The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-10-02
Phasos IN the rife q 3 French

Il s Il
NJ. Henri Rochefort ,fs the modern man
with the iron mark. Like the traditional
brother Of a French king he is brought into
promnlence only to be withdrawn into a
daTker secl1sion. He stood over the body oil
young victor NOR, shot by Prince Pierre
Napoleon, and, as another ANTHONY hanging
| about the bloody remains Of Cesar. cof,iIred
the people to be long-suifcrjpr while he
meant to incite them TO mutiny. He sent his
revolutionary Ldnterne, fired with fierce and
dangerous light, into the very precincts OF
the palaces of royalty. He stood the EN-.
bodiment Of French Nemesis in the midst
of the terrible hombardmcnt of Paris, and
handed to his colahorers torch after torch to
send the infuriate flames cracllling, scorrh.
ing, and devouring the very heart of the me-
tropolis he professed to love with the deyo-
ton OF woman.
Dcfianty resisting the Versailles Govern
mcnt, Inc found himself prisoner of the
energetic old man who had chiefly devoted
Ills life to the graceS of historic literature.
And to-day, convicted man, Rochefort Is
seen no more by the French people. The
prison In which he ruminates by day and
sleeps by night is unknown to his contreres
who have the good fortune to escape con.
vict's cell and the swift vengeance of the sue
cessful party. The French Government and
the jailor alone know the present habitation
of NJ. Henri Rccherort.
Meanwhile. whether fate has ordained it
for better or for worse, dscrcditabe pas
sages in the life of the great whilom agitator
have come to light. The tale is so we'll told
that we do not care to abridge it.
He earned $4,000 to $4,000 a year before
he began to publish La Ldnternc. This Pc
rio inuir st,tp IL, n ny
profit every week (S130,000 q year,, making
his total annual income $4,000 a year at
the least. lie had his washstand furnished
with pitcher, basin, toothbrush box, soap
box, all OF solid silver. His walls were hung
with pictures for which he had paid n great
DEAL and which bore the names of the I'M
mortal masters of painting. True, that at
the sale they went for nothing, but Roche
forts is not the only cabinet of pictures
valued at fortune by its collector and sold
for song Ivy its auctioneer. He lavished
money on some OF the most eXtravagant wo-
men of Paris. Meanwhile his father anguish
ed in garnet with no window but a sky-light,
allowed only one candle n week and fed-you
may imagine how poorly after tell you $3.50
covered all the expenses, lodgings table, lights,
and fuel for the sordid clearinghouse stu
ated ut 2l0 Rue du Faubourg st. Antoine.
Rochcfort never visited his father and never
sent him money. There is some mystery
about the fathers marital relations. 1t is
certain that Henri Rochefort's mother was a
pastry cook, or a girl employed in pastry
shop, and forty-odd years since renowned for
her beauty. Henri Rochefort's father was
in those distant days brilliant vaudeville
writer, who thought the world was in a sling,
whose strings he held. He died fervent
Christian, and provided with the sacramcnts
of the Catholic Church; nevertheless, Roche
fort, who had disdaincd him living, took
possession of his corpse and buried him
without the least religious services, in Or
der to increase his (Henri Rochcfort's) pop
ulariiy in Bellcyilc.