THE CHAMBER OF DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9497, 28 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CHAMBER OF DEATH.

A GRUESOME ENTERTAINMENT. The Paris correspondent of the Glasgow Herald has been dwelling on the strange taste for the horrible and gruesome which ab the present moment) characterises the performances at cafe concerts in " the gay city." The culminating point in this direction seems to have been reached ab a cabaret just opened in the Boulevard Rochechouart (an outer boulevard), which goes by the name of "Cabaret do la Mort." The door is ornamented with a death's head and crossboaes, and the visitor is somewhat taken aback to find himself in the presence of a number of " croquemorts" (mutes), dressed precisely as they are for a funeral. These are the waiters, who are forbidden to smile, to talk cheerfully, or to accept any gratuity, and whose solemn faces, very suggestive attire, lit up by a weird green light, and generally mournful aspect, cast a chilly feeling upon one, in spite of the knowledge that all is assumed. At these coffins a score or so of customers were seabed few women amongst them — drinking beer, coffee, or liquor. The whitewashed walls of the room are adorned as a matter of course with suitable engravings, drawings, or pictures. There are skeletons everywhere ; a guillotine by way of change. In a word, a delightful exhibition of the horrible and sinister. A GHASTLY PERFORMANCE. The correspondent continues :—" Down a dimly-lighted flight of stone steps is a spectral sort of vault, where fifteen or twenty persons are waiting their turn to be admitted to what may be called the chamber of death. To amuse the visitor whilst waiting there are apertures in the brick wall, which, on being looked through, reveal studies of cholera patients, of persons buried alive, and similar cheerful subjects. With the imagination thus prepared for what is to follow, the waiting party is ultimately admitted to another vault by a hooded and masked individual, with clanking chains and huge keys about his person. By a clever arrangement of mirrors one sees oneself on entering reflected lying in a coffin; and this, coming unexpectedly, so upset the nerves of a woman present that she nearly fainted, and had to go away. On a few rough wooden forms the company took their seats; whilst a second masked and hooded individual, after making a little speech anenb death and what came afterwards, inquired whether anyone present was willing or anxious to die. A young man offered himself; and after shaking hands with his companions he was taken by tho masked man and placed in a coffin standing on end, just opposite the spectators. His body was then wrapped in a winding-sheet, the last dress, as the masked individual observed, of the rich and poor alike, a spectra! green light was thrown upon his uncovered face, and we were told to follow attentively the work of destruction and decomposition. At this moment a gentleman left his place on the form beside me, turned deathly pale, and declared he felt ill, so strong was the impression the ghastly comedy produced upon him. I confess I was half inclined to imitate his example and turn my back on the livid face of the man in the coffin ; but such weakness seemed to bo puerile, so I determined to have all the horrors to which the payment for my bock entitled me. The wind-ing-sheet by some trick melted away, so did the flesh, or rather the man in the coffin, and a skeleton appeared in his stead. There remained another experiment to be witnessed—namely, tho crumbling away to dust of the bones. "It ie probable,"adds the correspondent, " since a taste for the gruesome is the order of the day, the * Cabareb de la Mort' will prosper for a while. It seems to me, however, that there is something almost revolting in the exhibition, and that it is nicer to drink one's coffee off a table than off a coffin-lid."