New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-01-07
sERRANo's DYING VISION.

Inasmuch the impending publication is an
nounced OF volume OF memoirs of the Duchess
de la Tore, whose husband, Marshal Serrano.
TWICE PRESIDENT of the Spanish Republic, and on
several occasions Regent of the kingdom. since
the volume in question deals, 1t is said with certain
phases Of his extraordinary career will inter
estng to see whether she will include in these
"reminiscences any record Of the extraordinary cir
cumstances attending the demise Of Serrano. The
manner in which the duchess was wont to relate
them to her friends used to create deep impress
sion For they were OF decidedly uncanny nature
1t seems that for twelve months previous to Ser
ramos death he had been very i'll indeed, and IN
able to leave the armchair in which he spent both
his days and his nights At length. feeling that
the end was drawing near, he sent his nephew
Captain General Lopez Dominguez. to the Prime
Minister CanOvas to request that his remains
might be entombed in the grand old Church of the
Attoccha, at Madrid. instead of in the cemetery
outside the city walls. The late King Alfonso II,
mindful of the fact that Serrano had been the
prime mover in his mothers overthrow in 1868 and
had, moreover. been the most bitter opponent Of
his restoration to the throne, declined to
cede to the request but declared that Serranos
death he would remain at his suburban chateau OF
Pardo until after the funeral, so that nothing
might interfere with the concession OF full military
houors to the remains Of the famous marshal
For must remark that according the laws of
Spanish court etiquette military honors of any
Importance allowed to be rendered to persons
Of non-royal rank when the sovereign himself is in
arch is in his residence all honors OF whatsoever
kind belong exclusively to him.
One day, when the dying marshal appeared to be
in state of almost complete collapse and the
point Of death, he suddenly. to the establishment
of all present unaided from his chair straight
and erect and in tones sonorous than he had
ever used during his previous life exclaimed;
Quick! Send one of my aids at full gallop to the
Pardo chateau The King is deadr' Then he sank
back exhausted in his armchair. The duchess. his
all lent baD RI
Gus few minutes later he arose once more from
his chair, and In enfeebIed. sepulohral tones
claimed: MY uniform my swordI The King is
deadl" These were the last words he uttered. He
became unconscious Immediately afterward. and
breathed his last few hours later, after having
received the sacraments.
On the following morning all Madrid startled
to learn that the King had died suddenly. and al
most entirely alone, on the day previous at the
Pardo chateau The vision of the death Of the
King seen by the dying marshal had therefore been
true No one OF the Serranos nor in fact anybody
at Madrid was aware that the King ailing in
the slightest degree at the time when the marshal
announced the death Of His Most Catholic Majes-
ty The Kings corpse was brought from the Pardo
to Madrid, on its way to the EScurial, and mas
much as the funeral OF the marshal took place
while the dead King lay in state in the gloomy
halls Of his Madrlene palace, military honors
were accorded to Serrano. These monopolized
by his late sovereign, and the disposition of the
troops on the occasion Of the royal funeral the
very one which the King had ordered and signed
for the obsequies of serrano.
MARQUISE De FONTENOY.