The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-19
Tile DAILY Argus.
THE RED SPECTRE OF THE TUILERIEs.
St. james Gazette.

THE RED SPECTRE OF THE TUTLERIEs
ST. james Gazette
Are the contractors engaged in
pulling down the burnt palace of the Tuil-
1eries aware that they are also LAYING a
ghost? 1t is doubtful for the legend of
the red spectre who haunted. and NAV still
haunt, the building is now almost entirely
forgotten. Yet it is not SO long ago that
the goblin. who showed himself on the eve
of great disasters, was mentioned with
bated breath, not only in the palace but
by many of the inhabitants of tue Louvre
Quarter. There is no record to show when
he first took up his lodging at the Tuiller-
les, but it is affirmed that he disclosed his
existence there most Enthusiastically during
the great revolutionary period A few
days before the terrible 10Th of August
1880 the story goes-Mary Antoinette's
when they became suddenly aware of the
presence of q small man clothed from
head to foot in scarlet who looked at them
with such unearthly eyes that they were
frozen with terror. They rushed to the
apartment of Mime, La Dauphine and re-
lated their adventure.
The next apparition of the red man was
in 1914, in the presence of the little king
of Rome and his attendants; and red fig
ure was seen again, according TO report, a
little before the death Louis XVIII
this time IN the Galerie du Louvre In 1915,
however, much discre.lit was thrown upon
the ghosts existence by the practical jok-
ing of some art students attached TO eros
studio at the Louvre. Some of the Louvre
apartments had been placed at the dis
posal of ruined emigrants who had return
cd to France and found a protectress in
the Duchesse d Angouieme. Among these
were two old maiden ladies and a knight
of st. Louis, who were dining together one
evening when TO their supreme astonish-
meut grand diabIe 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
misfortune was pending The king
laughed at his niece's fears
and sent for chimney-swecper
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 fireman undertook to explore the
haunted chimney He returned and ex-
planned the mystery. 1t appeared that the
chimney passed by Gros' studio, and that
his pupils by making hole in the wall
were enabled to play these FRANKS on illus
trious 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 cir
cumstances under which the genuine COB
lin of the Tuileries made his final appear
ance. 1t was in 1871, during the last days
of the commune. The journalist had the
story, he says, from the lips OF tie witness,
who trembled while he told it. He was a
concierge at the Louvre, and while making
his accustomed round one night, lantern in
hand, through the silent galleries, he OBJ
served in the Galerie dApollon a human
form standing against a window, with
crossed arms and dropping head, in an at
titude of profound afffiction. Believing
he had surprised a robber, the concierge
made toward the intruder, who thereupon
disappeared in the most mysterious fashion.
He tried to persuade himself that his senses
had deceived 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 legand
of the H0a7nae Rouge, and lost no time in
FcSdlnInS the street.. Ifesently ne return
ed 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 APP
parition-a lurid glare in the sky. The
communists had begun their incendiary
work, and the next day the flames shot out
of every window of the Tuileries. It will
be seen that the red man not only haunts
the palace with which his name is associ-
ated, 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
nota stone left to tell where the Tuile1ies
once stood.