a splendid country estate, and would load her with diamonds besides. The poor man was a comic sight to look upon unusually short in stature; and every time he spoke he threw his head back and opened his mouth so wide as to expose the ar_ tificial gold roof of his plate. A death’s head making love to a lady could not have been a more disgusting or horrible sight. These generous gifts were most respectfully and very decidedly declined. _ But her refusal to make a bigger fool of one who was already fool enough, was not well received. In those countries, where political tyranny is unrestrained the social and domestic tyranny is scarcely less absolute. ‘The next day his majesty’s tool, the Colonel of the Gens-d’. arms and the director of the theatre, called at her hotel to urge the suit of his master. He began be being persuasive and argumentative; and when that availed nothing, he insinuated threats, when a grand row broke out, and the madcap ordered him out of her room. Now when Lola Montez appeared that night at the theatre, she was hissed by two or three parties, who had evidently been instructed to do so by the director himself. The same thing occurred the next day; and when it came again on the third night, Lola Montez in a rage rushed down to the footlights and declared that those hisses had been set at her by the director, because she had "refused certain gifts from the old prince, his master. Then came a tremedouse shower of applause from the audience; and the old princess, who was present, both nodded her head, and clapped her hands to the enraged and fiery little Lola. Here, then, was a pretty muss. An immense crowd of Poles, who hated both the prince and the director, escorted her to her lodgings. She found herself a hero without expecting it, and indeed without intending it. Ina moment of rage she'had told the whole truth, without stopping to count the cost, and she had unintentionally set the whole of Warsaw by the ears. The hatred which the Poles intensely felt towards the government and its agents found convenient opportunity of demonstrating itself and in less than twenty-four hours Warsaw was bubbling and raging with the signs of an incipient revolution. When Lola was appraised of the fact that her arrest was ordered she barricaded her door; and when the police arrived, she sat behind it with a pistol in her hand, declaring that she would certainly shoot the first man dead who should break in. The police frightened, or at least, they could not agree among themselves who should be the martyr, and they went off to inform their masters what a tiger they had to confront, and to consult as to what should be done. In the meantime the French consul came yut 70 or 80 years. The little village in the -Possenhofen on the Lake of Starnberg in ,any). The castle on the lake belonged to varia. Apparently Lola Montez spent some th her royal lover .. Arthur Hirschberg, Aug. 27, 1948." irtesy of Ethel Bryner Macey, Grass Valley) forward and gallantly claimed Lola Montez as a French subject, which saved her from immediate arrest; but the order was ‘peremptory, that she must quit Warsaw. Her trunks were opened by the government, under the pretense that she was suspected of carrying on a secret correspondence with the enemies of the government. There was a letter of friendly introduction from the Queen of Prussia to the Emperor of Russia which Lola snatched from the hand of the officer, tore into a thousand pieces, and threw them at his head. This act supported the worst of their suspicions and everybody in Warsaw.who took the part of Lola was suspected of being an enemy of the government. Over three hundred arrests . beakey which, when it is possessed, explains the difficult volume were made, and amont them her good friend, Steinkeller, the © banker. But in the midst of all the terrible excitement, the little : dancing girl, who had kicked up all the muss, slipped off to Russia, = where she had already been invited personally by the emperor himself; while at the court of his father-in-law, Frederick William of Prussia. Her arrival at the capital of Russia, notwithstanding the ; terrible row in Warsaw was welcomed with many peculiar and flattering attentions, of which it would look too much like vanity to poe speak in detail. ’ : The favors which she had received from the queens of Saxony and Prussia, had opened the way for the kindest reception, and for many delicate attentions from the truly amiable and worthy Empress and Nicholas, as well as ministers of his court, besides their proverbial gallantry, appeared from the first anxious to test her skill and sagacity in the routine of secret diplomacy and politics. < A humorous circumstance happened one day while she and the ~ Emperor and Count Benkendorf, minister of the interior, were in a somewhat private chat about a certain vexatious matter con-: nected with Causcaia. It was suddenly announced that the superior officers of the Caucasian army were without, desiring an audience. _.3 The very subject of the previous conversation rendered it desirable that Lola Montez should not be seen in conference with the Emperor and the Minister of.the Interior; and,.so, to get her for the moment out of sight, she was thrust into'a closet and the door locked. The conference between the officers and the Emperor was : very stormy. Nicholas got into a towering rage. It seemed to the imprisoned Lola that there was a whirlwind outside; and a little bit of womanly curiosity to hear what it was about, joined witha great * difficulty of keeping from coughing, made her position a strangely embarrassing one. But the worst of it was in the midst of the grand quarrel the parties all went out of the room, and forgot Lola . Montez, who was locked up in the closet. For a whole hour she was “=? képt in this durance vile, reflecting upon the somewhat confined and cramping honors she was receiving from the hands of royalty,when the Emperor, who seems to have come to himself before < Count Benkendorf did, came running back, out of breath, and. < unlocked the door, and not only begged pardon for his forget.:: fulness, in a manner which only a man of his accomplished address *= could do, but presented the visitor with a thousand roubles (seven hundred and fifty dollars), saying, laughingly, ‘‘I have made up my. mind that wherever I imprison any of my subjects unjustly, I will pay them for their time and suffering.” And Lola answered. Him, “Ah, sir, lam afraid that that rule will make a poor man of you.” . — He laughed heartily, and replied, ‘‘Well, I am happy in being able to settle with you anyhow.” Nicholas was amiable and accomplished in private life, as he was great, stern and inflexible as a monarch. He was the strongest _. pattern of a monarch of this age, and I see no promise of his equal, *: either in the incumbents, or the heir-apparents of other thrones of Europe. , ! = I have now given as much of the history of Lola Montez up to = the time when she went to Bavaria, as is necessary to understand = what kind of education and preparation she had for the varied, stormy, and in many respects the unhappy, career she led since : that time. We have now followed this ‘‘eccentric woman,” as the y newspapers call her, through the calm and more peaceful portion’ of her life, and what is to come is all storm, excitement, unrest and full of seeming contradiction, I know; but there is, or there should :2: of our natures, as well as there is to work of science and art. Don’t ~ misunderstand me I am not promising in my next lecture to ex: plain that riddle of Lola Montez that is a thing I have not guessed :; myself yet but I shall faithfully go over this wild episode of life (horse-whippings and all). without the least disposition to shieldmy subject from the open eyes of the critical world. I am fortunate in * this, at least, that the subject of my lecture has nothing to lose by having the truth told about her. She can say with one of Lord =; Byron’s heroes:z “What’er betides, I’ve known the worst.” (CONTINUED NEXT WEEK) :

ve Eccentric July 30, 1975 Wed., The Nevada County Nugget 35 Na SRE a remem 7 So em a -_—/ Be _ AND THE NEWSPAPERS By Doris Foley of Lola Montez, to judge of what followed. f true love never did run smooth, it is more than as not particularly so when the prince returned journey to the south. irn to Berlin, where we left Lola and the prince. 1 went to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and it it her name first became involved in politics. The h, viceroy of Poland, an old man, fell most sracefully in love with her. Old men are never n love, but the vice-king was especially foolish. IG IS an excerpt from a letter to Mrs. Ethel of Grass Valley. ''! enclose a photo of my la Montez. This picture has been in my "Now the director of the theatre was also Colbnel ofthe Gensd’armes -a disgraceful position itself, and rendered peculiarly by him from his having been a complete spy for the Russian government. Of course, the Poles hated him. j i ~ ‘While Lola was on a visit to Madame Steinkeller, the wife of the principal banker of Poland, the old viceroy sent to ask her presence at the palace one morning at eleven o’clock. She was assured by several ladies that it would neither be polite, nor safe to refuse to go; and she did go in Madame Steinkeller’s carriage and heard from the the viceroy a most extraordinary proposition. He offered her the gift of a splendid country estate, and would load her with diamonds besides. The poor man was a comic sight to look upon unusually short in stature; and every time he spoke he threw his head back and opened his mouth so wide as to expose the ar_ tificial gold roof of his plate. A death’s head making love to a lady could not have been a more disgusting or horrible sight. These generous gifts were most respectfully and very decidedly declined. _ But her refusal to make a bigger fool of one who was already fool enough, was not well received. In those countries, where political tyranny is unrestrained the social and domestic tyranny is scarcely less absolute. ‘The next day his majesty’s tool, the Colonel of the Gens-d’. arms and the director of the theatre, called at her hotel to urge the suit of his master. He began be being persuasive and argumentative; and when that availed nothing, he insinuated threats, when a grand row broke out, and the madcap ordered him out of her room. Now when Lola Montez appeared that night at the theatre, she was hissed by two or three parties, who had evidently been instructed to do so by the director himself. The same thing occurred the next day; and when it came again on the third night, Lola Montez in a rage rushed down to the footlights and declared that those hisses had been set at her by the director, because she had "refused certain gifts from the old prince, his master. Then came a tremedouse shower of applause from the audience; and the old princess, who was present, both nodded her head, and clapped her hands to the enraged and fiery little Lola. Here, then, was a pretty muss. An immense crowd of Poles, who hated both the prince and the director, escorted her to her lodgings. She found herself a hero without expecting it, and indeed without intending it. Ina moment of rage she'had told the whole truth, without stopping to count the cost, and she had unintentionally set the whole of Warsaw by the ears. The hatred which the Poles intensely felt towards the government and its agents found convenient opportunity of demonstrating itself and in less than twenty-four hours Warsaw was bubbling and raging with the signs of an incipient revolution. When Lola was appraised of the fact that her arrest was ordered she barricaded her door; and when the police arrived, she sat behind it with a pistol in her hand, declaring that she would certainly shoot the first man dead who should break in. The police frightened, or at least, they could not agree among themselves who should be the martyr, and they went off to inform their masters what a tiger they had to confront, and to consult as to what should be done. In the meantime the French consul came yut 70 or 80 years. The little village in the -Possenhofen on the Lake of Starnberg in ,any). The castle on the lake belonged to varia. Apparently Lola Montez spent some th her royal lover .... Arthur Hirschberg, Aug. 27, 1948." irtesy of Ethel Bryner Macey, Grass Valley) forward and gallantly claimed Lola Montez as a French subject, which saved her from immediate arrest; but the order was ‘peremptory, that she must quit Warsaw. Her trunks were opened by the government, under the pretense

that she was suspected of carrying on a secret correspondence with the enemies of the government. There was a letter of friendly introduction from the Queen of Prussia to the Emperor of Russia which Lola snatched from the hand of the officer, tore into a thousand pieces, and threw them at his head. This act supported the worst of their suspicions and everybody in Warsaw.who took the part of Lola was suspected of being an enemy of the government. Over three hundred arrests . beakey which, when it is possessed, explains the difficult volume were made, and amont them her good friend, Steinkeller, the © banker. But in the midst of all the terrible excitement, the little : dancing girl, who had kicked up all the muss, slipped off to Russia, = where she had already been invited personally by the emperor himself; while at the court of his father-in-law, Frederick William of Prussia. Her arrival at the capital of Russia, notwithstanding the ; terrible row in Warsaw was welcomed with many peculiar and flattering attentions, of which it would look too much like vanity to poe speak in detail. ’ : The favors which she had received from the queens of Saxony and Prussia, had opened the way for the kindest reception, and for many delicate attentions from the truly amiable and worthy Empress and Nicholas, as well as ministers of his court, besides their proverbial gallantry, appeared from the first anxious to test her skill and sagacity in the routine of secret diplomacy and politics. < A humorous circumstance happened one day while she and the ~ Emperor and Count Benkendorf, minister of the interior, were in a somewhat private chat about a certain vexatious matter con-: nected with Causcaia. It was suddenly announced that the superior officers of the Caucasian army were without, desiring an audience. _.3 The very subject of the previous conversation rendered it desirable that Lola Montez should not be seen in conference with the Emperor and the Minister of.the Interior; and,.so, to get her for the moment out of sight, she was thrust into'a closet and the door locked. The conference between the officers and the Emperor was : very stormy. Nicholas got into a towering rage. It seemed to the imprisoned Lola that there was a whirlwind outside; and a little bit of womanly curiosity to hear what it was about, joined witha great * difficulty of keeping from coughing, made her position a strangely embarrassing one. But the worst of it was in the midst of the grand quarrel the parties all went out of the room, and forgot Lola . Montez, who was locked up in the closet. For a whole hour she was “=? képt in this durance vile, reflecting upon the somewhat confined and cramping honors she was receiving from the hands of royalty,when the Emperor, who seems to have come to himself before < Count Benkendorf did, came running back, out of breath, and. < unlocked the door, and not only begged pardon for his forget..:: fulness, in a manner which only a man of his accomplished address *= could do, but presented the visitor with a thousand roubles (seven hundred and fifty dollars), saying, laughingly, ‘‘I have made up my. mind that wherever I imprison any of my subjects unjustly, I will pay them for their time and suffering.” And Lola answered. Him, “Ah, sir, lam afraid that that rule will make a poor man of you.” . — He laughed heartily, and replied, ‘‘Well, I am happy in being able to settle with you anyhow.” Nicholas was amiable and accomplished in private life, as he was great, stern and inflexible as a monarch. He was the strongest _.. pattern of a monarch of this age, and I see no promise of his equal, *: either in the incumbents, or the heir-apparents of other thrones of Europe. , ! = I have now given as much of the history of Lola Montez up to = the time when she went to Bavaria, as is necessary to understand = what kind of education and preparation she had for the varied, stormy, and in many respects the unhappy, career she led since : that time. We have now followed this ‘‘eccentric woman,” as the y newspapers call her, through the calm and more peaceful portion’ of her life, and what is to come is all storm, excitement, unrest and full of seeming contradiction, I know; but there is, or there should :2: of our natures, as well as there is to work of science and art. Don’t ~ misunderstand me I am not promising in my next lecture to ex: plain that riddle of Lola Montez that is a thing I have not guessed :; myself yet but I shall faithfully go over this wild episode of life (horse-whippings and all). without the least disposition to shieldmy subject from the open eyes of the critical world. I am fortunate in * this, at least, that the subject of my lecture has nothing to lose by having the truth told about her. She can say with one of Lord =; Byron’s heroes:z “What’er betides, I’ve known the worst.” (CONTINUED NEXT WEEK) :