Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-10-06
Foreign.
THE EIGHT MARTYRED VIRGINS OF
YERDUN.
CapitulattOn of onch Town To ths
Prusstans-A Sad Episode.

September, l792-the town of Verdpn
opened its gates to the Prussian army.
which had been besieging it for three DAYS
under the command of the Duke of Bruins.
wick.
AS General Kalkreuth and the Prussian
princes were riding back from the town on
their way TO the camp, after ratifyinp the
conditions of the surrender, an officer OF
their suite, the Count of Hsnkle, lieutep.
ant in Kehier's hussars, was shot dead in
the street by somebody firing cut of bar.
Der S window. Whether this murder was
the result OF En- accident, or III idle freak.
or piece Of misplaced patriotism, has
never been correctly ascertsined; but the
occurrence led indirectly to that most mel.
sncholy drama Of the evolutionary annals
which Delille, Lamartine and Victor Hugo
have all sung as the "martyrdom of the
virgins of Verdun,"
They were eight in number, these virgins
of Yerdun, ana their tale is indeed piti
full one. The news Of the murder had no
sooner spread through the town than i'm.
mense CONSERVATION seized hold of every.
body, and Of course the Mayer was among
the first to gallop after Kalkreuth and as
supe him that every reparation should be
accorded if only the Prussians would take
a merciful view of the unlucky affair. But
the General, who was scared ana furious.
answered that the rules of war were pre-
emptorv, that the shot had been meant for
him, and that Verdun knew now what it
had to expect. One can conceive the dis
may OF the Mayor and panic among the
citizens, who at once made sure that the
Prussians would come and massacre them
all, and afterwards put their town TO the
sack no unlikely contingency as times
went. In the midst of the confusion, while
everybody was wringing his or her hands,
and utterlng lamentations, a lady stepped
forward and suggested that, as means of
modifying the King, deputation Of the
prettest girls of Verdun should be chosen
to Offer corbeille of bonbons to his Ma
jesty, The idea Of presenting basket of
sweetmeats to tough, grimy old soldier
was not perhaps, the most appropriate
that could have been devised, but 1t was
accepted by the Verdunites with enthu-
sasm and eight young ladies' were imme-
diately designated rs legates their names
were Suzanne, Gabrielle, and Barbe
Henry, daughters of N. Henry, Presi-
dent du Baillaqe do Verdun; Anne Hen
riel.e, and Helene Watrin, daughters
OF retired officer; Marguerite
Angelque La Girorisiete, daughter OF the
Keeper Of the Woods and Forests OF the
province; and Claire Tabouillot, daughter
Of magistrate. They we're all "of radiant
beauty" say the Crown Princes memoirs ;
the eldest of them was not more than
nd ba
we're only sixteen. A subscription was
raised on the spot to buy handsome cas-
ket the Baroness de Lalance, aunt OF the
sisters Henry, offered herself as cham
per0n, and the nine ladies were soon on
their way to the camp in the Baroness
coach--a fact which, Ly-the-way, speaks
well for the capacity of vehicles in those
days. One would scarcely imagine that in
such simple proceeding as this bonbon
embassy to the King OF Prussia lurked all
the elements of q future Indictment for
treason, and yet so 1t was, and
the unfortunate box of sweetmeats
was lated to cost three-aud-thirty persons
their heads. The King refused the
present, but there is very little doubt that
Il saved Yerdun from pillage; for, although
Frederick William II. showed himself
cold, and even harsh, to the deputatlon,
there is his sons authority for believing
that he was very much struck with the
beauty OF the young girls, and had not the
heart to consign them to the fate which
would inevitably have been theirs had
Yeriun been abandoned to his soldiery.
The French, however, were then even
fuller Of tbs Prussian spy mania than they
are now. Everybody who was not sans
culotte in those blessed days OF freedom
was accounted sold to the foe, and upon
the evacuation OF Verdun by the Prussians,
after Valmy and Jemmapes, the eight
Virgins Of Verdun, their mother, Mdme.
de L4ianee, and twenty-one old gentle
men who had subscribed for the bon
bons, were arraigned before the rev.
dictionary tribunal on the charge OF
having delivered the town OF VeTdun
to tho Prussians, aided and abetted the
success Of their arms on French territory
and conspired with them 20 destroy lib
cry to dissolve the national representa-
ton, and to restore despohsm." Il may
ls mentioned incidentally tha. the sur.
r5nJDr ct Yerdun was one Of the principal
causes that sent Louis XVI 70 the scat
tJsa Then, rs now, it was pretty much
tao way with the French to believe that
whenever they were beaten it was their
hu- fault, not their own so when the I'll
Starred monarch pleaded that he really
could not helplt if the beurgaouis Of Yer.
dun lad failed in endurance, this answer
wa, treated as hjppant derisiye and an IN
sail to the sovereign people. The same
system Of argument was sadopted towards
The Virgins o. Eerdun, After icing cafted
about from prison to prison for two years,
they We're II last put npon their trial in
III 1904 1leir beauty, their gentleneas,
and their resignation were such that a tl1ll
Ct sympathy went through the audience,
AMI upon Fouluior- TinyitIe, the Public Ae'
cHsr rising 70 ask that they might be
.2;snced 10 death, one OF the soldiers on
an.g who had been kind 10 them through.
c.t tie trial. fell heavily forward and
r.ai On the floor sensei's SIS. Naturally
.-sy were found guilty-guilty Of being ~
leagua with the Prussians; and they were
at condemned TO be beheaded. as o par
f.rfrI.r Dr., VIZ "a 8 ro,ul1iaay, alan pp1v. how