The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-11-08
HISTORIC COACHES.


They Have Been Prominent Factors b
Many bloody Scenes.
For many generations the coach has
played an important part in the world 8
work and pleasures What tales it
could tell Of court and field. History
itself may be said to have run on
wheels In the tragedies of French
history, especially. we find the lum-
] bering four-wheeied conveyance play
ing conspicuous though silent part
The gallant Henry of Navarro, man of
his day though he was, had conserva-
tive aversion to the novelty. He much
preferred the sturdy steed on which he
was wont to trot about the streets of
seyenteenth-century Paris. But one
day that crazy fanatic, Jean de l'Isle,
set upon the king as he was ambling
along and had nearly plunged his dag
ger N the royal breast. Henry deemed
1t unwise any longer to appear among
his excitable lieges on horseback and
SO reluctantly resorted to coach as
means of conveyance. His coach was
supplied, not with glass windows, but
simply with leather curtains lined with
silk; and it was in this vehicle that he
was riding when the assassin Ravaillac
availed himself of the kings exposed
position to plunge his knife in his
heart.
After that the state coaches were
built in a manner to afford more Sc
curity to their occupants, and were
made with solid backs and sides. Even
this was not found safe, and IN some
instances the coach panels were lined
with sheet iron. The coach of Louis
XIV. was attacked by the halls tarved
mob as it passed through the streets in
his funeral procession-a forewarning
of the mighty convulsion which was to
burst forth ninety years later. But the
tragic history of royal coaches in
France was by no means closed by this
ebullition. As Louis graceless sue
cessor. Louis XIV. of the name, was
stepping into his coach he was sta bbed
by Damiens, and France had nearly
lost the most worthless and dissolute
of all her rulers. The vivid picture of
the sad and strange journey of the six
teenth Louis, with his stately queen.
from Versailles to Paris, will not be
readily forgotten by those who have
been thrilled by Carlyle's description
of it. When, in the end, Louis was
condemned to death, he went to the
scaffold in a filthy hackney carriage.
His beautiful and naughty queen rode
to her death in a yet meaner convey
snce. She was doomed to go thither in
hideous tumbrel. like ordinary NOR
tails, and she assembled it and took her
place. standing bare-headed sgainst
the side with her hands tied behind
her, the savage mob yelled out: Widow
Capet, get into your pleasure carriage!"
Magazine.
Talk Of brown-stone fronts and
marble halls-Fll not bar thing or
stained-glass windows said the man
from Colorado. They're sober-tinted
affairs beside houses you sometimes see
in new towns on the plains. Timber
being scarce, the builders have used the
tin of old tomato and fruit cans in
place of clapboards and shingles. com
pletely sheathing the structure in the
strips of tin hammered out fiat and
nailed to the sides and roofs. These
strips are of various sizes and tints
some darkened by fire, some dulled or
Redeemed by rust, some shining bright
and new. The whole effect of tho
structure seen little distance away is
the resplendent hues of mother of
pearl, which is pretty good for shanty
which is only n1akeshift, and usually
the abode of poverty"