THE STORY OF HELENE GULLET.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1349, 11 December 1885, Page 2

THE STORY OF HELENE GULLET.

One day in October, 1624, a soldier irho was walking on the outskirts of Bourg onBresse, a little town between Maoon and Geneva, was attracted by the strange conduct of a crow, which hovered about an old atone wall, perched on it, disappeared in a cavity, then reappeared drawing after it something white. The soldier examined the spot, and found in a cavity of (be old wall the body of an infant wrapped In a linen shift marked H. G JTne wall be* longed to the garden of the ciieur Gillet, ruyal chatetain of Bourg, the first magistrate in the place. The aoldier at once communicated with the authorities, and H 6 hue Gillet, the daughter of the cbAelaine, a young lady of twenty-one, was arrested on the charge of infanticide, she denied her guilt, but various circumstances were produced at the trial which proved almost incontestably that the charge was well founded, and on February 6, 1625, seutence was passed upon her, that she was to be executed by decapitation. She appealed against the sentence to the parliament of Dijon. Her relations forsook her, with the exception of her mother, who followed her to Dijon, where she was confined in the Oonoiergerie. Mme, Gillet went at once to the convent of the Bernardinos at Dijon, to recommend her daughter to the prayers of the community, especially to those of the abbess, Mme. Courcelle de Pourlane. On May II the parliament of Dijon heard the appeal; the case was cat. fully gone into, and the avocat, Jacob, appeared for the accused. The sentence was deferred till the motow. On Monday, May 12, which was the last session of the parliament before the Whit nntide recess, the sentence of the magistrates of Bourg was confirmed, with the additional order that the criminal was to be led to execution with a rope round her neck—an order very unusual, and intan ded as an additional mark of indignity. It is as well here to give some idea of whst the places of execution were in old France. The place of the gallows formed a quadrangular platform about forty-four feat square. This platform was raised about ] six feet above the level of the soil, and ] was built over a vault to contain the bones '

as they fell from the gallows. Sometimes m addition to this vamt It contained a ohapel. On three sides of the platform

were piers rising to the height of 33 feet, united by beams of solid oak at the top and in two heights below, so as to form three ranges or storeys of gxllows. »>f these stone piers there were six on each

side. One side of the quadrangle was left free for the stairs, and for the block for executions with the sword. Thus, on the Montfauoon Foutcbes, forty-five men could hang simultaneously—or rather ninety, as each opening was made to accommodate two persona. In the middle of the area was a stone with an iron ring in it, which could be raised to allow of the bones being poshed through the hole into the vault below. Access to this vault was also obtainable through a door at the bottom Helena Gillet was conveyed to Morimont in a cart, the executioner, a man named Simon Grand jean, tui wife hat, boldmg

the rope that was attached to her neck There was also in the cart a friar to give her spiritual comfort; about it were the town guard, two Jesuit fathers, and another Oapuchin friar. On horseback roae the deputy-prooureur.general of the king On reaching Morimont, Helene Gllet was taken out of the cart and conducted up a flight of stone stairs to the platform. All Dijon was present The youth and beauty of the criminal had attracted general sympathy. The poor girl, assisted by Madame Graodjean, fastened up her hair tightly on her head, and removed a kerchief that had covered. her neck and was pinned across her bosom, and knslt down at the

block, whilst one of the Jesuit fathers prayed with her. Then the executioner took his sword, which in the Acts is called a coutelas, but which was almost certainly a two-handed sword, doubleedged, the blade about four feet long, counterbalanced by a knob of iron at the end of the handle. Grand jean had been suffering for three months from a fever and ague, and whether it was that the youth of the girl unnerved him, or that an access of his ague came over him, cannot be told, but as the procnreur gave the sign to strike, his hand 1 and the blade trembled, and instead of bringing the sword down on the girl’s neck, be struck her on the left

shoulder, Inflicting a terrible gash. Helene fell from her position on the right of the block, the executioner three down his sword and covered his eyes. Helens put up her hands to the bandage over her face and tried to pull it off, but the wife of the executioner ran to her, restrained her, picked her up, and made her stand. Then the poor creators knelt again, and re* placed her neck on the block. In the meantime the excitement among the people had become extreme; they hooted and roared their curses against the executioner, who became more agitated and unnerved. Stones began to fly and to strike Grandjean, the procureur, and the priests indiscriminately. One or two even hit poor Helene as she stood up and staggered to the block. Madame Grandjean picked op the sword and handed it to her husband, and exhorted him to be a man and finish what he had begun. He set hi* teeth, raised the sword again, and instantly the noise ceased. In the midst of a perfect stillness he smote. The sword struck the knot of hair at the back of Helene’s head, glanced from it and cut into her neck a finger breadth in depth. : Fhen the rage of the people knew no bounds. The whole concourse swayed Ijke a rolling sea,and the guard had to use their pikes to keep them from bursting through aud rushing to the platform. Scones fell like hail about the foorches, and the r esuits and Oapauohins fled for their lives ttimnorh fchfl littlfl tinor into thi raulfc

beuesth. The executioner flung away his aword and followed their example. £he only one who maintained her composure waa Madame Grand jean ; and now 'follows the moat horrible incident of the whole case. This wretched woman aeema to have thought that the only way in which the people could be satisfied waa to complete the work her husband had failed iu. She looked about for the aword, intending to strike off Helene's head herself, but she could not find it. The reason waa that the poor girl, on feeling herself wounded the second time, had stood up and staggered about till struck aiain by the stones, when she fell over the sword. In the alarm and ex* oitemem, Ma *ame Graudjean either did not observe this, or thought it best to destroy her elsewhere, for she seized the cord and dragged Helene by it down tbs stone steps, kicking her in the chest and on the body, and when she got ber on the 1 stairs, where she was par Jy screened from the rain ot stbnea, she knelt on ber and i dragged at the cord, trying to strangle her, and when this did not prove effectual, or speedy enough, she got ner great scissors, and with them stabbed ber and tried to cut her throat. She was interrupted in her horrible work by the mob, which, frantic with rage, broke its way through the line of Guards, rushed up the steps, caught the woman Grandjean, and tore her to pieces. Then they broke through the wooden door which the prooureur and the priests held within, driving it off its binges, and fell upon and trampled the executioner to death. Some butchers and masons tore down the door and wars the first to enter and kill Grandjean. Then a great shout went up from the crowd behind, “ Save the patient!” (sauve la patiente !) The Capanohins and Jesuits, crucifix in hand, cams forth from the vault, and surrounded Helene. Some of tha people raised her In their arms. She asked for water, and some was brought her; then the bandage that had been about her eyes waa tied round her neck to staunch the oleeding from the wound in it. “I knew God would coma to my aid," she said, and fainted. King Louis XIII. drew up and signed a full and free pardon to Helene Gillet—“ At the recommendation of some of our beloved and respected servants, and because we are well disposed to be gracious through the happy marriage of the Queen of Great oritaiu, our vary dear and well beloved sister."