The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-12-09
REMAINS OF FRENCH RULERS.
The Bones Have Lain for Years Unburied
In q Room in Paris.

The Bones Have Lain for Years Unburied
In q Room in Paris.
In the vaults of church of ST Denis,
resting under the statues which rep
resented them, fifty kings of France
and fifty queens slept the eternal sleep
in the religious peace of the basilica.
From Dagobert 1. down to Francis L.,
Henry ~, Louis Kill, and Louis NV.
the kings all reposed there in the an
cient vaults. The tombs in the
chapels and in the crypt became so nu-
merous that there was no longer any
room for one more royal corpse when
the revolution burst out.
The convention at first ordered the
destruction of the tombs and after
wards the violation of the collins. The
| 9Th of August, 1898, conducted by the
mayor. the popula ace entered the basil
| lea. This mayor was formerly priest,
and sang the cadet Rousselle" and the
Hymn to Mars in the pulpit in which
short time previously he preached
the word of God.
They were supplied with cords and
ladders and were assisted by cOnsid-
era BILE mum Der of workmen. The troop
advanced up to the altar, and at first
appeared somewhat surprised at the
act they were about to commit, not
having as yet lost all respect for
the sanctity of the place. They en-
tered the chapel called the chapel of
the Charles" where by the side of Du
Guesclin and Louis de Saucorne were
the remains of Charles V. and his wife,
Charles VI, and Charles VII. They
struck with heavy hammers the de-
tested faces of the tyrants," and they
saluted with shouts of joy the skillful
blows that shattered the marble to
pieces.
They would not break the monument
of Turenne because it had not been
raised to the glory of an upstart king.
But they did not spare that of Du
Guesclin. When they had finished
smashing the stones, when they had
sufficiently, .amid roars of laughter.
broken the noses, the fingers and the
heads of the statues, they resolved to
open the collins, because, according to
the legends, several of them con attained
treasures. All that they found, how
ever, consisted of a few threads of
bogus gold in the coffin of Pepin and
the seal of Constance de CASTLE.
Upon each coffin there was an in
scription upon plate of lead or cop
per They were torn off. One of them,
that of Louis XIV. was found again in
1920 in the shop Of a brazier, who used
it as saucepan. Some of the bones
were thrown into the cemetery, but
the greatest portion of them remained
in the collins. In three days, 9Th. nth
and sth of August, fifty-one tombs
were destroyed. The news was an
nounced all over the country and the
event was celebrated by the feast of
the 10th of August. For all that. it
was considered this revenge was not
sufficient. They had broken the images
of the kings; now they determined to
attack their remains.
A crowd of citizens of st. Dennis.
Joined by several politicians from Paris.
stopped first before the tomb of Tu-
renne. They found the coffin in
vault placed Immediately under the
IL.
The features of the hero of Salzbach
were unchanged. The body presented
the appearance of dried mummy. 1t
was placed in the care of man named
Host. He placed it in an oak box and de-
posted it in the sacristy, and for eight
months he exhibited it as curious
relic and charged fee of admission.
Not being satisfied with his profits in
the exhibition line he took out the
teeth of the great Turenne and sold
them one by one. When this outrage
was discovered the body was sent to
the Jardin dss Plantes, and two years
afterward it was p laced in the Temple
of Mars. formerly the Church of the In
valides.
In the afternoon Robespierre arrived
He would not have any nonsense over
the tyrants of the Middle Ages What
he wanted was to find the vault of the
Bourbons- At last the ent rance was
found. 1t was situated before the altar
and a little to the right. They de-
scended into the crypt and near the
door they discovered the coffin of Louis
Nv. Further 'on, ranged side by
side. were twenty-five tombs at the
left. and on the right were those of
Henry ". and Marie de Medicis.
The popular imagination was still
full of the souvenirs left by that good
king. 1t was he whom they exhumed
the first. According to the records
that have been left to us certain emo
ton came over the spectators when the
workmen had at last placed in the light
the royal corpse. Robespierre h iulself
was filled with respect The face of
Henry ". was in no way changed.
One would fancy that he had just died.
An eyewitness cited by Coura jod testi-
fed as follows:
ANY countryman who. in his life
time. saw the image Of Henry " on
the Pout-Neuf. or anywhere else would
have recognized him in the midst of
thousand bodies. his features were so
little altered. 1t looked as If putrefac
tion was afraid to approach his historic
remains. and that it wished to preserve
them for all posterity. But profane
hands took them from the tomb TO drag
them in the mud" And this eye-wit-
ness added: Il placed my hands upon
the hands of the dead king with GER
tain respect that could not overcome,
although ! was true republican"
But soon the crowd became mbold-
ened. \ soldier who was present cut
off long portion of his beard The
access to the crypt by the staircase Of
tha choir WAS diSieult and hraanh