Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-03-13
A BIT OF FRENCH HISTORY.
HOW one DauphIn Kscaped.

Paris Letter to the Pail Mall Gazette.l
After respite of several days, NJ.
Jules Favre resumed his speech in favor
of Comte Albert de Bourbon. The
court was crowded to excess, and order
had to be preserved by the military in
the neighborhood of the Palias de Jus
tice, owing to the number of persons
hocking to catch glimpse of the claim
ant and his family. In recent letter
| mentioned how the father of the
Comte Albert had been acknowledged
by several old servants of Louis XVI,
and by the last home minister of that
monarch, NJ. de Jolly. On Friday M.
Jules Favre proceeded to show how the
Dauphin escaped from the Temple where
he had been handed over to the custody
of the shoemaker, Simon aud his wife.
The story may be thus briefly narrated:
The Dauphin was confined in the tower
Of the Temple, and there was only one
door. Several devoted conspirators,
and among them the Comte de Mont
morin and Josephine de Beauharnais,
furnished the necessary funds. lone
morning some opium was administered
to the Dauphin, who was carried up
stairs in basket, and lay figure, made
to resemble him, was placed in his bed.
After short time this fraud was diseov-
cred, and the government had deaf
and dumb child substituted so as to
make it believed that Louis XVII was
still in the Temple. A doctor was called
in to poison the child, but an apothe-
4 svto 81 N md
shortly afterward both doctor and apoth-
ecary were poisoned. As the deaf and
dumb boy would not die, a sickly lad
was procured from an hospital and he
soon died; was subjected to a post
mortem examination, and was placed
in a coffin. This coffin was taken up
stairs, where the Dauphin had passed
some eight or ten months; another sub
stitution was accomplished, the dead
body was placed in basket and Louis
XVII put in the coffin. f"n 4Vy
On the wayto the cemetery last sub
stitution was effected; the Dauphin was
slipped out of the coffin and some bun
dies of paper slipped in. Louis XVII
was confded to the care of trusty friends,
and all the courts Of Europe we're warned
of what had occurred. After these as
tonishing assertions, M. Jules Favre
went on to accuse all the persons who
had sworn to the death of the Dauphin
as guilty of deliberate falsehood. He
then said that the people chiefly concern
ed in the escape of the Dauphin were
Barras, Carete, Josephine Beauharnais,
Hoche, Pichegru, ETC., adding that man
named Laurent, who had managed the
details, was afterwards sent to Cayenne
bv Bonaparte. The widow Simon, who
died in hospital in 1919, up to her last
breath declared that the Dauphin had
made his escape, and, questioned by the
Duchesse d'Angouleme, by the Duchesse
d 'Berri, and Talleyrand, she persisted in
the truth of her statement. Shortly after
Bonaparte married Josephine he had the
Dauphin's coffin taken up in presence OF
Fouche and Savary, and it was found
empty. It seems, too, that in 1914, Jo'
sephine, disinclined to witness the1usur-
patton of the Comte de Provence, con-
fded the secret to the Emperor of Rus
sia. The Comte did all he could to
procure her silence, offered marshal s
baton for her son, Eugene Beauharnais,
and province Of France. Prince Eugene
refused. According to NJ. jules Favre,
in the secret treaty Of Paris the high con-
tracting powers stated that they had no
material proof Of the death of Louis
XVII And on his death bed Louis
XVIII referred NJ. Trouchet to a certain
chest, which he examined, in company
with NJ. de Villele and two other minis
ters. -. NV. .....
After an examination of its contents
the ministers agreed to proclaim the Due
de Normandie Louis XVIIl, but Cardi-
nal de Latil objected, and thus Charles
X was crowned. The Due de Berri
father of the Comte de Chambord) was
one Of his warmest partisans, and often
wrote to the Due de Normandie. NJ.
Jules Favre then related what happened
to the Dauphin on escaping from Paris.
He first repaired to La Vendee, as a
proclamation by Charette proved, but he
was betrayed aud imprisoned. By whom
il was not said. However, Josephine
Beauharnais, Barras, Hoche, Pichegru,