BAL RAT MORT 1898 - 2000

In 1896, a group of sixteen happy men from Ostend,
all member of the Circle Coecilia, went to Paris to make the feast.

The group understood: Edgard Quinet, Firmin Pleyn, Gustave Cnudde, Léon Rinskopf, Arthur Cambier, Fré Deridder, Albert Ditte, Daniel Vancraeynest, Emile Bulcke, Georges Bulcke, Emile Mathieu, Auguste Pede and George   Daveluy. James Ensor came to join them later.

The happy strip had fun madly in the French capital, in particular in the district of Montmartre. "Au Moulin Rouge", "Le Ciel",and "L'Enfer" represented to their program and in the small hours they landed to the "RAT MORT".

The orchestra had already left the place,
but the pianist and a few pretty dancers assured to the accomplices an epilogue worthy of their mad and unforgettable Parisian nights.

These adventures in the French Capital should have let one indelible print by the
members of the Circle, because in 1898 the philanthropic dance was for the first organized under the name of "BAL du RAT MORT"