Notre Dame to Montmartre by Bird Wings in 1840 May 11, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Beach tries not to exaggerate – at least in this place* – but of his forty odd flight stories this is perhaps his favourite. Not a mean feat given that those stories include flying Anglo-Saxon monks and Chinese kite men. We are in Paris in 1840
A man, carrying a large bundle, applied some days since, to the keeper of the column in the Place Vendome, for permission to go up to the top of the column. He was requested to leave his bundle with the keeper, but this request so disconcerted him that he retired in disgust to the Pantheon, where the same request was preferred, and the same conditions met with the same ebullition of anger. Upon this the man returned home, took out his large great coat, under which he contrived to conceal his bundle, and demanded admission to the towers of Notre Dame.
You probably see where this is going. But nothing will prepare you for the climax.
The keeper accordingly accompanied him to the top of the cathedral towers, and as soon as he arrived there he asked in which direction lay Montmartre. The keeper pointed it out to him, and the man, suddenly pulling aside the lapels of his coat, revealed the bundle, and tapping it mysteriously he said, ‘Should you be surprised if I were to alight on the top heights of Montmartre within ten minutes?’ The keeper replied in the affirmative. ‘Say not a word,’ continued the intrepid aeronaut, ‘and I will take you with me.’ The keeper, however, respectfully, but firmly, declined the invitation, and exhausted all his persuasive powers in attempting to induce the maniac to abandon his aerial expedition, but all to no purpose. At length the keeper exclaimed, ‘Well, then, since you will go, take me with you.’ The maniac immediately took out of his bundle some large straps and feathers, and commenced with great gravity to strap them on his shoulders like a pair of wings. He then seized the keeper round the waist, but the keeper returned the compliment, and succeeded in bringing down his bird, and detaining him until assistance was procured. The man proved to be a carpenter who had frequently given indications of mental aberration, but, being gentle and harmless, had been allowed to remain at large. [Morning Post, 3 Sep 1840, 3]
Perhaps the arrival of balloon culture worked its magic on the mentally aberrant in France and other countries? Drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com
*why exaggerate when the material does it for you?
