The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-11
Tale Of Catherine Thevenin, Who
Fascinated French Court.

robbers, since the whisper of her wealth
was one of the standing tales of the
town.
Fontainebleau never forgot the day
that Nine. Thevenin suddenly quit the
hermit role for few hours. Charles
Y. who had been Compile dArtois, had
come from Paris to hunt in the royal
forest. and Catherine, engaging a suite
of servants caused her ancient bar
rouche TO be brought out with a hired
team Decked i'm faded splendor, she
/ Joined the royal cavalcade into the for
est. to the inexpressibie amazeIhent of
the courtiers. At certain point in the
forest the regal company massed- There
were the gorgeous bodyguards. the
buntsmen. the danes of the court. all
the splendor known to the kings sport
The ancient chariot making its way
through such grand cortege ELECTED
cries of wonder. and naturally the king
was piqued at the strange spectacle
Some one whispered the strangers
name in the kings ear. He turned his
horses head and dashed TO the side
OF the chariot. Ii was fifty years since
/ he had laid eyes on the face. but he
| recognized the rAs dc Pique. The sight
I Mortified him: he hlubbered out;
"Oh, mademoiSelle. how old you have
/ grown He turned his horses head
and made away as if he had seen
specter. Afterward it was said the king
undertook to make amends for his dis
/ play of loathing. He recommended the
outcast to the church dignitaries at
/ Fontainebleau. but she distrusted them.
sure that they were more interested in
her money than her soul.
Strangers from all over the kingdom
visited Fontainebleau TO get glimpse
of the bag who dwelt alone In the big
mansion. But she rarely showed her
] = 1rs-
! ly from Paris. and these, to the delight
of the small boys, were conveyed on a
wheelbarrow to the hermitage; that is,
small sacks of gold. Even Partisan
/ journalists as late as 1850 made the
| journey to Fontainebleau In order to
! get the ex-Aspasia to recount some of
her memories of half century before.
She could have made thrilling copy"
/ for she had seen the guillotining of the
royal family, the noblesse, she had
seen and probably conversed with
/ Robespierre; she had, In fact, been part
of the last days of the monarchy. all
the Revolution. a little empire. and
was still hale. if not hearty, under an
other Napoleon.
/ Many attempts were made by rob-
bers to penetrate her fabulous treas
ury: and one succeeded, and the booty
hardly encouraged others. The bag
had firearms within reach of her bed
and at the fireplace 1hare-She cooked
/ the small daily ration allowed herself.
| With her lawyer, a Partisan chroniquer
obtained entry to the house. The bag,
pistol in hand. opened the door and
! then seated herself by the filthy fire.
place nodding to the lawyer to do as
he listed.
There were many and large rooms.
every one filled with such objects of
! fine art as now cost fortunes. even the
limitations. Heaps of the most exquis-
lite Sevres china were scattered about.
| some of the dishes used for the most
| ordinary needs. The list of the paint
of the famous Partisan or London coll
lectors' sales. Titan Rubens. Vandyck,
q dozen of the most valued masters
were represented by canvases employed
to stop up the windows.
There was a half ton of crystal. which
alone ought TO have been a small for
tune. Gobein tapestries were used as
mats. canoes OF some of the most
] celebrated statesmen and worthless Of
the century were flung about like so
much waste paper. The woman her
self was wrapped in frayed lace of
wondrous fabric. but SO foul that it
would have been taken for the most
squalid rag
The secle ct of the scene was that
(atncrine was una Ole 10 ledQ OF N11Ie,
and hadn't the slightest idea of the
precious stores she had accumulated
in her youth, when dukes and princes
i We'd with each other in sending her
treasures of their palaces. a few
weeks after this visit. in 1858 a
butcher boy passing the house saw q
Corgon head thrust through the win
dow and heard a shrill voice crying for
help. He fed in terror. But, as he told
the story, some of the neighbOrs
thought it would be only Christian 10
see what was wrong in the mysterious
house.
The hermit was found dead beside the
chimney place. so unutterably filthy
that il was difficult 20 get any one to
handle the corpse. 1t was expected
that the sale of priceless objects de-
scribed by the chroniquer in the Paris
press would bring a fortune. But the
public shrank from even visiting the
SADIE. Canoes of maTshals of France,
princes of the blood. scores of the
ereat nobiesse. were knocked down for
sums like a dollar. The whole coll
lection didn't bring $1,000 though sin
gle objects since nave brought as high
as $4,000.
The 1ag's body was buried decently.
but her heirs from the distant Bur
gundy village were so ashamed of the
kinswoman that they had never known
that they permitted the body to be
thrown into the pauper's ditch when
: the term that the grave was paid for
! expired.-Philadelph Bulletin.