The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-04-21
The Escape Of Lavalette.

warwick James Price in Criterion,
The Escape Of Lava1ette.
On one of the balmiest days of spring,
several years ago, little company of
mourners gathered in the gloomy chapel
of an old church near the city of Paris to
pay the last tribute of respect to the
memory of her whose open coffin stood
on the altar before them. Hot tears fell
upon the white face of the dead as they
looked their last upon the features so
furrowed by time, and SO marked by sor-
row and care. Brushing back the hair
white almost as the marble forehead over
which it FELL the farewell kiss was given,
and the poor dead maniac was left alone
to tie silence OF the grave and the keep
ing of angels. The poor brain that for
forty years had been tortured by the
slowly consuming fever Of insanity. was
at rest, the bleeding heart felt its wounds
no longer, the spirit of, the long suffering,
ever-loving wife had gone to join her
husband who had crossed the shadowy
river quarter of century before.
For forty years no ray of reason had
lighted up her once cultivated mind, and
she had, during all those weary years,
endured fearful torture, shivering in the
constant expectation of the terrible death
of those she loved, and imploring those
around her to save her husband. At
last, when the long-sutering heart broke,
her last words were:
"Save, Oh, save my husband. He
cannot, he shall not die'
The poor woman who thus suffered
and died was Madame Lavalette, wife
of Count Lavalette, the companion and
confdant of Napoleon the First, whose
condemnation and death and wonderful
escape is full of interest and romance.
Lavalette was of humble though re-
spectacle origin, and at an early age
entered the army of Louis, and when
! that monarch fell entered the service of
the Republic, where he soon attracted
the after. ion of Napoleon, who gave him
| a position on his staff, and soon after
married him to Emile Louise De Beau
harnais, beautiful young woman, and
a niece of Josephine.
When Napoleon went to Egypt he
selected Lavalette as his private secre-
| tary, and when the empire was estab-
lished he was made his postmaster
general. He continued to discharge the
duties of this office until the fall of Napo-
leon in 1914, when he yielded to the pres
sure of circumstances, and gave in his
adhesion to the government of Louis
XVIII.
When the Emperor returned from Elba,
and the Bourbons were again over
thrown, Lavalette united his fortunes
with his former master, and during the
brilliant hundred days reign he dis
charged the functions of his old Office.
The battle of Waterloo and the final
expulsion of Bonapare soonfollowed and
| the Bourbons came back to Paris, escort
cd by million foreign bayonets, and i'm
mediately commenced the work of VEN
geance First fell the gallant and
chivalrous Ney. and then the heavy hand
of royal hate was laid upon Lavalette,
and he was dragged before the death
commission, charged with treason to the
King He defended himself ably and
eloquently, but it was unavailing before
| Judges who had been instructed convict,
and he was adjudged guilty and senten-
ced to die.
His wife was not in Paris when the
trial and condemnation took place, but
when she heard ofh arrest she has
tened to join him in prison. She reached
France only to find him an inmate of a
felon's cell. awaiting an early execution
The shock to the poor woman upon
being informed of this misfortune was SC
severe that she fell insensible into the
arms of an attendant When she re
covered she Immediately commenced he1
efforts for his release. Friends came tc
her aid, and strong petition for Lava
lette's pardon was presented, but con
temptuously refused, and the unhappy
prisoner was removed to the celebrated
prison, Conciergerie, whence it was be
lieved his escape was an impossibility
and the morning of the the twenty fourth
OF December was fixed as the time of eX
ecution.
The condemned man thus deprived o
all hope, resigned himself to his fate, ant
wrote to the Encouragement, begging
as his last request, that his wife ant
child, and few other friends, might b.
permitted to make him farewell visit
and his request was granted.
The permission was duly forwarded tc
the sorrow-stricken wife, and on tn,
afternoon of December %, the day pre-
ceding the time for her husbands execu
ton, she went to say farewell. He
health was extremely poor, and in ordel
to avoid the movements of her carriage
she had used Sedan chair, and was &C
companied by her daughter, girl o
twelve and a female domestic named
Dutoll Her dress was SNOWY and ex
travagant in style, and such as once seer
was not likely to be forgotten, consist
ing of red merino riding coat, trimmed
with fur, and large black hat, with ;
heavy gay-colored plume falling over it
Thus attired, she with her companion
presented themselves at the door of tn
prison, and upon the presentation of tn
permission from the attorney general
they were admitted by Jacques Ebcrle
who had been especially charged by tn
keeper of the prison with the care an
service of Lavclette, and conducted t.
the counts apartments. The door wa
locked behind them, and the weepin
friends were left alone.
AS soon as the first burst of emotio
which followed the meeting had subside
Lavalette began to talk calmly of hi
approaching death, and gave some diret
| tions concerning his burial and the di: