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Show HISTORY'S Mil EViYST ERSES g! 5 . 1 Unsolved Riddles That Still Puzzle -; Authorities Here and Abroed The Death of the Duchess of Praslin THE stage setting for this murder, one of the most remarkable In the annals of crime, was such that any writer of detective fiction would revel In It as well ns In the strange circumstances cir-cumstances which came to light during the trials that ensued nnd the widespread wide-spread rumors that a still greater mystery mys-tery lay hidden Just below the surface. sur-face. Even in the scandal-laden gossip of Paris the duke and duchess of Praslin Pras-lin were repined to be extremely happy In their marital relations and apparently appar-ently not a cloud had marred their nineteen years of married life, during which they had been blessed by nine children. Both the duke and his wife were the possessors of large and Influential In-fluential fortunes and there was nothing noth-ing which either had desired which had not been immediately forthcoming. However, one morning In August, 1S47, persons who were passing the Praslin mansion on the Hue Saint-Honore. Saint-Honore. heard fearful screams coming from a room on the second floor and, when the police burst In, they found the servants cowering back from the open door of the duchess' bed cham ber, where even a cursory glance showed that a frightful struggle had taken place. Smears of blood were over practically every piece of furniture. furni-ture. The bed had been overturned. One chair had been smashed to pieces and, in the center of the room was the dead body of the duchess, blood gushing from five open wounds, any one of which would have been sufficient suffi-cient to cause her death. Hardly had the significance of the scene made Itself apparent to the servants and the police when they were amazed to see the duke of Praslin, Pras-lin, dressed with his usual metrlcul-ous metrlcul-ous care, stroll down the hall and heard him Inquire casually as to the cause of the commotion. When told that his wife had been murdered, the duke gave orders that the family physician phy-sician was to be summoned immediately immedi-ately and he then retired to his room where, according to the subsequent testimony of his valet, he gave way to a paroxysm of grief. Later, when questioned by the police, the duke declared de-clared that he had not heard his wife's screnms and maintained that the first he had learned of the crime was when he had Inquired of the servants as to what had happened. He admitted, however, that a pistol discovered In the dead woman's room had belonged to him, but he stated that It had disappeared dis-appeared some weeks previously and that he had not seen it since. These statements the police corn-hatted corn-hatted by producing a blood-stained dressing gown which they had found In a closet In the duke's apartments, together with a dagger and a small sword, both of which were covered with blood, and completed the frame work of their theory by recovering from the fireplace of the duke's sitting room the half-burned fragments of letters let-ters from the duchess protesting against the Intimacy which she charged had been going on for some time between be-tween the duke nnd Mile. Deluzy. governess gov-erness to some of the younger Praslin children. Here, the detectives maintained, main-tained, were not only the weapons with which the crime had been committed, com-mitted, but the motive as well, nnd a warrant was Immediately Issued for the arrest of the duke. Before this could be served, however, how-ever, his grace swallowed a large dose of poison, hut his trial was Instantly Instituted before a hastily assemhled jury which convened In the bed chamber cham-ber of the accused man. In the midst of the proceedings, the dnke of Praslin Pras-lin Is reported to have shrieked : "I am not guilty before Cod, I am not guilty!" nnd to have fallen over dead. But, and here Is where the second mystery mnkes Its nppenrance. It was widely believed that Praslin never took poison and that the whole affair was part of a pre-arranged plot to save the nobleman from the gallows. Those who adhere to this theory claim that the duke was spirited out of the country and lived for years in England, Eng-land, where he was maintained In luxury lux-ury by the income from his estates transmitted by his son and his grandson. grand-son. After evading an attempt to lynch her. Mile. Deluzy escaped to America where she married a famous New York lawyer and later became an intimate friend of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. She died In 1S7I, Just prior to the publication of a book which, contrary to expectations, threw not the slightest light upon the affair of the Rue Saint-Honore or the mystery connected with the ullimate fate of the duke of Praslin. (. bv thf WT.eeler Syndicate. I |