Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-03
MARSHAL JOFFRE
DIES PEACEFUL
Marne Hero in Coma When
End Arrives on Eve of
10th Birthday.
CONTINUED From First Pagel

Continued From First Page)
of President Doumergue, Gen. Gouraud
and Marshal Petain.
Col. Desmazes announced soon after
death that the body would be embalmed
this afternoon preparatory to lying in
state at the chapel of the Ecole Mill
taire, the French Military Academy. He
said that the last abSolution was given
the marshal at am. by Chaplain
Bellesoeur, when 1t was seen death was
imminent
Marshal Joffre's final illness dated
back many weeks, when, complaining
Of q pain in his leg, his doctors found
him q victim of arteritis. In his case
the disease, which brings an inflamma-
ton Of the arteries, settled in his legs
and eventually a gangrenous condition
developed which necessitated amputa-
ton. E
Taken TO Hospital Secretly.
On December 10 he was taken
secretly in his own cabriolet to the
night under the influence OF local
anasthaesia only, he submitted to am
putation at mid-thigh Of his left leg.
He would not take ether, informing the
physicians, Prof Leriche, DR.. Boulin
and Dr. Fontaine, that he wished to
see what they were doing to him.
His illness did not become known
until the following week, when his doc
tors let It be known they had no hope
for him and did not expect him to
| live more than a day or so at the most.
Despite their pesSimisn the old soldier
continued to live, much of the time in
coma and emi-consciousneSS, his heart
refusing to give in to illness which
| would have taken most men many
timss over.
He gradually weakened after aston
ishing the physicians with his resist
ance. He lived for days after they had
minutes more of life. On New Year
day he lapsed into the final coma from
| which he never recovered and at one
! time that day was so low that false
| announcement of his death was made
only to be retracted an hour later after
having been spread over all the world.
He was kept alive during the last few
| days by injections of heavy doses OF Q
serum which his physicians prepared.
| Had he BEEN able to stand another
operation his right leg also would have
been amputated, but 1t was feared the
shock would precipitate death.
Messages Sent TO Family.
At Z am. today DR.. Fontaine, feeling
the pulse Of the dying marshal, became
convinced that death would be a Ques-
ton Of. only q very short period Of
time. Urgent telephone messages were
sent to the family and friends and
members Of the general stan, who gath
cred about the bed.
Nine. Joffre knelt beside the recum-
bent form of her husband and Chaplain
BelleSoeur after administering abSolu-
| ton at am, went quietly and knelt
| in q corner Of the room, still murmuring
his prayers for the dying. DR.. Fontaine
continued to hold the wrist Of the mar
shall.
Slowly he counted the pulsations and
| then amid q solemn hush, broken only
by the priests frequent intonations, the
mArshals great heart beat swiftly and
then stopped altogether. This time
there was no mistaking the end. 1t was
death itself.
The niarshal's face took on its Gus
tomary serenity, lying white and placid
| upon the pillows. The deep lines which
marked It like some map of battle, how
ever, were ample evidence Of the effects
Of the great battle the marshal had
fought-his last earthly conflict.
At IL am. the body of the marshal
reposed on the simple camp bed of a SOL
der. It was clothed in white dolman
| with the golden buttoned uniform worn
| in the colonies, where much Of the dead
mans pre-war military fame was won.
The hands were crossed, two candles
were burning on q small table beside the
bed. and two nuns knelt nearby praying.
President Doumergue, viewing the
body, turned to Nine. Joffre and said:
| 1T Is an ulustrious soldier who has gone.
His life was marked by modesty and
he has rendered q great service to
France. Madam, wish TO add that the
name Of the marshal viii become greater
and greater as time goes on"
Marshal JOffre's Career.
II shall bide my time" Marshal Joffre
Is reputed to have said when the French
armies were retreating and the vast
hordes OF Germany, having swept Bel
GUM and the northern departments OF
France, were sweeping even nearer and
nearer to Paris. The French govern
ment deemed it prudent to leave its
capital for Bordeaux, innumerable citi-
zens also fed, and q repetition of the
cataclysm Of 1871 seemed imminent.
! IT shall bide my time" said Joffre,
calm and serene, but day and night he
was working with almost superhuman
energy to prepare for the time he bided.
Hour by hour he noted upon his map
the progress and the disposition of the
invading forces, and noted not upon the
map but In his own mind the counter
| disposition of the armies which he was
rallying to meet the storm. And at last
he quietly remarked, 1T is time for this
thing to stopl" Then came the Marine,
and history recorded the sixteenth de-
cisiye battle Of the world"
This was the advent Of Joseph
Jacques Cesaire Joffre as world figure.
He was then past the retiring age of
SO, having been born on January IL,
1852, at RivesalteS, at the foot Of the
eastern Pyrenees. His father was q
prosperous cooper, who had ambitions
for his son, and sent him to college at
Perpignan, and thence to the famous
Ecole Polytechnique at Paris. While he
was student in the latter institution.
still in his teens, the Franco-G German
War began, and he entered the army as
a sublieutenant Of artillery, engaged in
the defense Of Paris. After the making
of peace he returned to his studies, and
on September 81, 1872, was graduated
from the Polytechnique and was COM
misSioned lieutenant In the engineers
-Four years later he was promoted to
captain, and was assigned to railway
works company, in which engagement he
passed three years on the defenseS of
Paris. Then In 1879 he returned to
regimental duty, with growing reputa-
| ton as q both brilliant and substantial
mathematician and engineer.
Resumed Active Duty In 1885.
Active service was resumed in 1885
| In the expedition to Formosa, where
he so distinguished himself that on
September Z he was made a Chevalier
Of the Legion Of Honor. From Formosa
he went to Hanoi and directed the or.
ganixation Of the defenses of Upper
Tonquin. BY this time his seniors
were looking upon him as one Of the
coming men" Of the army and in 1883
| they recalled him to France for i'm.