Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-07-14
FRENCH

Today the natives Of sunny France. at
home and throughout the world, wher.
ever they may be. are celebrating their
national holiday. the anniversary OF the
taking OF the Bsstils by the people Of
Paris. It IL a great day in France. sspe.
cially in the ever gay and festive mstrop-
oils. The telegraph says that Paris is
proiusely decorated in holiday attire.
with banners. triumphal arches and
devices OF various kinds, and the rail.
ways have brought in immense numbers
Of people from all directions.
President Grsvy has granted pardons
and combinations OF sentence to more
than 1900 common law criminals in
homo and colonial prisons. and the
s1iled Henri Rochefort returned yester'
day. Six thousand persons welcomed
him and chesrsd him enthusiastically.
He was escorted to his hotel by
crowds singing the "Msrssillsiss
and shouting "Long live Rochefort.'
The celebration today Is eolipsing in
m~ssnincencs and popular enthusiasm
any previous observance Of the occasion,
and not only in France, but elsewhere
the same may be said. Even here on
the Comstoek. our fellow citizens Of
French nativity are making an unusual
demonstration in that line, and have
plenty OF American friends to sympa'
thiziDsly join with them in their patri'
otto festivities and banquet.
The Bastile, the fall Of which 10 COM
memorsted to-day, was the famous State
prison and citadel OF Paris, which OK
listed for over four hundred years, an
overpowsring. mysterious engine o.
terror and political power. IN
til destroyed by grand up
rising Of the people in 1889. It was
. huge. gloomy fortress Of ponderou'
masonry. surrounded by . wide ditch
twenty-five feet deep, and garrisoned BY
one hundred men. exclusive Of the OH
GERS. The prison cells were Of the sans
massive character as the building itself,
and 80 OF the cells were specially designed
for the solitary confinement OF pris'
oners OF state. The inhuman treatment
to which prisoners in the Bastile wer'
subjected has few parallels In the histor,
OF penal cruelty. Put there without 40
cusation or trial. on . simple kttrs d
caehst, allowed no communication will
friends, their Anal fate was de-
pendent upon the caprice OF dsspot
ism and unknown to the world
Many prominent men thus disappeared
within those walls and were nsvsrmor'
seen In life. Here also were imprisoned
Marshal Richelieu. Voltaire, Latude
and that victim OF Louis XIV, known
a. the Man in the Iron Mask, whose
identity has never been absolutely ss
tablished.
After the death Of Louis XIV, history
proceeds to tell US that the Bastils de-
generated from being Q place OF incar'
coration for suspected princes. pretend
ers to the throne, and subjects toe
powerful for the state, into a
common jail, and finally the i'm
%prisonmsnt Of Blaizot, the Kings
librarian. by the Minister De Brstsuil,
nominally by the kings order, brought
to light the whole system Of iuiquity.
On July IL. 1889. came the uprising
OF The people. and alter q brief defence
the Bastile was captured. ransacked,
and on the following day its towers were
RACED and its dungeons Allied with the
copings Of its battlemsnts. Seven per
sons were found still confined in its cells
and dungeons. among whom were Count
dc Solage, n prisoner since his eleventh
year. and Tavernisr. who had been
confined there thirty long years,
and who on his liberation wan
dered about bewildered like q mar
with q broken intellect, or q mar
awakened from . Supplying sleep,
Records OF horrors far worse wer,
found inscribed on the prison registers,
and tradition is rife with stories
OF soul.irsszing terror connected with
the dark. mysterious recessss o.
that pondsrous prison fortress. On III
site now stands the column OF July,
which was erected in memory OF the
patriots Of 1889 and 1880. Vale Bas
tile.
Lsadvills Herald: It Is q fact in tn,
sns