Hf-TtxivTi1 J' t r '04. 'W .41 V EVENING PUBLIC IEDGER-PHHBteLPHIA. WEDNESDAY. OOTOfefiR 26. 1922 JLL RUSSIAN BABY COUNTESS, ORPHANED BY IVAR, FINDS REFUGE FROM RED HORROR IN AMERICA 7rsww?7l VHWl 'J ft 1 1. til I1 'T; H fcU I'll' PI.. &' M in .Mr ; 1 M t m v 1 n jRw dte Mentesse, Prenatal Victim of Belsheviki, Is Adopted by N. Y. Widow RETAINS HER TITLE TO REGAIN ESTATE Mrs. Wendell Phillips, Fester Mether, Recounts Thrilling Revelation of Child s Life "VUT of the welter of Russian bleed and Russian madness come te America a two-year-old Countess. Her father was killed by order of the Soviet Government; her mother, tern by the hardship of a heart-rending escape from death and worse than death, died net many months after the premature birth of her little girl. Before this baby saw light e' day, destruction of dynasties touched her life; millions of men, women and children suffered, were murdered, died in battle and their grief and their bleed swept into the life of this unborn child- ' 2 5M. IP tH'5 Lrt&tJ ?A K?a iny ?f!& &sV$sV &J f$ iP- 1 vi i7AW fi i. VC" 1 All ''' r ife mi art-" j ?? fi,?; im i'nZs P9 ;ZTS'J ifet? 'i,"'-fy, !& .-h H.t. mz.ri Mrs. Wendell Phillips, her adopted daughter, the Countess Rene de Mentesse, and Prince de Lippe-Lipski, a cousin of the little Countess A Russian Prince, disguised as a porter, effected her mother's escape from grief-wracked Russia. Radie messages dashed, statesmen cast the die and a gray man-e'-war out of Britain moved ponderously across the Mediterranean te Cen-' stantineple and carried her mother te the safety of England, where, shortly after, the daughter was born. The settings of this child's dramatic story lie in many coun ceun tries: in Poland, in France, in Russia, in England and new in America. Today the two-year-old Countess ' Rene de Mentesse is the adopted daughter of Mrs. Wendell Phillips, a widow, of New Yerk, who spent thirteen and a half months en the French battlefront. I Mis. Phillips, ueunded and gassed at Verdun, knew Rene's mother, Claude Lapedefsky, before she was married te the French Count Henri de Mentesse. They were girlhood friends, and it is small wonder the dying mother, tortured by memory, begged her American friend te premise te care for her little girl in a country far from that of her crowding bitter-1 nesses. Mrs. Phillips Recounts Rene's Thrilling Story In her beautiful home en fashion it bio Park avenue, New Yerk, Mrs. Phillips recounted something of Rene't. thrilling story. Mrs. Phillips it, a beautiful woman, With a wealth of llaxen hair and laughing eye. Since the day America entered the war she has ie ie veted hetself te the welfare of the American doughboy. She spent thirteen und a hulf months as rep- nttive of the Surgeon General's 3&&ft -.'', wr V , i- SR5 i jffi 5fi wa office en the firing line in France She was vhell-shecked, gassed and -eneusly wounded. She was the only woman sent overseas by the American Legien te de relief work. She is national chairman of the "Carry-On Association," a member of the Legien of Hener, wear's war cresses from most of the Govern ments, is an honorary member of the Wendell Phillips Pest, of the , American Legien, and hits been asked te head the Soldiers and Sa 1 ors' Memerial Institute at Wa.-h-. ingten. Child Retains Title te Reclaim Estates . "Yeu are a very busy woman." She laughed when she heard that. "And much honored." "I suppose I am buy, but it's strange hew one can always find time te de something ele," she said. 'My work has brought me many geed friends. De you knew, I counted them the ether day net really counted but estimated I have helped mere than 17,000 soldiers since the war? "But you don't want te hear about me ou want te hear about Rene." If you went back far enough you'd find that Rene's forebear-, en her mother's side, came originally from Polish nobility. This Polish family ranked high in the court of the Czar of Russia. The grandfather of Kene's mother was godfather te the brother of the Czar, and this placed him and his family e!oe te the royal prrienee, Kunc'j! father was a Fiench noble man, who transferred all his prop el t. te Hussia. The Bolshevist Gov eminent has since seized these es tates; but the Countess Bene will re tain her title, in order that she may claim her father's holdings in event Sfe it- i?x '' 4! i ;K the present Government in Russia j changes. The ether Russian nobleman who figured in Rene's mother's escape from Russia is the Prince Nicholas Lippe-Lipsky, first cousin te Bine. "He is one of the h.st of the Baltic Knights," added Mrs. Phillips. A youngish-looking man he is, with a dark Chaplin mustache. ' "In 191" or thereabouts," resumed Mrs. Phillips, "the revolutionary el ement in Russia, you remember, I wept into power, and nobility wcre everywhere captured, imprisoned and placed up against walls and shot. i "Rene's father was a scientific en-, gineer. He fought against the rev olutionary forces. ' "One day, while he was with his wife in their home in Petrograd, the Reds surrounded it.'1 i The grim-visaged revolutionaries, ' in thfir nondescript uniforms, trod rough-shed into the Count', house, i They seucd Count Henri. His young wife, about te become a mother, clung te him, begging the bearded and silent men te take her with her husband. Count Tern Frem Wife and Shet by Belsheviki But they didn't want her then. The Count, brave but heait-stncken at sight of his peer weeping wife, was tern between the immediate necessity for dignity and his con cern for his beloved. Surrounding him, the soldiers led him out into the cold black night. That was the last Counte-s Claude s-aw of her husband. She drew a curtain at the winde, and, her fore head pressed te the frosted pane, watched the erect iigure of her hus band disappear down the street. Later they placed the Ceuat 'six. z r? 5-r. MM$J (VT t, 5f 323K . MKS SVi.?EJ 'fjy . V.KS-v' - ,V fcft V'(MWK ? ; as .ts? ft ' Vtv 'j 5Vj , &h ms&fa&'i,s :Axii?&t!: i,z;-; t&VdXW&&rt fiKt MY -Mrs. Wendell Phillips, New Yerk society woman. who has adopted the tuo-year-eld orphaned daughter of the Count and Countess Henry de Mentesse gW -n Mrs. endell Phillips and the baby Countess en the S. S. President Polk, en which the child came te America from England Si ZZTT - - . s vea XYs 'S tfAfi&Z fi)V VT'WM KX??J v- "-.'s lifi .. Xt :wsy p,vv 5SS ', 5SSGt.,y'i K;.-:i &&fs : 2 V , -mt. &s ?&& sm s5,j i-..' vl ;. ,:&& ?i , s m rVrt -. 'SM h "Jf 7,; K v y .&' S ib I rSS wst: S i ' '; JVx .s) Countess Rene de Mentesse, whose father was shot against a wall by Russian revolutionists and whose mother died after coming te America. Adopted by Mrs. Wendell Phillips, she will retain her own name and title against a stone wall. Standing there, he saw his dear wife, with her beautiful ivory-white hands. He saw the little child, unborn as yet but filling his mind, se weary of pain, with the intensest longing, What would beceme of them ? In a moment he crumbled into the i snow. Red stained the snow ie'J spreading from his broken and bullet-eorn heart. "Claude had the loveliest hands," murmured Mr-. Phillips. "White like ivory or peail, and .se delicate and slim. Little Rene's hands are going te be that way. "Claude was an accomplished woman. Sbe painted, spoke a num ber of languages, loved poetry and all the beautiful things of life. "She had dreams, and she lecd her husband." Mether Flees te Heme of the Prince Nicholas And new it seemed that life mattered mi lunger. She expected Unit wen fliniiRli the Mildleis of the revolution would letuiii for her. Well, It didn't Hint ter u Heath hpcntcd no longer tcnilde: It meant Mirieiisc, either eli- 1 Ihiiiii, ei, il ill" pilis' i poke sooth, a liner loiiipiinleiii'hip with her husband In that golden plnec of in mv iiiiiiinIeiis, She reliieniheiid her child - the little lialie who hud net seen lair jet, whom she hud net seen, for whom she and her husband hud planned se much. Te remain In tlm house spelled suicide for her, That she didn't ralndany mera; Her Father Shet Against Wall Before She Was Bern Her Mether a Fugitive SAVED BY PRINCE AND BRITISIf NAVY Bern in England, She Was Brought te U. S. After Death of Parent but did she dare te murder ber unborn child? Hndtlly she threw a wrap about her and stumbled out Inte the dark night. "She went te Prince Nicholas' home," continued Mrs. Phillips. "She found his mother and sister nleadlmr with liliu te go away, te escape before i tee mad peasants murdered him. "Prince Nicholas refused te go at first. But when they insisted It was net rlRht for him te stay, especially since Claude had come te them for pro tection, he reluctantly agreed te go. "He dlAgulied himself is a porter. He took Claude with him." Their flight from Petrograd te Con stantinople was fraught with danger. On erery hand were spies and the enemy. What was worse, the country was peer and starving. Accommoda tions were net always at hand. Countess Seriously 111, Ordered te America Through the Ice and snow they fled. Claude, because of her condition, weak ening day by day. Sick, weary and heartbroken, the Prince's clmrge I'm ally reached Con stantinople. "Prince Nicholas had done .some service for tin Jlrltish T-mbassy before and during the war. He had the rank of an officer in the British Army. And after much diekeriiiK he was able te arinngc for the tranniiert of the Countess and him-vlf te England en a British man-e'-war. "In England, shortly nfter their nr rhal there, Rene wns born premn turpi. She weighed only three and n hulf pounds and was expected te die any moment." And the Countess herself was in a very -crletw condition. The physicians at the heKuital told her frankly that n asscei there was hut little hope for her life If sin; rtmiiined in England. They ad vised a trip te America. When she nsKed whnther her h.ibv might go with her, the said no. The trip might d her geed, hut at that moment It would kill the baby. Fer many .lavs the Countess refused e i..v. !,. , i, i.i i..J ' .,s..miH.' while the baby slept Counted i Claude knitted a l-iutifiil white luce woolen wl,.. l lr,,.. .i.i. ...... ..".'- ""","" , .. . . . .' -',, !,.(-,- ,l, , - ,,.. -lit w ,,,,-, ,,iiii: nr mi in, r i WOlh W.llt nil IlITI ev, and most of the lust hours of her life. She was making it for Rene te1 i number her heart-broken mother bv. And one duj, the deet.us told her that she must leave England, that death was imminent if she remained. ' "Will my baby live?" she asked. I "I uder our euro mnr In, I,,- .;n I live." The Countess heard the news with a gieut joy in her heart. "Then I will go te America te get well for Rene," she pieuiiscd, "The dn she left," continued Mrs, Phillips, "she wiapped Itcne in the white shawl, and riic premised te get well mid come hack te her. "Prince -Nicholas bunight Claude te America. 1 met them at the pier. She was lovelier than ever pale, wein, but se beautiful, i'Ver n time she nppeaied te im prove, and then her life seemed te ebb. Heur by hour she thought of her little child. She wanted te live for her, hut the tragedy and the hardships idle hud Hiiffeied were tee much. "Just before she died she . ailed for me. She asked me te premise te take caie of lit r ball) te adept It te edu Ulle It. I didn't want te lefuse, but who i mild have. nnyvvajV The biHt thought in her mind was for her balij , the lust word en her IIiih was 'Item;.' " Immediately following the. death of the mother, Mrs. Phillips and Prince Nicholas mntle arrangements for bring ing the baby te this country, The child at the moment was net In condition te make the voyage, but by the tlm hi. migration regulations were eultM complied with the child was brought b this country by her nurse, AllWn Gowans. "a "And there never was a better one." declared Mrs. Phillips. -Ren. wend never have lived, I am told, if it had net been for Allcen. She watched thi child day nnd night." On the trip te this country Btrn seemed te be the only one aboard hlt it was the President Polk, of the United" States I-lne who did net get sick. "Her appetite ntver varied" laughed Mrs. Phillips. "' Rene Is a dark-haired child, who speaks English ns well, and a geed bit better, than most children of two. Be sides, she Is nn aristocrat with min? pretty aristocratic ways. "Myeh!" cried Mrs. Phillips, should watch her eat. Like a little old w'eman she sits In her chair, the level of the table net much below her ,chla She dines with simple dignltv, and llk a queen expects te be waited en. Fer instance, she will net begin te eat until some one hands her a napkin. "She eats with the care and the di liberation of a grown-up. And when the is through eating she will net leave the table until she has had a finger bowl placed before her. She. dips her lingers Inte the warmed water and then holds out her two little hands they are beautiful like her mother's te be properly dried. "That service eer, she folds her hands contentedly in her lap and sighs. Yeu really should see her eat ! "Her breakfast she Invariably lina la bed, ns any grand old lady mie'lit of thi mid -Victorian era." Makes Friends With All When Cressing Atlantic On beard the vessel she made friendi with ever) body. "I ju-t knew," laughed Mrs. Phil lips, "that she wns a perfect niil-unce, but somehow she will make fihnik Alleen tells mc that Rene spent a great deal of time drawing what seemed te her faces en pieces of paper, und she would go up te almost any one and smile, point at the pictuie and saj, Till- Is ou.' " "Wheu the beat landed, and (hi met me for the lirst time, she i.'iuie te me withetlt any emharra ment and Im mediately called me mother.' Hut then happened te be an old gentleman whom I didn't knew standing beside ine, and quick as a Hash Rene asked hiai, 'Art jeu my daddy?' " Mrs. Phillips owns a little bulldog. And, one day, It scratctied Kenc's Knee, Rene didn't cry, but she came qtiicklf te Mrs. Phillips, and, her little fore head wrinkled, she said with dignity: "Yeu haNc a nas-y, niisij deg!" "Then she laised her knee," con tinned Mrs. Phillips, "und I had te kiss it better. "Yeu knew, she has been taught nev er te make any noise when she crim. And she is se brae, and se pathetli. 1 1,,- lliw mttver ti'iii'M i nine te her CHS und roll down her cheeks, but she, stlHes every noise. She s as brave her mother was, and as lovely. "Rene is new in my home In th Highlands, with her nurse. I haven t inade an teal plan-, for In r jet. lie been bu.Ning her clothes, nnd I H1 continually stitick bj this dignity (t hers. One might imagine bhe were little adult. "Later I suppose we'll be liaxlns"' eduiated. "It is my desire that she become M her mother. 1 want her te get tlm test thut this ceuntrj and Europe can give. I want her te lie us dUtingui-hw n the arts and general culture ns n mother was. I want te see her dellcatJ hands glow, meie beautiful and then some day I shall tell her hew like he" her iiiethii's hands used te he. Puts ten Mether's Tiara And Calls It "Pretty Uaf "She Is the sort of child who bothers you with questions the most naive una droll and quaint questions but w draws jour hue tee, and qiinkl. In one of Itene's little trunks is a K'''-stud(lcd tiara, uiiiu nuigiug ..u nmiiiiu the giuments in the tiiiak, the . 1.,., . I iUW vMM f,mnl tllls l,'li"",t "a ulu" ''"V, ,. , thi She snt en the oer. Dil.lllg at tie gleaming stones, It was her mother's. It wns bre'igM out of a si ulhing Russia, icscaed frewj the hands of vuitduls. It ii'ineteiitcJ pel haps a tljlng cause. Ceiinm'). he) und ever) thing else, it held m"'11" thing of the great grief of her metuw the liagedy of death, the liunlslilp w flight. , Somehow, her mother wanted Hcm te have this tiara. , . And Reae, lingering It, uiUlit have been willing te give it up ter ber f,iw lull that cost pel haps lift) ielit. I "J rim a hud no vuliie for her euept H leiuetbiug te uuiiihc, Pei haps Instinctive!), perhaps for j" reason at all, the little child m!-1''1 tM tiara and placed it en her head. It was a little big, se It sank eyer her short bobbed blink hair mid i"teu cioekeil ever one enr. ,, Mice a little eeuutisb, indeed, she f" them thinking, but her .ml) leii.weM wns : "Pretty hat!" Perhaps today, that's all it is. A pretty hat, te be sine, v.itn iiu.uzlng story. . ,rt Touieriovv, depending en the deslin J" of peoples, depending oil lhliepean I'M tics, ilcpuiding en tlm astuteness, i crime, of sliileniiauhip, this ' l"e.' hat" that sat se comically en t'lls !li llu chlhl, urn) take her te continent Kini'lu tt .,,,, It, n,t til II, IVW. t .WU-, ,W V.,IIIV,,,M. ,.w.,-.. . Fer isn't slie the Countess lf".,,S, Mentesse, beside v being just a droll i"t tie old-woman child? "I 1 r J ) jeWfjvft 4;
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