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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC
oelan was to give the signal for St. t Regant to apply
lire to the fuse; but as the vavalcaue approacned
nearer his heart failed him. He was Royalist indeed
but he was also Catholic—and would he lend his
hand to murder such as this V The signal was not
given, but St. Regant nevertheless applied the light
to the fuse and almost instantly there was a ter
rific explosion which shook all of Paris and was
heard for miles out in the country. When the smoke
had cleared away no trace of the horse and wagon or
the little girl could be seen. The houses in all
the neighborhood (some fifty in ail) were demol
ished, and the square and adjoining streets were
filled with the debris and the mangled forms of the
dead and dying,—but Bonaparte had escaped un
hurt.
So sudden had been the explosion that all three
of the conspirators were wounded by it. Limoelan
received a wound under the eye, while both Carbon
and St. Regant were hurled to the ground with
great force and sustained serious internal injuries.
Later in the evening Limoelan appeared at the
lodgings of St. Regant and rushed upstairs to his
apartments. He re-appeared shortly afterwards,
hurrying out of the house with the words “he is very
sick; I must get a priest.” He appeared again later
on with his uncle, Father Cloriviere, whom he had
found just preparing to celebrate the Midnight
Christmas Mass. Medical aid was obtained for the
injured man, and Limoelan then proceeded to search
for Carbon. Finding him concealed at his sister’s
house in the Rue St. Martin, he hurried him to the
convent where his uncle was Director and urged the
sisters to take care of him. None of the community,
of course, knew anything of the plot; they had felt
the explosion, but that was all, Limoelan, whom
they only knew as the nephew of their saintly
Father Director, requested them to take care of the
injured man “who had been hurt in the explosion”;
so they took him into their home.
Meanwhile the police and military authorities
were busy searching for the authors of the conspir
acy. They found fragments of the horse and wagon,
which they traced to the store of Lambel, who gave
them a description of Carbon; but no trace of him
aould be found. At length he very imprudently ap
peared on the streets, about the end of January, and
was almost immediately recognized and arrested
and his hiding place discovered. This lead to the
arrest of all the inmates of the convent, innocent as
they were of the whole affair, and of the mother and
sisters of Limoelan, with several others of their
friends. These were all imprisoned, and they were
a little later joined by St. Regant who had been dis
covered aimlessly wandering about the streets of
the city. All who had any direct connection with
the plot were later executed, while the rest were
afterwards released, but kept under strict surveil-
ance, together with Father Clorivere himself. Some
few were not given their freedom until the Restora
tion.
Of Limoelan not a trace could be found. He had
disappeared apparently off the earth. Despite the
large reward offered by Fouche, the authorities could
learn nothing of his whereabouts. It was learned
long years after that his uncle had taken him to the
abandoned crypt of the Church of St. Laurence,
where he remained in hiding until April of 1801,
when he managed to escape to his paternal castle in
Brittany, now owned by his sister and her husband,
M. de Chappedelaine. Here he remained for some
time, concealed in his sister’s private apartment,
which was exempt from search: but the rest of the
castle was gone over from cellar to garret many
times by the police and military.
LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 15
It was evident that he could not remain longer in
France with any degree of safety while Napoleon
was in power; and at last an opportunity came for
him to escape to America. His sister and her hus
band were joint-heirs to a share in the coast islands
of Georgia, which they inherited from their rela
tives in the Comte de Chappedelaine, who had been
killed in a duel on Sapelo Island by his uncle,
Charles Cezar Picot de Boisfeuillet. They left Saint
Malo and took shipping for New York on a small
brig, with Limoelan on board disguised as one of the
crew and known by the name of “Guitry,” This
was early in the year 1803. The party landed in
New York, and M. de Chappedelaine and his wife
came first to Savannah, leaving “Guitry” in New
York, where he remained for a time, earning his
livelihood as an artist, in which profession he was
somewhat skilled.
Learning from his sister and her husband that
there was quite a colony of Royalist exiles in Sa
vannah. “Guitry” resolved to join them; so dropping
h;s pseudonym, he left New York, being known
henceforth as “Joseph Picot de Cloriviere.” So far
as can be ascertained, Tie never assumed his own
family name of Limoelan again. He visited Phila
delphia and Baltimore and stopped a while in
Charleston, where we are told he met some of his
former companions, now like himself exiled from
their native country but still strong in their attach
ment to the Bourbons. But, as the French historian
Lenotre expresses it, “in America they did not know,
and still do not know, his real identity, or the part
he played in history.”
Thus it happened that there landed in Savannah in
1804 a young Frenchman, of medium height but
with noble mien and straight military bearing,
whose gentle and refined manners bespoke his no
ble origin. Few were made acquainted with his real
name, though of course the title of “Cloriviere” was
rightly his own. A whispered word to the Marquis
de Montalet. to the Abbe Carles and others, how
ever, assured him of a warm welcome in this haven
of refuge for so many exiled from their native
France. His sister and her husband having return
ed to France, it was from Savannah that most of his
letters to them were written, some of which are
still preserved.
In addition to the suffering and privation occas
ioned by his almost continual flight and concealment,
there had been added the cruel disappointment of his
fiancee refusing to accompany him to America.
Just before sailing from Brittany she had informed
him that at the time when he was in the greatest
danger, following the explosion in Paris, she had
made a vow to consecrate her life to God if his
life was spared. She had therefore entered the Car
melite Order as a novice, and was all this time, to
use his own words, “expiating his crime by sacrific
ing her life.”
Through his sister he managed to inform her of
his life in Savannah, and received in reply a mess
age from her urging him also to "devote the re
mainder of his life to God’s service in thanksgiving
for his deliverance.” His uncle, Father Cloriviere,
also strongly advised him to do the same. While
in Savannah he was seriously considering the mat
ter, as his letters to his sister show. “All my past
opinions” he writes, “seem to me now of little value,
and never have I regretted so much the loss of my
time as at present.” In another letter he says. “I
will comply with the wishes of my uncle. How long
have I tarried to show my gratitude for an almost
miraculous preservation! you know what I mean.”