The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-04-03
A Singular Discovery.
Living Repulicnnism Profits by the Su.
perstltion OF Dead Royalty.

| Living Repulicnnism PROFITS by the su
perstltiOn OF Dead Royalty.
A very singular and, in come respects
important discovery has recently bee
made in France-a discovery which
had it remained with its discoverel
would have been to him O source @
great wealth, but which now rebound
| to the profit of the French nation, an
| at q time, too, when it is needed. It j
not, as might be surmised, discover.
in the arts, but is. in short, a veritabl
"treasure trove." Although som,
pains have been taken by the author
tiles to keep the matter quiet, it is be
lieved, in fact known, that the follow
ing is true statement, at least q sub
stantially correct one.
It happened in this way A man O
mean extraction, one Baptiste Vojeau
a grave-digger by occupation. and /.
most inveterate thief by nature ant
practice, offered for sale, in Novembe,
last, to Messrs. Merceur L Co., jew
elers in the Lue Girouuiere, a most ad
mirable diamond "of the rose cut >
whatever that may beg, the value o.
which, as is asserted by Messrs. Mer
c@ur, cannot be less than 700, OO(
francs. Notice was at once given te
the authorities, and Vojeau was ar
rested. At first the suspicion prevailed
that he, being grave digger, had found
means of robbing the corpses of ricl
people whom he helped to bury, but
the supposition was untenable from the
fact that nobody has, at least in modern
times, been buried or entombed with Q
gem having 1.-THE of the value of the
one in question. Brought before the
magistrate, Vojeau asserted and main
tanned that he had found the stone
ameng the gravel which he was shovel.
ing out of a grave that he was digging
but as the gem was not in rough state,
but had been most beautifully cut, no
credence was given to his tale, and he
was remanded to prison, while the po-
lice sought diligently for clue, rightly
supposing that had such a valuable
stone been lost in all Europe, the state
ments of the case in the Paris journals
would speedily bring to light the right
full ownerc
The lodgings of the prisoner Gin the
Rue GambreO were of course searched,
but beyond some worn apparel, the
tools of his trade, ard an old leaden
box evidently used as a receptacle for
food), containing only dry and hard
piece of black bread, nothing appeared
to afford the slightest clue.
Thus matters rested on Dec. 3, when
the mystery was solved by an old in
spector of police, M. Berlin by name,
who, alone, followed the scent with the
traditional acuteness of a Vidocq or q
Javert. M. Berth is one of those men
who never forget. He had heard of
crown jewels that after the decease of
a king, one of the finest among the
jewels would be missing. This he had
heard as the merest gossip listened to
it when u child, from the lips of an old
nurse who had said that it was among the
most sacred of secrets of the Bourbons,
and that the loss of jewel at the death
OF his predecessor was never inquired
into by the succeeding monarch and
it was held as q superstition that such
loss BODIED the new king good, and that
whenever a prince should come into
the possession of the kingdom and all
The crown jewels, he should have q tur-
bulent and bloody reign, and would be
fortunate indeed if his own head did
not "fall into the basket" There even
came back to M. Berlin part of an old
song, which, robbed of half its quaint
beauty, may be, though poorly, rem
1ered into English thus:
Search not for the jewel king.
For its loss to you shall bring
Long and happy reign;
But if found, or never lost
Thou shalt rue it to thy cost,
Call for help in vain.
To this his old nurse had ascribed
he troublous reign and final decapita.
no jewel was missed after the death of
o.,
may seem, had made strong impress
lion upon the boy, and the man had not
entirely outgrown them. If it were
rue, M. Berth thought, that such
Jewels had been lost, they might. peg
Daps, sometimes be found and why
not by a grave, digger? Bat how and
where?
In an instant that inspiration, that
intuition, which no really successful
office of police is without. and which to
/ i'm is worth more than all the logic in
The world, flashed upon and illuminated
all this mystery and as the quick,
luminous thoughts crowded and jostled
one another through his brain, he saw
it all. His thoughts probably ran some
what as follows Why was no jewel
ost at the death of Louis XIV? In
what did his death and interment differ |
rom those of his royal predecessors
Surely Dame Florette without the least |
the stories) had told how |
he doctors had evaded the removal of |
he hearts from the loathsome body of |
Louis XIV, who died of smallpox. |
Therein, then, lay the difference. That |
eaden box, and the crust of black
,read, took now to his mind a different |
appearance in fact, the latter could
,e nothing less than the heart of dead
ing, and the leaden box its casket.
This was the true solution /; for, on
such q search rs only the
french police know how to make, re-
ealed the fact that in crypt of st.
Dennis that had escaped the fury of the
mob, which, in the days of the revolu-
ion, dragged forth the bodies of the
ings of France, and cast their collins
nto leaden bullets, quietly reposed the
carts of, we do not know how many,
cad kings. That of Louis Kill, with
,s casket, was found to be missing, and
be casket that should have contained
he heart of Louis XIV. was found to
q empty. |
Charged circunstantially with the
heft, Vojeau confessed that he had
aimed access to the crypt, and had
tolen the casket for its value as lead,
ut had, upon opening it and breaking
pen its contents, found the diamond.
lie has been sentenced (under an old
'rench law to penal servitude for 20
ears, but there can be but little doubt
hat he will receive free pardon for
aving thus, indirectly and uninten-
ionally, it is true, put into the treasury
the young French republic, jewels
D the value of millions. It is said that
O fewer than 81 magnificent diamonds,
ONE of astonishing size and brilliancy,
ave been thus recovered.
The value of this "find" is unknown,
ut has been variously estimated from
Telve to eighteen million francs.
Inc custom Of removing the viscera from the
'dies of the kings OF France, after DEATH is well
iown to students Of French history, but the fact
at the heart was not returned to the BODY but
Is Enclosed In little casket OF lead) deposited in
g secret crypt of st. Dennis, is not, we believe,
generally known.
The Worth OF Life.