The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-01-08
GREAT TRIALS OF HISTORY
THE TRIAL OF M ARIE ANTOINETTE

THE trial and execution of the ac-
| complished, beautiful and unfortu'
= nate Queep Marie Autoinette is one
of the most pathetic pages of French
history. She had married Louis XVI
of France, when he was Dauphin, and her
uncommon loveliness fitted her well for
the Queen of a gallant nation, and as
such she would have been honored in
| France had she lived before oppression
| bad reused the people to madness.
Antoinette had married Louis at Ver-
sailes ON May 49, 1910. She devoted her.
SELF to the interests of her people with
AN assiduity unparalleled in a sovereign
of her age; yet, becoming obnoxious 10
the court party, her character was as
sailed in every shape and quarter. She
was accused of setting on foot conspira-
oies which never existed, and of enter
| tanning views which never entered her
mind
The Queen was termed "the Austrian"
and it was openly asserted as well as
privately insinuated that her heart was
| estranged from the country of her hus-
band, and her mind solely occupied with
the interests of her native land. The af-
| fair of the diamond necklace created a
great sensation in France, and initiated
against Antoinette, although she was
| able fully to prove her innocence. But
the long gathering clouds broke in storm
| In 1888. On October the mob broke into
the palace, murdered some of the body
guard and threatened the Queen in the
most frightful manner.
| Marie Antoinette received a letter from
friendly clergyman irlploring her to
| fly as her life would be sacrificed. She
| resolved to remain and destroyed the
warming letter. She was unable, how
ever, to stem the tide of opposition TO
her, and she finally fled with the King
| to Varennes. They wee arrested and
brought back to Paris. Marie's courage
| did not fail in the scene of the legisla-
| tive assembly, before which body she
was present with her husband. heard mis-
deposition pronounced, and then went
| into the temple where he was impris-
oned.
| On August ., 1888, the widow of Louis
| XVI was torn from her children and
was treated like a common felon. She
was removed from the prison of the tenn
| pie to thai of the Conciergerie, there to
| lnger until her release from human
berbarity on October 16. Her cell in the
prison was in the worst quarter, where
the lowest scum of the nonpolitical pris-
| oners were kept She was not even al
| lowed the dignity of solitude, but was
obliged to be within earshot of the pro-
families and obscenites of the lowest
robble in the world.
| The accusations brought against the
| unhappy Queen on her TRIAL were merely
advanced because her enemies had still
respect enough for justice to mimic its
| forms in their guilty court In the indict-
ment she was named the widow Capet.'
| She was charged with having squandered
the public money, and with leaguing in
secret with the foreign enemies of
France. The clearness OF her innocence,
the falsehood and frivolity of witnesses.
the eloquence of her defenders were of
no avail.
On September II Mario Antoinette was
transferred from the prison room she had
occupied since August 2 into the dark and
narrow underground cell, still shown TO
visitors interested in her tragic life.
October 10 was the first day of the trial
of Marie Antoinette. In the room IN
which it took place there We're only two
candles lighted. The Queen, dressed In
her Widows cap and her black gown
sat on a stool in front of the public pros
ecutor. Fouauier- Tinville, a man who
even at that time was notorious as being
among the most inhuman of the mon
sters who then governed revolutionary
France.
The tribunal which judged the Queen
was composed of. a. president and four
| Judges. the public prosecutor, the chile.
registrar and IS jurymen. The witnesses,
over 40 In number, consisted of all
classes. They appear to have been Sc
lected as much as possible from among
those who were known or thought to be
the enemies of the Qdeen.
The first days trial seems to have been
unimportant. On her second examination
| the Queen was allowed n chair. The hall
was densely crowded, many of the mob
having come In order to enjoy the spec
tacle of the poor woman, once their
Queen, being for hours browbeaten by
Fouquier- Tinville
Throughout the trial Sere does not
seem to have be- he crowd any
strong express - Z either for
or against the 9.a frequently
called on her to she should
be better seen H 1 Gated and
once at this del 4 l;"When