SAD END OF A LIFE OF SHAM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1481, 12 February 1887, Page 3

SAD END OF A LIFE OF SHAM.

An English rotor fc/ f Imperial Fiv-nc whose nama w«b iM<un » Crouch, wt was b»tte>- known a* ' Odd* Pearl,' Hi d July 2 m the home m tho Run di B a»hto which she retired wheu p ivony cam upon her. Sho was attended by h officer of medical relief »t the reqoeac <> the oonoiergi* of tho tenement iv whirl: the lived. What it- tie furniture <-hf< ha>' scarcely audio d to p«.y th* q .a t.er'i' r ••• Her memoirs did not «h>>, at h«j w.. paid Romar.hint! not to giv > a pi -i-:y i them to a ftvr grea 1 pHisounuus of t.) empire, The malady <>f whoh di< < waß oanoer. One realises now wiu difficulty how a woman so utterly vulga> and vulgar looking could eooupy as « notorloty the position ahe took up here shortly after the Crimean war. Bur lust victim was Duval, the Bm of the buto'ier who founded the chuap restaurants, and who m the two years that ensued on hip father's death apent on her and her fibvbl'.s and lap-dogs neventeen millions of franca. When he got to the end of hia fortune ?h" r.'fuaed to see him, and he, forcing his way into nor presence, discharged s pinto] at his temples; intending to blow hi» brains out, but h<s hand slipping h < on y wounded his face badly, Oor»'a soiijUudu w»8 not for the wouudud prod «a , <>ut for 5 ntiTt oarpet o.i which he tall b(< c - ing Tun abßonce of feeling thu« ahowo mado her an object of geoetrtl f pulatou, and sho would huve beon forgotten wen> it not for the litiga ions m whioh she was frequently engigeJ. A c >rre»poudent of the Daily News »»ys : — I knew the whole of tne Orouoh family, and went to aohool with the youngar girls m 1854 55 Mlonte, the eubjeor. of your not toe, was then aboui •eveitean years of age, and apprenticed t a milliner tv Regent pireet. T-.itice »*>f •iia»ppe»red, ..ud. w*» n«rei- h> t of Hy her mother until ab<>ut ft year foefwre thefail of i he .Empire. Mm (Jronch weut over to Parla m see if the notorious Oor» Pearl was rea>ly har lung lost daughter , and fouu- her living m great splendour, the miatresß «f Prii.ou .* ap«leoy, a -d ;-s notno osifl oi the Emperor a'ao. When the crash came she fled over hern, and her mo-her saw her agaio. Mrs Crouch o.i in e to tell m» a<l thl at tho tiii^o it occurred. 'i\\ Daily News cnrreup^ndeiit telegraphs :— '.boo twumy perisonn only attend. d the funeral of tho late Oora ;ea 1* several of her tormer admireis joined m a aubioription to paj th» ixpons. s (i the burial, amounting to £33. Fifty franc* was tent by the secretary of a very great perßonage to buy a five years' grave A Proteatant clergyman officiated out of ohnrity. The deceased wished it to be known that Bhe blamed nobody but Lersdlf for her final miuery. An occasional correspondent of the Daily News writeß : — Treaty years ago the equipage of i>ora Pearl waa one of tho sights of Hyde Park The loungerß by the tils threw a doub'e iiitensiiy into their Btare when her carriage passed with its p rfeot horses and irreproachable liveriea. Great ladies were acouaed of dressing 'after* 1 h» calebrity. Whan she went to Paris and Bhortly after she m >de her debut at the B'Mjffjg, the 'heatre w.ib filed to overfiawiug with tho ladiea of the demimonda, and ' parsonages' titled and untitled. Never did a premiere evolve so much curloiiry Ooriain of the boxes sold at 500 fninca each, and oroh-otra ytalla fetched 150 franoa. Before thon Cora Pearl waa well known to Pariah ua as an anuzon, a female contiur, She wished to present hernolf m a now aspect to the public Her slanlno were tho talk of P.ris. Thd wo»lthie3t wud most, refined wore a )t abovd taking a hmt from her on the eu ; ject of tho tables. Paris had not then begun to emu a a London m this reßpecb Cora wi»a ouo of the first to eet thd English fashion In matters relating to h>rses and crrlagon. ttor English grooms, ' gui lie riaient pas,' were a pu^'.e to their rauro hvoly and animated Frei'di confreres. Tho »hapo and color of her carriages were models for the imitation of oven tho groat ones of Frinoe under the Empire. Particulars about the harness, the upholstering of the vehtcles, and tho unu-ually Bobor llboriea appeared ia the papore. >^ho always had at least a d zen horaeß m her stables, and fabulous sums were spent upon them Her apartraontfl m tho Ohamps Elysees were magnificently furnished. The dining-room, bo mo what Bombre m ita heavy dkCoraUons, had oabiuets filJop with treasures of art — silver aerviceu, pieces of sculpluro, tjemi of the goldsmiths' akil s'!v<ir gilt aorvioes, and bowls nf engraven g >ld. The small adj'oeut drawing-room was crowded with artioUs of ' big^otry and virtue,' and scattered all over the room ware ha<<ds moulded m marble, m ptmter, m bronsj, m ti ver, every one of them modelled upon or cast from the remarkably well shaped hand of Or» herself, Marble ••.at'ies, valuable chinp. vasts (wo r th a king's ranaair) beautiful ol< cks, oostly fans, iiintorio oibioetß, wero huddle! together m hi roomi without the amalleat pretence to arrangement, The taste of the cel'jt rity did not run In the flireotion of the drawing-room, but of the stables. This wis the woman who has jiat died ia the most squalid poverty m a » mall room iv the Rue de BaS8»no She was English by birh, hein,i the daughter of Crouch, tha composer, of the world-know-.^ Ki>h\e'»n Mavoornein,' nnd of the equally bt aut/ful, though almost, unknown, ' Dercuot Asthore,' When Mridamo Ohri«tino NiUson w»s m America nomo years a.-o, on mie ncoi?ion sh« B»og ' Kali'een Mavouniewn' aa an ci core After the performance a wrttahed-look'ng, p »verty-Btrioifln man tbrow himself at h»r f<vt and thnnked hor with tears for hinging bo exqaibitoly ht>i song, tho ohi'd of his brain. This was Crouch, reduced to such (traits that he Was almost unable to command the price of a meal. Something was dove for him m the way of getting up a »übi soripiion, and an American reporter, getting hold of th? old man, oiloUed from i him a story of hia lifelong reveraos, whioh wont the rouhi of the English press at tho time. Among other thiugs he stated that he was the f-ther of Oora P«3irl. During the last few years her poverty was os as his. She waa often seen m the Champs Eiysees, gazing at the house whore she once had lived, her U ess fadwd and worn, bnt the rod dyed hnlr conspicuously brilliant as of old, tha routed cho^ka and artifioitlly whiteued brow giving hor at. a little distance a fictitious air of y u'.lifulnesß The dißdal'iful look h>d deaertod har face, and wrinkles were sbpu at a near approach uu 'or the rou»o. An sir >-f fretfal minery ha<s replaced them. The ravages of v terrlHe disorder were re ; fljoted m her face.