Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-10
THE CAFE OF DEATH.
Ore of the Most Famous Of All Paris Restau- rants Death Scenes and Midnight
 Orgies Decorate the Walls,

Situated on the Boulevard de Clinchy. not very far from the Moulin Rouge and
 the Rat Mort, the quarter where jour
 nalists, artists and their models are mostly to be found, and surrounded on all sides by cafes and concert rooms. is somber and dismal looking building the front of which is painted a gru 5 me black, says Paris letter to the New
 York Commercial Advertiser.
 | boy in deep mourning stands upon
 the sidewalk and distributes cards Tn door is hidden by black hangings sewn with silver tears You push the hang
 inSs by and step into a spacious, dark ened room, where few candles give an impressive twilight. A dozen collins on
 supports replace the ordinary cafe tables. It is the Cafe of Death, the latest thing in Paris of the fin de seicle order.
 Thursday nights are reserved fo" the
 beau monde; each glass of beer is
 francs, and you may kiss the undertaken free. On ordinary nights the beck is 1} tous.
 The name of this establishment is not | really the Cafe de la Mort. although all Paris calls it so. When first opened it Sas under that name that they gave you
 beer to drink from imitation skulls But the police paid them a visit, ordered that drinks should be served in plain glas ses,
 and suppressed the name of death So
 now it's title is officially the Cabaret (or drinking shop du Meant is French for nothingness.
 You sit beside your coffin in the big black room, and you see sitting here and
 there in philosophic attitudes big skel- etonS that yawn and snap their jaws at intervals. Death scenes and midnight orgies decorate the walls on which may be seen the following suggestive sign: ''The lady clients are desired to scream
 out doucement." that is, very gently, very softly.
 The walters are costumed as under takers men in black coats of an ancient
 cut, tail oil cloth hats, and with black bands of crape tied round their arms. Beyond this room is another one,
 called the chamber of transfgura ton,
 to which admittance is gained by
 ticket, given you when ordering your
 beer. The crowd moves onward under meath an archway into a black, vaulted
 passage. Here women often have at
 tacks of hysteria; for as the alley wdenS
 into what looks like burial cellar un-
 derneath church, there strikes upon
 the vision scenes in the far off perspec- tive underneath the arches and beneath
 the pillars vague glimpses of gray skel- etons engaged in conversation or the
 dance. The passage narrows, and there
 is a door. You knock. A bell strikes
 3. There is a voice: What do you seek,
 my brother?" You respond: "I wish to
 die" There is a rattlng of chains and
 you are in the chamber of transhgura- tion
 The attendants are clothed in monks
 robes with hoods. You take your seat, and a curtain is drawn aside. Down a long vista. brightly lighted, is seen an open coffin standing on one end. Some one is then asked to step from the audi
 ence to sacrifice himself for the others. One of the spectators steps up. half ashamed, half smiling. half repugnant,
 vainly curious and supremely anxious
 to shine in the eyes of the community
 He is led off to reappear beside the coffin
 in the distance A parlor organ strikes
 up Q distressing hymn tune as they
 make the man stand in the coffin. Un-
 doubtedly 1t is the same man. smiling in
 a sckly fashion to his friends down in
 the audience. The transformation in
 him that will soon take place is brought
 about by magic lantern effects, as in
 dissolving views.
 The man stands in the coffin and they tuck sheet around him, leaving only his face uncovered. The attendant d,s- appears. The man looks at you from his coffin; as he looks at you his face grows whiter The horrid parlor organ goes on with it's horrid tune. Green lights begin to play. There is a smell of phenol and old bones. Sometimes a girl or woman
 in the audience has a crise de nerfs at this point and is led off sobbing; but the specta tors for the most part sit still. staring blankly at the white face in the coffin. The face takes on a greenish- yell low tint it softens, seems to decompose, then hardens, as the eyes grow dim and black. The body, covered by the sheet, begins to shine, though dimly-a yellow mass that loses flesh, that shows it's bones. The sheet is disappearing. The light grows more intense The coffin holds a rigid. bony skeleton and nothing more.