Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1912 — LOVERS KILL SELVES [ARTICLE]

LOVERS KILL SELVES

.... .. Sequel to Forty Years Romance of French Sweetheart — After Marriage Was Forbidden Jules and Marguerite Met Dallyand Exchanged Vows—Are “ - Paris, France.—Tragedy has closed the remarkable love affair of Jules Denis and Marguerite Plezezlns. They were engaged forty years Marguerto plan and scrape to keep bls mother. The first duty of each was to the parent. 'ij.' • The years went creeping on and It did seem, at last, that they would be married. But Jules was robbed and lost his position and the doctor told Marguerite her aged father would live another ten years, because she nursed the old man "so wonderfully well."

Then the next morning the concierge of a house In Belleville sent a messenger boy to the fifth floor with a note to Jules Denis. At the same time the concierge in a street' in La Villette sent a boy to the fourth floor with a message addressed to Mdlie Marguerite Piezezinski. Both boys returned with the notes. They had knocked but had received no reply Each concierge sent for a locksmith and the police. Jules Denis lay dead in his bed. A bottle which bad contained laudanum was by bls side, and in his hand was a sheet of paper con-' taining a last word to bls sweetheart Marguerite was found In her room dressed in white and dead, and -er hand held a paper with a word on it to "Jules, my loved one." There was a laudanum bottle by her bedside, too. • _ ' . The police opened the notes sent by messengers. ’ “It is accomplished, Marguerite,” said one. “It Is accomplished, Jules/* said the other. 7 - , Jules Denis was 68 years old. Marguerite Plezezinski was 57. They met when Marguerite was 17 and Jules 28. Marguerite was the daughter of comparatively wealthy parents. Jules was a clerk at |3O a .month. They wished to marry, but their parents laughed at them and said: “There is plenty of time to think it over.” Marguerite's parents could live without work, but had no money for a marriage portion for their daughter suf-, flcient for a son-in-law without a reasonable income. So Marguerite and Jules met each day, exchanged vows and waited.

Jules somewhat but never earned more than SI,OOO a year. As time went on they continued to see each Other every day, each day renewing their vows of love. They did not dream of disobeying their parents* Injunction of waiting on marriage until they were in “a position to do so.” Jules never went to Marguerite's house except when her mother died, and Marguerite never went to the small flat to see Jules’ mother. Both understood that for them marriage was hopeless—for the time. Jules must look after his old mother. Marguerite must nurse her paralyzed father. Jules managed now and then to pile another coin on the tiny heap he was saving for the marriage day And so time went on and he was 68 and she was 57. And then the other day Jules was sent to cash the check for nearly $5,000. Jules cashed the check at the bank. As he neared the door a man stumbled against him' and he fell. When he arose the man was gone and the money had disappeared Jules was accused, of nothing but

carelessness. He was not even suspected but the chief partner in the firm for which Jules worked told him that he must find another position. And on that same day the doctor told Marguerite that she had nursed her father so well he probably would live another ten years. So she would be 67 years old before she could marry. She shuddered at the thought and felt a pang of shame, and then—she lost all hope. And if Jules Denis had waited only a .Jew hours longer they at last could have seen the way to happiness in marriage after their years of true devotion to their parents. For soon after the discovery of Jules’ death it was found that bis mother had died in her sleep in the night Marguerite’s father was found in a collapse Indicating that his days were few. He is 85. When be looked up at neighbors who went to him after the finding of bis daughter’s body they could not tell him the news, and be could not understand why his daughter had not brought his morning chocolate to him as usual Servants must look after him now.