The Washington herald., 1913-11-28
ChevaEer CIoriviere, Buried
in Georgetown, Had
Unique Career.
TRIED TO KILL NAPOLEON
After Directing Internal Machine
Plot He Fled to This Country
and Was Ordained.

Even the most jaded of washingtonians
like to spend an occasional hour In
Georgetown. 1t is more than the road
I to yesterday; It is yesterday itself. one
| gets the impression while there that
young George Washington himself could
return and feel at home in the place
| where he spent a part Of his youth.
| Passing through its narrow streets,
: lined with quaint buildings our thoughts
wander back to colonial days. We do
not have to search far to find places OF
| historic interest. Descriptive tablets and
signs make our efforts easy.
Sooner or later we are almost certain
| to ramble into the Convent OF the Nisita-
ton, and there our attention Is directed
TO the tomb of Joseph Pierre Picot de
| Cloriviere, whose remains are buried In
the crypt beneath the chapel of the con-
vent
The long description carved on the slab
that forms the top Of the tomb tells Of
the churchly virtues and works OF the
| nan who is buried beneath the stone. He
was a priest and soldier, we learn.
Bore Another Name.
But in far-orf France. during the first
NapoIeon's regime. the dead priest bore
another name. His simple tomb Is
link that binds the Convent of the Vista
ton to the stirring days of the period
following the great revolution in France
the time when Napoleon Bonsparte, then
a young man. was the First Consul
Chevalier Cloriyiere, for he was not
priest then, played a prominent part in
one OF the most thrilling dramas Of the
early Napoleonic era. He was a man
whose daring ana ingenuity for a whole
year baffled the entire secret service OF
France, set at naught the keenest police
agents of Bonaparte's government and
finally, laughing in his sleeve at the
clumsy efforts of those who pursued him,
escaped to America. Later he became
priest and handed his name down as
''the second founder OF the visitation In
Georgetown"
The inscription on the slab in George
town gives the information that Father
Cloriviere "peaceably fell asleep in the
Lord the 18th September, 1876, aged fifty
eight years" But in the records pre-
served under the supervision OF the Pre-
lecture OF Police OF Paris the priest is
recorded as Chevalier Picot de Limoelan.
Those were the days and that was the
NAM he bore when he was the brains in
a drama which came near setting the
word ''finis'' to the story OF the little
Corsican.
Close Call for Napoleon.
Readers of French history will recall
the story of Christmas Eve. 1900 when
the most daring OF all attempts on Ma
poleon's life was made-when an internal
machine loaded with gunpowder. scraps
of iron, fiints, and stones and bullets, was
exploded in a Paris street, just two
minutes too late to end the career of the
first consul. but in time to kill or main
scores of soldiers and citizens.
Chevalier Joseph Picot de Limoelan,
according to the records OF the Paris
police. was the man whose brain con-
ceived the plot. His two companions
were arrested. convicted, and executed.
But Limoelan snapped his fingers In the
faces of police, spies, and soldiery for
a year. and then took ship for America.
1t was the autumn of 1900 when
Limoelan, then about thirty-two years
old, went to Paris from Brittany. He
had fought for the Bourbons and against
the people" because he was born OF
noble family" and never had sworn
allegiance to any authority save that OF
the King who had been disposed.
In common with those OF his class, he
looked upon the young Napoleon Bona
parte as an upstart, and tyrant whose
death meant the delivery OF his beloved
country.
Limoelan lived in New York for some
time after his arrival in America, earn
ing a precarious living as a painter.
Later he resided in Savannah, Charles
ton, and Baltimore. On August l, lSl2.
he was ordained a priest He was made
director OF the Convent OF the Visitation
in Georgetown January H. 1873