The bulletin (Augusta, Ga.) 1920-1957, October 01, 1921, Image 15

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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.”