EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL FOR MURDER IN FRANCE.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 75, 21 November 1864, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL FOR MURDER IN FRANCE.

"."*' For jteh 1 days ri the people- 6f^'fcance;'lTave t ßee^" absorbed in watching -a 1 remarkable' trial' atlToulouse. I Even in ..other _eountriea- the .devotees pf^ "Sensation^ ima'y; have : their - passions ' iegifciimrteiy^ eicited by^ilte stbry ; ; <>f } a steal ; murdi»;'tiie"pert< ..petrators of '• which r are- .^till -a X mystery, and] ja jinurdeir nccompanied by circumstances of startling jateocity/ ' x * ; ' c .^ sj " ■'^ : '-' : --'--'- j "o ■■;; , : j;ylti. the department 1 of- the AriegeJ ; under Mih'e" ■northern slopes; of . the; Eyfenees,' there 'is .a .svillage 3 , called I Laxßastiderßesplas. ,/,Thiaovillage liesxin •? the beautiful valley pfrithe-'Arize,. "and a short jway further down, the* stream, stands an>. old,: straggling i chateaujknb.wa-as^the^ Chateau Baillard,: fconsisting of a ctiurfc surrounded by buildings. Here breds an old; bachelor, 74 years of iage.— M. Bugad de Lasalle, with three sery'antsV.JiTean-Ijftcanel, the coachman, Pelagie Byeheire, the maid andßaymonde 1 Berger,;rthe^ r cook. „_„ M. de LasaUe,ha^d_a., considerable "fortune ; indeed, his income is ,*Bal'd i to have been from -12,00Q, to i.5,00,0 francs a year. But he took no care to investit-judiciously. Like many (old gentlemen; j\foe; £w.as jboth[ timidrand a <i mi6er,JßO that he preferred, hoarding .money even to investing it in t: th'e"funds'.' w Naturally - public I rumpjj^exaggerated; /bis wealth" s_p; thatitliex: 'chateau came to be known as-the Maison d'Or, whilst jthe" unhappy/ pQssgssqrf aware' pfithe dangers -io whicK-he exposed himself -by- h4s.csingular j ;cp.n^ duct, seldom; wenfcout,:. and had: always aboutbiini: all sorts of weapons to defend his treasure. Almost] every -he went- : tp^isit-. his at Carbonne ; but; he alway9 V yeturn|d'at "seven in~th*e evening^ arid ■&sistbd ; thatliis ;: horses should : n6<rb"ei watered until after ,the J lapse 'oftwo r h'qurs. OJi J lM^ , ,^ On the morriirigfbf^^ Friday; .the 26th pfFebuary,-! an old! servant :bbserved'*as; ; Ke. < -left : for c "his; work that the shutters of the wnido|ws, were; still close'd? •Wh'enihejreturned ';aboufc' iS/ ; ne f found thmga^n'tHe^ saime state'. 'alarmed; "He;- 'spoke- to 1 his . wife, and ttetL "went into^ ffio : court-yard. 1 He called J Pelagie, the maid:' v Finding iio biie itfthe MtcHei; he went into the stable, where-he found several pools of blood,; and -in a^ dark corner a; dead jbody,; which :he at first took for that.of.his master. He gave the alarm, further assistance, came, and a horrible scene presented itself.. jTJie body of the maid, Pelagie, .was found on the ground floor. In a wood-shed close by lay the corpse of JeanLacanel, where it deemed to Haye. been, dragged, from the stable, wiiither he had probably gone to w i ater i his horses. On the first floor, where the .two, servants slept, was found the body of the old' miser, M. de Lasalle ; ai the foot of the bed, _and behind the Bed, half enveloped in the curtains, was Haymonde Berger, her Helad.) rtearly^seyered from; her^.bpdy.. It seemed that the assassin, must have got upon the bed, for the sheets showed-the marks of muddy boots. The roqm.in whiqh these two, bodies., w.er r e , found was in great disorder.- The furniture" was' scattered on the floor,, and, the cupboard; and drawers had been broken open. But it appeared that M. de Lasalle must have .be.en_first attacked in hii own room, for there was blood upon the door of his : own room, which _commiiriicatedi_withs that in which, his body was found. All the bodies were horribly' mutilated^" That a cruel, murderi had been committed there was no doubt. The old gentleman had no enemies, but the character* of the man, who was believed to have inthe Jiouse some 50,000f., and the fact that the drawers were broken open, proved that the crime must hare been promptedby; avarice: alpne.^. It .turned cout; indeed, that a very considerable sum of money was concealed in various cupboards of the_hquse-; These places of safe custody the robbers did" not discover, but the state of the house clearly showed the object of their visit. ....... iJ. . . i It was not long before suspicion fell upon, a man named Pujol. He was said to have been' seen in the neighborhood before -the. murder; and he had been m the habit of making^inquiries "as to M. de Lasalle's wealth,, besides; which: ;it;-3Vas : known that he had established an intimacy with the maid, Pelagie. According to the indictmerit, : the passion for intrigue peculiar to French servant-maids, and a womanly weakness for ardent spirits, had made her an easy prey-.tp. the avaricious designs of lier paramour. "StilT'tlie "evidence against the man was very , meagre ; and; it 4?; supposed that he might have escaped had he not been arrested at i Toulouse i. . for T wounding Z. and robbery. It was then discovered not only that he was the sam« man who had been wandermg about Baillard, but that- he -was an cscaped-convict that he had ah'eady been in prison for- nine years, and that the plio'tographWas.inevexy; considerable police-station in -France. -These circuriistances were sufficient in the eyes of the- French police to justify Pujol's arrest (whose ■ real -name' was'now discovered to be Jacques •' Latoiir) for the murder of M. de Lasalle ; but it is sdrriewhat singular '; that, according to the - evidence, -he continiied^to-' remain in the neighborhood where the crime was'' perpetrated, arid even proposed to purchase a farm and marry the daughter of his host. J - If the facts had rested here it is difficult tounderstand how any jury Qould -have.^brought in a verdict of guilty against 'even. Pujol j much less against his supposed-accomplice, Francois Audpuy,---a mountebank, nicknamed : Hercules.. > fNp^ one",, saw the crime perpetrated, arid the'fact'pf /our persons being murdered would suggest that ifrhad been done by several persons; ■ That there was a bloody struggle cannot' be doubted, 'and yet the J prosecution entirelv failed to prove that any blood was found upon the clothes of the alleged assassins. One of the few serious facts alleged against Jacques Latour was* that he had 1600 francs in his possession when he ; was caught j but it was established that Latour had /been. a hardworking man, that in a few years he had: been the actual possessor of as much as ;3000fr,, ;apd it.^vasjfairly ( contended that he might .still:, be, in possession of p^rt of this money. - There was, however, another fact, upon which great stress was laid. ""tJpon the bed of one. of .the victims were ' found , ; a r broken comb and a pencil, which some of hisprisoncom-i. panionß declared thatthey had seeninhisppssession.'j But, on the hand, it was jallegedVlthat:;it,w,asjiot easy to identify, such articles, and^that-they were just the sort of 'shabby things whicn would belong Ito a miser like M. de La3alle7 PerliapFthe chief ; j- point irii favor'^of r the - nien' accused ' r wasj'the diffl- } ciilty of explaining kow - they /got so far from 'tJle scene ! of the murder the morning after it was" perpetrated. I<atour must rhav;e.sterted;fronTjlia Bastide at eleven o'clockon the i night of the 25th, and according to the' efiderice hewasat Mauran, mor,e than SO nliles, on ithe morning of the 26th. Audoiiy must haye. r travelled, with a donkey and cart, Bome^4o.mileslafter .the murder, which wasuperpetratod »bout :< 10.. on ,the night^pf r^e. 2^^ j f for hej was alrFoik about 8 o'clpck 6n*the morning' 26th. , r p .-..- np. :-r <x rs % ■ - jjlt must be admitted v that^the're c 'neVer "was a case which rested so compie.telyvpn.: circumstantial evidence, or one in which a man was conciemiieik *W death, on- 'less^. sub'etanKal'''- gi-ouhds.^ : Xt;-is^ not surprising that the _ ProcureurGfeneral sEouldKave found -himself J compelled to urge • upon - the -jury -the -propriety— of-- their rTOnvictiag Latour xa^phiaj fashion; :<i/j£'l have fijushed, " exclauned thTPrboureur, " niy sketch. « of" this monster. Whrn I have; him f before my r eyes' 'acboriipanied 'by * his fcorttye' .of^^ ■crimes he 1 oppresses me, It is time' that. he-^Bliould disappear in th&'abysßy:?v-I .fT-^>y^bu'have nothing to f do withrvrhat"the?law^may"commetn"dv~We"*^sethat your firmnes3..will-. r^se_to the -lereli oftiyouy f duties. I invite ytiu: t6 ' be*' firm. " Yestorday you ;^ere|lie'BervantßiofW|a^7^^ its" ■ dispensers. This hrtf/.: obliges/!, yb9 6T deiend isocieiy in exchange for the oath .; which,^ypu^havjß, Itakeri. t <Tho stwn^ >cl«vracter« of irinabitaats iofs-ypur country is well known"." To complete the Pjiotu^ei^hen thjaProcm^eur sat^down^acqvießi LatouJ owed out, "irbniballyj''' 1 'Vive i'JEmp»eur. -' ;*The PrQioureur, h^weyeri^got hi^Twawt, the WSUit b^ing t^at I^tQur was cgo(Jemn,e(i to defith,

whilst his supposed accomplice has been- sen- , ,-, tenced to Tiard laW 1 for ''life. When" told*" by' the President that three days -would be allowed him to appeal to the / Court, of Cassation, Latour f , r - ctold the court "to have the gibbet set "up. "„ ~r " ""-?- Wherf the usual time had elapsed and'Latouf ' was niformed^ that, his last day had arrived_)lie Ll 3 refused to hear a word from any priest, anduttered , the most dreadful blasphemies. The guillotine ~ had arrived the evening beforejfromTaulQusejftndjj; -£ was erected during the^ 3j fiye m ftie , /morningi;he hir^e space around the' place on whidt U( the instrument stbodswas crowded. -with the'cpopu-iavci hi. lationja great number : De |^g^emales,'*% o ßas^jfefil ito ;ifY< heavily, but seemed not to"liave'any"*effect;on thej \ )speptatorSi/jfAt seyen blcloqksa vehicle" appearjeditin rs ;; I which jv^as ;the;pyjspner^ and executipners. .^.BEe^ha^ '^[ i;^t : :, annoupced'tiiat ■ ne^woifld ! compose a series of verses "' o'cba r sisnj ! 'and''-sing r thenE ff6m^the : p*rissn'toW ~J.-:h the'scaffold. Accordingly he never ceased thjpughjg -j^-, /out the whole distance (about 350 yards) singing- _ _ -routimialbud'ydifee'tlie^'cbkpletsJm^westioH^^^ the;jßtejs.:tpf ri the, jeal^ldijfirmj^^anii^^K lightly, and on arriving above, after v deliberately , f r .. r regarding f 'tlre t multaMd6;;lie Mutidorei r f6rlu I 'tlio u ' ;ia ~i;W vi^i^n hiss. \tB r xxhl \; s ,/p j AUons, pauvre v)ctime,Vr x 8u -j . iO j £ x lirroli i Ton jour de morfi est arrive, w - ,„.:-;,,- I f'jCbntrejtoirdeTlajtyranniej yxh £a&sb .cJjjga I 3il ! Le couteau^ngl^gst.l^ye,!; rtjomwa '^ciii s Being 'then then tied to the plafil:' and flung into the usual horizontal position in orde^tobe^roughtr _urider -the blade, he still went on " Allons, pauvreLvictime,'^ iiuo'i '-J f l'" To^jour f demort f — - — . :• A heavy sound Vas ! theh heard, and all was over! The crowd dispersed at ox&e, T . pxp^siing" JSorronorsxl and hidignation at such a revolting disphiy^of _____ cynicism^ * ' — -— . - —