Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-08-18
DEATH OF THE DAUPHI\
Strange Mortality Overlook Those Who
Questioned the Accepted Story

In the autumn of 1891 we noticed
some remarkable researches made b,
! Dr.. CabaneS into the medical evidence
: says the British Medical Journal, on the
death of the dauphin, titular Louis
ANll., in 1895. The same authority has
searched into more documents sine,
/ ISL, and is yet more convinced that
the child who died in the temple Il,
Paris was not the dauphin The wife
OF CltlZen Simon (the evidence tina,
! this ill-reputed couple really maltrcatcd
the dauphin is doubtfuD testified be
fore Taleyrand in 1876 that she had
seen Il rachitic child sent into the tenn.
pie after she left, and the cook at that
prison knew that Il substitution" oc-
cured. The sudden death of DeSault,
thopart and Doublet, who expressed
doubts about the identity of the child
found in the temple after Thermidor,
are we'll known. The day that Dcsault
presented his report he was invited to
Il dinner by some members of the con
Nentlon and WAS taken very i'll on his
way home, dying speedily His pupil.
once feeling sure that there had been
foul play. Drs- Pelletan, Lassus ana
two others afterwards made the ne
cropSy, when the child died. They certi
lied about the body, said to be tiIat of
the defmct Louis Capet," and recogniZ-
ell by two of us rs the child attended
to few days since" Napoleon dwclls
on these suspicious expressions IN his
memoirs. The report is complete, vet
there is no note of Il hernia, of the scar
of bite from q rabbit on the lip. and
of Il crcScentic incubation mark by
which the real Louis NNII could have
been recognized. LaSSllS had been
physician to MeSdameS de France. the
dauphin's auntS, had often seen the
dauphin before the revolution. Dr.
Nalentin believed that the report was
otherwise faulty, as it did not explain
that death was due to SuDlimatc poiS-
oninG. When Ronaparte became first
consul, the Ncndean Comic de Frottc
who knew too much about the diSput-
Ell identity, was shot. After the res
toration the Able Dubois told Louis
NNlll. that he did not feel sure that
the child buried as the dauphin was
really that unhappy boy ut all The
reverend gentleman myStcriously start
ed for Italy at once, and died in a fit ut
the first posting station. Pellctan was
more discreet rs he saw that under
republic, empire, or moDrchy, it was
dangerous to express doubt. He dcclar-
ed to IOIliS NNJII thnt hr had StuIru
the dauphin's heart ut the nccropSy
while the three doctors, Il g;iolcr, and Il
civil commissioner had retired from the,
table to chat near the window. Dr..
Iellctan kept the heart and wished to
palm it off on Louis NNIII The other
doctors Quarreled with Pcllctan, and
The |aOlcr, also living. said that he had
him al through the necropsy,
and would never have allowed him to;
pocket the Heart The king accepted
the heart, but it was not allowed the !
hOnOurS of Il state funeral at st Denis. !
Louis \NIiI never doubted the !
vigilance of revolutionary function
aries over the corpscS of princes. The !
apocryphal heart, preserved by Pcllc-
tan, who had signed Il report contain
ING the two doubtful expressions, fell
into the hands of Archbishop Quelcn.
and was thrown into the Seine when
his palace was looted by mob early
in 1881.