The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-08-31
The Dread Test.
THE LAST TRIAL OF FIDELITY.

The reign of Napoleon, worried and ram
sacked as it has been by the writers of MEM
oirs, recollections and histories, is mine
that still contains multitude of rich, and
as fyet uuexplored, veins. The history of
the secret associations that sprang up during
the latter days of the Empire, would form
most curious and interesting volume, and
there would be no lack of material where
with to fill it. The society of the United
Brothers alone would furnish pages of the
most intense and absorbing interest, while
nothing could appeal more forcibly to the
imagination than the strange and dramatic
episodes connected with its existence and
the details of its mysterious limitations. Per-
haps a hundred incidents might be related
as striking and well conceived as the follow
ing:
An officer of the French army, having in
Cured the suspicion or resentment of the
Emperor, thought it expedieut to abandon
his country and take refuge in one of the
Austrian provinces, and here he become ad-
vised of, and initiated into, society, the
object of whose formation was to hurl to the
ground the Colossus, whose arm smote and
governed the whole continent of Europe
with sceptre of iron. One day a letter was
brought to him containing the usual signs
and passwords of the society, and requiring
him to repair on the following night to a
secluded spot in the forest, where he would
meet some of his associates. He went, but
found nobody The orders were repeated
four times, at intervals of few days, and
four times the officer sought the appointed
place, with no better success than at first.
On the fifth night of his appearance at the
rendezvous, after waiting some time, he was
ON the point of returning, when loud cries
suddenly arrested his attention. Drawing
his sword, he hastened to the spot whence
they seemed to proceed, and was fired upon
by three men, who, seeing that he was un-
wounded, instantle took to flight but at
his feet lay bleeding corpse, in which, by
the feeble light of the moon, he in vain
sought for tokens of animation. He was
yet bending over the dead man, when a de-
tachment of chasseurs, summoned, appar-
emily, by the noise of the pistols that had
been discharged at himself, came suddenly
up, and arrested him as the assassin. He
was loaded with chains, tried the next day
and condemned to die for his supposed crime
His execution was ordered to take place at
midnight.
Surrounded by the ministers of justice, he
was led, at slow pace,by the light of torch
es, and amid the funereal toillng of bells ,to
a vast square, in the centre of which was q
scaffold, environed by horsemen; beyond
these were numerous group of spectators
who muttered impatiently, and at intervals
sent forth cry of adherence. The victim
mounted the scaffold his sentence was read
and the last act of the tragedy was on the
point of fulfllment, when an officer let fall +
word of hope.
An edict has just been promulgated by thu
government, offering pardon and life to any
condemned criminal who should disclos,
the members and secret tokens OF particu
|
suspected; it was that of which the French
man to whom these words were addressed
had lately become a member. He wa
questioned, but denied all knowledge the!
urged him to confess, with promises of ad
ditional reward-his only reply was de
mand of immediate death-and his initia
ton was completed All that had passe,
was but terrible trial of his fidelity thos
who surrounded him were members of tn
society, and every incident that has bee
described, from the time of the first sum
mons to the last fearful moments of expec
ted death, was only step in the progres
of the fearful experiment by which the
sought to determine the trustworthiness @
the neophyte.