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Show I W r 6abyL fUji L I I h fiooo.oooG Si TLe Strange Fear Tkat Made EkBBlS l IL TT T 1 1 1 T7 Urmi1! P A Clever Little Caricature tier Kecklessly extravagant, ; 5t fGab iS Penurious, Caused Her . : . I Untimely Death and Forced ) I $i Her to Give Her Most ' iM'r? I Precious Possessions to tne ) I PARIS, June 30. "i-HE BfilO of pobr Gaby Deslys's jewels a for the benefit of the poor of Marseilles Mar-seilles is one of the strangest, most puzzling freaks of huraan behavior of our ml da- That a woman who was universally noted for her frivolity, her extravagance, her worldllnc-ss in shorn, should perform the utterly unworldly act of selling all her jewels for the unknown poor seems inex pllcable. These jewels were the greatest, pride, the greatest joy of her life of In-f In-f sensate extravagance, and yet she willed -jL'L sway the magnificent collection to help a lot of wretched, squalid, hopeless paupers The act Is entirely contrary to what one would expect In a person of her spectacu- lar career. The explanation of Gaby's strange will has been furnished to our correspondent by one of her intimate friends Hei action can only be understood when one knows 1 the peculiar state of mind, almost a patho- fcJl logical condition, which had dominated her GH for years. vjjHf "Gaby had an almost Insane fear of ; poverty," said your correspondent's In formant. "Poverty was to her like a personal per-sonal devil, always watching her and waiting wait-ing to grasp her in bis cruel clutches. Her most extravagant acts were committed com-mitted as a form of defiance to rbls demon poverty. The final act of her life, -will H9 J ing her jewels to the poor, was intended jjflfc to be her supreme blow at the demon." This revelation of the famous dancer's piy state?of mind also clears up some of the mjsterv surrounding the last domance of her life, her affair with the young Duko de Crussol, member of Frauce's most ancient noble family The Duke, who accompanied the dancer to New York about a year ago, was so profouudlv devoted to her that his ;'Jttft. family came to the conclusion he was plan- 'M nlng to marry her and was dreadfully wor- ' (:--, fi rled at the prospect. The trutii was that the pretty dancer had confided to the young Duko her dream Of leaving all her wealth to the poor and that -v.ith the enthusiasm of youth he was completely carried away by her Idealism. That Is why he treated her with a reverence rever-ence not usually paid by young dukes to frivolous dancer?. That also explains his profound emotion at her death, why he I broke Into tears, wrung his hands In anguish, cjid -could scarcely control hlm- ift I eGlf ff- I "She had such a beautiful soul." said the Jr Duke, evidently under the Influence of J' knowledge that was not within the reach of ordinary persons. "She was good, she was uoble, she lived for others. Nobody can understand yet how good she was." I The Duke, it should be recalled, distin- gulshed himself as an aviator during the war. and threw away his chance of the Legion of Honor in order to visit Gaby 5B Deslys when she was ill. The value of the jewels left by Gaby to the poor Is enormous, and is not fully indicated in-dicated by the sale at auction already held The market Is a bad one at present, and the prices obtained were disappointing in view of the remarkable beauty and rarity of the pieces, and besides that there are many that have not yet been sold. Few 'iHu stage- favorl liai ,r accumulated so i great an aggregation of wealth. Her entire collection was conservatively 'estimated at 5.300,000 francs, which at a normal rate of exchange would bo about SI. 060.000. It would require a volume to catalogue i nil her jewels. Among those sold for the benefit of tho poor of Marseilles may be , signalled: IB The necklace of forty-nine graduated I pearls given (o Gabv bv ex-King Manuel II of Portugal, $105,000 II Gaby's famous necklace of fifty-seven I'l pearls, with three great pearls pendant, II the central pearl black, $100,000. y IE A string of sixty-nine pearls. $47,600. 1 A string of one hundred and f 1ft v pearls, '-ill $56,000. 11 Two platinum and diamond necklaces, 11 A splendid diamond pendant, $1 1,300. tfl An emerald pendant, set in diamonds, f",j $19,440. i'l The gems were of many kinds, but pearls predominated. All the stones were Of BU extraordinary degree of beauty and j purity there was nothing second late In : j fbe collection. A superb gold and platinum handbag, an antique Chinese Ivory brace- " i let and a beautirul sapphire ana diamont, ' lA fjm, ' . : : armlet were among the curiosities of the ' To her dancing partner Harry rilcer, V $ she left $50,000, an income of $3,600 a 'fWSw'' ' ' year and many other gifts, while she ifli5f ,j8r made other benefactions- to the poor be- ', ,., sides the one mentioned. -3 Gaby's fear and hatred of poverty was a " ' W!5SH 'sentiment which had arisen In early youth ' J M in an extraordinary ambitious, vital and . '' : ,w4'v d.P luxury loving temperament, and grew there J$ until it had become a devouring passion, ifc- '"" ' almost a mania. At one time, when she .VVlt 'wt was at tht height of her success, her con- vfc ctsiurauon upou mis iaea Decnie so great that her reason was endangered and sho was iorced to consult an eminent neurologist neurolo-gist Dr. Henri Mesurier, of the Salpe-(i Salpe-(i ie:e Hospital. He gave her a long course of treatment with the ohjeet of reducing the frantic torrent tor-rent of her ideas tb a normal channel. Fully recognizing that It would be unless and foolish to uproot the deepest sentiment of her naiure, tho doctor contented himself with directing it toward a goal that would not bring ruin or madness upon her. Thus A? it came to be agreed between them that she should find a i life long satisfaction of ber I I pjsion by accumulating r; treasures and leaving her ac-cumulated ac-cumulated wealth after death to strike the hardest possible T blow against poverty In this way sho was protected to ' ' some extent fiom tin- dancer tf; of ruining herself bv her ex- HkV- travagances In her lifetime. ' ;i 1 ii- isl .-nr.' .-'I ( ! .i I y Mi--- V lys was one long triumph 9u 'T tin- (b-inul! I'i . ; , fantastic deriding of his powers and terrors, a battle which she always won, but a battle so furious that her rea son was often endangered. Gaby was brought up b 1 parents who suffered th lowest depth of poverty In the mu-oue old city of Marseilles, on th Mediterranean. Medi-terranean. In no city of Ihe civilized world perhaps iKt povertv so prevalent and so appalling as in Marsei.les. Its slums have been accumulating misery since the days of the aucient Phoenicians, who founded tlbe city and for more than two thousand years they have put their blight upon unnumbered un-numbered victims. . At thirteen years of age Ga'D. understood un-derstood to the full what povjrty meant In its worst and most degrading degrad-ing serr-o She determined to ?on-QUer ?on-QUer it and never fall under its power araln This determination became tho dominant passion of her life VjiJ the cause of her curly death The rapidity of her success x a public a,rtist was amazing She chose to be a dancer and quickly became a star performer without any troinlng " but thnt which sho gave herself while dancing to an organ In a Marseilles slum or doing a turn in a third class cafe Her beauty, her vitality, lur daring pose., her astonishing way of wearing astonishing clothes captivated the publli but her skill as a dancer was even by hei own admission not equal to that of many other performers Always she wanted money, but It was not merely for the sake of money but for the purpose of celebrating lmr triumph over her childhood enemy poverty Hei skill in business transactions was amaz lng. and she was able by her audacity and cleverness to obtain $100,000 for a tour where a woman of greater artistic accomplishments would not, perhaps, have received $5,000 In the course of a few years Gaby was able to accumulate a great fortune in money and other possessions the most valuable collection of jewels, bibelots ana art treasures owned by any actress io Paris, a palace in London and an estate in America which has not yet been an praised. Nobody, perhaps, will ever know the true Btory of her relations with ex-Kin? Manuel of Portugal. People will alway " ever displayed oft ' A. &f tbe staee and that '& '' "' neld her hearers " -y . thrilled. - On her beautiful J;' y 'S&'''"vt. ' ",;V-v' -. v body she then woro i' Jewels that were i Vf' r "i j worth not less than V ; ; $300,000. In an ad- t ; -J joining room was Htt ' '' i $ the exquisite 'bed ?v-. lhat bad belonged to the cele- '?-"'' brated Duchess de Foutanges si jf one of several beds of equal r?' r -v " J' historical value which Gaby j ' St,v Ay used in rotation. Ya In cabinets about her were ''I) " I J vere Limoges enamels that had . bn the joy of the great King l A Favo-ito TiotOffraph of Gaby Deslys, Wearing One, of Her Many Francis I On the walls were fa Precious Jewels, the Pearl Necklace Given Her by Ex-King paintings by Botticelli and Manuel of Portugal. 3ther earlv Italian masters On t.ttfL the linoK" s-llolrfu v..rr nrio. H U . -: f . v,. ' ' ' . . ; . Gaby Deslys With Harry Pilcer One of the Daring Poses Which Brought Such Rich Returns to the Fair Dancer. nelieve that Manners infatuation for her, the gifts whih he showered upon her! brought about the revolution that cost him his throne. According to this view tho gorgeous pearl necklace which Manuei gave the fair dancer, was the last act of recklessness that goaded his infuriated people to expel him. Whatever tho historical facts may be concerning Qaby'8 relations with the King, it is certain that following the revelation of this romance, she enjoyed an unusual Increase of wealth and valuable Jewels And on this as on all other occasions sho displayed the faculty of turntnc whatever happened to her Into money But who did not seek money for the miserly purpose of hoarding, but simply to jest at the monster poverty. Gaby frankly set out to make all the money she possibly could, and sho did not conceal this purpose from anyone not even from romantic young klni a and noblemen who paid then court to her. She made no pretence of following art for art's sake she followed art for money's sake. tC) I9C0. International Feature oer ice. Inc. 1 There was hardly anything she would n it do for money. For several seasons she demanded $500 from everyone who or-Jbyed or-Jbyed t'K privilege of talcing supper with her She had noticed that many nouveaux riches and would-be sports wore eager to be f leen Slipping or dining with her or with any nf the popular actresses of the moment. mo-ment. She knew that such men had no real regard for her. They Bought hei societv mainly for the glory or notoriety which it reflected on them. Why should thev not pay for that which they so selfishly sought ' W hy should they enjoy It merely by paying tor a meal? Therefore Gabv took all the money she could obtain from such persons in the most baldlv commercial com-mercial spirit. Hut with all who Were poor, all who had boon her truo friends in any way she was generous to an extreme degree. She frankly recognized that her beautiful beauti-ful body was her capital. It was through that alone that she Was ablo to earn her great fnrtun-. Anything that Injured her body diminished h r capital und h;r wvultli Great Britain Klshlu ltceerved. and the mero Idea of such a diminution, such a submission to the monster poverty, tilled her with horror and she was ready to die rather than yield an inch to the arch enemy. It was Indeed this sentiment that eventually eventu-ally brought about Gaby s untimely death. She had suffered from an attack of lnflu enaa and pleurisy. As an after effect they left sevoral abscesses in the respiratory tract which prostrated her after she had Struggled valiantly to carry on her work for s- eral weeks. , The surgeons Informed her that the abscesses ab-scesses could bo emptied safely and quickly through one or more Incisions In her neck and that sho would make a rapid recovery' from her Illness. But the Incisions would have mnde a permanent scar on her neck, would have injured that beauty on which her income depended, would, in short, leave seriously diminished her capital and wealth. She absolutely refused to permit them to operate The surgeons brought their tools and endeavored to overcome her opposition Even in her weakened condition her will proved absolutely insurmountable The method of treating the abscesses through the mouth proved Ineffective to relieve the ni of the poison nnd sho died from the septic poisoning at the height of h. r fame and beauty. "I will die laughing at poverty." sho gasped In her last moments as she lay In her luxurious apartment surrounded by e ry comfort (hat wealth could procure to lessen her sufferings. This singular, passionate fear of poverty pov-erty gives the answer to the great enigma of her life her mingled sordidness, gen erosity, cold-bloodedness, charity, avarice and recklessness. A few months ago, as she sat robed In glorious pearls and costly fabrics, surrounded sur-rounded by the art treasures of the ages, she exclaimed to a group of Intimate friends: "Ah! j'al tellement peur de la mlsere!" "Ah! I have such feur of poverty!" Sho then described her conception of the monster, her early struggles with him. her triumph over him with a dramatic lorco that far exceeded auythlug yhe had less volumes printed by Elzevir and Aldus Manutius. "And r, the little poverty-stricken brat of Marseilles, enjoy all this and more," shrieked Gaby. "I laugh at poverty! I fear lTlm no more' I defy him!" ' Her house on Kensington Gore, London, near the old palace where Queen Victoria Was born, was described by Englishmen as so stalely, so luxurious that It vas fit ouly ' for royalty. Her lingerie and her silk stockings which were the most costly that ' the manufacturers of the world could produce, pro-duce, were discarded after Hho had worn them two or three times at the most I Her motor cars were the most luxurious and costly obtainable, and she abandoned them after using them for a few months. j One of her recent purchases was an eighty-horsepower touring car, containing an exquisite boudoir where she could dress and make up in comfort. This she sold after three months use, because she did not like the exact tone of the uphol- All these extravagances, these Insensate luxuries, were a gratification of her peculiar pecu-liar mental bias and a way of hurling de-llanco de-llanco at old poverty. She wantfed to feel t lint she could command com-mand every luxurv thai misery denied to its slaves. Sho wanted to feel that she had such command of these luxuries that Bhe could throw them away if she pleased could flaunt them or flout them as sho But such was her passion for luxuries I that sho Instinctively sought those that were rarest and so, unconsciously perhaps, sho accumulated things that had great intrinsic value Very often they increased in value and so she grow richer and richer. When she bought absolutely flawless j pearls, the largest and finest in the market, she phked the only kind that would sell again for as much or more than their purchase pur-chase price Ml the time that she was hilariously and triumphant! defying poverty she was hui imr to herself and u very few Intimates the e ret ()f the supreme blow she meant to aim at the monster. She thought with j deep OJ of her r,reat plan of leaving her i choicest treasures to fight poverty In that squalid old city where he held his most hopeless victims. This was the rourso in which she had been encouraged by the great neurologist In order to maintain her mental balunce und kei p her from ruining herself by her extravagances. 1 |