Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-09-10
CHASTITY VENGEANCE.
The Most Dramatic Scene Ever witnessed
In u Royal Court.

In Royal Court.
One of the strangcst of Spanish romances
is that of the beautiful 1nez dc Castro
The scenc is laid in Lisbon, but in those
days the Spanish and the Portuguese were
one people Portugal for u long time was
under the political control of spain, and
the royal houses of the two were so closely
allied that only the experts in heraldry
could difTerentiatc their branches. The
story is of IneZ dc Castro, n Spanish prin
cess Of CASTLE, who contracted n love ALI
ance with Dom Pedro, the crown prince
of Portugal. She had been first maid of
honor to Constancia, the wife of tho crown
prince, and after the death of this lady
Pedro in 1884 persuaded IneZ to consent
to a secret marriage The alliance was
against the wishes of King Alfonso. and
during a temporary absence Inez was as
sassinated by three murderers hired by the
king. When Pedro returned and learned
of The crime, he was so Infatuated that his
friends had the utmost difficulty in pre-
venting him from attempting tho kings
life. His revenge came later when he sue
ceeded to the throne. Upon investigating
the papers of his father he discovered the
names of the assassins. They had fed, and
one escaped his vengeance, but the other
two were arrested, one in France, the 9th
er in Italy, and both were returned to
Spain. They were put to death with the
most frightful fortunes that the ingenuity
of the executioners could devise. Their
bodies were burned. their ashes scattered.
After this act of revenge Pedro produced
the certificate of his marriage to 1nez,
caused the witness to the ceremony and
the priest who had performed it to appear
before the royal council and thus estab
lished beyond a doubt the fact that Inez
was his lawful wife.
Then came the most dramatic scene ever
witnessed in a royal court The body of
Inez was disinterred, dressed in queenly
robes and placed upon a throne by the side
of the king The condition of the body was
such as TO create the utmost horror in those
who behold it, and finally the king was
induced TO allow the face of the corpse to
be covered. but otherwise would permit no
change in the arrangements. court re-
ception was held, the king seated himself
on the throne beside the corpse, and one
by one tho mobiles, the prelates, the high
dignitaries of the land, approached and did
obeisance to the body, kissing the hem of
the dead queens robe. Tho story is char
acteristically Spanish. Such an incident
would be impossible among the Anglo
Saxon races. 1t could happen only among
the Latins.
But Spanish annals are full IF such
CHASTITY tales The critics have found lit
tie historic basis for the story of Bernardo
uei CdrpiO, di-u ycJ every spanish anHdilSb
gives it as fact and makes its details as
horrible as the coronation of Inez. Nor
were all the tragical romanccs confined to
the Spaniards, for the Moors had their
share. and the story of Boabdil, crossed in
love. rebelling, deposing his father from
the throne ard himself assuming the scep-
ter, is as tragical as any story of the Span
ish court. The tale of the Abencerrages
and of the frightful vengeance taken by
III of Granada in the butchery
of whole family for the violation of his
harem s sanctity by one of its members and