Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-02-14
The Catacombs of Paris.


Paris, that vast garner-house of the dea'
of ages past:
"The other visit was to the Catacombs
the entrance to which, for strangers, is il
the same part of the city as Lafayette
tomb. There are, in all, we are told
some sixty different entrances to thesC
subterranean vaults, as they undermine
nearly tenth part of the city; but tn,
only place at which visitors are admitted
is at the Barriere d Enfer.
"Down winding stone stairway Of
ninety steps, and we reach the level Of
the first passage-way, and from thence
commence series of wanderings through
vaults about eight feet wide, and about
the same in height, for distance of some
two or three miles, before we again as
cend to the open street. On either side
of these vaults human bones are piled
up from the floor to the ceiling, and so
arrayed that the skulls are turned out
ward, while between the alternate rows
of these arm and thigh bones are laid
across each other, so as to present an even
surface in front, while behind the piles
thus carefully arrayed, the smaller bones
of the bodies are thrown pell-mell. 1t is
said that these caverns contain the re-
mains of over three million of human
beings, brought here from the various
churchyards of the city. Prior to 1886
nearly every church edifce of Paris was
surrounded by yard, in which the dead
were buried. As land became more val
liable within the limits, it was desirable
to use these churchyards for building
purposes, and hence originated the idea
of finding some place to which these re-
mains might be removed.
" The vaults which now form the Cat
acombs had been made by the quarrying
of building stone from them for centuries
previous, and in some places came SO
near to the surface as to endanger build
ings which stood over them. Indeed.
some accidents of this kind had occurred
prior to 1886, and in the sinking and
falling of houses, because of the vaults
or quarries underneath, many lives had
been lost. To avoid further mishaps of
like character, something had to be done,
and the then superintendent of police,
M. Lenoir, suggested to the government
hat, by strengthening these vaults with
arches and piers at certein intervals, and
making passage-ways therein, the double
purpose could be accomplished of max
ng the buildings above the quarries Sc
cure, and furnishing place to which the
human remains in the churchyards might
De removed. The suggestion was at once
accepted and acted upon ny the govern
nent, and on the 7th of April following
he ceremony of consecrating these vaults
or the reinterment of the dead was per-
ormed, and Immediately after the work
commenced of removing the bones of the
cad from the churchyards and cemete-
les within the city limits to these Cata-
ombs.
In some of the passage ways of these
Catacombs, monuments are erected to in
licate the churchyards from which the
zones were removed; but much the larger
portion of bones have nothing to indicate
II whom they were, or from whence they
came.
Each visitor carries with him light
ID candle while passing through the
FAULTS, and on the occasion of our visit
here were probably fifty others entered
1t the same time with us; and to see all
,hese lights fitting along the passage
ways, or held up before long rows of hu-
nan skulls, was a scene never to be for
gotten, and, once seen, never need to be
repeated.
We have observed many skulls hay
ng bullet-holes in the forhead or about
he face, proving conclusively that their
oossessors had met with violent deaths
'ome, probably, from duelling, and others
IN the battlefield, or during some one
If the many revolutions which have oc-
'urred in Paris. In one skull we count
ID no less than seven holes made by ire
banning, an excess of operation seldom,
+ ever, practised by surgeons of the
present day.
"The bones of these more than three
million of human beings embrace every
age, sex, and condition, and we could not
but think, while wandering among them,
what an army they would make when
trumpet should call them forth
from their resting-place and how little
The high and noble in life, whose bones
rest here, ever thought while living that
their remains would mingle with those
who, in life, they trampled upon and des-
pissed. Death,' is indeed, "a leveller,'
and in no one Mace of oil tba aor,L iii