Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-10-23
CAILLAvAH'S WAND.

CAILLAvAH'S WAND.
II Remarkable Search in the Faults OF the
Abbey Church of St. Denis.
Paris Correspondence Philadelphia Times.]
While the adherents of Henri V. have
been occupied in banqueting and listen
ing to masses, strange scene has been
taking place in the vaults of the Abbey
Church of st. Denis, where the bones of
his ancestors sleep their last Sleep Popu-
lar tradition has declared that at the break
ing out of the Revolution the monks of st.
Denis secreted vast amount of treasure
the abbey being one of the
richest in Europe-in the vaults of
the ancient church, where then lay
buried all the kings and queens of
France, from Dagobert, famous for wear
ing his breeches wrong side out, to Louis
XIV, celebrated for his numerous mistress
es. The Partisan mob sacked the abbey,
turned the bones of the poor old kings and
queens out into the common ditch in order
to melt their leaden collins up into bullets,
and the treasures were confscated and
sent to the melting-pots at the mint. Still
there are many who are convinced that the
monks had time to conceal the greater
part of their treasures before the confis-
eating agents made their appearance, and
it is this treasure that the minister of fine
arts has been trying to find, and to find
with the aid of what is commonly called
divining-rod The story is a curious
one in these days of enlightenment. skep-
ticism, and free thinking. A Nine. Gail
lavah, having come into possession of a
divining rod which has been bequeathed
to her by its inventor Or discoverer, a
young man whom she has befriended, and
who in spite of his invention had died, has
for some five years past been petitioning
the various ministers who have succeeded
each other in the French cabinet to permit
her to search for the untold treasures sup
posed to be buried in the vaults of the Alb
hey of st. Denis. Thanks to the support
of Mr.. LIE Roger, late keeper. of the seals,
and of Mr.. Jules Ferry, late minister of
public instruction. the minister of fine
arts directed the architect of st. Denis to
Investigate the matter.
The tests to which the architect subjec
ed Nine. Caillavah and her divining-ro
having proved satisfactory, contract was
entered upon between her and the agents
of the public domain, by which madame
was to be allowed to make certain excava-
tions in the vaults of the church, under the
direction of her divining-rod and the
superintendent of the architect. IF any
treasures were found she was to be entitled
to one-third of their value up to the sum of
100000 francs. The expense attending to
these explorations was to be borne by Gail
lavah, who succeeded in finding friends to
advance her the 1000 francs needed for the
purpose. Last week, armed with her
divining-r rod, and accompanied by the
architect, an agent of the public domain,
and several workmen, she began her work.
On entering the vaults the magic wand at
once pointed to large iag-stone on the
right of the royal crypt. The stone was
removed by the workmen, and they dug
through the underlying cement and earth
to the depth of five feet without finding
anything. One by one all the flag stones
were turned up and the earth dug into
until the wall that separates the royal
crypt from the other vaults was reached.
Then the rod, suddenly changing its direc-
ton, pointing straight toward the crypt
where lie, in coffins on iron biers, the
bodies of Louis XVI, Marie An
toinette, Louis XVIII, the Duke de
Berry, and other members of the
royal family who have died since
the revolution. At this point the architect
refused to allow the work to proceed any
further, declaring that it might endanger
the safety of the building. Everything
was restored to it's original condition, and
now Nine. Caillavah is trying to get the
authorities to permit her to resume her
work. Since this matter has become pub
lie Nine. Caillavah has had numerous visi-
tors who wish to purchase her magic wand
or the secret of its manufacture. One
Spectator offers her an annuity of $4,000
francs. All these offers she has so far re-
fused, although she processes to be willing
to dispose of her secret provided she is Of
fered its value, which, as the wand is, she
declares, equally eficacious for the discov-
cry of gold and silver mines as for the dis
covery of buried treasures, she estimates
at q high figure.