Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1882 — A DIPLOMATIC SCANDAL. [ARTICLE]

A DIPLOMATIC SCANDAL.

The Precious Pair Sent Here to Represent Russia. *•' •• • . • " Washington Post. A little over a year ago, when the new Russian Minister and wife arrived at Washington, Mr. Bartholemei was admired for his magnificent proportions aDd dark, handsome face. His English wife did not make so agreeable an impression, as from the first she was voted “queer.” She is a fat, redfaced woman, with sore eyes aud red hair. It was not, however, personal appearance so much as her obstrusive aud innate vulgarities which gave rise to the gossip, which was at first only whispered, out which has been openlydiscussed since the return of the family to this city, after a sojourn at Newport during the summer. While househunting a year ago there was much talk about*the Minister and his wife trying to beat down agents in regard to rent, and no one appeared anxious to have them as tenants. For many weeks after they rented a house ou Connecticut avehue they lived there witfiout furniture orservants. Visitors were never admitted to the domain, and the servants whom they hired . always left in a few days, and carried away some of the awful secrets of the quite mysterious household. ~Not until last March, when the Czar was assassinated and funeral ceremonies were performed in • the mansion, had outsiders an opportunity to see the inside of the house. The answer was always given to callers that Madame was ill, or not at home. One diplomatic dinner was given by the Minister aud his wife, andsoou afterwards fashionable society was convulsed with laughter and disgusted at the details of that dinner leaked out. It is reported that the guests arrived and were shown into the dining room where a table was set, but no dishes were seen. After all were seated Madame came in from the kitchen, her naturally red face considerably incarnadined by her exertions, and brought iu a toureen of soup, which she ladled out aud recommended to her guests in the following manner : “You must eat this soup. I know it is good, tor I make it myself, and watched the cook to see that she did not spit ih it. It is a Russian custom for tiled cook to spit in the soup.” Other articles for the dinner were brought in by the porters of the tradespeople from whom they had beeu ordered,aud thelhostess.iu a general,manner, asked her guests to make themselves at home and assist her in tearing of the brown paper and putting the •articles in the dishes. It was a real pic-nic dinner. The conversation was refined as the banquet, for Madame, with the utmost frankness, announced that it was quite the thing to be illegitimate, she was illegitimate, aud, she added, "Our children are illegitimate.” Since that awful dinner the history of the Bartholomew has been no secret. The diplomatic ciicle felt scandalized, and the diplomacy of Secretary of State Blaine was taxed to the utmost how to obtain an indefinite leave of absence for Russia’s representative. It is averred that Mr. Willamov, the First Secretary of the Legation, has remained in New York and refused to come to Washington until the Bartholemeis left. Mr. Willamov ia now Charge d’Affairs of the Legation. It is also said that Mr. Bartholomei was a favorite of the late Czar, who was .not such a paragon of virtue as to be shocked at the immoralities of others, so that the liason which existed between bis favorite and the person who was not then his wife, was no bar to diplomatic promotion. However, a husband who had for years been an obstacle to marriage, died just as obligingly as did the unhappy wife of the late Emperor, and the sunject, like his late master, went through the forms of marriage. Mr. Bartholomei was then appointed Minister to Greece, but Queen Olga signified her disapproval in such strong terms that the Russian Minister of Forsign Affairs had to withdraw the appointment and kindly sent the Bartholomeis to the United States. Last summer Newport was alive with scandal concerning the minister and his wife. The coarseness and vulgarity of the Madame so shocked the sense of propriety aud modesty of the guests at the hotel where they boarded, that the ladies made complaint to the landlord, and he had to request Madame Bartholomei not to appear at dinner in such extremely decollet dresses. • Madame one day told a young lady she intended giving her a dinner at the Casino, and actually issued invitations. When the day arrived Madame wrote that she could not obtain the room aDd servants she wanted, and consequently recalled the invitations. About the first of December Mr. Bartholomei sold out his nousehold effects in this city, and the family said that they were to leave Washington immediately. Although there was no lurniture in the nouse, the family continued to occupy the empty mansion, and not until the last evening of the year did Mr. Bartholomei call upon the President to Did farewell. Officially they have departed, but bodily they may still be here as they were a week ago. An ou dit of the day is that the late Russian Minister can’ outboast all other husbands While some may with pride point to their progeny aud say: “I have only beeu married "three years and have four children,” he' can say. “I have only been married one year aud have had sevep children.” It is suggested that when Russia sends us a Minister it will be wel) to send the marriage certificate along with the other credentials. A man aud his wife found a stranger ill under their woodshed, at Irondale, 111., aud kindly put him to bed. Ou learning that his disease was smallpox, they would not turn him out. but nursed him through it, at the cost of considerable time, labor, and money, neither of which they could afford to give away. When be had recovered he stole sl7 from them and fled.

Stopping the Proceedings. Boomerang. "I come in this morn frig to tell you that you might «~s i\> »- them proceedings in ihaixe/y foe s bill of divorce,” said a so/t-eyed thing about 27 years old, as she came into a Laramie lawyer’s office yesterday. “Decided to live together as man and wife again, hay?”

“No, not that. Not that. You see Obadiah strolled away to Leadville two years ago, and kind of gave me and the kids the grand shake. Since then I’ve been rustling in my gentle unobtrusive manner to make a stake. I’ve wrote to him occasionally whenever I had leisure and kind of rounded him up for not chipping in with his assessment, but be never represented. “That kind of irritated me, and I asked you last week to get me a divorce. Ii I paid all the assessments myself I thought it would ba no more than square to get all the dividends. But this morning I got news from Leadville that has chan are*« my notion a little about tne divorce.”

“Sent you some money, did he?” "No, not that. He didn’t even write to me, but I got a paper with a big blue mark around a piece in it, which conveys the intelligence that Obadiah was hung there on the 10th by request. "It seems that he got to jumping lots and stealing horses between meals, and people got down on him. Then he salted a claim over on Buckskin, and sold it for SIO,OOO to a tender foot from away down East. "He made several flowery breaks like that, and the popular feeling seemed more or less turned against him. Sttterai weeks ago he stole a pair of big mules from a man who belonged to Kokomo, and the next night went back to get a neckyoke and monkeywrench that belonged to the wagon, and happened to run right intoapassle of vigiiants lookin’ for a iob. They took Obadiah over to a tall, limber tree, and let him stand on a- bronco pony plug under the lowest limb while they tied a clothesline around his wind pipe. "Obadiah told them that he wasn’t much of a bareback rider,and he didn’t know whether he could do the trick or not. They slid the clothes line over the limb apd hit the bronco a lick with a quirt. “The bronco was a high-life plug, aud had been raised in luxury, so he got mad when they hit him and he lit out some. That left Obidiah in a good deal of suspense. He wiggled around a little and got embarrassed,and didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands for a while. Then he became more calm and composed in his manner, and the crowd made a present of him to the coroner. I wrote to the authorities to send me his cheek book and a statement of Obadiah’s bank account, and whatever you’re out on this divorce liooraw will be all right understand. I had rather let the A 1 mighty and the vigilantes fix up my law business tl an to flie of old age waiting for chancery anyhow. That’s the kind of a grief-stricken relic I am.”