The morning call., 1890-08-24
THE RED MANS
WARNING.
An 4pparition Which Unnerved
the Great Napoleon.
The Genersl Notified That bu. Three Months
Remained in Which to Conquer the
World-The Story Well Backed.

~ HAT Napoleon I was remarkable
XXX parsonage. taken all around, goes
eykSS without saying. The greatest gen.
eral of modern or perhaps of any times, yet
withal wonderful combination of strong
mindedness and weak groveling to SUPER
stitous fancies. AS some writer has said,
He was all star and destiny. This
star seems to have been the ruling omen of
his entire career. Its twinklngs nerved him
at the battle of the Pyramids and beckOned
him on to the expedition to Moscow, and
even though that turned out to be one of
the most disastrous moves he ever made
he never lost faith in the omen for single
instant. l shall never forget how absorbed
/ became in reading Rapp's account of the
great Generals abstraction when gazing on
his star of destiny from his palace window.
LOOK there; up therei" said Napoleon.
81 see nothing but the pale, twlnkllng
stars" returned Rapp, quietly.
"Whati" exclaimed the Emperor, eXclt-
edly;" is it possible that you do not see my
star, the fiery red one almost as large as the
moon? 1t Is before you now, and on, now
Brilliant" Then, warming up at the
sight, he fairly shrieked as he cried out:
at has never abandoned me for single
instant; | see it on all great occaslonS; IL
commands me to go forward; 1t is my sign
of good fortune and where 1t leads Will
follow"
Rapp said that he fairly screamed as he
uttered the words II will follow" and that
his face was liv!d as he seated himself in
confusion and suppressed excitement.
1.-THE RED sPECTER's" LAST CALL.
Whether or not the Red Specter visited
Napoleon that night after Rapp retired we
are not Informed. 1t Is known, however,
that a spirit dressed in red and shaped
like man visited him on several
occasions when the star was shin
ing with unwonted brightness. The
last time this spectral apparition appeared
to the Emperor was on January, 1, 1914,
when he came to the great Generals palace
and asked admission of the guards. Early
in the morning of that day Napoleon shut
himself up in his cabinet, bidding Count
Mole, then Counselor OF state, ana alter
ward Grand Judge Of the Empire, to remain
in an adjoining room and to admit no one
TO the royal presence.
Hardly had an hour passed before an in
dividnal, Enthusiastically dressed in red
trousers. blouse and cap, appeared in the
hallway. He was halted by The guard Just
as Mole appeared on the scene. When in
formed that the Emperor was busy and
must not be interrupted the Red Man grew
impatient and declared that he must see
Napoleon, and him alone, immediately,
g must see him. Tell him the he'd Man
is waiting for an audience"
Trembling violently and awed almost to
speechlesSneSS at the inperlous and COM
mandng tone of the red appariton, Mole
again tiptoed to the door Of the royal cham
Der and announced the presence of the Red
Man.
Napoleon, "the man of iron," blanched
as white as a ghost; his arms dropped
nerveless to his side. allowing costly mir
rGr which he was holding in his hands to
fall and break into million OF pieces as
they did so.
Although it was plain that the announce
nIent had completely uDnerved him he man
aged TO give orders for the un welcome guest
to be admitted. After the door was closed
Mole, prompted by curiosity, held his carte
the door, and, as he afteTward attested On
oath, heard the following conversation, the
most remarkable dialogue ever listened to
in the history Of the world.
WHAT MOLE HEARD.
General" said the Red Specter, "this is
the third time l have appeared before you
as man. The first time we met was In
Egypt, at the battle of the Pyramids; the
second, after the battle of Wagram. On
the occasion Of our meeting at Wagram
l granted you four more years in which
to terminate the conquest of all Europe
or to make general peace, threatening
that if you did hot perform one of these
two things within the allotted time
l would withdraw my protection from
you. Now. l am come for the third
and last time to vain you that you have
months from this hour the allies will be
invading Paris if you do not take my
advice and sue for peace. A general
peace must be perfected within ninety
days, else otherwise your power Will be
confined to small, bleak island of
the sea; so remember, all will be over
with you if You do not achieve con-
quest or accede to peace within that time"
In vain did Napoleon expostulate with
this cardinal specter, who sat with as much |
4l.s, pfN
as the Emperor himself would in the pres |
ence of his most common subject.
1T will be entirely out of the question to
either conquer or make peace on honorable /,
terms in the short space of three months"
ne said.
do as you please" returned the Red Man,
Is but will not change my resolution. Now |
/ CO." he said as he opened the door and |
strobe down the hall, followed by the En-
peror and Mole, who pretended to have been |
standing on guard at the second door from
the room III which the remarkable CONVEX
sation had been held. His imperial Majesty
begged of the Red Man to stay, but all to no
purpose. Three months no longer"
shouted the specter, as he disappeared at |
the end of the hall.
THREE MONTHS LATER.
March ID, 1914, just three months from the
time OF the red ghosts visit, the allies were
in Paris and Napoleon's abdieation followed |
four days later, when all his possessions
were wrested from him and he, the great
Napoleon, made sovereign over the miser-
able little island of Elba, the same the Red
Man had held up TO the minds eye of the
great General in the prophetic conversation
on January 1St.
The main points in the remarkable narra-
tion as given above are from official docu-
ments, signed by both Counselor Mole and
the guard, Basil de Mgne, the former as
one who has heard the prophetic con-
verSation and the latter as one
who had attempted, without sue
cess, to bar out the Red Specter when he |
first applied for admission. The court dig |
nitaries at the French capital have long |
been acquainted with the story of Napoleon |
and his famous visits from the Red Specter,
but it has never become the property of the |
general public.