The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1911-08-02
A ROYAL MYSTERY
One of the Legacies of the French
Revolution,
FATE or THE YOUNG DAUPHIN

Whether tho Son Of Louie XVI. and
Marie Antofnstte Was Murdered or
r Died or Was Spirited Away Is an
Eniana Without a Solution.
Every healthy minded man or wom-
an loves a mystery. and, fortunately
for the world. history has provided
one or two problems which have been
worn threadbare without revealing
their secrets. Among these is the fate
of the nine year-old SOD Of Louis XVI.
and Marie Antoiuette. which Nine.
Louise Latour recently dealt with In
lecture In London.
A child judicially murdered or else
spirited away. another substituted for
him to die aud to be buried under
false name. the people who reported OF
these things silenced or poisoned. the
period of events comparatively recent
the story sounds incredible. but 1t
rests on q basis of established fact.
The dauphin. delicate child OF nine.
was removed from his mother and
friends and given to the care of Simon.
the brutal savetier. and his wife.
After this all remains obscure except
that while the boy was in their care
the Simons gave up their post-in IT.
self rather strange. as it was a lucra.
tive one-and on the day of the change
of residence the substitution Is sup
posed to have taken place. In the even
ing a child ii bed was shown TO the
emissaries Of the, convention. and the
next morning be, was removed TO
smaller room With the door nailed up.
the only air coming in by the grille
through which his food was passed.
So he remained until he became so III
that DR.. Dessault, who had often been
to Versailles in the old days. was sum.
moned to attend him and was amazed
to find scrofulous and dying boy.
'"Ce nest pas. lie petit dauphin!
r'That is not the little Dauphin!') he
bl1rted out imprudently. and a day or
two later be died by poison.
Other doctors we're brought who
were unacquainted with the royal chill
dren. and the child died and was bur-
led in his assumed character. He Is
generally supposed to have been lad
called Gombeau. and his mother was
actually seen by people in America.
where she admitted the wickedness OF
having sold her dying son when she
was In a condition of extreme poverty.
La femme Simon talked. but her
words were discredited by the authori'
ties. who declared she was drunken
and garrulons. Nevertheless. on her
deathbed she confessed to priest and
a nurse that substitute had been put
in the dauphin's place.
Such are the historical facts as re-
lated by Nine. Latour. and to account
for them two theories have been de-
duced. says writer In the London
Times. The first. In which Nine. La
tour believes. was that the dauphin
was judicially murdered by Simon In
the temple and the dying Gombeau
put in bis place to hide the crime from
the world OF the second, that the
child escaped alive from his prison.
many people are strenuous supporters.
Some Of them describe the course OF
events thus: Gombeau was brought
into the temple on the day OF the de-
management in large cardboard
horse given ostensibly as souvenir to
the royal prisoner by the femme ST.
mon, while the dauphin was carried
out by the woman in a big basket OF
dirty linen. Others declare that the
prince was actually kept hidden In q
garret in the temple until the substi'
tute died. more than year later,
when be was taken out in coffin with
q false bottom. the body Of Gotnbeau
being buried in the moat
This theory has had two startling
conirma lions. A small coffin filled
with paper and stoues was actually
found In the cemetery Of La Madeleine.
and General d'Andigne. imprisoned IN
the temple In 1901 and allowed to re-
ifeve the tedium Of his confinement by
gardening. was digging in the moa'
when he found the uncofhned skeleton
Of child.
But, as Nine. .Latour asked. II the
dauphin escaped alive into the world
where did be go? No fewer than
thirty pretenders. one a negro. at dif'
fereut times have declared themselves
the son of Louis XVI. and Marie An
toinette. The two who attracted most
disciples we're the Due de Richemon1
and "Naundorc." With regard to the
latter. it was against him that be die
not come forward until he was thirty
years OF age and he could not speak
q word of French. Nine. Latour addec
that he married a middle class wife
and was an excellent matchmaker, con
sequentiy unlike what the heir OF roy
al line ought to be. Obviously the speak
or hod forpotten IOuiS Seize and his