The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28
TWICE RAN THE GAMUT
OF LIFE'S GOOD AND ILL.
Mme Bazaine Favoe Of Courts and Partner Of Her husbands
Exile and Disgrace

nally came the fatefui October day. when
Marshal Bazaine surrendered his great
army to the Germans, his entire COM
mand of ia, 900 men marching out OF Metz
leaving their arms and. 1t was afterwards
charged, their honor behind them.
All manner of charges were made
against Bazaine. 1t developed that he
had held communication with Bismarck,
and, innocent or guilty, this was declared
to be proof of HIS treachery. In 1873 he
was tried by court martial. convicted and
condemned to death and military degra-
dalton. These were the days when Nine.
Bazaine, still young woman. suffered
all that woman may suffer. But she
still retained absolute confidence In her
husband and did her best TO comfort and
support him during the trial.
The Judges who had condemned also
recommended clemency, and President
MacMahon committed the sentence to
twenty years seclusion in the Fort Saint
Marguerite. near Cannes. Thus. at the
age of so, the old soldier was locked up In
the dungeon, while his wife, with her two
children, remained outside In disgrace.
But still she believed that her husband
was innocent, and, innocent or guilty. she
loved him. She determined to compass
his escape, and she was not without
friends to aid her in the task.
First Of all she gained permission-this
old-to visit her old husband in his cell.
BY concealing 1t under clothing she car
ried into the prison q long rope. This she
delivered to the marshal One window
of his cell looked down upon the sea- and
through this window. six months after
his incarceration. he finally made his es-
cape.
The rope furnished by his wife was sus-
pended from the cell window. and down It
at midnight the old soldier slipped. At
the bottom was little boat. In 1t sat
his devoted wife. while her cousin held
the oars. Silently through the darkness
they rowed out into the sea. There wait
ed ship ready to sail-this, too, arrang-
ed for by the care and hard work Of the
wife. On 1t the party embarked and the
marshal and his wife were united once
more.
The ship landed the fusitives in Italy,
where they did not find safe refuge Ac-
cordingly they moved on to Cologne, Ger
many. and from that city to England.
Finally they took UP their permanent
residence at Madrid, Spain, and there, un-
til the marshars death, In 1883, the fam
lily lived.
That Nine. Bazaine implicitly believed In
her husbands innocence, and that the
marshal himself was sincere In the opin-
lon that he was scapegoat and victim
rather than a traitor there can be no
doubt. IN 1874 ne printed IN new YORK
paper long defense of his conduct in
surrendering Metz, and nine years later
he went over the ground again In an
elaborate volume. In all these efforts to
clear his reputation as a soldier from
stain he was seconded by his wife, who
never lost faith in him. And whatever
hts faults as a soldier may have been.
1t appears to be certain that be was
kind and affectionate father and husband.
Some time after his death his widow
went back to spend her last years in the
land of her nativity. One may Imagine
the contrast between her departure. thirty
years before, and her return. Once she
had been second only to the Empress
Charlotte at the imperial court. Now she
came back the widow OF an exiled SOL
der, branded as a traitor by the coun-
try for which he fought for thirty-five
years.
After her return to Mexico she lived In
comparative retirement. At the time of
her death she was still only middle-aged.
Her life was not long. but it was GER
tainly marked by almost every possible
change and variety of fortune. The nov
elist who would put the plain story of her
career into book would be classed ais an
impossible romancer. On the stage 1t
would furnish plots for dozen OF the
widest rOmanceS