The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-08

flee for their own lives. They were pur-
sued, and several were arrested, with
fatal consequences. The king, absorbed
in prayer and religious meditation, had
not even perceived the vain attempt to
effect his deliverance
The coach had at last reached the
Rue Royale and the Place de la Revo-
( luton, where the crowd was immense.
The scaffold stood little to the left
of the Place, where the Obelisk now
stands, but nearer the Champs Ely
sees, toward which the guilIotine was
turned. A mass of troops formed a
square around the fatal spot. The coach
stopped at a distance Of a few PAGES.
The king, feeling that the motion had
ceased looked up from his prayer book,
saying quietly: We have reached the
place, ! think"
One of the executioner's assistants
opened the door. The king earnestly
commended the priest who aecon1Da-
MED him. to the care OF the gend-
armies, and then he stepped from the
coach.
Three men surrounded him and tried
to take off his coat. He calmly pushed
them back and removed it himself.
opening his shirt collar and preparing
his neck for the axe. The eXecutioners,
who seemed at first disconnected and
him, holding rope.
The king drew back Indignantly, eX-
claiming:
What do you want to do?"
ITO tie your hands,
The king exclaimed Indignantly: Tie
my hands. No, will not submit to
this. Do your duty, but do not at
tempt to tie me; you shall not do it,"
The eXecutioners persisted, and spoke
Ion Irr 1o liz o,.1 10
Able Edgeworth, who at once saw the
impossibility of resistance, and said
gently: Sire, this last insult viii only
provide a fresh point of resemblance
between your majesty and the God who
will be your recompense.'
The king looked up to heaven. "As-
suredly, his example alone could in
duce me to submit to such an indig-
nifty" Then holding out his hands:
DO as you please; [ will drink the cup
to the dregs."
His hands were tied, and with the
| assistance of his confessor he ascended
the steps of the scaffold, which were
very steep. When he reached the top
he broke away from the Able, walked
firmly across the scaffold, silenced the
drums by a glance of authority, and
then in a voice so loud that it was
audible on the opposite side of the
Race ue Id 1leNOIuIlOn, He ulICItu
these words
Il die innocent of all the crimes i'm
puted to me. 1 forgive those who have
caused my death. and l pray God that
the blood you are about to shed may
never fall on France
There was shudder that ran
through the crowd like a great wave
but at the word of command the drums
beat a prolonged roll, and the voice
could no longer be heard. The king
seeing that all further address to the
crowd would be fruitless, turned to the
guillotine and calmly took his place on
the fatal plank, to which he was fast
ened. The apparatus turned over, and
the axe fell. 1t was then a quarter past
10 o'clock a. m. Of the 21st of January
1898. The executioner held up the sew
cred head, turning as he did SO to the
four sides of the Place.
The king of France was dead.
LIE roi est mort"
But no one dared to cry the tradi-
tional response: "Vive lie roll"
lie roi' The heir to the once glo-
rious title was now a poor little child
weeping bitterly in a prison by the side
Of his widowed mother.