Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-04-17
INDUSTRIOUS ExIlES.
French Imperialists Who Settled in Ala
bama in 1918.

bama in 1918.
Among the exiles who had sought
this far-away refuge from Bourbon per-
secutions were military chieftains who
had turned the tide of battle on some
of the most s%anguinary fields of Euro
pean valor, and courtly DANES who had
figured in all the luxury and brilliancy
of the bestdays of the Empire. Generals
who, at the head Of the superb soldiery
of France, who had done the bloody
work of their imperial master at Aus
~terlitz, Jena, and Wagram did not hes
itate to grasp the ak, the pillow, and the
hoe, while brave-hearted women, who
had shone %conspicuously in the brilliant
courts of Josephine and Marie An
toinette. cheerfully accepted the hum
BILE; mental duties of pioneer house
wifery. Conspicuous among the set
tiers was Count Charles Lefebre-Desno-
nettes, who had been a Major-General
of cavalry under Napoleon. He was
in the full vigor of a perfect manhood
when he came to Alabama-an ideal
sabreur. Erect in figure, handsome in
feature, and graceful in bearing, he
possessed a magnetism OF name chat
was irresistible in it's charm. He had
followed the fortunes of Napoleon from
Marengo to Waterloo with a zeal and
fidelity that on more than one occasion
won the highest encomlums from the
Emperor. After the overthrow of the
colossal power of Napoleon, Desno-
nettes was marked for one of the vic
Tins of Bourbon hate, and in the
month of May, 1916, he was condemned
to death, without trial, by the second
court-mart;al of the First military
division; but in the meantime he had
found a safe refuge in the United States.
The personal relations that existed be-
tween Napoleon and D%esnonettes were
Of the most intimate nature. On the
retreat from Moscow they shared the
same carriage, and when Napoleon
was bidding adieu to his sor-
rowing officers at Fontainebleau.
on the eve of his departure to Elba,
ho said: 81 can not take leave OF
you all, but will embrace General Des-
nonettes in behalf of you ALL" In his
will Napoleon left him 100000 francs.
After Desnonettes had become estab-
lished in his pioneer home at Demopo-
lis, he built a log cabin neal his resi-
dence that he called his sanctuary"
and in its center he placed a
bronze statue of Napoleon, while
around the room hung flags, swords,
pistols and other trophies Of battle. 1t
was his habit to repair to this retreat
at a certain hour Of each day, there,
perhaps, to live over in memory the
glorious moments when, at the head of
his charging squadrons, he had strick-
en- terror to the hearts of the enemies
of France. Among the actual settlers
on the Tombigbee, a scarcely less no
ticeable parsonage than Lefebre-Des-
nonettes was Colonel Nicholas Raoul,
who had accompanied Napoleon to
Elba and had commanded the advance
guard of two hundred grenad!ers on
his return. He, too, was in the prime
of life when he came to Alabama
large, fine-looking man. with a decided
military air and bearing, energetic in
speech and action. and quick to resent
the slightest at1ront. Tradition re-
counts more than one occasion when.
in after years, he administered mesited
chastisement to burly American set
tiers who had presumed too far upon
his forbearance. His wife accompan-
led him to his pioneer home, and she
was one of the most beautiful and ac-
complished of the refugees. She was
a Neapolitan by birth, and had been
m~archioness of Sinabaldi. When Murat
was King Of Naples she was a maid OF
honor to Queen Caroline. In spite OF
his energy Raoul was unsuccessful, and
he was at last forced to earn a subsist-
ence by keeping a ferry on Big Prairie
Croek ahout fourteen miles from Dem
onolis.-N. o. TSn1es-Dem0crGt.
"A GIRL, twelve years of age, living