OCR Text |
Show ooco:x:oocopcoooooooo 1 1 Historic Blackguards 1 g J By ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE 8 Copyright, by the Presti Publishing Co. (The New York World). ' George Monk, the Man Who Sold a Throne THIS Is the i story of a I0fT? "National $VX'b hero," who AT-YA climbed to fame b V.J; i by the ladder of tl blackguardism. He rj feti'g was a blond, fat, VjJ?1 tiSr homely man, xSfys . George Monk by ' 'r-' S is name. :$ V.'-S" . Benedict Arnold GENERAL MONK tried to sell his country to its old-time masters. He failed. History has forever for-ever cursed him with the brand of "Traitor." George Monk tried to do practically the same thing. He succeeded. suc-ceeded. He was loaded down with wealth and honors and hailed as a Liberator. When Monk was a lad of seventeen in 1625 be broke the laws of England Eng-land and had to flee for refuge to the continent. He had not much money, but he had boundless ambition, not enough conscience to trouble him, and a veritable genius for military affairs. A.11 this was a splendid equipment for a soldier of fortune. And a soldier of fortune he became. He went to the wars in Spain, and later in the Netherlands, Nether-lands, where he quickly won high reputation rep-utation as a crafty and fearless warrior. war-rior. Monk fell foul of the Dutch authorities author-ities in 1638 and went back to England. Eng-land. Ey this time his early lawlessness was forgotten and he was made a colonel in the armies of King Charles I. A short time afterward he helped to crush an uprising, first in Scotland, then in Ireland, and by his stern conduct con-duct there won still further the approval ap-proval of Charles. Parliament rose against the king and civil war began. Monk was suspectedrightly sus-pectedrightly or otherwise of being be-ing a secret friend of the rebels and was arrested. But he so loudly protested pro-tested his love for the king and his abhorrence for the Parliamentary party that Charles freed him and rein-ta!led rein-ta!led him in the army. Monk fought gallantly for the king, but in 1644 was captured by the parliament troops and cast into prison. There he remained for three years. In the meantime Parliament won the war. The Royalist forces were routed. King Charles was a captive and was Boon to lose his head. The Parliament Parlia-ment army needed good officers. - Monk was offered freedom, fat bribes Cartouche, Chief of France's "Robber Trust" j R I C H f A Frenchman, ' fkone day in 1720, chanc- - ed to meet a sad- Hji S? face d, showily VI dressed young "1 stranger at a cafe. The stranger gy E proved a jolly jfT companion, and aC pS length invited the CARTOUCHE rich man home to dine with him. The latter accepted. They came to a nouse the guest had never before, visited. vis-ited. But the moment he entered the place something about it seemed oddly odd-ly familiar to him. It was not until they sat down to an elaborate meal that the visitor understood under-stood the cause of this feeling. The gold dishes on the table bore his own monogram! So did the table linen and the costly hangings of the room. A second amazed glance showed him that the furniture, too, was his. He started up In bewilderment. "Sit down, I beg," urged the stranger. strang-er. "I robbed your house today of everything of value and used the plunder to furnish this little home of mine. That is why I asked you to dine with me. It seemed only fair that you should have a chance to say farewell to your treasures." The guest whipped out his sword and rushed in fury at his host. The Btranger made no effort to defend himself. Leaning lazily back in his chair, he remarked: "I am Cartouche." At these simple words the guest's rage turned to terror. Dropping his sword, he ran from the house in panic 3red, leaving Cartouche in the undisputed undis-puted possession of the stolen valuables. valua-bles. This is but one of a hundred anecdotes anec-dotes that show the skill and Impudence Impu-dence of France's most picturesque blackguard and the fear In which his very name was held. L.ouls Dominique Cartouche was born In Paris about .. 1693. He had not only a positive lenlus for crime, but an equal genlui I r and a generalship If he would renounce re-nounce King Charles and swear loyalty loyal-ty to Parliament. He consented. One side was as good ns another to him so long as it promised him advance inent. He was bound by no Bcruples. Say6 one historian: "He had but one Interest, that ol George Monk! And to secure that interest in-terest he labored." Monk rose high in the Parliamentary service and at last was second In command to Oliver Cromwell himself. This did not satisfy him. No cun- ning or skill of his could prevail over Cromwell's Iron nature. But Crom well who never wholly trusted him ; was not immortal. And Monk could afford to wait. He quietly strength- I ened his influence over the army, laid his "plans and bided his time. Cromwell was ruler of "the com- 1 monwealth of England," using the title "Lord Protector" instead ol "King," because the people were sick of royalty. He died and his son Rich- ' ard a weak, stupid fellow succeeded succeed-ed him. In less than a year Richard ! was deposed. And England was practically prac-tically without a ruler. The Cromwell Crom-well party wanted one thing, other factions fac-tions wanted another. It was the time of uncertainty for which Monk hai waited. i The eldest son of King Charles I was living on the continent. Foi j years he had vainly sought to regain i his father's throne. But the people at large were afraid to trust him. I Agents of his had approached Monk. I and now came again to him. The balance bal-ance of power lay in Monk's hands i And he played his cards well. He held out. it is said, for an enormom 1 price. The terms being agreed upon he quietly got about his task of earn lng the money. When the hour was ripe he desertei ! to the Royalist standard and took hil j whole army with him. With ' the 1 army and Monk on the side of Charlei I.'s son, and parliament "packed" witt Royalists, the commonwealth could dc nothing but feebly lament the treach : ery that had caused Its fall. The young king (now known ai Charles II.) came to London unop posed and began a reign of profligacy Monk was hailed as a hero and a deliverer. Charles II. made him duke of Albemarle, gave him a pension ot $35,000 a year and appointed - him commander-in-chief of the Englisb army. i as a leader and organizer. He gath j ered about him, as a mere lad, a band j of crooks whom he ruled with cruel : discipline and who were taught to i obey his slightest wish as though it were divine law. ' He mapped Paris and its suburbs Into regular districts, appointing a superintendent and regular staff ot ruffians to each. He then evolved uncannily un-cannily clever methods of theft and highway robbery for each of these dis- : tricts until no man's life or possessions posses-sions were safe. By Cartouche's per- ' feet "system" the most daring crimes were committed in open daylight and went unpunished. "The rich," Cartouche once declared, "live that they may be robbed. That is their one excuse for existence." i He spent his wealth as rapidly as i he won it. Living in magnificent style, wearing clothes and Jewels such aa most noblemen could not afford. "It was recorded," writes a chronicler, chron-icler, "that the cry, 'Here comes Cartouche,' Car-touche,' would empty the fullest street." But, like all others of his sort, Cartouche Car-touche at last was captured. He showed no fear, when, after countless hairbreadth hair-breadth escapes, he found himself fast in the net of the law. He laughed at judge and jury, mercilessly taunting taunt-ing them, goading them to madness w-ith stinging wit. When his death warrant was read aloud to him he halted the proceedings to point out a grammatical error in the legal paper. For years he had baffled the police. His arrest, in 1721, was accomplished by mere chance as he sat drinking In a cafe. So shrewdly had he laid his plans that before a conviction could be secured his trial dragged on for many months and wa3 the sensation of the whole country. He was finally condemned to a horrible death to be "broken alive upon the wheel." To the very last nobody believed that the wonderful Cartouche would permit himself to be executed. It was expected that, by wme trick of his strange brain or by a rescue on the part of his followers, he would ' get away. |