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THE CHINA MAIL, OCTOBER 20, 1939
TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE
THE MYSTERY OF RACZNOWITZ
By VINCENT TOWNE
who had her appointed to the consular corps.
HISTORY always repeats itself. I
have already told you the story of She was stationed at first in Mex- that mysterious, chameleon-like crea- ico, then in New York. Later we ture, the "Chevalier d'Eon," secret find her appearing in Chicago, as *
Russian
the agent of Louis XV, who one day would young
gentleman in appear as a beautiful maid of honour, honourable employ of His Imperial sitting at the feet of the Empress of Majesty the Czar. For the next 13 destined to play s Russia, and another day as the gal-years she was lant, ruel-loving French ambassador most difficult part with a clevernes to the Court of St. James. That such which dazed her superiors when her a role had been successfully enacted | true story was finally told to the world. in our own country and within two generations is no less true than it is astounding; and the only patent lack of parallel between the chevalier and the equally mysterious character who, in America, reproduced his feats of transformation, is that d'Eon was more generally supposed to be a man with marvellous skill as a woman imper-
By day she was the manly, plain- speaking "Monsieur Nichol de Rey- lan," confidential secretary to Baron consul. Schlippenbach, the Russian
the petite, girlish By night she was "Mlle. Racznowitz,” a fiery "under- the Russian so- ground worker" in cieties which, throughout our coun- try, in the days preceding the revolu-
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Changing From Woman's To Man's Attire
sonator, while his later counter-part | tion at Petrograd, were secretly plot- was more generally supposed to be a ting for a representative government in woman displaying equal genius as a the motherland. masquerader in male attire.
But as "Mlle. Racznowitz,” reposi- tory of the black secrets concerning the dynamite fund, she was no more trust- worthy than when, next morning, as "M. de Reyan," she received the steno- graphic dictation of Baron Schlippen-
his
This latter enigma we will refer to by the feminine_pronoun for the sake of convenience. Answering the appeal of her oppressed countrymen she left her humble home in the south of Russia, joined one of the revolution-bach's: confidential letters to the home ary societies and, although physically government-letters. outlining a frail creature, assumed the masculine campaign role once played by Louise Michel, the among "Joan of Arc of anarchy.'
workers. When only 18 years old and com- pletely outfitted as a young student, she became a clerk in St. Petersburg and skillfully managed to develop an acquaintance with influential officials
"
against her colleagues. the dreaded underground
This remarkable creatüre would have continued her difficult role un- masked but for the ravages of tuber- culosis, which drove ber to Arizona, where she died in 1900.
Wonderment at the prolonged suc- cess of her masquerade is heightened by the fact that nature had given her the poorest possible equipment for her daring role." Her weight was not above 100 pounds, her skin was fair and de- licate; her feet and hande, tiny, even for a petite woman.
Racznowitz, had the vices...”– which in her day were supposed to be more characteristic of men than of women. She would stand at a bar and drink and was an inveterate user of tobacco. This strange and mysterious person- age went through the ceremony of marriage with a woman, and by those who later believed her to have been a woman, the ceremony was supposed to have been undertaken for the purpose of heightening the illusion that she
was a man."
So skilfully did she play her cards that her political loyalty became as Immationl as her nex, and it is still a:dæser life, her was on the side of the Czar
or of the plotters against his throne.
The Prin weekly
DAY LATER
London, To-day. ster. will give his war situation on Thursday next