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EVENING PUBLIC IEDGER-PHHBteLPHIA. WEDNESDAY. OOTOfefiR 26. 1922
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RUSSIAN BABY COUNTESS, ORPHANED BY IVAR,
FINDS REFUGE FROM RED HORROR IN AMERICA
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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-
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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
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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
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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
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-Mrs.
Wendell
Phillips, New
Yerk society woman.
who has adopted the
tuo-year-eld orphaned
daughter of the Count and
Countess Henry de
Mentesse
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Mrs. endell Phillips and the baby Countess en the S. S. President
Polk, en which the child came te America from England
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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
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while the baby slept Counted i Claude
knitted a l-iutifiil white luce woolen
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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
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