The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 17, 1900, Page 1

HER O oD CALIFORNIR . ‘ CME kiy as as q t she was a most an. e ever ker in e campaign d him there was a sensation a went to Mon- wedding tour and & few weeks later to Sacramento. ‘Tt seems that e the bride met an agent sent to Cal- f Bavaria, bear- » return to his re- and admirers sthing and ez met In bers, Mr. m she knew n she came to 1l in love w rude wi but wer few well- t over half of them more than three the houses and ch. Most o stores were buflt of rough redwood boards. There were over red-shirted men in town and abou smen. There never was a more democratic community. Every one made money 2 spent it. In the population were sons of some of the best American and Europeari familfes . sey had come there to dig-riches in the mountains. There were twotnephews of Vietor Hugo, from Paris; a son of Bena- te of Mississippl, a son of Moses of New York and a nephew of Charles Sumner. Graduates- from Ox- ford and Harvard associated with igne- rant Mexicans and refygees from justice, terest a home there, which is still se of life had a fascinating In- for Lola Mont She estahlished painted out tg visitors in the town Mrs. Dora Knapp. who recentlyl died at Ontario, Cal., was the closest to ' Lola Montez of any in California. Shortly before her death Mrs. Knapp had-a tal with the the life of t in the mining town Knanp snoke writer these lines eoncerning beauty and dancer f Grass Valley. Mrs. follow > fam Montez as the Countess of I title that the King: of rred on her. She was angry erred to her as Lola Montez home and sh® said she did not v to be known as Mrs. Pat Hull. Yes, the Countess was a marvelously beautiful woman he had dark blue eyes, a wealth olive complexion, a p figure and the 'most shapely peclc ms 1 have ever seen Her vivacity was infectious. She ,wds ck to anger, and her devotion was as treme as her hate. The very-day the ntess arrived in the ramshackle old stage ceach in ss Valley she sed with She never kept hing back that came into her mind, and we knew from her_manners that,she had come to very locality she had nged for. nion abtatus that Lola e she was too poor to live respectably a large city or among fashionable peo- ple. While she was subsequently quite poor, it is.not true-that she.was financial- ly embarrassed in Gruss Valley, She had at that time at least $14,000 to her credit in New York and San Francisco banks, and I know she frequently had letters from titled gentiemen in Europe begging her to come-there and live off their rich bounty. It was simply because she was weary of splendor and fast living of the people whom she had known for nearly a was' decade that made Lola Montez turn with such fondness to a life in a mining town such as Grass Valley “Of course, every one In Grass Valley wanted to see Lola Montez danc the course of a week an entertainment was arranged in the old Alta Hall, in the sgcond story of a bullding that had a 1 saloon downstairs. The seats wer $ each and there were a few rows of airs in front that were 1 at $10 each. The whole house was sold in a day and there was such a call for another gnter- tainment that a few evenings later the second ‘dancing was given at the same schedule of prices to another packed house. That was the last public perform- ane that the young woman ever gave in C fornia. “In the course of a fortnight the Count- ess leased the little Strottenberg cottage on what is now Mill street. It was a cross between a rude mountain trall and a country street in those days. “The Ccuntess introduced the salons at Grass Valley. She had to be in a whirl of some social excitement all the time, much as she claimed, and at times believed, she really"loved the peace and quiet of a secluded cottage. Every one in Nevada County knew about the pretty man’s ‘fandangos,’ as they usly called by the hundreds of persons who craved an invitation to them, Only a year or so ago United States Sen- otor "W. M. Stewart of Nevada chatted with me about Lola Montez's salons, and how he used to count the days between each”salon, for he was often asked to join them. “One day she had a war of words with a local editor named Shipley about an article on-some local subject. The next week Shipley published an item insiguat- ing that the meetings at the Countess' home were disgraceful. As soon as the Countess saw the item she dressed her- self in her riding habit and with her evening THE LOLA IONTEZ HOusE AT CRASS VALLEY riding whip fn hand went stralght down to see Shipley. She found him near where the American Hotel now stands and gave him as many hard cuts across the face as she could until Shipley, who was a large man and towered above her, caught the whip and wrenched it from her grasp. “‘Another time she came here and found a man playing with her bears. She ordered him from the premises. He told her to go to Hades, and she ran into the house aund, coming out with a loaded musket in her little hands, chased him down Mill street. When one of her bears died her grief wal incomsolable for a few days. Once, when she heard that a Methodist clergy- man named Wilson had spoken of her as a shameless devil In the guize of a beau- tiful and fascinating dancer, shelwent home, dressed ;in her old-time dancing garb, with very short. fleecy skirts and a Jow/necked &nd sleeveless waist and long silk stockings, and putting on a pair of heavy shoes walked calmly down the street to the pastor's house, knocked at the front door and 4dsked for Rev. Mr. Wilson. Mrs.” Wilson was simply para- lyzed to have a:caller so dressed at her house and could mot speak. “When Mr. ‘Wilson came in his parlor the Countess toid him she had come to show the gen- . 910 ATTIRED I HER CANCING GARS o * SHE VISITS THE COUNTRY-MINISTER, tleman hot really modest the dress of a stage dancer was and asked him to tell her wherein her deviltry existed. A short time after she repented her act and sent a good money donation to the pastor's family as a peace offering. “There were some excellent traits in Lola Montez. She was easily moved to help the poor and suffering, and she had devotion for a good woman who had a mean husband and an unhappy home. She once told me the noblest thing in all the world was a good mother and a true wife. “Along in 1866 the Countess’ money was running low. The nephews of Victor Hugo went back to France; the many young men were tired of the salons. All the songs that the company knew in the four languages that the Céuntess spoke pro- ficiently had sung threadbare, tho musical had become well worn and there was not a new story to be told, a humorous or pathetic recitation to be made and no original jokes remained to be cracked. The Countess plainly was restless to return to her former life -of gavety,.and the letters she had always received from admirers in Paris and La don gave her reason fo believe she might ‘be ‘a-favorite i Eurbpe again. ~ A letter from‘a friend urged her to come to Mel- bourne, Australia, where the new gold Itvelt kind of 56-57 she sold mines had created the people. So In the w her property in Gr y and safled from San Francisco Australia. I heard from her several times in Austra- ter of lia and subsequently in Bombay and Cairo.” A fact not generally known among the millions of .7 read of the we Montez Is that fornia, a da dled last Ja age of 44 years. $Hull, and when tralia she left barely knew t to Aus- (whom she never seen but a few Samuel KI was she wa gether) with Mra Mrs. ] miner, and not listen to Lola Montez sai for the Antipodes s Mrs. King claimed in a year was delighted nev natural mother again moved to F King was give fige home, a thorough tenderiy loved by her never spoke of he sented the w her off. S and phy tather’s ways. She w She married L. an old aris n her eight tour in tled In the New Orleans 1x e Rosalind tages of a g and was rents. She and she re- her®had cast 2 Montez eyes bad moved to There Mrs. o children— ndants of the most forty-Ave and famous fty years ago.