Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-09-20
COUNT DE CHAMBORD'S BIRTH.
DRAN1TIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS FATH-
ER,S -iSSASSLNATION.

EI'S ASSASSINATION
Although the Count de Chamb0rd with
the facts of whose recent death our readers
are familiar, was accepted by the whole OF
the Royalist party in France as the head of
his house, his legitimacy, and, SO to say, his
authenticity had often been disputed. The
author of book published about a yearagO
under the title of Les Secrets dies Bourbon"
and noticed at the time in these columns,
sought to prove that the union contracted in
England by the Duke de Berri, father of the
Count de Chambord, with the daughter OF
an English clergyman, was nothing less than
Il lawful marriage; whence it would follow
that the Dukes subsequent marriage with
the NeapOlitan Princess who became the ac-
knOWledged Duchess de Berri was invalid,
and the children born of that marriage, in
Guiding the Countde Chambord, illegitimate.
The French law courts, however, decided
that the marriage said to have been made in
England was not a legal union, and rejected
therefore the claims put forward by the two
daughters born Of that union.
What has been called the authenticity"
of the Count de Chambord was denied on
very different grounds. The Duke de Berrl
was assassinated at the entrance to the old
Opera house in the Rue Richelieu on the
18th of February, 1920; and it was not until
the Goth Of September that the Duchess gave
birth to the child whom Victor Hugo, Lam
artine, and the Royalist poets of the period
saluted as "L'Enfant du Miracle" 1t was
suggested at the time, in an English news
paper that the sO-called Prince, far from be-
ing miraculous child, was simply suppo-
siti0us one; and malicious persons attrib-
uted this suggestion to Louis Philippe, Duke
of Orleans, who already in 1920 nourished
hopes of ascending the throne. The Duke
of Orleans diSavOWed the letter in which
the suggestion was made. BUTT was turned
to account in 1880, when, during the revolu-
ton of that year, it was reproduced ana
posted in the form of a handbill, on the walls
of Paris. Charles y had abdicated in favor
of his little grandson, at that time scarcely
ten years of age; and it was to the interest
of the Duke of Orleans and his supporters
that the reputed heir of the French kings in
the direct line, should be proved not to be-
long to the House of Bourbon at all. The
Republicans of those days were as ready as
the Orleanists to believe that the alleged
child Of the Duke de Berri, born seven
months after his fathers death, was in re-
ality the son of another; and the extreme
Republican party of the red shade must
have felt that the assassin Louvel had missed
his aim if in killing the Duke de Berri he
had not cut off the succession in the direct
line. 1t was for this that Louvel had struck
the blow when, surprising the Duke on the
steps of the Opera House, he seized him and
pressed him to himself with such force that
the siX-inch dagger with which he stabbed
his victim inflicted a wound nine inches III
depth.
The circumstances Of the Dukes murder
were very dramatic-not only by their the
atrical surroundings Qor the performance
still went on while the Duke was expiring
in the managers private apartments), but
also by the striking manner in which his
whole life, with his double marriage and his
two families, was concentrated IN the last
few hours of his existence. The opera or
operetta of the evening was at an end, anda
portion of the ballet had been played, when
the Duke accompanied the Duchess to her
carriage, intending to return to his box IN
order to see the remainder OF the perform
ance. Then it was that the assassin grap-
pied with him and pierced him to the heart.
The Duke was carried to the director room,
and, in accordance with the practice OF the
day, was at once bled in both arms. The in
ternal hemorrhage was still so great that 1t
was thought necessary to widen the Orlhce
Of the wound and the operation is said TO
have afforded the patient some temporary
relief. BY this time the Count d'ArtOis at
terward Charles X) and the Duke and Ouch.
ess of Angouleme had arrived. "There,'
says a chronicler of the scene, clay the un-
happy Prince on bed hastily arranged and
already soaked with blood ; surrounded by
his father, brother, sister and wife, whose
poignant anguish was from time to time re-
iieved by some faint ray of hope, destined
soon to be dispelled. When Dupuytren, ac-
companied by four Of his most eminent COL
leagues, arrived, it was thought for mo-
ment that the Duke might yet be saved.
But it soon became evident that the case
was hopeless. The Dukes daughter had
now been brou5 5ht to him, and, after en-
bracing her several times, heeXpressed de-
sire to see the King Uouis NVIlD: Then
arrived two other daughters, the children of
the marriage, formal or informal, that he
had contracted in England. The Duchess,
seeing them now for the first time, received
them with the greatest kindness, and said to
them, Soon you will have no father, and
shall have three daughters.
In a neighbOring room the assassin was
being interrogated by the Ministers Decaze
and Pasquier, with the bloody dagger on
the table before them; while on the stage
the ballet of "Don QuiXote" was being per-
formed in the presence of an enthusiastic
public. In the course of the night the
King arrived, and his nephew expired in
his ans at half-past + the next morning,
begging that his murderer might be for
given, and entreating the Duchess not to
give way to despair. :,
The theatre on whose steps the crime had
been committed was now demolished, and