They began crowding into the cemetery four hours before the funeral, and by 11 a.m., 25,000 had squeezed in while nearly as many more were outside the gates. Pushing, shoving, screaming, trampling other graves, they surprised the outnumbered police, who helplessly shrilled on their whistles trying to maintain order. Women fainted, and were laid out on tombs. (One was carted off to a hospital in the funeral hearse.) And amidst the tumult, the body of Edith Piaf, along with her cherished good luck charms, a stuffed rabbit, squirrel and lion, was lowered into its grave. It was 6 p.m. before the...
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