The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-04-19
WAS NOT A MARTYR.

was joan oil ARC martyr, 10
question which the New York World
proceeds to answer In the negative
At the head of 10000 cheering men,
in the spring of 1929. rode an is year
cid girl, clad in shining armor. In
one hand she bore a consecrated
white banner, In the other sacred
sword The girl was Joan Of Arc,
daughter Of French peasant. She
could not read OF write, and was alto
gether ignorant of warfare. Yet she
lifted France from the dust OF utter
defeat and raved the way for her
country's future glory. When she was
a mere child Joan believed she heard
heavenly voices whispering to her
that she should one day free France
Later the same voices told her where
to find a holy sword that had been
long buried. When she went to offer
her services to the dauphin (crown
prlncc) OF France the voices" en-
ahled her TO pick him out from q
crowd OF courtiers. England and her
Rurgundian allies had conquered
most of the French kingdom. The
dauphln. stripped of his chief possess
sions, had not even taken the trouble
TO be crowned king when his father
died. Joan's voices" bade her drive
the English from the siege OF the
fortified city Of Orleans and to bring
about the iauphins coronation.
The superstitious dauphin gave her
10000 men, and In May, 1929, she
led them against Orleans. The sol
diers regarded her as n saint. In
spired by her presence, they drove the
English from Orleans and won other
splendid victories. In less than three
months the dauphin was crowned.
Joan. in full armor, standing at his
side. Then, declaring her mission at
an end, she begged leave to go back
to her fathers little farm. But the
king urged her to continue to lead his
armies against the English.
In vain she pleaded that her inspira-
tlon was gone and that the voices"
gave her no further commands. She
foretold that she would be wounded In
the next battle she should fight and
that her men would be defeated She
obeyed the king, however, and her
prophecy came true, She was wound
cd and her army was beaten. In May
1890, she was captured by the English
and was placed on trial as a witch.
She was found guilty and condemned
to death. But there was so much SYM
pathy for the girl, even among her
English foes. that she was offered her
life on condition she would confess
that Satan. and not God, had inspEed
her victories. In terror of death, Joan
made this shameful confession But
soon afterward the bishop of Beau
y6ls found pretext for having her
burned alive at the stake. The SEN
tence was executed May 81, 1431. The
soldiery thrust back the crowds that
had come to witness the burning. so
that Joan could not readily be seen.
So much for history. Many ancient
records throw a different light on the
case.
IN August, 1899. moro than eight
years after the execution. appeared
In Orleans r. woman VINO claimed to
he Joan of Arc This sort of thing
has often happened. But in her case
there is a mighty array of testimony
to back up the claim. According to
an old chronicle OF the city OF Metz,
Jehan and Pierre de Lys, Joan's own
brothers. met the claimant" there in
1436 and recognized her as their SUP.
rosedly dead sister In Orleans, where
Joan was well known and was revered
| as the city's preseryer. the newcomer
was later recognized by thousands as
the missing Joan of Arc The an
nnal memorial service for the repose
of the martyr maids soul, which had
been held ever since 1431, was ordered
discontinued.