Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-03
TEE Red spEcraR OF THE rUIIgR1rs.

Are the contractors engaged in pulling
down the burnt Palace of the Tuileries
aware that they are also laying ghost
It is doubtful, for the legend of the Red
Specter who haunted and may still haunt,
the building is now almost forgotten. Yet
it is not so long ago that the goblin, who
showed himself on the eve OF great dis
asters, was mentioned with bated breath,
not only in the palace but by many of the
inhabitants of the Louvre Quarter. There
is no record to show when he first took up
his lodging at the Tuileries, but it is af-
frmed thai he disclosed his existence there
most unmistakably during the great revolu.
tionary period. A few days before the
terrible 10Th OF August, 1880 the story
goes-M4rie Antoinette's women were sit
ting in the Sale des Gardes, when they
became suddenly aware of the presence of
| a small man clothed from crown to heel in
scarlet, who looked at them with such I'M
earthly eyes that they were frozen with
terror. They rushed to the apartment Of
Madame la Dauphine and related their ad-
venture.
The next apparition Of the Red Man
was in 1914, in the presence of the little
King of Rome and his attendants and the
red figure was again seen, according to
report, little before the death of Louis
XVIII, this time in the Galerie Gu Louvre.
In 1915, however, much discredit was
thrown upon the ghosts existence by the
practical joking of some art students at
tached to eros studio at the Louvre.
Some of the Louvre apartments had been
placed at the disposal of ruined emigrants
who had returned to France and found
protectoress in the Dachesse d Angouleme
Among these were two old maiden ladies
| and Knight of st. Louis, who were din.
ing together one evening. when to their
supreme astonishment a "grand diable
rouge" came down the chimney, and
snatching leg OF mutton from the table
disappeared with it by the way he came.
| The incident was reported to the
Duchess. who sought the presence
of the King, and with tears pouring down
her face declared her conviction that
| some great misfortune was impending. The
| King laughed at his niece's fears and sent
for chimney-sweeper A boy who went
up the chimney to look for the ''diable
rouge did not return. A man was then
sent up, but nothing more was seen or
heard of him. The greatest excitement
reigned in the palace, and at length a fire.
man undertook to explore the haunted
| chimney. He returned and explained the
mystery. 1t appeared that the chimney
passed by Gross studio, and that his
pupils, by making a hole in the wall, were
enabled to play these pranks upon illustri-
GUS personages. They had made the two
sweeps their confederates, but the fireman
was not to be bribed. A writer in one of
| the Paris papers who recalls this anecdote
relates in all seriousness the circumstances
under which the genuine goblin of the
Tuileries made his FINAL appearance. II was
in 1871, during the last days of the Com
mune. The journalist had the story, he
says, from the lips of the witness, who
trembled while he told it. He was a
concierge at the Louvre, and while max
ing his accustomed round one night,
lantern in hand, through tho silent
| galleries, he observed IN the
Galerie d'Apollon human form
standing against window, with crossed
arms and dropping head, in an attitude of
profound affection. Believing he had sur.
prised Iobber, the concierge made toward
the intruder, who thereupon disappeared
in most mysterious fashion. He tried to
persuade himself that his senses had de.
| ceived him, when On reaching the Grande
Galerie he saw the same figure again, in
the same melancholy posture. On being
challenged the form vanished. The official
| then remembered the legend of the Honanle
Rouge, and lost no time in regainlng the
street. Presently he returned with some
of his comrades, to whom he had related
what he had seen; but this time the search
for the goblin was fruitless, and was cut
short by another kind of apparition-a lu-
rid glare in the aky. The Communists had
begun their incendiary work, and the next
day the flames shot out of every window
of the Tuileries. 1t will be seen that the
Red Man not only haunts the palace with
which his name is associated, but also the
adjoining buildings of the Louvre. So it
is doubtful if he will quit the precincts to
which he is linked by SO many associations,
even when there is not a stone left to tell
where the Tuileries once stood -[St
,James's Gazette