Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-05-16
THE RED MANS WARNING.
AN ApPARlTlON WHICH UNNERVED
THE GREAT NAPOLEON.

That Napoleon was remarkable person
age, taken all around, goes without saying.
The geatest general of modern or perhaps OF
any times, yet withal a wonderful comb1na-
ton of strongmindedness and weak groveling
to superstitious fancies As some writer has
said, 'He all star and destiny" This
star seems to have been the ruling omen of
his entire career. Its twinllings 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. |
shall never forget how absorbed I 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 there!" said Napoleon.
~ see nothing but the pale, twinkling
stars" returned Rapp, quietly.
"What!' exclaimed the emperor, excitedly,
sis it possible that you do not see my star;
the fiery red one almost as large as the moon?
It is before you now, and oh, how brilliantly
Then, warming up at the sight, he fairly
shrieked as he cried out: cit has never aban-
doned me for single instant; see it on all
great occasions; it commands me to go for
ward; it is my sign of good fortune, and
where it leads l will follow"
Rapp said that he fairly screamed as he ut
tered the words 81 will follow and that his
face was livid as he seated himself in con
fusion and suppressed excitement.
1.-THE RED sPECTER'sn LAST CALL.
Whether or not the Red Specter visited
Napoleon that night after Rapp retired we
are not informed. 1t is known, however, that
spirit dressed in red and shaped like man
ci+ oJ tbo for
was shining with unwonted brightness. The
last time this spectral apparition appeared to
the emperor was on Jan. |, 1914, when he
came to the great generals palace and asked
admission of the guards. Early in the morn
ing of that day Napoleon shut himself up in
his cabinet, bidding Count Mole, then coun-
selor Of state and afterward 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 indi-
vidua, 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 informed that the en-
peror was busy and must not be interrupted
the Red Man grew impatient and declared
that he must see Napoleon, and him alone,
Immediately.
81 must see him. Tell him the Red Man is
waiting for an audience"
Trembling violently and awed almost to
speechessness at the imperious and command
ing tone of the red apparition, Mole again tip
toed to the door of the royal chamber and an
nounced the presence of the Red Man.
Napoleon, ''the man of iron,n blanched as
white as a ghost; his arms dropped nerveless
to his side, allowing costly mirror 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
ment had completely unnerved him he man
aged to give orders for the unwelcome guest
to be admitted. After the door was closed
Mole, prompted by curiosity, held his ear to
the door and, as he afterward 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 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 occa-
sion of our meeting at Wagram l granted
you four more years in which to terminate
the conquest of all Europe or to make gen
eral peace, threatening that if you did not
perform one of these two things within the
allotted time I would withdraw my protection
from you. Now, am come for the third
and last time to warn you that you have but
three short months of power. In three
months from this hour the allies will be in
vading 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 a 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 ease
in the presence of the great emperor as the
emperor himself would in the presence of his
most common subject.
SIT will be entirely out of the question to
either conquer or make peace on honorable
terms in the short space of three months, he
said
''Do as you please" returned the red man,
"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 in which the remarkable CONVERSE
ton had been held His imperial majesty
D0SSGQ VI Uu6 leu ulcu w puV Oil W NJ
purpose ''Three months-no longer" shout
ed the specter, as he disappeared at the end
of the hall.
THREE MONTHS LATER.
March ID, 1914, just thres months from the
time of the red ghosts VISIT the allies were
in Paris and Napoleon's abdication followed
four days later, when all his possessions
were wrested from him and he, the great
tho hla
little island of Elba, the same the red man
had held up to the mind eye of the great
general in the prophetic conversation on
Jan. l.
The main points in the remarkable nara
ton as given above are from official docu-
ments, signed by both Counselor Mole and the
guard, Basil de Migne, the former as one who
had heard the prophetic conversation 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 dignitares
at the French capital have long been &C
quainted with the story of Napoleon and his
famous visits from the Red Specter but it has
never become the property of the genera
public. The writer believes this to be the
first account of it ever published in an Amer
lean journal, and would be thankful to any
one able to cite prior instance.-John W.
Wright in st. Louis Republic.
Origin of the Waltz.
The generally accepted story is that the
waltz comes from Germany; but a little in
vestigation will show that this statement is
open to discussion. AS far back as the
Twelfth century the waltz was known in
Provence but under the name of the volta
The song which accompanied it was called a