CHAMBER OF HORRORS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 73, 27 March 1930, Page 20

CHAMBER OF HORRORS

THEILLS IN WAXWORKS

A STORE OF MEMORIES

llf ono can got, Mr. Tussaud (o unlock Ids stcire of memories during a holiday 'visit to his famous waxworks, an abundant feast is yours, says f a writer 'iv an .English paper, and Tussaud said to this writer:— You may remember the carriage of Napoleon in the old exhibition. It was the actual vehicle which the defeated Emperor used on his retreat from Waterloo. Joseph Tussaud., Madame's elfle&t son, was ort London Bridge- one day when he heard a euuutiy lad talking of a wonderful carriage he had seen in a Gray's Jnu Road repository. It proved to be that of Napoleon, and was acquired for tho exhibition. After tho carriage had changed hands, a secret compartment was found containing jewels and money of great value. At one time visitors were allowed to sit inside it, but souvenir hunters were so destructive to the upholstery that we had to enclose it in , a glass case. Tho Prince of Wales and' Prince Albert were tho last to sit in "Boney's" chariot. It was tho same ancestor of mine who had another interesting, cxperi-1 once connected with Napoleon. Early: one morning he noticed - an elderly man gazing ati'the figure'of the dead Emperor. lie stood bareheaded with a wistful expression on his face. That man was the Duke of Wellington. It was a. dramatic tableau, and well worthy of the fine picturel Sir George Ilayte'r subsequently paiwied. SHAH'S UNGRATIFIED WISH. I well remember the visit of tho Shah of Persia in 1873. He was delighted with the Chamber of-Horrors, and particularly ; with the model of tho guillotine. He 'wanted a condemned man to be executed on the spot for his entertainment, and when ho was tactfully informed that no such criminal was" available just then, ho turned to his retinue and called for' volunteers. He had to be told that this was impossible, much to tho relief of his attendants! • On another occasion, Alexander 111 of Bussia, the1 Czarina, and her sister, then' Princess of Wales, came incognito to the exhibition. When' they desired to enter the Chamber ofHorrors, where another sixpence per, head wjis charged, they found that they had not a penny between them! Finally one of their attendants produced the fees. George Crossmith, senior, was a great practical joker. Once he stood stockstill in a row of figures. Visitors, said: "Ah! George Crossmith! What a splendid likeness!" until the irresistible George slowly extended' a hand and grinned, affably, whereupon the terrified sightseers fled! ' George K. Sims was a frequent friend. In ono of his books he scribbled without, a moment's hesitation: "Dear Tussaud,' I'm a model man, but you're a modeller!" Once he had asked to be allowed to spend a night in the Chamber of Horrors. For about half an hour he'walked about, talked to the models, and whistled. Then he stumbled in tho semi-darkness, and, looking up, found himself in Mrs. Pearcey's kitchen! Suddenly panicstieken, he hammered at the door until a night watchman let him out. AN UNFOUNDED RUMOUR. This was tho probable cause of tho rumour, world-wide but entirely unfounded, that Madame Tussaud's will pay a reward to anyone who spends a night alone in -the- Chamber of Horrors. No such, offer has ever been

made,1 yet, despite repeated denials, we constantly receive offers from Boldiers, sailors, ex-policemen, and even domestic: seryants. Another persistent legend is that some of the figures havo been seen to move. The only moving models aro those of William* Cobbett, who turns his head, and the Sleeping Beauty, whoso breast is seen gently to riso and fall. Yet visitors liavo declared • that they liavo seen Cobbett taking the snuff, Marat breathing in his bath, and Henry VHI turning to review his wives! The Exhibition has many unsolved inysjtorieß. Who,' for example, was tho tall lady in black, wearing a thick veil, who came regularly for years and left bunches of violets on the steps below tho figure of Napoleon 111. What tragedy was played out when, on. the morning of the execution of a murderer of many aliases,,an old man led a frail and toaiful young woman into the Chamber of Ilorrois, and, gazijig at the recently-uncovered model, said: •Tree at last, my child, free at laht!" STOKY OF MOVING MODEL. I am usually perfectly at homo in the Chamber- of Horrors at all hours of tho day or night, but once I had a shock. It was very late, and I was taking a final walk round the'building when suddenly T was sure one of the models moved.- I looked again. Yes, it was moving slowly, bending its leering head towards me as though about to spring. Then it stopped, and to my intense relief, I found that its lifelike movement was duo to the vibration of a passing train on the Metropolitan railway that ran beneath the building! It was arrested in its fall by a metal pin. A young Parisian visitor had a worse fright—and in broad daylJght. He thought it would be a fine thing to be able to tell his friends in Paris that lie had put his head in the guillotine that was.used fw the execution of Marie Antoinette. So he inserted1 his neck in the lunette, and, after a moment's enjoyment of his novel position, was about to touch the spring to release himself, when a horrible thought occurred to him. Suppose he touched the wrong spriug and let drop the knife on his own neck! Ho screamed with terror until an assistant released him. Once an elderly bachelor from the Midlands asked us to'mod'el to his design what he considered to be tho ideal woman. Ho desired her to have movable joints, so that he could place her at table, or beside the fire to keep him company. "All tho advantages of feminine company with the added bliss of silence," was his comment.