The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-15

Trains leave from Jnloh DepOt' N'ii'0
to all found guilty, without distinction OF
sex or rank. La Reynie needed an ms
courage and resolution to execute THESE
orders in face OF the hideous revelations
which were to follow Did these reveal
tons suddenly cause tho court OF YER
sailles to modify its orders The Noisln
woman was ordered for examination on
the rack but the manner OF inttctnB the
the torture made the performance a farce
"Sbe was not rackedW writes the lndig-
nant La Reynie Some one evidently fear
ed that the fortune teller, VINO had hlther-
to been very discreet in her admissions
might under the stress of the rack, con-
fess too much. and. unknown 10 La Key
ME. the executioners had received certain
Instructions The judges of the court had
themselves also received certain orders,
and their questioning of the prisoner was
so cautious that before her execution she
confessed of her own accord that an I'M
mense number of persons of all conditions
and ranks had come to her for the means
of poisoning many and that debauchery
was the incentive 10 most of these crimes.
After the execution of the Noisin woman
the magician Lesage, his accomplice the
priest C;uibourg. and a daughter OF the
first named were examined Louis AlN.
then wrote to la Reyne: Having seen
the statements made by Margaret Mon
voison I write to inform you that my de-
sire is that you use due diligence 10 prlhs
10 light all the facts contained in the said
statements and that you take down in
writing and retain as separate records
all the minutes thereof, and that you DO
not hand over to my court of the Arse
naF'-namely the Lighted Chamber-"the
testimony taken at the examination OF
the prisoners Romani and Bertrand" OF
these letters more hereafter.
I.ouvois, the Secretary of State and
friend of Nine. de Montespah, mao prom
ised Iesage. the magician that his life
should be spared if he made fun confess
sion. Accordingly, Lesage testified TO a
series of the most horrible happenings,
the truth of which was established by an
other confession made on the rack by
sorceress and fortune teller francs
Filastre by name. Filastre's disclosures
came upon Louis XIV. like clap OF thun-
der orders were at once given to sup
press certain parts of her testimony, ana
a minute 40 that effect was made i'm the
official register of the Kings Privy Coun-
Gil Having been a second time compelled
to suppress testimony which should have
gone on record the King saw that II the
examination of prisoners should continue
in the regular way he should be unable 10
suppress their testimony, and he therefore
directed tful all BIONttuhlSS III ttiS LIS -
ed Chamber Court should be at once sus-
pended Louis XIV. had received
dreadful shock His strongest personal
affections had not only been wounded, but
his power as a monarch had been SET at
naught and that, too, by obscure ana IN
famous criminals on trial before his own
Judges; his throne itself had been sulhed.
It's aIl-powerful occupant hoped, with the
aid of his two great minister's Louvois
evidence Of his
shame and sorrow away forever On July
10. 1909. all the secret papers were brought
into the Kings study and by him person.
ally burned in the presence of the chancei-
Ior of France. Ponchartrain.
Much in these papers related in Nine. de
Montespan Born in l64i, she was daugh-
Ter of the Duke of Mortemart, and in 1868
was married 10 the Marquis of Montespan.
In 1860 she had been appointed one OF the
maids of honor 10 the Queen OF france.
Afterward as is well known, she became
the favorite of Louis XIV, and the mother
of several of his children. In 1866 her de-
sire to succeed the Duchess of La Val
Nere in the Kings favor first became a
matter of public notoriety, and precisely
at this time. as La Raynie proves by ex-
tracts from the records of the Court of
the Lighted Chamber, she began to visit
the fortune tellers of Paris.
Margaret Monvoisin. daughter of the
Voisin woman, deposed at her trial:
Whenever anything happened that made
Nine de Montespan fear any falling off in
the Kings regard for her she sent word
to my mother, so that she should avert the
danger. My mother applied to certain
priests, who blessed and consecrated GER
tain powders which were TO be given to
the King" These powders the deponent
explained, were love pouons, compounded
according 10 various formulas of witch
craft They were composed of canthari-
des. dried moles powdered, bats blood
and more ignoble ingredients. These were
made into a paste. placed under the chal-
ice during the celebration of mass and
thus consecrated This stuff was mixed
with his food and eaten by Louis XIV.
Some writer's have supposed that the for
tune tellers and others accused implicated
so many of the great names of France in
the hope that by so doing they might
save their own necks. But in this case il
must be remembered that the Voisin wo-
man did not implcate Nine de Monte
span until Just before her execution. The
confessions of Margaret Monvoisin are
confirmed by and tally exactly with those
of the imprisoned priest, Guibourg
In 1867 Nine. de Montespan met the ma
gician Lesage and priest named Marietta
in Pnris. Standing by a small altar. the
priest Marietta, in full sacerdotal cos
tune read the gospels over the head of
Nine. de MOntespan and recited the fol-
lowing; II ask that the Kings friend
ship and that OF the Dauphiu may be pre-
served TO me. that the King may leave
the queen for my sake. and that / may OBJ
tain all that l shall ask of him for my