The Portland daily press., 1890-07-29
THE CATACoM BIS,
New York world.l

ever remain memorable in the record of
my life. 1t was the last day on which
visitors were permitted 10 descend into
the eatacombs of Paris, and had with
great difficulty procured permission from
the chief engineer for small party, con
sisting of three gentlemen and three Ia
dies (all English, a professional guide
and myself to make the suDterranean
pilgrimage To my companions l have
stated word for word what am about
to write, and they are ready. if my mar
rative is challenged, TO verify those por-
lions of which they are cognizant by
affidavit or otherwise.
shall now proceed to relate what hap
pened, without attempting any embel-
lishment, letting the plain facts speak
for themselves. And, first, it is neces-
sary to dwell for one moment on little
incident which has an important bear
ing, as viii be seen hereafter. A few
days before had seen q little old wo-
man feeding the English sparrows in the
Tuileries garden. She broke up loaf
of bread, threw the crumbs into the air,
and the timid things caught them fly
ing. as they do insects. They were SO
tame they would eat out of the good
woman's hand. She was very poor,
worked at some place far away to the
north of the Tuileries, and lodges far to
the south; yet she never fails to visit the
gardens. and spare a loaf Of her daily
bread to her feathered pets.
Now had planned visit to the gar
dens on Nov. to try my hand at the
birds, and had provided myself with
two small loaves Of bread, for which /
gave ten confines. calculated that I
should have time enough to do this be-
fore the carriages came to drive us to
the Catacombs. Various matters, how
ever, delayed me, and had to give up
this part of the programme, but l kept
the bread in the pocket of my overcoat,
meaning to bestow it on some beggar in
stead of the sparrows.
We started at 1890 from the Grand
hotel, and drove rapidly to the Barriere
d,Enfer and alighted in a courtyard,
where we found two or three hundred
persons waiting for the opening of the
low proved door which gives access to
the catacombs in that quarter of the
city. There are about seventy different
staircases for the same purpose scattered
through Paris. Here each person was
provided with candle fixed in the end
Of pine stick, with small circle of
cardboard to serve as tray and catch
the drops of grease. Each guide formed
his party into single file, and enjoined
the members to keep together, and to be
very careful of their footing as they
went down into the dark depths below
Now here occurred the first strange
incident Of this memorable day. A man
joined our party wearing the dress of
the Undertakers' company-that is, a
cooked hat like the first Napoleon's, a
black coat trimmed with silver lace,
high boots and black overcoat with a
large cape. He was very thin, and his
clothes hung about him like shroud on
a skeleton.
l shall never forget his face as he
turned and looked at me. The skin was
like parchment, the cheeks hollow and
the eyes luminous and deep set in cavern
Gus orbits. The look he gave me thrilled
to the very marrow of my bones, and
when he saw the effect it produced he
smiled, disclosing set of yellow teeth
with an expression so sinister, so weird.
so fatal, and yet SO sad, that 1 could not
help saying to myself, "This is Deathl"
was so overcome that l could not
challenge his assumed right of joining
our party. In word. he had COM
pletely magnetized as:2 paralyzed me.
What was strange, from time to time a
lady of our party turned and chatted
with me, apparently unconscious of the
black figure and terrible face intruded
between us.
And again, when the guide counted
us aloud he called out five-the number
of our original party. He, too, was
then as unconscious of the presence of
the stranger as the lady to whom 1 have
alluded. Was mad? In this perturbed
state of mind / began the descent of the
catacombs.
The stone staircase was spiral, coiling
down like a petrified serpent, along walls
Shiny and humid. We had lighted our
candles, but the change from the glare
of daylight to this caveTnous gloom pre-
vented our seeing anything, and we had
to grope our perilous way. Suddenly an
icy whisper, waited on poisonous
breath, entered my ear like poniard.
Strange things have happened in the
catacombs, sir. The dead resent intru-
sion on the last resting place given them
after the world has violated their first
sanctuary. Sometimes they insist on
the living sharing their hard bed with
them. Some men who have come down
here have never seen the pleasant light
of day again"
81 believe, sir" replied, in as indif-
ferent tone as | could assume, "that
owing to the precautions of the author
tiles no such accidents have occurred of
late years"
II am glad you think So" was the re-
ply, followed by sneering, Mephisto-
phelian laugh-what the French call ri
canement.
A dead silence fell upon our party. We
were walking steadily onward, some
times walking on loose planks, our
weights sending up jets of water, but
generally on a Dry ana soIld stone path
way.
The guide held up his faring torch to
the low ceiling.
'Observe." he said "that BIZ DAD, black
line, with here and there a pointed ar
row. That is the clew to the catacombs.
So long as we follow that we are safe"
We soon came upon the relics of the
dead. The galleries through which we
passed, about nine feet in height, were
walled ON either side with human bones,
piled up as regularly as bales in whole
sale diapers, and arranged with that ar
tistic taste which the French display in
all they do.
The walls of bones were surmounted
by a CHASTITY cornice of grinninG skulls.
The mortal remains of millions of hu.
man beings were here gathered from the
old cemeteries of Paris when necessity
compelled the dead to give way to the
living.
The Cemetery of the Innocents, that
OF st. Medaro, of st. Laurent and 9TH
ers have contributed their quota. Here
the bone of prelate and prince, duke and
peer, lay side by side with those Of peas
ant and proletarian, thief and rag pick
sr. Equality and fraternity! These
words were fully realized in this gloomy
mausoleum.
All the skulls and bones are of a dark
mahogany color, for years and years
have passed since they were clothed witt
flesh.
At intervals there are marble tablets
with inscriptions in Latin, French