The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1929-11-25
WORLD MOURNS
CLENENCEAU
DEATH
(C0R,tinusd From Page -


laid to rest.
Clemenceau had chosen as his
last resting place a spot known as
Mouchamps, a tiny wood beside
the village of Colombier. The
Tigers body, enclosed in a triple
caSket as solid as Clemenceau
would have wished it to be, arrived
from Paris at five minutes past
noon.
Ten men, all of them rugged
sons of the south who had known
and loved Clemenceau in his life
time, carried the casket to the
grave, dug during the night under
the supervision of his faithful
chauffeur, Francois Brabant. who
had been entrusted with the task
of carrying out his masters orders
for the simplest funeral ever &C,
corded a national figure in the
history Of France.
Among the ten was his valet,
Albert. Another was Isnard, the
gardener of the Tigers cottage at
st. Vincent-Sur-Jard, where Glenn
enCeau had spent the majority of
his declining years.
Family Only Is Present
Twenty members of his family
watched the burial. There were
no speeches, no eulogies. No
black-robed representative of the
church was there to utter bless,
ings. Clemenceau had stipulated
he should die and be buried
without benefit of clergy"
The entire burial ceremony
lasted q minutes. Slowly the
family Of the dead leader filed by
the grave. and then his retainerS.
His grandson Michel dropped q
small bouquet, the only floral
offering with the exception of a
single rose placed tenderly on the
mound by Isnard. It was bloom
plucked from one of the bushes
Clemenceau had tended with low
ing care during his last stay ct
ST. Vincent.
"Adieu, mon maitre," the
gardener said, with tears in his
old eyes. And these were vir-
tually the only words spoken dur
ing the fifth of an hour it took
to place the body of Frances
wartime Premier beyond the
view of earthly eyes.
Military Guard Present
There was only one touch of
colorful ceremony in the whole
proce ding. This was the
presence of a military guard of
honor stretched along the little
travelled road. Composed of in
fantry and cavalry, the soldiers
stood at rigid attention while the
casket was borne by on the
shoulders of the modest pail
bearers. They had strict orders
to prevent anyone from approach
ing the grave, and they obeyed
them.
But after Clemenceau had been
laid to rest, the ban was lifted.
and a little group of about SO
or so peasants from the neigh
boring towns. many Of them bene-
ficiaries of the Tigers anonymous
philanthropieS, flocked to the
little grave to gaze upon the
mound of earth beneath which
he lay.
Clemenceau's grave is situated
on a little wooded slope, the prop
erty of the community, to which
the Tiger had regularly paid 200
francs (about So yearly for the
care of his fathers resting place.
The double plot is surrounded by
a small wire fence.
Photographers Get Views
With one exception. the funeral
might have been that of a fame
less peasant instead of that of
the man who led France to vic
tory in the closing years of the
World War. This was the pres
erce of the ubiquitous news
photographers, whom the authori-
ties tried in vain to prevent from
taking pictures.
Thus. although he wanted to
slip away silently. unobserved, for
gotten, one of the scientific won
ders of this modern day limned
for all posterity a simple scene
that will live forever in the minds
of those who witnessed it.
An ancient legend concerning
the burial rites of the Clemen-
ceau family was blasted in the
interment of the dead Tiger"
He was buried horizontally, in a
grave hardly more than four feet
deep.
For years it had been said that
Clemenceau had wished to be
buried in an upright position, "aS
his father had been buried before
him." Many persons declared
they had heard this wish ex-
pressed by the Tiger himself.
However, it was established
definitely that the grave of his
father was an ordinary, hori-
zontal hollow scooped out Of the
earth, and that the body of
Clemenceau was inferred in SINH
lar fashion.
All day yesterday officials of
the French government and rep
resentativeS of foreign govern
mentS called at the Rue Franklin
home of Clemenceau to pay their
personal tributes.
Premier Tardieu was the first
to call at a. M, army officers,
cabinet members. senator's and
deputies called all through the