The Alchemy of Murder (55 page)

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  In a bizarre twist to this Victor Noir story, Jules’ publisher purchased a manuscript from a man named “André Laurie” who was actually Paschal Grousset, the radical who sent Noir to challenge the prince to a duel. Jules worked over the story and it was published under his name. Laurie was the pen name of Grousset, who went into exile after being a Commune leader.—The Editors.

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  One must not judge Nellie’s artistic judgment too harshly. Van Gogh shot himself the following year near Paris, dying at the age of 37 after having sold only one painting in his lifetime.—The Editors.

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  One of the radicals hanged for the assassination attempt on Alexander III was the brother of Lenin, the founder of the Russian Communist Party and first leader of the Soviet Union. —The Editors.

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  Guy de Maupassant’s brother died in 1889 and Guy went into deep depression. In 1892 he tried suicide by cutting his own throat and was institutionalized. He died the following year at the age of 42. Part of his mental problems were the result of advanced syphilis. The brother of Edmond Goncourt, who satirized Oscar Wilde in his
Journal
, also died of the big pox.—The Editors.

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  This statement about the future of war, which has a Jules Verne futuristic flavor to it, was first made by Oscar at the lunch he had with the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the American publisher in September 1889, two months before he attended the world fair with Nellie and Jules. In his own autobiography, Conan Doyle reported Oscar’s comment as, “A chemist on each side will approach the frontier with a bottle.” A. Conan Doyle,
Memories and Adventures.
—The Editors.

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  Lord Somerset spent the rest of his life in exile in France. His lawyer back in London went to jail for bribing witnesses to flee the country. The inclination toward manly love ran in the family. One of Somerset’s brothers was divorced by his wife on the grounds that he had abandoned her for a man.—The Editors.

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The Mystery of Central Park
, published October 12, 1889. Her detective, Penelope Howard, solved a murder in Central Park.—The Editors.

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  Jules kept his word. Mrs. Branican, in Verne’s book of the same name, was inspired by Nellie’s will and determination.—The Editors.