Year: 1871

my successor.


1t is scarcely necessary to add that


the clock proved, on examination, tc


be an Internal machine of the most


ingenious and deadly description


Concealed beneath the metallic slab
which formed the pavement of the
mimic chapel, and which was con.
, structed to fold back at the proper
moment, was found triple row oil
small wrought iron barrels, loaded
heavily with slugs and balls, and ar
ranged to cover an arc of forty-fve
degrees, at distance of twenty yards
from the machine; no one within ti..ei
range could possibly have withstood
their discharge. exploded sinultane-
ously, exactly when the hands on the
dial indicated the hour of noon but
spring on the outside of the case
gave the manipulation power to alter
the set of the works, and discharge
them sooner if necessary.


A few months after the occurrence
of the incident narrated above, Fouche
received letter from Chavarri, then
in England, written in the vein in
which men, who have played des-
perate game and lost, occasionally
write to those who have outwitted
them. The writer stated that the in
strument was entirely the work of his
own hands, and that he and his daugh-
er alone were concerned in the plot,
which had been frustrated by Touches
promptness.


As for himself, he had but little ex-
pectation of escaping, having freely
resolved to involve himself, if neces-
sary, in the destruction which should
overwhelm the Emperor. His daugh-
ter, however, the only person on earth
for whom he retained any affection,
he could not afford thus to sacrifice.
He had made provision elsewhere for
her future support. and, according to
the original plan, she was to have left
Paris some thirty days before the con-
summation of the plot, thus having
abundant time to pass the frontier and
reach a place of safety. This had
been foiled by an unforeseen event. -
On the evening before the final 6asco
at the Tuileries they had received in
formation to the effect that Napoleon
was on the point of departure for the
frontier, and everything being ready,
and the period of his return being
uncertain, it was determined to make
the attempt at once On the follow
ing morning, accordingly, the daughter
had departed at as early an hour as
possible, trusting for her escape to
good fortune, and he, himself, forti.
fed with letters from prominent offic-
ials, had proceeded to the palace at
eleven, having given his daughter all
the time he could spare.


Fouche himself knew the rest.


No personal danger, no promised
honor, nothing, in short, but the cum
ningly devised falsehood regarding
his daughter, could have induced him,
Chavarri, to hove stopped the hands
of the fatal clock.


He also confessed that it was he
who, two years before, had fired the
shot in the Rue de Rivoli, and stated
that it had long been the aim and pur-
pose of his life to assassinate Napole-
on. He added, however, that they
need have no fear of his repeating the
attempt, as the magnanimity of the
Emperor on the last occasion had dis
armed him.


Chavarri subsequently died in ex-
treme poverty in London OF the af-
ter fate of his daughter nothing is
known. His clock, despoiled of the
murderous portion of its machinery,
was preserved for several years in the
Tuileries, and was finally destroyed
by an accidental fire and the falling
of q wall.