Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-05
THE RED MANS WARNING.
AN APPAR!TioN WHICH uNNERVED
THE GREAT NAPOLEON.

Months Remained in Which to Conauel
the world--The Story Well Backed-Th,
Little CorpOral's Star.
That Napoleon was a remarkable person
age, taken all around, goes without saying
The geatest general of modern or perhaps o.
any times, yet withal wonderful combina,
tion of strongmindedness and weak groveline
to superstitious fancieS As some writer has
said, HE was all star and destiny" Thi.
star seems to have been the ruling omen OF
his entire career. Its twinklings nerved him
at the Battle of the Pyramids and beckoned
MIN on to the expedition to Moscow; and
even though that turned out to be one of the
most disastrous moves he ever made, he mover
lost faith in the omen for a single instant. ]
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 therel" said Napoleon.
81 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
1t is before you now, and oh, how brilliantp'
LhCuS wal ullLk hp db buS SlSHb. ldlTIy
shrieked as he cried out: st has never aban-
doned me for a 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 sPEoTER'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
spirit dressed in red and shaped like man
visited him on several occasions when the star
was shining with unwonted brightness. The
last time this spectral apparition appeared to
the emperor was on Jan. l. 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
tho empire, to remain in an adjoining room
and to admit no one to the royal presence
Hardly had an hour passed before an indi-
vidual, 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-
peTor was busy and must not be interrupted
the Red Man grew impatient and declared
that he must see Napoleon, and him alone,
Immediately.
u 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 ghost; his arms dropped nerveess
to his side allowing a 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
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
a 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 granted
you four more years in which to terminate
the conquest of all Europe or to make a gen
eral peace, threatening that If you did not
perform one of these two things within the
allotted time would withdraw my protection
from you. Now, l am come for the third
nd hat hox I,,A
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 small bleak
Island of the sea; so remember, all will be
over with you if you do not achieve a con.
quest or accede to peace within that time"
In vain did Napoleon expostulate with this
cardinal specter, who sat with as much ease
N the p@esence of the great emperor as the
himself would in the presence of his
most common subject.
1T will be entirely out of the question to
either conquer or make peace on honorable
ierms in the short space of three months, u he
aid.
"Do as you please" returned the red man,
but will not change my resolution. Now
go,n he said, as he opened the door and
'trode down the hall, followed by the en-
Deror and Mole, who pretended to have been
standing on guard at the second door from
he room in which the remarkable conversa-
ion had been held. His imperial majesty
begged of the red man to stay, but all to no
purpose. "Three months-no longer,n shout
ID the specter, as he disappeared at the end
# the hall
THREE MONTHS LATER.
March ID, 1914, just three months from the |
lime of the red ghosts visit, the allies were |
n Paris and Napoleon's abdication followed |
our days later, when all his possessions |
we're wrested from him and he, the great |
Napoleon, made sovereign over the miserable |
title island of Elba, the same the red man |
lad held up to the mind eye of the great |
general in the prophetic conversation on |
Ian. l.
The main points in the remarkable narra- |
len as given above are from official docu- |
uents, signed by both Counselor Mole and the |
,uard, Basil de Migne, the former as one who |
lad heard the prophetic conversation and the |
after as one who had attempted, without sue
ess, to bar out the Red Specter when he first |
4pplied for admission. The court dignitaries |
t the French capital have long been ac-
Iuainted with the story of Napoleon and his
amous visits from the Red Specter, but it has
'ever become the property of the general
,ublic. The writer believes this to be the |
Irst account of it ever published in an Amer
can journal, and would be thankful to any
ne able to cite prior instance.-John w.
Wright in st. Louis Republic.