The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-11-15

A story That ne Killed a French Colonel
With HIm sword.

A Story That He Killed a French Colonel
With Hla Sword.
The National Zeitung relates a story
about Napoleon /. which is vouched
for by an old citizen Of Erfurt, who In
1879 was present when the incident oc-
Cured, being then member of the
guard OF honor escorting Napoleon
while In the city. lie states that Ma.
poleon while in a at Of temper. stabbed
and killed one of his staff officers on
the parade ground. The old man says:
"0rcat masses Of troops on the
march TO Russia came in every day.
The contributions and acquisitions be-
came heavier every day. aud the suf-
feriDgs of the Inhabitants of Erfurt
had reached n point that seemed in
tOlerable, and a further increase
could hardly have been possible. All
private houses were overridden by sol
diers. and the ordinary necessities Of
life rose In price to an extent hereto
fore unknown; all commerce and or
binary traffic was stopped. The
French officers domineered the To-
cal authorities. and the inhabit-
ants were restricted in their move.
ments to the most narrow limit. FL.
nally Napoleon himself arrived, and
great review was arranged for in the
vicinity of the town. During this
parade a careful inspection of every
regiment was ordered by the emperor,
who himself assisted in the work.
"At one regiment Of artillery the
emperor halted, dismounted from his
charger and carefully inquired into
the condition OF the regiment, person
ally inspecting the equipments of the
artillerists, and, in some cases, de-
handing of the men to take off their
clothes, so that they might be more
carefully inspected. 1t was rumored
that a complaint had been made to the
emperor by some men from that reg
iment that the money that had been
provided for new equipments had only
partially been used for the purpose,
the greater part of it having found its
way into the pockets OF the colonel;
also that the rations were rather scant
and fodder scarce and of bad quality.
During this inspection the commander
of the regiment remained at the side
of the emperor; their conversation
being carried on in a low tone, no one
could understand what they were
speaking about; the emperor seemed
very much DISSATISFIED.
Suddenly the emperor drew his
sword and made a huge with it at the
colonel, who fell back with deep
wound In his breast. Immediately the
imperial suite made circle around the
two, shutting out all the rest of the
proceedings from the view of others
present. Napoleon returned to the
city on horseback shortly after the oc.
currence, and the colonel, who died
shortly after he was wounded, was
carried TO his quarters on litter and
buried the next day. No paper dared
to mention the affair, and word was
| given out TO those present that they
should not dare to speak of what they
had seen, or they would be held re-
sponsible for the CONSEQUENCES; the
emperor's spies being known to circu-
late freely in Erfurt at the time, good
care was taken not to speak of the
matter. Thus it was that this muir
derous deed of the quick-tempered
Corsican was not mentioned in histori-
cal works, although tradition has con-
tinued it to our days."-St. Louis
4 Globe Democrat.