The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-28
GUILLoTNING OF LOUIS XVI.

The 21st of January will long be remembered in the annals of France. On that date in, 1793, Louis XVI, by his death upon the scaffold expiated the frightful crimes and lusts of his Bourbon predecessors on the throne of France.
 Aimable and innocent as regards the direct charges made by the Revo- lution, the fat king did not die like a hero
 His Imprisonment had been pitifu1; the parting with his family, tragedy but had not the Bourbon kings for centuries dragged loving, innocent families asunder, and precipitated them into 1oathesome dungeons, much moro terrible than was the cell of Louis XVI. His death at the gull lotine is thus described by Blanc i1 his history "Of the French Revolu- tion''
 At ten minutes past ten o'clock they reached the foot of the scaffoId in front of the Palace of the Fuller ies, and near the statue of the most corrupt of kings-a king who died tranquilly in his bed.
 Louis XVI. was three minutes de- scending from his carriage. He ap- peared in a brown coat, white waist
 
 ings. His companion, the Abbe Fir mont, was dressed in black. A large open space had been kept clear 1 around the scaffold, with cannon ranged on every side. A rescue of the king had ben anticipated. "A multitude stood gazing. Louis fixed his eyes upon the sol | dfers, and, menacingly cried, tSilence!' The drums ceased to beat for a sec ond, but at a signal they renewed l their sinister ruffles. What treason is this?" shouted the king, T am | lost! The eXecutioners prepared to | take off part of his clothes; he re- pulsed them fiercely. Louis himself removed the collar from his neck. But as they came to tie his hands be- seemed to turn into flame. Tie my hands, he shouted. There was a hor- rible struggle. The Abbe Edgewoth, l, 1 the kings confessor, stood by speech | less with distress. At last Louis XVI yielded.
 'tThey tied his hands; they cut off his hair, and then, leaning on the arm of his confessor, with sunken de- meanor he began to mount the steep | steps of the scaffold. By a sign he commanded silence, shouting, T am | innocent of the crimes imputed to me- His features grew sharp and l old. He could be heard praying for l his executioners, and that his blood might not be visited on France. f'But his voice was drowned in the | rolling of the drums anticipating the l last grewsome orders of Santerre, the | executioner fSilence!' cried Lou1s XVI. Be si1ent!' he cried, losing all 1 se1f-control, and stamping with his feet.
 ! "One of the executioners then seized a pistol, and took aim at the king; it was necessary to drag him along by force towards the fatal | plank.
 l with difficulty fastened to the 1 plank, he continued to utter terrible l cries, in which the somewhat melo- i dramatic utterance of his confessor | could scarcely be heard, Sons of
 Saint Louis, ascend to heaven' Louis 1 the Sixteenth's yells were only inter- | rupted by the fall of the fatal knife g 1 The reader is advised to procure and to peruse-a short story by l Balzac, called, "In the Days of the l Terror" In the touching story, San l terre himself, the famous executioner seeks refuge in the hidden haunt, 1n l Paris, of an aged priest and his sister.
 Each morning the poor old lady goes | to the nearest bake-shop to procure | un1eavened bread for the daily mass 1 which her brother says in the for ] Torn lodging. The two little old peo- 1 pie lodge and feed the notorious San l terre- When he departs he gives | them, says he, his most valued pos session, 8 fine canbric Handkerchief embroidered with an tI.''