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Show "VAMPS" WHO MADE HISTORY I By JAMES C. YOUNG. j ( by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) VAMPIRE OF OUR OWN TIME. THAT the vampire flourishes today no less than in the famous times f the past is proved by the career )f Malvina Vivian. She was born u Spanish fisher girl, who soon devel-)ped devel-)ped into the beauty of her village. L rich German, Wonler, saw her, and lecording to the story, paid the girl's father 1,000,000 pesos for possession )f Malvina. The German took her !o Paris and had her educated there, particularly in dancing and singing, ind a short time afterward he installed in-stalled her in a Berlin palace. Malvina became the most celebrated irtist of the German stage. Her dancing danc-ing was something never to be forgotten. forgot-ten. She also was famous for her rostumes, the richest which Paris :ould produce. Her patron spent millions mil-lions of marks upon her and she made large sums upon the stage. But her passion for gambling was greater than ill this tide of wealth, and her bad luck endless. Then came the war. Malvlna's R-ealthy friend lost much of his fortune, for-tune, the theaters closed, or cut expenses. ex-penses. Malvina found herself on the 2dge of what would have been misery to her. But she did not descend into the pit, for it was observed that she seemed to have as much money as ever, ev-er, and wore Paris gowns of the latest rut when German won-en were turning last year's clothes. 'onler became Suspicious. It was . .,ered that Malvina Mal-vina had turned spy fur the allies, and her position became dangerous. Although Al-though she was watched by the sharp-ist sharp-ist eyes in the German secret service ao proof could be found. So Malvina went her luxurious way through a suffering world until the Bnd of the war, when she again reappeared re-appeared in the theaters. But it seemed that money , ran low with her nee more, and the gossips said that the price of spies had fallen. Then Malvina hit upon desperate measures. She planned with a notorious thief to rob men and homes where she could locate treasures. The thief was caught, confessed, and involved Mal-Fina. Mal-Fina. She found herself in the hands 5f the law for the first time, but the lingers of the hand opened in a mysterious mys-terious way and Malvina went free. Her next appearance was in the Ital ian Tyrol at the casino of Meran. She seemed to have abundant funds. In one night she lost 400.000 marks. It nas her last throw. She called for a glass of champagne, climbed upon a chair, and cried a toast to every one In the casino. Then, as the surprised crowd watched, and the distant violins kept company to her humor, she drained the glass and fell dead. She had put prussic acid into the wine. So died Malvina Vivian, vampire, 1020. THE EMPRESS WHO TURNED VAMPIRE. MANY women have won power and luxury by their beauty. This Is the story of an empress, turned vampire, who raised a shepherd boy to a position near her own and whose fancy led her to love men of all degree. de-gree. Peter the Great of Russia and Catherine, Cath-erine, his servant girl queen, left a daughter, Elizabeth. She became empress em-press of Russia, and before that had earned a reputation for lightly loving many men. Alexis Raxoum, born In 1709, son of a poor shepherd, was a wondrously handsome boy, with Innocent face and curly hair. He showed a talent for music and took his place In the village choir, where his clear, sweet voice became locally famous. One of the imperial officers, passing through the village on a Sunday, cnajiceu iuio me cnurcn ana neara Alexis sing. He persuaded the boy's parents to let him take the lad to Moscow, Mos-cow, where he might get Instruction. And the officer obtained a place for Alexis In the cathedral attended by Elizabeth. It was not long until his fine voice attracted notice. Elizabeth heard him and was captivated. She ordered that he be added to the choristers chor-isters In her private chapel, without even seeing Alexis. But when he came to the chapel she saw the Innocent face, soft eyes and gentle demeanor of this wonder-boy, and immediately she lost her heart to him. He was Installed In-stalled in the palace, with the richest garments and all that luxury could command. The shepherd boy was living liv-ing a fniry sale come true. Elizabeth's love for Alexis did not prevent her from dallying with sterner members of his sex. One satirical commentator tells us that she exchanged ex-changed "a general for a sergeant a courtier for a sailor and a count fur a coachman." i But Alexis was her one truj love and ! she refused many royal alliances. She j delighted to see him dressed in fine ! garments and would sit entranced while his silvery voice tinkled through her apartments. He could have been emperor had he willed. Alexis did not come from the stuff of which emperors em-perors are made. He vas Just a beautiful youngster with a marvelous voice and the soft graces of nn artistic nature. If we wished to be unkind we might say that he preferred to he the lnpdog of nn empress rather than her master. Perhaps Elizabeth's love may he explained ex-plained by a fn'nle of La Foniaine. A Brahmin turned n nMUse into a beautiful beauti-ful maiden. He offered her for husband hus-band to the nun. the wind, the t,tars. but she wanted none of them and would have no husband until she saw a mouse, which charmed ber heart Elizabeth was the daughter of a peasant peas-ant and Alexis a shepherd's boy. THE WOMAN WHO WAS JEALOUS OF HERSELF. SHE was a woman whom no one ever understood, who may have been the evil genius or the guiding spirit of Napoleon III, but who admittedly admit-tedly was a beauty without peer. As we study the picture of the Countess de Castiglione we see a woman of ample am-ple figure, beautifully molded, and a face which is slightly haughty, yet soft and winsome. She was a woman of contrasts, paradoxes and perplexities. perplexi-ties. Born in 1S40 of a noble Florentine family, at an early age she won the affection of Victor Emmanuel, king of Piedmont. In the course of things, Cavour, his great minister, conceived the Idea of sending her to Paris, the dominant capital of Europe, for the special purpose of bewitching Napoleon Napo-leon III. The countess came, saw and conquered. The existence of Italy depended upon up-on French policy. Napoleon UI cherished cher-ished an idea of reclaiming that country coun-try by right of its having been conquered con-quered under Napoleon I. And the king of Piedmont was striving to enlarge en-large his holdings into what now constitutes con-stitutes the kingdom of Italy. It was the business of the countess to keep Napoleon out of Italy and let Victor Emmanuel carry on his plans. Napoleon Na-poleon stayed out. Italy eventually became what It Is today. She gained complete control of Napoleon, Na-poleon, a scheming, narrow-visioned man who thought himself great Perhaps the countess' real love was herself. Paul Baudry painted an un-draped un-draped picture of her, lying on a couch. It wns one of the most beautiful beauti-ful canvases which ever came from his brush. The countess had It hung in her boudoir. And every day she examined ex-amined herself In comparison to the creation of loveliness before her eyes. She grew to fear that she was not so beautiful as the picture, that she was fading, that Baudry had flattered her and set an impossible example. Her suspicions turned to jealousy of the picture literally, of her very self. And In a rage she cut the canvas to pieces with a stiletto. Then came the war of 1870-71, the downfall of Napoleon and the sorrows of France. She rallied every possible resource against the Germans, but the world knows the story. The countess faded from the scene of great events. Perhaps the best commentary of her career and her time was made by herself her-self : "Ah, If I had been queen." FROM INN SERVANT TO EMPRESS. EARLY in the Eighteenth century the Russians captured Marlenburg, East Prussia. A squad of drunken soldiers rifled one of the principal inns. In their search for valuables they opened the oven door of the Inn's huge stove, made of porcelain, and brought forth two frightened girls. One of them was Catherine, a servant, and the other Marie, who was staying with her. Both girls were bewitchingly pretty. The soldiers fell to fighting over their possession, when the commander of the invading forces passed the Inn. He heard the row, stopped, and commanded com-manded order. Catherine saw her chance. She leaned out of the window and gave the general one of her sweetest sweet-est smiles. He and another officer carried the two girls away. Soon afterward Prince Menshlkov, imume ui uie czar, aim one oi me most powerful men In Russia, came to Inspect the army. He saw Catherine Cather-ine and took her away from the general. gen-eral. She had exchanged her simple clothes for rich garments and was a revelation of loveliness in the rude Russian camp. Catherine soon had Menshikov under un-der her full control. Then came the czar himself, Peter the Great, absolute abso-lute master of the empire. He also saw Catherine and claimed her. She was a vampire who always succeeded But Catherine was something more than merely a beautiful woman. Her judgment and Instinct soon made her Peter s most trusted adviser. He used to meet his ministers at a little house in Moscow where she was placed, and weigh decisions with Catherine's help. At last her domination over Peter became be-came so complete that he married the former inn servant and had her crowned Czarina. Catherine's elevation eleva-tion by no means checked her vampire instincts. She wns famous for her infidelities. William Mons, her court chamberlain, was tried on a trumped up charge and bung, really for a n .icl more serious offense. Peter forced Catherine to walk past the place of execution, and crowded her so close to the gallows that she brushed her former lover, banging there. But she never flinched. Afterward Peter had the man's head sent to her room In a bottle of alcohol. That incident was typical of the half-mad Peter, who also was something some-thing of a genius, and of the period in which Catherine reigned. Afte Peter's death she ruled alone, the mistress mis-tress of a court where revels lasted a week at a time, and a man's drinking capacity sometimes won a ministrj I for hiin. |