Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-21
TURNED TO STONE.
AIphonsO XII of Spain Has at Last
Become q Fossil.


From the New York Herald.
Alphonso XII of Spain, father of the lit
tie boy who now rules Spain as the I'M
lucky thirteenth of that name, has finally
turned to stone. Strangely enough it took
him just the thirteenth unlucky year after
his death to accomplish this result. Such
was the Medusalike effect of Sampson at
Santiago and Dewey at Manila. Thirteen
years is an uncommonly long period for the
body of a Spanish monarch to resist the
petrifying effects of Ell Podridero, the
charnel house of the Escurial, where all
royal bodies are laid until they are suffi-
GENTLY fossiized to be removed to the Pan
theon of kings in the same monastery. The
regulation period has usually been six, or
at the most seven years, but the body of
Aphonso XII seems to have felt it duty
to resist until the end had come with the
signing of the treaty of peace before it
gave up the struggle.
Yet there are some people who glibly
describe the Spanish royalties as FOSSILS
even when they are apparently alive.
The palace and monastery of San Lo-
renzo del Escorial Chat is the correct
Spanish spelllng) originated, we all
know, in vow to ST. Lawrence made by
Philip III of Spain at the battle of st. Quen
tin Q55O and was erected in 1563-S4. Its
general form is that of a gridiron, in men,
DRY of St. Lawrence's martyrdom, the
length being about $50 feet and the breadth
about go. 1t was much injured by fire in
1691 and again in 1872, and also by the
vandalism OF the French soldiery in 1908.
One of the objects of Philip II was to
provide mausoleum for Spanish kings
and their ConsortS. The octagonal room
in which this object is subserved is known
as the Pantheon. Marble sarcophagi each
properly labeled with the name of its illus
trlous occupant, are ranged one above the
other four deep on marble shelves.
But previous to the final sepulture each
corpse has to be exposed, naked save for a
single sheet, renewed from time to time, on
a marble slab in the podridero or rottng
vat. 1t is said that the very air of this
charnel house possesses petrifying proper
ties. These properties are enhanced, or
possibly produced, by the action of drugs
which slowly trickle down upon the corpse
from faucets above Properly constituted
authorities examine the corpse from time
to time to see that the work of fossiliza-
ton is progressing satisfactorily, and to
announce when it is completed
linen the ceremony of the translation of
the relics is observed with magnificent
pomp. 1t is averred that bodies so petri-
ned DO not always retain their stony con-
sistence. 1t is whispered that many of the
sarcophagl contain only crumbled dust
But it is certain that two of the mightiest
dWellers IN this Pantheon are as hard and
hrm as when they were first put into their
last resting place. These are Charles V
Uhe nrSt OF SDaln) and his son. Philip H.
CharleS died in 1853 and at the compile
ton of the Pantheon his body was trans
ferred th1ther and found to be unchanged
Inc sarcophagus was opened by Carlos III
TO gratlfy the curiosity of Beckford, the &C.
centric author OF "Nathek, and again, in
1861, by the ministers of the revolution. On
the latter occasion drawing was made of
1t by Spanish artist Martin Reco 1t
confirms in every point the traditional des-
eruption of the emperor-'broad in the
shoulders deep in the chest very muscular
IN the arms and legs, the forehead broad
the nose crooked and aquiline and the I'M
der jaw 'protrudng' so far beyond the
other that the teeth could not meet
His beard has lost the red color painted
by Titan. 1t is of muddy chestnut inter-
sperSed with frequent gray
What words would the cavernous depths
of that awful mouth have uttered had it
known that historic curiosity was to vio-
late the sanctity of his tomb, to lift him
from its sacred precincts; to unwind his
Shroud; to expose him naked to the perpet-
uatlng skill of an artist! The conuueror of
FRANCIS l, the master of Europe the SOW
erelgn OF Mexico; he who was stated with
power ana pomp, and who had YEARLY laid
down the scepter even before the final sum-
mons had come, in order to retire to the
conVentudl privacy of st. Just would ill
have brooked this intrusion upon his last
repose.
But he is only mummy and So now
Is Alfonso XII, the latest of his successors
10 JON MIN In the shades, and the insig-
mhcant remnant of what was once the
mighty empire of Spain is ruled over by a
weak and ailing boy.