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@@ -0,0 +1,9203 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Book of Remarkable Criminals, by H. B. Irving + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Book of Remarkable Criminals + +Author: H. B. Irving + +Release Date: February, 1996 [Etext #446] +Posting Date: November 28, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF REMARKABLE CRIMINALS *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Lough + + + + + +A BOOK OF REMARKABLE CRIMINALS + +By H.B. Irving + + +TO MY FRIEND + +E. V. LUCAS + + + +"For violence and hurt tangle every man in their toils, and for the most +part fall on the head of him from whom they had their rise; nor is it +easy for one who by his act breaks the common pact of peace to lead a +calm and quiet life." + +Lucretius on the Nature of Things. + + +Transcriber's Note: + +The upper outside corner of page 15 and 16 has been torn from the +hardcopy. The spots are marked with?? and a best guess at missing words +is in brackets. Footnotes have been moved from end of page to end of +paragraph positions, sequentially numbered. + + +Contents + + INTRODUCTION + + THE LIFE OF CHARLES PEACE: + + I. HIS EARLY YEARS + II. PEACE IN LONDON + III. HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION + + THE CAREER OF ROBERT BUTLER: + + I. THE DUNEDIN MURDERS + II. THE TRIAL OF BUTLER + III. HIS DECLINE AND FALL + + M. DERUES: + + I. THE CLIMBING LITTLE GROCER + II. THE GAYE OF BLUFF + + DR. CASTAING: + + I. AN UNHAPPY COINCIDENCE + II. THE TRIAL OF DR. CASTAING + + PROFESSOR WEBSTER + + + THE MYSTERIOUS MR. HOLMES: + + I. HONOUR AMONGST THIEVES + II THE WANDERING ASSASSIN + + PARTNERSHIP IN CRIME: + + I. THE WIDOW GRAS + 1. THE CHARMER + 2. THE WOUNDED PIGEON + II. VITALIS AND MARIE BOYER + III. THE FENAYROU CASE + IV. EYRAUD AND BOMPARD + + + + + +A BOOK OF REMARKABLE CRIMINALS + + + + +Introduction + +"The silent workings, and still more the explosions, of human passion +which bring to light the darker elements of man's nature present to the +philosophical observer considerations of intrinsic interest; while +to the jurist, the study of human nature and human character with its +infinite varieties, especially as affecting the connection between +motive and action, between irregular desire or evil disposition and +crime itself, is equally indispensable and difficult."--_Wills on +Circumstantial Evidence_. + +I REMEMBER my father telling me that sitting up late one night talking +with Tennyson, the latter remarked that he had not kept such late +hours since a recent visit of Jowett. On that occasion the poet and +the philosopher had talked together well into the small hours of the +morning. My father asked Tennyson what was the subject of conversation +that had so engrossed them. "Murders," replied Tennyson. It would have +been interesting to have heard Tennyson and Jowett discussing such a +theme. The fact is a tribute to the interest that crime has for many +men of intellect and imagination. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? +Rob history and fiction of crime, how tame and colourless would be the +residue! We who are living and enduring in the presence of one of the +greatest crimes on record, must realise that trying as this period of +the world's history is to those who are passing through it, in the hands +of some great historian it may make very good reading for posterity. +Perhaps we may find some little consolation in this fact, like the +unhappy victims of famous freebooters such as Jack Sheppard or Charley +Peace. + +But do not let us flatter ourselves. Do not let us, in all the pomp and +circumstance of stately history, blind ourselves to the fact that the +crimes of Frederick, or Napoleon, or their successors, are in essence no +different from those of Sheppard or Peace. We must not imagine that +the bad man who happens to offend against those particular laws which +constitute the criminal code belongs to a peculiar or atavistic type, +that he is a man set apart from the rest of his fellow-men by mental or +physical peculiarities. That comforting theory of the Lombroso school +has been exploded, and the ordinary inmates of our prisons shown to be +only in a very slight degree below the average in mental and physical +fitness of the normal man, a difference easily explained by the +environment and conditions in which the ordinary criminal is bred. + +A certain English judge, asked as to the general characteristics of the +prisoners tried before him, said: "They are just like other people; +in fact, I often think that, but for different opportunities and other +accidents, the prisoner and I might very well be in one another's +places." "Greed, love of pleasure," writes a French judge, "lust, +idleness, anger, hatred, revenge, these are the chief causes of crime. +These passions and desires are shared by rich and poor alike, by the +educated and uneducated. They are inherent in human nature; the germ is +in every man." + +Convicts represent those wrong-doers who have taken to a particular form +of wrong-doing punishable by law. Of the larger army of bad men +they represent a minority, who have been found out in a peculiarly +unsatisfactory kind of misconduct. There are many men, some lying, +unscrupulous, dishonest, others cruel, selfish, vicious, who go through +life without ever doing anything that brings them within the scope of +the criminal code, for whose offences the laws of society provide no +punishment. And so it is with some of those heroes of history who have +been made the theme of fine writing by gifted historians. + +Mr. Basil Thomson, the present head of the Criminal Investigation +Department, has said recently that a great deal of crime is due to a +spirit of "perverse adventure" on the part of the criminal. The same +might be said with equal justice of the exploits of Alexander the Great +and half the monarchs and conquerors of the world, whom we are taught +in our childhood's days to look up to as shining examples of all that a +great man should be. Because crimes are played on a great stage instead +of a small, that is no reason why our moral judgment should be suspended +or silenced. Class Machiavelli and Frederick the Great as a couple of +rascals fit to rank with Jonathan Wild, and we are getting nearer a +perception of what constitutes the real criminal. "If," said Frederick +the Great to his minister, Radziwill, "there is anything to be gained +by it, we will be honest; if deception is necessary, let us be cheats." +These are the very sentiments of Jonathan Wild. + +Crime, broadly speaking, is the attempt by fraud or violence to possess +oneself of something belonging to another, and as such the cases of it +in history are as clear as those dealt with in criminal courts. Germany +to-day has been guilty of a perverse and criminal adventure, the outcome +of that false morality applied to historical transactions, of which +Carlyle's life of Frederick is a monumental example. In that book +we have a man whose instincts in more ways than one were those of a +criminal, held up for our admiration, in the same way that the same +writer fell into dithyrambic praise over a villain called Francia, a +former President of Paraguay. A most interesting work might be written +on the great criminals of history, and might do something towards +restoring that balance of moral judgment in historical transactions, for +the perversion of which we are suffering to-day. + +In the meantime we must be content to study in the microcosm of ordinary +crime those instincts, selfish, greedy, brutal which, exploited often +by bad men in the so-called cause of nations, have wrought such havoc +to the happiness of mankind. It is not too much to say that in every +man there dwell the seeds of crime; whether they grow or are stifled +in their growth by the good that is in us is a chance mysteriously +determined. As children of nature we must not be surprised if our +instincts are not all that they should be. "In sober truth," writes +John Stuart Mill, "nearly all the things for which men are hanged or +imprisoned for doing to one another are nature's everyday performances," +and in another passage: "The course of natural phenomena being replete +with everything which when committed by human beings is most worthy of +abhorrence, anyone who endeavoured in his actions to imitate the natural +course of things would be universally seen and acknowledged to be the +wickedest of men." + +Here is explanation enough for the presence of evil in our natures, that +instinct to destroy which finds comparatively harmless expression in +certain forms of taking life, which is at its worst when we fall +to taking each other's. It is to check an inconvenient form of the +expression of this instinct that we punish murderers with death. We must +carry the definition of murder a step farther before we can count +on peace or happiness in this world. We must concentrate all our +strength on fighting criminal nature, both in ourselves and in the +world around us. With the destructive forces of nature we are waging a +perpetual struggle for our very existence. Why dissipate our strength by +fighting among ourselves? By enlarging our conception of crime we move +towards that end. What is anti-social, whether it be written in the +pages of the historian or those of the Newgate Calendar, must in the +future be regarded with equal abhorrence and subjected to equally sure +punishment. Every professor of history should now and then climb down +from the giddy heights of Thucydides and Gibbon and restore his moral +balance by comparing the acts of some of his puppets with those of their +less fortunate brethren who have dangled at the end of a rope. If this +war is to mean anything to posterity, the crime against humanity must be +judged in the future by the same rigid standard as the crime against the +person. + +The individual criminals whose careers are given in this book have been +chosen from among their fellows for their pre-eminence in character or +achievement. Some of the cases, such as Butler, Castaing and Holmes, are +new to most English readers. + +Charles Peace is the outstanding popular figure in nineteenth-century +crime. He is the type of the professional criminal who makes crime a +business and sets about it methodically and persistently to the end. +Here is a man, possessing many of those qualities which go to make the +successful man of action in all walks of life, driven by circumstances +to squander them on a criminal career. Yet it is a curious circumstance +that this determined and ruthless burglar should have suffered for what +would be classed in France as a "crime passionel." There is more than +a possibility that a French jury would have found extenuating circumstances in the murder of Dyson. The fate of Peace is only another instance of the wrecking a strong man's career by his passion for a woman. In Albert Butler we have the criminal by conviction, a conviction which finds the ground ready prepared +for its growth in the natural laziness and idleness of the man's +disposition. The desire to acquire things by a short cut, without taking +the trouble to work for them honestly, is perhaps the most fruitful of +all sources of crime. Butler, a bit of a pedant, is pleased to +justify his conduct by reason and philosophy--he finds in the acts of +unscrupulous monarchs an analogy to his own attitude towards life. What +is good enough for Caesar Borgia is good enough for Robert Butler. Like +Borgia he comes to grief; criminals succeed and criminals fail. In the +case of historical criminals their crimes are open; we can estimate the +successes and failures. With ordinary criminals, we know only those +who fail. The successful, the real geniuses in crime, those whose guilt +remains undiscovered, are for the most part unknown to us. Occasionally +in society a man or woman is pointed out as having once murdered +somebody or other, and at times, no doubt, with truth. But the matter +can only be referred to clandestinely; they are gazed at with awe or +curiosity, mute witnesses to their own achievement. Some years ago James +Payn, the novelist, hazarded the reckoning that one person in every five +hundred was an undiscovered murderer. This gives us all a hope, almost +a certainty, that we may reckon one such person at least among our +acquaintances.(1) + + + (1) The author was one of three men discussing this subject in a London +club. They were able to name six persons of their various acquaintance +who were, or had been, suspected of being successful murderers. + + +Derues is remarkable for the extent of his social ambition, the daring +and impudent character of his attempts to gratify it, the skill, the +consummate hypocrisy with which he played on the credulity of honest +folk, and his flagrant employment of that weapon known and recognised +to-day in the most exalted spheres by the expressive name of "bluff." +He is remarkable, too, for his mirth and high spirits, his genial +buffoonery; the merry murderer is a rare bird. + +Professor Webster belongs to that order of criminal of which Eugene Aram +and the Rev. John Selby Watson are our English examples, men of culture +and studious habits who suddenly burst on the astonished gaze of +their fellowmen as murderers. The exact process of mind by which these +hitherto harmless citizens are converted into assassins is to a great +extent hidden from us. + +Perhaps Webster's case is the clearest of the three. Here we have a +selfish, self-indulgent and spendthrift gentleman who has landed himself +in serious financial embarrassment, seeking by murder to escape from an +importunate and relentless creditor. He has not, apparently, the moral +courage to face the consequences of his own weakness. He forgets the +happiness of his home, the love of those dear to him, in the desire to +free himself from a disgrace insignificent{sic} in comparison with that +entailed by committing the highest of all crimes. One would wish to +believe that Webster's deed was unpremeditated, the result of a sudden +gust of passion caused by his victim's acrimonious pursuit of his +debtor. But there are circumstances in the case which tell powerfully +against such a view. The character of the murderer seems curiously +contradictory; both cunning and simplicity mark his proceedings; he +makes a determined attempt to escape from the horrors of his situation +and shows at the same time a curious insensibility to its real gravity. +Webster was a man of refined tastes and seemingly gentle character, +loved by those near to him, well liked by his friends. + +The mystery that surrounds the real character of Eugene Aram is greater, +and we possess little or no means of solving it. From what motive this +silent, arrogant man, despising his ineffectual wife, this reserved and +moody scholar stooped to fraud and murder the facts of the case help us +little to determine. Was it the hope of leaving the narrow surroundings +of Knaresborough, his tiresome belongings, his own poor way of life, +and seeking a wider field for the exercise of those gifts of scholarship +which he undoubtedly possessed that drove him to commit fraud in company +with Clark and Houseman, and then, with the help of the latter, +murder the unsuspecting Clark? The fact of his humble origin makes +his association with so low a ruffian as Houseman the less remarkable. +Vanity in all probability played a considerable part in Aram's +disposition. He would seem to have thought himself a superior person, +above the laws that bind ordinary men. He showed at the end no +consciousness of his guilt. Being something of a philosopher, he had +no doubt constructed for himself a philosophy of life which served to +justify his own actions. He was a deist, believing in "one almighty +Being the God of Nature," to whom he recommended himself at the last in +the event of his "having done amiss." He emphasised the fact that his +life had been unpolluted and his morals irreproachable. But his views +as to the murder of Clark he left unexpressed. He suggested as +justification of it that Clark had carried on an intrigue with his +neglected wife, but he never urged this circumstance in his defence, and +beyond his own statement there is no evidence of such a connection. + +The Revd. John Selby Watson, headmaster of the Stockwell Grammar School, +at the age of sixty-five killed his wife in his library one Sunday +afternoon. Things had been going badly with the unfortunate man. After +more than twenty-five years' service as headmaster of the school at a +meagre salary of L400 a year, he was about to be dismissed; the +number of scholars had been declining steadily and a change in the +headmastership thought necessary; there was no suggestion of his +receiving any kind of pension. The future for a man of his years +was dark enough. The author of several learned books, painstaking, +scholarly, dull, he could hope to make but little money from literary +work. Under a cold, reserved and silent exterior, Selby Watson concealed +a violence of temper which he sought diligently to repress. His wife's +temper was none of the best. Worried, depressed, hopeless of his future, +he in all probability killed his wife in a sudden access of rage, +provoked by some taunt or reproach on her part, and then, instead of +calling in a policeman and telling him what he had done, made clumsy and +ineffectual efforts to conceal his crime. Medical opinion was divided as +to his mental condition. Those doctors called for the prosecution could +find no trace of insanity about him, those called for the defence said +that he was suffering from melancholia. The unhappy man would appear +hardly to have realised the gravity of his situation. To a friend who +visited him in prison he said: "Here's a man who can write Latin, which +the Bishop of Winchester would commend, shut up in a place like this." +Coming from a man who had spent all his life buried in books and knowing +little of the world the remark is not so greatly to be wondered at. +Profound scholars are apt to be impatient of mundane things. Professor +Webster showed a similar want of appreciation of the circumstances of a +person charged with wilful murder. Selby Watson was convicted of murder +and sentenced to death. The sentence was afterwards commuted to one of +penal servitude for life, the Home Secretary of the day showing by +his decision that, though not satisfied of the prisoner's insanity, he +recognised certain extenuating circumstances in his guilt.(2) + + + (2) Selby Watson was tried at the Central Criminal Court January, 1872. + + +In Castaing much ingenuity is shown in the conception of the crime, +but the man is weak and timid; he is not the stuff of which the great +criminal is made; Holmes is cast in the true mould of the instinctive +murderer. Castaing is a man of sensibility, capable of domestic +affection; Holmes completely insensible to all feelings of humanity. +Taking life is a mere incident in the accomplishment of his schemes; +men, women and children are sacrificed with equal mercilessness to the +necessary end. A consummate liar and hypocrite, he has that strange +power of fascination over others, women in particular, which is often +independent altogether of moral or even physical attractiveness. We +are accustomed to look for a certain vastness, grandeur of scale in the +achievements of America. A study of American crime will show that it +does not disappoint us in this expectation. The extent and audacity of +the crimes of Holmes are proof of it. + +To find a counterpart in imaginative literature to the complete criminal +of the Holmes type we must turn to the pages of Shakespeare. In the +number of his victims, the cruelty and insensibility with which he +attains his ends, his unblushing hypocrisy, the fascination he can +exercise at will over others, the Richard III. of Shakespeare shows how +clearly the poet understood the instinctive criminal of real life. The +Richard of history was no doubt less instinctively and deliberately an +assassin than the Richard of Shakespeare. In the former we can trace +the gradual temptation to crime to which circumstances provoke him. The +murder of the Princes, if, as one writer contends, it was not the work +of Henry VII.--in which case that monarch deserves to be hailed as +one of the most consummate criminals that ever breathed and the worthy +father of a criminal son--was no doubt forced to a certain extent on +Richard by the exigencies of his situation, one of those crimes to which +bad men are driven in order to secure the fruits of other crimes. But +the Richard of Shakespeare is no child of circumstance. He espouses +deliberately a career of crime, as deliberately as Peace or Holmes or +Butler; he sets out "determined to prove a villain," to be "subtle, +false and treacherous," to employ to gain his ends "stern murder in the +dir'st degree." The character is sometimes criticised as being overdrawn +and unreal. It may not be true to the Richard of history, but it is very +true to crime, and to the historical criminal of the Borgian or Prussian +type, in which fraud and violence are made part of a deliberate system +of so-called statecraft. + +Shakespeare got nearer to what we may term the domestic as opposed to +the political criminal when he created Iago. In their envy and dislike +of their fellowmen, their contempt for humanity in general, their +callousness to the ordinary sympathies of human nature, Robert Butler, +Lacenaire, Ruloff are witnesses to the poet's fidelity to criminal +character in his drawing of the Ancient. But there is a weakness in +the character of Iago regarded as a purely instinctive and malignant +criminal; indeed it is a weakness in the consistency of the play. On two +occasions Iago states explicitly that Othello is more than suspected of +having committed adultery with his wife, Emilia, and that therefore he +has a strong and justifiable motive for being revenged on the Moor. +The thought of it he describes as "gnawing his inwards." Emilia's +conversation with Desdemona in the last act lends some colour to the +correctness of Iago's belief. If this belief be well-founded it +must greatly modify his character as a purely wanton and mischievous +criminal, a supreme villain, and lower correspondingly the character +of Othello as an honourable and high-minded man. If it be a morbid +suspicion, having no ground in fact, a mental obsession, then Iago +becomes abnormal and consequently more or less irresponsible. But this +suggestion of Emilia's faithlessness made in the early part of the play +is never followed up by the dramatist, and the spectator is left in +complete uncertainty as to whether there be any truth or not in +Iago's suspicion. If Othello has played his Ancient false, that is an +extenuating circumstance in the otherwise extraordinary guilt of Iago, +and would no doubt be accorded to him as such, were he on trial before a +French jury. + +The most successful, and therefore perhaps the greatest, criminal in +Shakespeare is King Claudius of Denmark. His murder of his brother by +pouring a deadly poison into his ear while sleeping, is so skilfully +perpetrated as to leave no suspicion of foul play. But for a +supernatural intervention, a contingency against which no murderer could +be expected to have provided, the crime of Claudius would never have +been discovered. Smiling, jovial, genial as M. Derues or Dr. Palmer, +King Claudius might have gone down to his grave in peace as the bluff +hearty man of action, while his introspective nephew would in all +probability have ended his days in the cloister, regarded with amiable +contempt by his bustling fellowmen. How Claudius got over the great +difficulty of all poisoners, that of procuring the necessary poison +without detection, we are not told; by what means he distilled the +"juice of cursed hebenon"; how the strange appearance of the late +King's body, which "an instant tetter" had barked about with "vile and +loathsome crust," was explained to the multitude we are left to imagine. +There is no real evidence to show that Queen Gertrude was her lover's +accomplice in her husband's murder. If that had been so, she would +no doubt have been of considerable assistance to Claudius in the +preparation of the crime. But in the absence of more definite proof +we must assume Claudius' murder of his brother to have been a solitary +achievement, skilfully carried out by one whose genial good-fellowship +and convivial habits gave the lie to any suggestion of criminality. +Whatever may have been his inward feelings of remorse or self-reproach, +Claudius masked them successfully from the eyes of all. Hamlet's +instinctive dislike of his uncle was not shared by the members of the +Danish court. The "witchcraft of his wit," his "traitorous gifts," +were powerful aids to Claudius, not only in the seduction of his +sister-in-law, but the perpetration of secret murder. + +The case of the murder of King Duncan of Scotland by Macbeth and his +wife belongs to a different class of crime. It is a striking example of +dual crime, four instances of which are given towards the end of this +book. An Italian advocate, Scipio Sighele, has devoted a monograph to +the subject of dual crime, in which he examines a number of cases in +which two persons have jointly committed heinous crimes.(3) He finds +that in couples of this kind there is usually an incubus and a succubus, +the one who suggests the crime, the other on whom the suggestion works +until he or she becomes the accomplice or instrument of the stronger +will; "the one playing the Mephistophelian part of tempter, preaching +evil, urging to crime, the other allowing himself to be overcome by his +evil genius." In some cases these two roles are clearly differentiated; +it is easy, as in the case of Iago and Othello, Cassius and Brutus, to +say who prompted the crime. In others the guilt seems equally divided +and the original suggestion of crime to spring from a mutual tendency +towards the adoption of such an expedient. In Macbeth and his wife we +have a perfect instance of the latter class. No sooner have the witches +prophesied that Macbeth shall be a king than the "horrid image" of +the suggestion to murder Duncan presents itself to his mind, and, on +returning to his wife, he answers her question as to when Duncan is +to leave their house by the significant remark, "To-morrow--as he +proposes." To Lady Macbeth from the moment she has received her +husband's letter telling of the prophecy of the weird sisters, murder +occurs as a means of accomplishing their prediction. In the minds +of Macbeth and his wife the suggestion of murder is originally an +auto-suggestion, coming to them independently of each other as soon as +they learn from the witches that Macbeth is one day to be a king. To +Banquo a somewhat similar intimation is given, but no foul thought of +crime suggests itself for an instant to his loyal nature. What Macbeth +and his wife lack at first as thorough-going murderers is that complete +insensibility to taking human life that marks the really ruthless +assassin. Lady Macbeth has the stronger will of the two for the +commission of the deed. It is doubtful whether without her help Macbeth +would ever have undertaken it. But even she, when her husband hesitates +to strike, cannot bring herself to murder the aged Duncan with her own +hands because of his resemblance as he sleeps to her father. It is only +after a deal of boggling and at serious risk of untimely interruption +that the two contrive to do the murder, and plaster with blood the +"surfeited grooms." In thus putting suspicion on the servants of Duncan +the assassins cunningly avert suspicion from themselves, and Macbeth's +killing of the unfortunate men in seeming indignation at the discovery +of their crime is a master-stroke of ingenuity. "Who," he asks in a +splendid burst of feigned horror, "can be wise, amazed, temperate and +furious, loyal and natural in a moment?" At the same time Lady Macbeth +affects to swoon away in the presence of so awful a crime. For the time +all suspicion of guilt, except in the mind of Banquo, is averted from +the real murderers. But, like so many criminals, Macbeth finds it +impossible to rest on his first success in crime. His sensibility grows +dulled; he "forgets the taste of fear"; the murder of Banquo and his +son is diabolically planned, and that is soon followed by the outrageous +slaughter of the wife and children of Macduff. Ferri, the Italian writer +on crime, describes the psychical condition favourable to the commission +of murder as an absence of both moral repugnance to the crime itself and +the fear of the consequences following it. In the murder of Duncan, it +is the first of these two states of mind to which Macbeth and his wife +have only partially attained. The moral repugnance stronger in the +man has not been wholly lost by the woman. But as soon as the crime is +successfully accomplished, this repugnance begins to wear off until the +King and Queen are able calmly and deliberately to contemplate those +further crimes necessary to their peace of mind. But now Macbeth, at +first the more compunctious of the two, has become the more ruthless; +the germ of crime, developed by suggestion, has spread through his whole +being; he has begun to acquire that indifference to human suffering with +which Richard III. and Iago were gifted from the first. In both +Macbeth and Lady Macbeth the germ of crime was latent; they wanted only +favourable circumstances to convert them into one of those criminal +couples who are the more dangerous for the fact that the temptation +to crime has come to each spontaneously and grown and been fostered by +mutual understanding, an elective affinity for evil. Such couples are +frequent in the history of crime. Eyraud and Bompard, Mr. and Mrs. +Manning, Burke and Hare, the Peltzer brothers, Barre and Lebiez, are +instances of those collaborations in crime which find their counterpart +in history, literature, drama and business. Antoninus and Aurelius, +Ferdinand and Isabella, the De Goncourt brothers, Besant and Rice, +Gilbert and Sullivan, Swan and Edgar leap to the memory. + + + (3) "Le Crime a Deux," by Scipio Sighele (translated from the Italian), +Lyons, 1893. + +In the cases of Eyraud and Bompard, both man and woman are idle, vicious +criminals by instinct. They come together, lead an abandoned life, +sinking lower and lower in moral degradation. In the hour of need, crime +presents itself as a simple expedient for which neither of them has any +natural aversion. The repugnance to evil, if they ever felt it, has +long since disappeared from their natures. The man is serious, the woman +frivolous, but the criminal tendency in both cases is the same; each +performs his or her part in the crime with characteristic aptitude. +Mrs. Manning was a creature of much firmer character than her husband, +a woman of strong passions, a redoubtable murderess. Without her +dominating force Manning might never have committed murder. But he was a +criminal before the crime, more than suspected as a railway official of +complicity in a considerable train robbery; in his case the suggestion +of murder involved only the taking of a step farther in a criminal +career. Manning suffered from nerves almost as badly as Macbeth; after +the deed he sought to drown the prickings of terror and remorse by heavy +drinking Mrs. Manning was never troubled with any feelings of this kind; +after the murder of O'Connor the gratification of her sexual passion +seemed uppermost in her mind; and she met the consequences of her crime +fearlessly. Burke and Hare were a couple of ruffians, tempted by what +must have seemed almost fabulous wealth to men of their wretched +poverty to commit a series of cruel murders. Hare, with his queer, +Mephistophelian countenance, was the wickeder of the two. Burke became +haunted as time went on and flew to drink to banish horror, but Hare +would seem to have been free from such "compunctious visitings of +Nature." He kept his head and turned King's evidence. + +In the case of the Peltzer brothers we have a man who is of good social +position, falling desperately in love with the wife of a successful +barrister. The wife, though unhappy in her domestic life, refuses to +become her lover's mistress; marriage is the only way to secure her. So +Armand Peltzer plots to murder the husband. For this purpose he calls in +the help of a brother, a ne'er-do-well, who has left his native country +under a cloud. He sends for this dubious person to Europe, and there +between them they plan the murder of the inconvenient husband. Though +the idea of the crime comes from the one brother, the other receives the +idea without repugnance and enters wholeheartedly into the commission of +the murder. The ascendency of the one is evident, but he knows his +man, is sure that he will have no difficulty in securing the other's +co-operation in his felonious purpose. Armand Peltzer should have lived +in the Italy of the Renaissance. + +The crime was cunningly devised, and methodically and successfully +accomplished. Only an over-anxiety to secure the fruits of it led to its +detection. Barre and Lebiez are a perfect criminal couple, both young +men of good education, trained to better things, but the one idle, +greedy and vicious, the other cynical, indifferent, inclined at best to +a lazy sentimentalism. Barre is a needy stockbroker at the end of his +tether, desperate to find an expedient for raising the wind, Lebiez +a medical student who writes morbid verses to a skull and lectures on +Darwinism. To Barre belongs the original suggestion to murder an old +woman who sells milk and is reputed to have savings. But his friend +and former schoolfellow, Lebiez, accepts the suggestion placidly, and +reconciles himself to the murder of an unnecessary old woman by the +same argument as that used by Raskolnikoff in "Crime and Punishment" to +justify the killing of his victim. + +In all the cases here quoted the couples are essentially criminal +couples. From whichever of the two comes the first suggestion of crime, +it falls on soil already prepared to receive it; the response to the +suggestion is immediate. In degree of guilt there is little or nothing +to choose between them. But the more interesting instances of dual crime +are those in which one innocent hitherto of crime, to whom it is morally +repugnant, is persuaded by another to the commission of a criminal act, +as Cassius persuades Brutus; Iago, Othello. Cassius is a criminal +by instinct. Placed in a social position which removes him from the +temptation to ordinary crime, circumstances combine in his case to bring +out the criminal tendency and give it free play in the projected murder +of Caesar. Sour, envious, unscrupulous, the suggestion to kill Caesar +under the guise of the public weal is in reality a gratification +to Cassius of his own ignoble instincts, and the deliberate +unscrupulousness with which he seeks to corrupt the honourable metal, +seduce the noble mind of his friend, is typical of the man's innate +dishonesty. Cassius belongs to that particular type of the envious +nature which Shakespeare is fond of exemplifying with more or less +degree of villainy in such characters as Iago, Edmund, and Don John, +of which Robert Butler, whose career is given in this book, is a living +instance. Cassius on public grounds tempts Brutus to crime as subtly as +on private grounds Iago tempts Othello, and with something of the same +malicious satisfaction; the soliloquy of Cassius at the end of the +second scene of the first act is that of a bad man and a false friend. +Indeed, the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius after the murder of +Caesar loses much of its sincerity and pathos unless we can forget for +the moment the real character of Cassius. But the interest in the cases +of Cassius and Brutus, Iago and Othello, lies not so much in the +nature of the prompter of the crime. The instances in which an honest, +honourable man is by force of another's suggestion converted into a +criminal are psychologically remarkable. It is to be expected that we +should look in the annals of real crime for confirmation of the truth to +life of stories such as these, told in fiction or drama. + +The strongest influence, under which the naturally non-criminal person +may be tempted in violation of instinct and better nature to the +commission of a crime, is that of love or passion. Examples of this kind +are frequent in the annals of crime. There is none more striking than +that of the Widow Gras and Natalis Gaudry. Here a man, brave, honest, of +hitherto irreproachable character, is tempted by a woman to commit the +most cruel and infamous of crimes. At first he repels the suggestion; +at last, when his senses have been excited, his passion inflamed by the +cunning of the woman, as the jealous passion of Othello is played on and +excited by Iago, the patriotism of Brutus artfully exploited by Cassius, +he yields to the repeated solicitation and does a deed in every way +repugnant to his normal character. Nothing seems so blinding in its +effect on the moral sense as passion. It obscures all sense of humour, +proportion, congruity; the murder of the man or woman who stands in +the way of its full enjoyment becomes an act of inverted justice to +the perpetrators; they reconcile themselves to it by the most perverse +reasoning until they come to regard it as an act, in which they may +justifiably invoke the help of God; eroticism and religion are often +jumbled up together in this strange medley of conflicting emotions. + +A woman, urging her lover to the murder of her husband, writes of the +roses that are to deck the path of the lovers as soon as the crime is +accomplished; she sends him flowers and in the same letter asks if he +has got the necessary cartridges. Her husband has been ill; she hopes +that it is God helping them to the desired end; she burns a candle +on the altar of a saint for the success of their murderous plan.(4) A +jealous husband setting out to kill his wife carries in his pockets, +beside a knife and a service revolver, a rosary, a medal of the Virgin +and a holy image.(5) Marie Boyer in the blindness of her passion and +jealousy believes God to be helping her to get rid of her mother. + + + (4) Case of Garnier and the woman Aveline, 1884. + + (5) Case of the Comte +de Cornulier: "Un An de Justice," Henri Varennes, 1901. + + +A lover persuades the wife to get rid of her husband. For a whole year +he instils the poison into her soul until she can struggle no longer +against the obsession; he offers to do the deed, but she writes that she +would rather suffer all the risks and consequences herself. "How many +times," she writes, "have I wished to go away, leave home, but it meant +leaving my children, losing them for ever.. that made my lover jealous, +he believed that I could not bring myself to leave my husband. But if my +husband were out of the way then I would keep my children, and my +lover would see in my crime a striking proof of my devotion." A curious +farrago of slavish passion, motherly love and murder.(6) + + + (6) Case of Madame Weiss and the engineer Roques. If I may be permitted +the reference, there is an account of this case and that of Barre and +Lebiez in my book "French Criminals of the Nineteenth Century." + + +There are some women such as Marie Boyer and Gabrielle Fenayrou, who may +be described as passively criminal, chameleon-like, taking colour from +their surroundings. By the force of a man's influence they commit a +dreadful crime, in the one instance it is matricide, in the other the +murder of a former lover, but neither of the women is profoundly vicious +or criminal in her instincts. In prison they become exemplary, their +crime a thing of the past. + +Gabrielle Fenayrou during her imprisonment, having won the confidence +of the religious sisters in charge of the convicts, is appointed head +of one of the workshops. Marie Boyer is so contrite, exemplary in her +behaviour that she is released after fifteen years' imprisonment. In +some ways, perhaps, these malleable types of women, "soft paste" as one +authority has described them, "effacees" in the words of another, are +the most dangerous material of all for the commission of crime, their +obedience is so complete, so cold and relentless. + +There are cases into which no element of passion enters, in which one +will stronger than the other can so influence, so dominate the weaker as +to persuade the individual against his or her better inclination to an +act of crime, just as in the relations of ordinary life we see a man +or woman led and controlled for good or ill by one stronger than +themselves. There is no more extraordinary instance of this than the +case of Catherine Hayes, immortalised by Thackeray, which occurred +as long ago as the year 1726. This singular woman by her artful +insinuations, by representing her husband as an atheist and a murderer, +persuaded a young man of the name of Wood, of hitherto exemplary +character, to assist her in murdering him. It was unquestionably the +sinister influence of Captain Cranstoun that later in the same century +persuaded the respectable Miss Mary Blandy to the murder of her father. +The assassin of an old woman in Paris recounts thus the arguments used +by his mistress to induce him to commit the crime: "She began by telling +me about the money and jewellery in the old woman's possession which +could no longer be of any use to her"--the argument of Raskolnikoff--"I +resisted, but next day she began again, pointing out that one killed +people in war, which was not considered a crime, and therefore one +should not be afraid to kill a miserable old woman. I urged that the old +woman had done us no harm, and that I did not see why one should kill +her; she reproached me for my weakness and said that, had she been +strong enough, she would soon have done this abominable deed herself. +'God,' she added, 'will forgive us because He knows how poor we are.'" +When he came to do the murder, this determined woman plied her lover +with brandy and put rouge on his cheeks lest his pallor should betray +him.(7) + + + (7) Case of Albert and the woman Lavoitte, Paris, 1877. + + +There are occasions when those feelings of compunction which troubled +Macbeth and his wife are wellnigh proof against the utmost powers of +suggestion, or, as in the case of Hubert and Prince Arthur, compel the +criminal to desist from his enterprise. + +A man desires to get rid of his father and mother-in-law. By means of +threats, reproaches and inducements he persuades another man to commit +the crime. Taking a gun, the latter sets out to do the deed; but he +realises the heinousness of it and turns back. "The next day," he says, +"at four o'clock in the morning I started again. I passed the village +church. At the sight of the place where I had celebrated my first +communion I was filled with remorse. I knelt down and prayed to God to +make me good. But some unknown force urged me to the crime. I started +again--ten times I turned back, but the more I hesitated the stronger +was the desire to go on." At length the faltering assassin arrived at +the house, and in his painful anxiety of mind shot a servant instead of +the intended victims.(8) + + + (8) Case of Porcher and Hardouin cited in Despine. "Psychologie +Naturelle." + + +In a town in Austria there dwelt a happy and contented married couple, +poor and hard-working. A charming young lady, a rich relation and an +orphan, comes to live with them. She brings to their modest home wealth +and comfort. But as time goes on, it is likely that the young lady will +fall in love and marry. What then? Her hosts will have to return +to their original poverty. The idea of how to secure to himself the +advantages of his young kinswoman's fortune takes possession of the +husband's mind. He revolves all manner of means, and gradually murder +presents itself as the only way. The horrid suggestion fixes itself +in his mind, and at last he communicates it to his wife. At first she +resists, then yields to the temptation. The plan is ingenious. The wife +is to disappear to America and be given out as dead. The husband will +then marry his attractive kinswoman, persuade her to make a will in his +favour, poison her and, the fortune secured, rejoin his wife. As if +to help this cruel plan, the young lady has developed a sentimental +affection for her relative. The wife goes to America, the husband +marries the young lady. He commences to poison her, but, in the presence +of her youth, beauty and affection for him, relents, hesitates to commit +a possibly unnecessary crime. He decides to forget and ignore utterly +his wife who is waiting patiently in America. A year passes. The +expectant wife gets no sign of her husband's existence. She comes back +to Europe, visits under a false name the town in which her faithless +husband and his bride are living, discovers the truth and divulges the +intended crime to the authorities. A sentence of penal servitude for +life rewards this perfidious criminal.(9) + + + (9) Case of the Scheffer couple at Linz, cited by Sighele. + + +Derues said to a man who was looking at a picture in the Palais de +Justice: "Why study copies of Nature when you can look at such a +remarkable original as I?" A judge once told the present writer that he +did not go often to the theatre because none of the dramas which he saw +on the stage, seemed to him equal in intensity to those of real life +which came before him in the course of his duties. The saying that truth +is stranger than fiction applies more forcibly to crime than to +anything else. But the ordinary man and woman prefer to take their crime +romanticised, as it is administered to them in novel or play. The true +stories told in this book represent the raw material from which works +of art have been and may be yet created. The murder of Mr. Arden of +Faversham inspired an Elizabethan tragedy attributed by some critics +to Shakespeare. The Peltzer trial helped to inspire Paul Bourget's +remarkable novel, "Andre Cornelis." To Italian crime we owe Shelley's +"Cenci" and Browning's "The Ring and the Book." Mrs. Manning was the +original of the maid Hortense in "Bleak House." Jonathan Wild, Eugene +Aram, Deacon Brodie, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright have all been made +the heroes of books or plays of varying merit. But it is not only in its +stories that crime has served to inspire romance. In the investigation +of crime, especially on the broader lines of Continental procedure, we +can track to the source the springs of conduct and character, and come +near to solving as far as is humanly possible the mystery of human +motive. There is always and must be in every crime a terra incognita +which, unless we could enter into the very soul of a man, we cannot hope +to reach. Thus far may we go, no farther. It is rarely indeed that a man +lays bare his whole soul, and even when he does we can never be quite +sure that he is telling us all the truth, that he is not keeping back +some vital secret. It is no doubt better so, and that it should be left +to the writer of imagination to picture for us a man's inmost soul. The +study of crime will help him to that end. It will help us also in the +ethical appreciation of good and evil in individual conduct, about which +our notions have been somewhat obscured by too narrow a definition +of what constitutes crime. These themes, touched on but lightly and +imperfectly in these pages, are rich in human interest. + +And so it is hardly a matter for surprise that the poet and the +philosopher sat up late one night talking about murders. + + + + +The Life of Charles Peace + + +"Charles Peace, or the Adventures of a Notorious Burglar," a large +volume published at the time of his death, gives a full and accurate +account of the career of Peace side by side with a story of the Family +Herald type, of which he is made the hero. "The Life and Trial of +Charles Peace" (Sheffield, 1879), "The Romantic Career of a Great +Criminal" (by N. Kynaston Gaskell, London 1906), and "The Master +Criminal," published recently in London give useful information. I have +also consulted some of the newspapers of the time. There is a delightful +sketch of Peace in Mr. Charles Whibley's "Book of Scoundrels." + +I + +HIS EARLY YEARS + +Charles Peace told a clergyman who had an interview with him in prison +shortly before his execution that he hoped that, after he was gone, he +would be entirely forgotten by everybody and his name never mentioned +again. + +Posterity, in calling over its muster-roll of famous men, has refused +to fulfil this pious hope, and Charley Peace stands out as the one +great personality among English criminals of the nineteenth century. In +Charley Peace alone is revived that good-humoured popularity which +in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries fell to the lot of Claude +Duval, Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard. But Peace has one grievance +against posterity; he has endured one humiliation which these heroes +have been spared. His name has been omitted from the pages of the +"Dictionary of National Biography." From Duval, in the seventeenth, +down to the Mannings, Palmer, Arthur Orton, Morgan and Kelly, the +bushrangers, in the nineteenth century, many a criminal, far less +notable or individual than Charley Peace, finds his or her place in that +great record of the past achievements of our countrymen. Room has +been denied to perhaps the greatest and most naturally gifted criminal +England has produced, one whose character is all the more remarkable for +its modesty, its entire freedom from that vanity and vaingloriousness +so common among his class. + +The only possible reason that can be suggested for so singular an +omission is the fact that in the strict order of alphabetical succession +the biography of Charles Peace would have followed immediately on that +of George Peabody. It may have been thought that the contrast was too +glaring, that even the exigencies of national biography had no right +to make the philanthropist Peabody rub shoulders with man's constant +enemy, Peace. To the memory of Peace these few pages can make but +poor amends for the supreme injustice, but, by giving a particular and +authentic account of his career, they may serve as material for +the correction of this grave omission should remorse overtake those +responsible for so undeserved a slur on one of the most unruly of +England's famous sons. + +From the literary point of view Peace was unfortunate even in the hour +of his notoriety. In the very year of his trial and execution, the +Annual Register, seized with a fit of respectability from which it +has never recovered, announced that "the appetite for the strange and +marvellous" having considerably abated since the year 1757 when the +Register was first published, its "Chronicle," hitherto a rich mine of +extraordinary and sensational occurrences, would become henceforth a +mere diary of important events. Simultaneously with the curtailment +of its "Chronicle," it ceased to give those excellent summaries of +celebrated trials which for many years had been a feature of its +volumes. The question whether "the appetite for the strange and +marvellous" has abated in an appreciable degree with the passing of time +and is not perhaps keener than it ever was, is a debatable one. But +it is undeniable that the present volumes of the Annual Register have +fallen away dismally from the variety and human interest of their +predecessors. Of the trial and execution of Peace the volume for 1879 +gives but the barest record. + +Charles Peace was not born of criminal parents. His father, John +Peace, began work as a collier at Burton-on-Trent. Losing his leg in an +accident, he joined Wombwell's wild beast show and soon acquired some +reputation for his remarkable powers as a tamer of wild animals. About +this time Peace married at Rotherham the daughter of a surgeon in +the Navy. On the death of a favourite son to whom he had imparted +successfully the secrets of his wonderful control over wild beasts of +every kind, Mr. Peace gave up lion-taming and settled in Sheffield as a +shoemaker. + +It was at Sheffield, in the county of Yorkshire, already famous in the +annals of crime as the county of John Nevison and Eugene Aram, that +Peace first saw the light. On May 14, 1832, there was born to John Peace +in Sheffield a son, Charles, the youngest of his family of four. When he +grew to boyhood Charles was sent to two schools near Sheffield, where +he soon made himself remarkable, not as a scholar, but for his singular +aptitude in a variety of other employments such as making paper models, +taming cats, constructing a peep-show, and throwing up a heavy ball of +shot which he would catch in a leather socket fixed on to his forehead. + +The course of many famous men's lives has been changed by what appeared +at the time to be an unhappy accident. Who knows what may have been the +effect on Charles Peace's subsequent career of an accident he met with +in 1846 at some rolling mills, in which he was employed? A piece of red +hot steel entered his leg just below the knee, and after eighteen months +spent in the Sheffield Infirmary he left it a cripple for life. About +this time Peace's father died. Peace and his family were fond of +commemorating events of this kind in suitable verse; the death of John +Peace was celebrated in the following lines: + + "In peace he lived; + In peace he died; + Life was our desire, + But God denied." + + +Of the circumstances that first led Peace to the commission of crime we +know nothing. How far enforced idleness, bad companionship, according to +some accounts the influence of a criminally disposed mother, how far +his own daring and adventurous temper provoked him to robbery, cannot +be determined accurately. His first exploit was the stealing of an old +gentleman's gold watch, but he soon passed to greater things. On October +26, 1851, the house of a lady living in Sheffield was broken into and a +quantity of her property stolen. Some of it was found in the possession +of Peace, and he was arrested. Owing no doubt to a good character for +honesty given him by his late employer Peace was let off lightly with a +month's imprisonment. + +After his release Peace would seem to have devoted himself for a time to +music, for which he had always a genuine passion. He taught himself to +play tunes on a violin with one string, and at entertainments which he +attended was described as "the modern Paganini." In later life when he +had attained to wealth and prosperity the violin and the harmonium were +a constant source of solace during long winter evenings in Greenwich and +Peckham. But playing a one-stringed violin at fairs and public-houses +could not be more than a relaxation to a man of Peace's active temper, +who had once tasted what many of those who have practised it, describe +as the fascination of that particular form of nocturnal adventure known +by the unsympathetic name of burglary. Among the exponents of the art +Peace was at this time known as a "portico-thief," that is to say one +who contrived to get himself on to the portico of a house and from that +point of vantage make his entrance into the premises. During the +year 1854 the houses of a number of well-to-do residents in and about +Sheffield were entered after this fashion, and much valuable property +stolen. Peace was arrested, and with him a girl with whom he was keeping +company, and his sister, Mary Ann, at that time Mrs. Neil. On October +20, 1854, Peace was sentenced at Doncaster Sessions to four years' penal +servitude, and the ladies who had been found in possession of the +stolen property to six months apiece. Mrs. Neil did not long survive her +misfortune. She would seem to have been married to a brutal and drunken +husband, whom Peace thrashed on more than one occasion for ill-treating +his sister. After one of these punishments Neil set a bulldog on to +Peace; but Peace caught the dog by the lower jaw and punched it into a +state of coma. The death in 1859 of the unhappy Mrs. Neil was lamented +in appropriate verse, probably the work of her brother: + + "I was so long with pain opprest + That wore my strength away; + It made me long for endless rest + Which never can decay." + + +On coming out of prison in 1858, Peace resumed his fiddling, but it was +now no more than a musical accompaniment to burglary. This had become +the serious business of Peace's life, to be pursued, should necessity +arise, even to the peril of men's lives. His operations extended beyond +the bounds of his native town. The house of a lady living in Manchester +was broken into on the night of August 11, 1859, and a substantial booty +carried away. This was found the following day concealed in a hole in +a field. The police left it undisturbed and awaited the return of +the robber. When Peace and another man arrived to carry it away, the +officers sprang out on them. Peace, after nearly killing the officer +who was trying to arrest him, would have made his escape, had not other +policemen come to the rescue. For this crime Peace was sentenced to six +years' penal servitude, in spite of a loyal act of perjury on the part +of his aged mother, who came all the way from Sheffield to swear that he +had been with her there on the night of the crime. + +He was released from prison again in 1864, and returned to Sheffield. +Things did not prosper with him there, and he went back to Manchester. +In 1866 he was caught in the act of burglary at a house in Lower +Broughton. He admitted that at the time he was fuddled with whisky; +otherwise his capture would have been more difficult and dangerous. +Usually a temperate man, Peace realised on this occasion the value +of sobriety even in burglary, and never after allowed intemperance to +interfere with his success. A sentence of eight years' penal servitude +at Manchester Assizes on December 3, 1866, emphasised this wholesome +lesson. + +Whilst serving this sentence Peace emulated Jack Sheppard in a daring +attempt to escape from Wakefield prison. Being engaged on some repairs, +he smuggled a small ladder into his cell. With the help of a saw made +out of some tin, he cut a hole through the ceiling of the cell, and was +about to get out on to the roof when a warder came in. As the latter +attempted to seize the ladder Peace knocked him down, ran along the +wall of the prison, fell off on the inside owing to the looseness of the +bricks, slipped into the governor's house where he changed his clothes, +and there, for an hour and a half, waited for an opportunity to escape. +This was denied him, and he was recaptured in the governor's bedroom. +The prisons at Millbank, Chatham and Gibraltar were all visited by Peace +before his final release in 1872. At Chatham he is said to have taken +part in a mutiny and been flogged for his pains. + +On his liberation from prison Peace rejoined his family in Sheffield. +He was now a husband and father. In 1859 he had taken to wife a widow +of the name of Hannah Ward. Mrs. Ward was already the mother of a +son, Willie. Shortly after her marriage with Peace she gave birth to a +daughter, and during his fourth term of imprisonment presented him with +a son. Peace never saw this child, who died before his release. But, +true to the family custom, on his return from prison the untimely death +of little "John Charles" was commemorated by the printing of a funeral +card in his honour, bearing the following sanguine verses: + + "Farewell, my dear son, by us all beloved, + Thou art gone to dwell in the mansions above. + In the bosom of Jesus Who sits on the throne + Thou art anxiously waiting to welcome us home." + + +Whether from a desire not to disappoint little John Charles, for some +reason or other the next two or three years of Peace's career would seem +to have been spent in an endeavour to earn an honest living by picture +framing, a trade in which Peace, with that skill he displayed in +whatever he turned his hand to, was remarkably proficient. In Sheffield +his children attended the Sunday School. Though he never went to church +himself, he was an avowed believer in both God and the devil. As he +said, however, that he feared neither, no great reliance could be placed +on the restraining force of such a belief to a man of Peace's daring +spirit. There was only too good reason to fear that little John Charles' +period of waiting would be a prolonged one. + +In 1875 Peace moved from Sheffield itself to the suburb of Darnall. Here +Peace made the acquaintance--a fatal acquaintance, as it turned out--of +a Mr. and Mrs. Dyson. Dyson was a civil engineer. He had spent some +years in America, where, in 1866, he married. + +Toward the end of 1873 or the beginning of 1874, he came to England with +his wife, and obtained a post on the North Eastern Railway. He was a +tall man, over six feet in height, extremely thin, and gentlemanly in +his bearing. His engagement with the North Eastern Railway terminated +abruptly owing to Dyson's failing to appear at a station to which he had +been sent on duty. + +It was believed at the time by those associated with Dyson that this +unlooked-for dereliction of duty had its cause in domestic trouble. +Since the year 1875, the year in which Peace came to Darnall, the +domestic peace of Mr. Dyson had been rudely disturbed by this same ugly +little picture-framer who lived a few doors away from the Dysons' +house. Peace had got to know the Dysons, first as a tradesman, then as +a friend. To what degree of intimacy he attained with Mrs. Dyson it is +difficult to determine. In that lies the mystery of the case Mrs. Dyson +is described as an attractive woman, "buxom and blooming"; she was +dark-haired, and about twenty-five years of age. In an interview with +the Vicar of Darnall a few days before his execution, Peace asserted +positively that Mrs. Dyson had been his mistress. Mrs. Dyson as +strenuously denied the fact. There was no question that on one occasion +Peace and Mrs. Dyson had been photographed together, that he had given +her a ring, and that he had been in the habit of going to music halls +and public-houses with Mrs. Dyson, who was a woman of intemperate +habits. + +Peace had introduced Mrs. Dyson to his wife and daughter, and on one +occasion was said to have taken her to his mother's house, much to the +old lady's indignation. If there were not many instances of ugly men who +have been notably successful with women, one might doubt the likelihood +of Mrs. Dyson falling a victim to the charms of Charles Peace. But +Peace, for all his ugliness, could be wonderfully ingratiating when he +chose. According to Mrs. Dyson, Peace was a demon, "beyond the power of +even a Shakespeare to paint," who persecuted her with his attentions, +and, when he found them rejected, devoted all his malignant energies +to making the lives of her husband and herself unbearable. According to +Peace's story he was a slighted lover who had been treated by Mrs. Dyson +with contumely and ingratitude. + +Whether to put a stop to his wife's intimacy with Peace, or to protect +himself against the latter's wanton persecution, sometime about the end +of June, 1876, Dyson threw over into the garden of Peace's house a card, +on which was written: "Charles Peace is requested not to interfere with +my family." On July 1 Peace met Mr. Dyson in the street, and tried to +trip him up. The same night he came up to Mrs. Dyson, who was talking +with some friends, and threatened in coarse and violent language to +blow out her brains and those of her husband. In consequence of +these incidents Mr. Dyson took out a summons against Peace, for whose +apprehension a warrant was issued. To avoid the consequences of this +last step Peace left Darnall for Hull, where he opened an eating-shop, +presided over by Mrs. Peace. + +But he himself was not idle. From Hull he went to Manchester on +business, and in Manchester he committed his first murder. Entering the +grounds of a gentleman's home at Whalley Range, about midnight on +August 1, he was seen by two policemen. One of them, Constable Cock, +intercepted him as he was trying to escape. + +Peace took out his revolver and warned Cock to stand back. The policeman +came on. Peace fired, but deliberately wide of him. Cock, undismayed, +drew out his truncheon, and made for the burglar. Peace, desperate, +determined not to be caught, fired again, this time fatally. Cock's +comrade heard the shots, but before he could reach the side of the dying +man, Peace had made off. He returned to Hull, and there learned shortly +after, to his intense relief, that two brothers, John and William +Habron, living near the scene of the murder, had been arrested and +charged with the killing of Constable Cock. + +If the Dysons thought that they had seen the last of Peace, they were +soon to be convinced to the contrary. Peace had not forgotten his +friends at Darnall. By some means or other he was kept informed of all +their doings, and on one occasion was seen by Mrs. Dyson lurking near +her home. To get away from him the Dysons determined to leave Darnall. +They took a house at Banner Cross, another suburb of Sheffield, and +on October 29 moved into their new home. One of the first persons Mrs. +Dyson saw on arriving at Banner Cross was Peace himself. "You see," +he said, "I am here to annoy you, and I'll annoy you wherever you go." +Later, Peace and a friend passed Mr. Dyson in the street. Peace took out +his revolver. "If he offers to come near me," said he, "I will make him +stand back." But Mr. Dyson took no notice of Peace and passed on. He had +another month to live. + +Whatever the other motives of Peace may have been--unreasoning passion, +spite, jealousy, or revenge it must not be forgotten that Dyson, by +procuring a warrant against Peace, had driven him from his home in +Sheffield. This Peace resented bitterly. According to the statements of +many witnesses, he was at this time in a state of constant irritation +and excitement on the Dyson's account. He struck his daughter because +she alluded in a way he did not like to his relations with Mrs. Dyson. +Peace always believed in corporal chastisement as a means of keeping +order at home. Pleasant and entertaining as he could be, he was feared. +It was very dangerous to incur his resentment. "Be sure," said his wife, +"you do nothing to offend our Charley, or you will suffer for it." Dyson +beyond a doubt had offended "our Charley." But for the moment Peace was +interested more immediately in the fate of John and William Habron, +who were about to stand their trial for the murder of Constable Cock at +Whalley Range. + +The trial commenced at the Manchester Assizes before Mr. Justice (now +Lord) Lindley on Monday, November 27. John Habron was acquitted. + +The case against William Habron depended to a great extent on the fact +that he, as well as his brother, had been heard to threaten to "do for" +the murdered man, to shoot the "little bobby." Cock was a zealous young +officer of twenty-three years of age, rather too eager perhaps in +the discharge of his duty. In July of 1876 he had taken out summonses +against John and William Habron, young fellows who had been several +years in the employment of a nurseryman in Whalley Range, for being +drunk and disorderly. On July 27 William was fined five shillings, +and on August 1, the day of Cock's murder, John had been fined half +a sovereign. Between these two dates the Habrons had been heard to +threaten to "do for" Cock if he were not more careful. Other facts +relied upon by the prosecution were that William Habron had inquired +from a gunsmith the price of some cartridges a day or two before the +murder; that two cartridge percussion caps had been found in the pocket +of a waistcoat given to William Habron by his employer, who swore that +they could not have been there while it was in his possession; that the +other constable on duty with Cock stated that a man he had seen lurking +near the house about twelve o'clock on the night of the murder appeared +to be William Habron's age, height and complexion, and resembled him in +general appearance; and that the boot on Habron's left foot, which was +"wet and sludgy" at the time of his arrest, corresponded in certain +respects with the footprints of the murderer. The prisoner did not +help himself by an ineffective attempt to prove an alibi. The Judge was +clearly not impressed by the strength of the case for the prosecution. +He pointed out to the jury that neither the evidence of identification +nor that of the footprint went very far. As to the latter, what evidence +was there to show that it had been made on the night of the murder? If +it had been made the day before, then the defence had proved that it +could not have been Habron's. He called their attention to the facts +that Habron bore a good character, that, when arrested on the night of +the murder, he was in bed, and that no firearms had been traced to him. +In spite, however, of the summing-up the jury convicted William Habron, +but recommended him to mercy. The Judge without comment sentenced him to +death. The Manchester Guardian expressed its entire concurrence with the +verdict of the jury. "Few persons," it wrote, "will be found to dispute +the justice of the conclusions reached." However, a few days later +it opened its columns to a number of letters protesting against the +unsatisfactory nature of the conviction. On December 6 a meeting of +some forty gentlemen was held, at which it was resolved to petition Mr. +Cross, the Home Secretary, to reconsider the sentence. Two days before +the day of execution Habron was granted a respite, and later his +sentence commuted to one of penal servitude for life. And so a tragic +and irrevocable miscarriage of justice was happily averted. + +Peace liked attending trials. The fact that in Habron's case he was the +real murderer would seem to have made him the more eager not to miss so +unique an experience. Accordingly he went from Hull to Manchester, +and was present in court during the two days that the trial lasted. No +sooner had he heard the innocent man condemned to death than he left +Manchester for Sheffield--now for all he knew a double murderer. + +It is a question whether, on the night of November 28, Peace met Mrs. +Dyson at an inn in one of the suburbs of Sheffield. In any case, the +next morning, Wednesday, the 29th, to his mother's surprise Peace walked +into her house. He said that he had come to Sheffield for the fair. +The afternoon of that day Peace spent in a public-house at Ecclesall, +entertaining the customers by playing tunes on a poker suspended from +a piece of strong string, from which he made music by beating it with +a short stick. The musician was rewarded by drinks. It took very little +drink to excite Peace. There was dancing, the fun grew fast and furious, +as the strange musician beat out tune after tune on his fantastic +instrument. + +At six o'clock the same evening a thin, grey-haired, +insignificant-looking man in an evident state of unusual excitement +called to see the Rev. Mr. Newman, Vicar of Ecclesall, near Banner +Cross. Some five weeks before, this insignificant-looking man had +visited Mr. Newman, and made certain statements in regard to the +character of a Mr. and Mrs. Dyson who had come to live in the parish. +The vicar had asked for proof of these statements. These proofs his +visitor now produced. They consisted of a number of calling cards and +photographs, some of them alleged to be in the handwriting of Mrs. +Dyson, and showing her intimacy with Peace. The man made what purported +to be a confession to Mr. Newman. Dyson, he said, had become jealous of +him, whereupon Peace had suggested to Mrs. Dyson that they should give +her husband something to be jealous about. Out of this proposal their +intimacy had sprung. Peace spoke of Mrs. Dyson in terms of forgiveness, +but his wrath against Dyson was extreme. He complained bitterly that +by taking proceedings against him, Dyson had driven him to break up his +home and become a fugitive in the land. He should follow the Dysons, he +said, wherever they might go; he believed that they were at that moment +intending to take further proceedings against him. As he left, Peace +said that he should not go and see the Dysons that night, but would call +on a friend of his, Gregory, who lived next door to them in Banner Cross +Terrace. It was now about a quarter to seven. + +Peace went to Gregory's house, but his friend was not at home. The lure +of the Dysons was irresistible. A little after eight o'clock Peace was +watching the house from a passageway that led up to the backs of the +houses on the terrace. He saw Mrs. Dyson come out of the back door, +and go to an outhouse some few yards distant. He waited. As soon as +she opened the door to come out, Mrs. Dyson found herself confronted +by Peace, holding his revolver in his hand. "Speak," he said, "or I'll +fire." Mrs. Dyson in terror went back. In the meantime Dyson, hearing +the disturbance, came quickly into the yard. Peace made for the passage. +Dyson followed him. Peace fired once, the shot striking the lintel +of the passage doorway. Dyson undaunted, still pursued. Then Peace, +according to his custom, fired a second time, and Dyson fell, shot +through the temple. Mrs. Dyson, who had come into the yard again on +hearing the first shot, rushed to her husband's side, calling out: +"Murder! You villain! You have shot my husband." Two hours later Dyson +was dead. + +After firing the second shot Peace had hurried down; the passage into +the roadway. He stood there hesitating a moment, until the cries of Mrs. +Dyson warned him of his danger. He crossed the road, climbed a wall, +and made his way back to Sheffield. There he saw his mother and brother, +told them that he had shot Mr. Dyson, and bade them a hasty good-bye. +He then walked to Attercliffe Railway Station, and took a ticket for +Beverley. Something suspicious in the manner of the booking-clerk made +him change his place of destination. Instead of going to Beverley that +night he got out of the train at Normanton and went on to York. He spent +the remainder of the night in the station yard. He took the first train +in the morning for Beverley, and from there travelled via Collingham +to Hull. He went straight to the eating-house kept by his wife, and +demanded some dinner. He had hardly commenced to eat it when he heard +two detectives come into the front shop and ask his wife if a man called +Charles Peace was lodging with her. Mrs. Peace said that that was +her husband's name, but that she had not seen him for two months. The +detectives proposed to search the house. Some customers in the shop told +them that if they had any business with Mrs. Peace, they ought to go +round to the side door. The polite susceptibility of these customers +gave Peace time to slip up to a back room, get out on to an adjoining +roof, and hide behind a chimney stack, where he remained until the +detectives had finished an exhaustive search. So importunate were the +officers in Hull that once again during the day Peace had to repeat this +experience. For some three weeks, however, he contrived to remain in +Hull. He shaved the grey beard he was wearing at the time of Dyson's +murder, dyed his hair, put on a pair of spectacles, and for the first +time made use of his singular power of contorting his features in such +a way as to change altogether the character of his face. But the hue and +cry after him was unremitting. There was a price of L100 on his head, +and the following description of him was circulated by the police: + + +"Charles Peace wanted for murder on the night of the 29th inst. He is +thin and slightly built, from fifty-five to sixty years of age. Five +feet four inches or five feet high; grey (nearly white) hair, beard and +whiskers. He lacks use of three fingers of left hand, walks with his +legs rather wide apart, speaks somewhat peculiarly as though his +tongue were too large for his mouth, and is a great boaster. He is +a picture-frame maker. He occasionally cleans and repairs clocks and +watches and sometimes deals in oleographs, engravings and pictures. He +has been in penal servitude for burglary in Manchester. He has lived in +Manchester, Salford, and Liverpool and Hull." + + +This description was altered later and Peace's age given as forty-six. +As a matter of fact he was only forty-four at this time, but he looked +very much older. Peace had lost one of his fingers. He said that it had +been shot off by a man with whom he had quarrelled, but it was believed +to be more likely that he had himself shot it off accidentally in +handling one of his revolvers. It was to conceal this obvious means of +identification that Peace made himself the false arm which he was in the +habit of wearing. This was of gutta percha, with a hole down the middle +of it into which he passed his arm; at the end was a steel plate to +which was fixed a hook; by means of this hook Peace could wield a fork +and do other dexterous feats. + +Marked man as he was, Peace felt it dangerous to stay longer in Hull +than he could help. During the closing days of the year 1876 and the +beginning of 1877, Peace was perpetually on the move. He left Hull for +Doncaster, and from there travelled to London. On arriving at King's +Cross he took the underground railway to Paddington, and from there a +train to Bristol. At the beginning of January he left Bristol for Bath, +and from Bath, in the company of a sergeant of police, travelled by +way of Didcot to Oxford. The officer had in his custody a young woman +charged with stealing L40. Peace and the sergeant discussed the case +during the journey. "He seemed a smart chap," said Peace in relating +the circumstances, "but not smart enough to know me." From Oxford he +went to Birmingham, where he stayed four or five days, then a week in +Derby, and on January 9th he arrived in Nottingham. + +Here Peace found a convenient lodging at the house of one, Mrs. Adamson, +a lady who received stolen goods and on occasion indicated or organised +suitable opportunities for acquiring them. + +She lived in a low part of the town known as the Marsh. It was at +her house that Peace met the woman who was to become his mistress and +subsequently betray his identity to the police. Her maiden name was +Susan Gray. + +She was at this time about thirty-five years of age, described as +"taking" in appearance, of a fair complexion, and rather well educated. +She had led a somewhat chequered married life with a gentleman named +Bailey, from whom she continued in receipt of a weekly allowance until +she passed under the protection of Peace. Her first meeting with her +future lover took place on the occasion of Peace inviting Mrs. Adamson +to dispose of a box of cigars for him, which that good woman did at a +charge of something like thirty per cent. At first Peace gave himself +out to Mrs. Bailey as a hawker, but before long he openly acknowledged +his real character as an accomplished burglar. With characteristic +insistence Peace declared his passion for Mrs. Bailey by threatening +to shoot her if she did not become his. Anxious friends sent for her to +soothe the distracted man. Peace had been drowning care with the help +of Irish whiskey. He asked "his pet" if she were not glad to see him, to +which the lady replied with possible sarcasm: "Oh, particularly, very, +I like you so much." Next day Peace apologised for his rude behaviour +of the previous evening, and so melted the heart of Mrs. Bailey that she +consented to become his mistress, and from that moment discarding the +name of Bailey is known to history as Mrs. Thompson. + +Life in Nottingham was varied pleasantly by burglaries carried out with +the help of information supplied by Mrs. Adamson. In the June of 1877 +Peace was nearly detected in stealing, at the request of that worthy, +some blankets, but by flourishing his revolver he contrived to get +away, and, soon after, returned for a season to Hull. Here this hunted +murderer, with L100 reward on his head, took rooms for Mrs. Thompson and +himself at the house of a sergeant of police. One day Mrs. Peace, who +was still keeping her shop in Hull, received a pencilled note saying, "I +am waiting to see you just up Anlaby Road." She and her stepson, Willie +Ward, went to the appointed spot, and there to their astonishment stood +her husband, a distinguished figure in black coat and trousers, top +hat, velvet waistcoat, with stick, kid gloves, and a pretty little fox +terrier by his side. Peace told them of his whereabouts in the town, but +did not disclose to them the fact that his mistress was there also. To +the police sergeant with whom he lodged, Peace described himself as +an agent. But a number of sensational and successful burglaries at +the houses of Town Councillors and other well-to-do citizens of Hull +revealed the presence in their midst of no ordinary robber. Peace had +some narrow escapes, but with the help of his revolver, and on one +occasion the pusillanimity of a policeman, he succeeded in getting away +in safety. The bills offering a reward for his capture were still to +be seen in the shop windows of Hull, so after a brief but brilliant +adventure Peace and Mrs. Thompson returned to Nottingham. + +Here, as the result of further successful exploits, Peace found a reward +of L50 offered for his capture. On one occasion the detectives came +into the room where Peace and his mistress were in bed. After politely +expressing his surprise at seeing "Mrs. Bailey" in such a situation, +one of the officers asked Peace his name. He gave it as John Ward, and +described himself as a hawker of spectacles. He refused to get up and +dress in the presence of the detectives who were obliging enough to go +downstairs and wait his convenience. Peace seized the opportunity to +slip out of the house and get away to another part of the town. From +there he sent a note to Mrs. Thompson insisting on her joining him. +He soon after left Nottingham, paid another brief visit to Hull, but +finding that his wife's shop was still frequented by the police, whom he +designated freely as "a lot of fools," determined to quit the North for +good and begin life afresh in the ampler and safer field of London. + + +II + +PEACE IN LONDON + + +Peace's career in London extended over nearly two years, but they were +years of copious achievement. In that comparatively short space of time, +by the exercise of that art, to his natural gifts for which he had now +added the wholesome tonic of experience, Peace passed from a poor and +obscure lodging in a slum in Lambeth to the state and opulence of a +comfortable suburban residence in Peckham. These were the halcyon days +of Peace's enterprise in life. From No. 25 Stangate Street, Lambeth, the +dealer in musical instruments, as Peace now described himself, sallied +forth night after night, and in Camberwell and other parts of South +London reaped the reward of skill and vigilance in entering other +people's houses and carrying off their property. Though in the beginning +there appeared to be but few musical instruments in Stangate Street to +justify his reputed business, "Mr. Thompson," as he now called himself, +explained that he was not wholly dependent on his business, as Mrs. +Thompson "had money." + +So successful did the business prove that at the Christmas of 1877 Peace +invited his daughter and her betrothed to come from Hull and spend +the festive season with him. This, in spite of the presence of Mrs. +Thompson, they consented to do. Peace, in a top hat and grey ulster, +showed them the sights of London, always inquiring politely of a +policeman if he found himself in any difficulty. At the end of the visit +Peace gave his consent to his daughter's marriage with Mr. Bolsover, +and before parting gave the young couple some excellent advice. For more +reasons than one Peace was anxious to unite under the same roof Mrs. +Peace and Mrs. Thompson. Things still prospering, Peace found himself +able to remove from Lambeth to Crane Court, Greenwich, and before long +to take a couple of adjoining houses in Billingsgate Street in the +same district. These he furnished in style. In one he lived with Mrs. +Thompson, while Mrs. Peace and her son, Willie, were persuaded after +some difficulty to leave Hull and come to London to dwell in the other. + +But Greenwich was not to the taste of Mrs. Thompson. To gratify her +wish, Peace, some time in May, 1877, removed the whole party to a house, +No. 5, East Terrace, Evelina Road, Peckham. He paid thirty pounds a year +for it, and obtained permission to build a stable for his pony and trap. +When asked for his references, Peace replied by inviting the agent to +dine with him at his house in Greenwich, a proceeding that seems to have +removed all doubt from the agent's mind as to the desirability of the +tenant. + +This now famous house in Peckham was of the ordinary type of suburban +villa, with basement, ground floor, and one above; there were steps up +to the front door, and a bow window to the front sitting-room. A garden +at the back of the house ran down to the Chatham and Dover railway line. +It was by an entrance at the back that Peace drove his horse and trap +into the stable which he had erected in the garden. Though all living +in the same house, Mrs. Peace, who passed as Mrs. Ward, and her son, +Willie, inhabited the basement, while Peace and Mrs. Thompson occupied +the best rooms on the ground floor. The house was fitted with Venetian +blinds. In the drawing-room stood a good walnut suite of furniture; a +Turkey carpet, gilded mirrors, a piano, an inlaid Spanish guitar, and, +by the side of an elegant table, the beaded slippers of the good +master of the house completed the elegance of the apartment. Everything +confirmed Mr. Thompson's description of himself as a gentleman of +independent means with a taste for scientific inventions. In association +with a person of the name of Brion, Peace did, as a fact, patent an +invention for raising sunken vessels, and it is said that in pursuing +their project, the two men had obtained an interview with Mr. Plimsoll +at the House of Commons. In any case, the Patent Gazette records the +following grant: + + +"2635 Henry Fersey Brion, 22 Philip Road, Peckham Rye, London, S.E., and +John Thompson, 5 East Terrace, Evelina Road, Peckham Rye, London, S.E., +for an invention for raising sunken vessels by the displacement of water +within the vessels by air and gases." + + +At the time of his final capture Peace was engaged on other inventions, +among them a smoke helmet for firemen, an improved brush for washing +railway carriages, and a form of hydraulic tank. To the anxious +policeman who, seeing a light in Mr. Thompson's house in the small hours +of the morning, rang the bell to warn the old gentleman of the possible +presence of burglars, this business of scientific inventions was +sufficient explanation. + +Socially Mr. Thompson became quite a figure in the neighbourhood. He +attended regularly the Sunday evening services at the parish church, and +it must have been a matter of anxious concern to dear Mr. Thompson that +during his stay in Peckham the vicarage was broken into by a burglar and +an unsuccessful attempt made to steal the communion plate which was kept +there. + +Mr. Thompson was generous in giving and punctual in paying. He had his +eccentricities. His love of birds and animals was remarkable. Cats, +dogs, rabbits, guinea-pigs, canaries, parrots and cockatoos all found +hospitality under his roof. It was certainly eccentricity in Mr. +Thompson that he should wear different coloured wigs; and that his dark +complexion should suggest the use of walnut juice. His love of music was +evinced by the number of violins, banjoes, guitars, and other musical +instruments that adorned his drawing-room. Tea and music formed the +staple of the evening entertainments which Mr. and Mrs. Thompson would +give occasionally to friendly neighbours. Not that the pleasures of +conversation were neglected wholly in favour of art. The host was +a voluble and animated talker, his face and body illustrating +by appropriate twists and turns the force of his comments. The +Russo-Turkish war, then raging, was a favourite theme of Mr. Thompson's. +He asked, as we are still asking, what Christianity and civilisation +mean by countenancing the horrors of war. He considered the British +Government in the highest degree guilty in supporting the cruel Turks, a +people whose sobriety seemed to him to be their only virtue, against +the Christian Russians. He was confident that our Ministers would be +punished for opposing the only Power which had shown any sympathy with +suffering races. About ten o'clock Mr. Thompson, whose health, he said, +could not stand late hours, would bid his guests good night, and by +half-past ten the front door of No. 5, East Terrace, Evelina Road, would +be locked and bolted, and the house plunged in darkness. + +Not that it must be supposed that family life at No. 5, East Terrace, +was without its jars. These were due chiefly to the drunken habits of +Mrs. Thompson. Peace was willing to overlook his mistress' failing +as long as it was confined to the house. But Mrs. Thompson had an +unfortunate habit of slipping out in an intoxicated condition, and +chattering with the neighbours. As she was the repository of many a +dangerous secret the inconvenience of her habit was serious. Peace was +not the man to hesitate in the face of danger. On these occasions +Mrs. Thompson was followed by Peace or his wife, brought back home and +soundly beaten. To Hannah Peace there must have been some satisfaction +in spying on her successful rival, for, in her own words, Peace never +refused his mistress anything; he did not care what she cost him in +dress; "she could swim in gold if she liked." Mrs. Thompson herself +admitted that with the exception of such punishment as she brought on +herself by her inebriety, Peace was always fond of her, and treated her +with great kindness. It was she to whom he would show with pride the +proceeds of his nightly labours, to whom he would look for a smile when +he returned home from his expeditions, haggard and exhausted + +Through all dangers and difficulties the master was busy in the practice +of his art. Night after night, with few intervals of repose, he would +sally forth on a plundering adventure. If the job was a distant one, he +would take his pony and trap. Peace was devoted to his pony, Tommy, +and great was his grief when at the end of six months' devotion to duty +Tommy died after a few days' sickness, during which his master attended +him with unremitting care. Tommy had been bought in Greenwich for +fourteen guineas, part of a sum of two hundred and fifty pounds which +Peace netted from a rich haul of silver and bank-notes taken from a +house in Denmark Hill. Besides the pony and trap, Peace would take with +him on these expeditions a violin case containing his tools; at other +times they would be stuffed into odd pockets made for the purpose in +his trousers. These tools consisted of ten in all--a skeleton key, two +pick-locks, a centre-bit, gimlet, gouge, chisel, vice jemmy and knife; a +portable ladder, a revolver and life preserver completed his equipment. + +The range of Peace's activities extended as far as Southampton, +Portsmouth and Southsea; but the bulk of his work was done in +Blackheath, Streatham, Denmark Hill, and other suburbs of South London. +Many dramatic stories are told of his exploits, but they rest for the +most part on slender foundation. On one occasion, in getting on to a +portico, he fell, and was impaled on some railings, fortunately in no +vital part. His career as a burglar in London lasted from the beginning +of the year 1877 until October, 1878. During that time this wanted man, +under the very noses of the police, exercised with complete success his +art as a burglar, working alone, depending wholly on his own mental and +physical gifts, disposing in absolute secrecy of the proceeds of his +work, and living openly the life of a respectable and industrious old +gentleman. + +All the while the police were busily seeking Charles Peace, the murderer +of Mr. Dyson. Once or twice they came near to capturing him. On one +occasion a detective who had known Peace in Yorkshire met him in +Farringdon Road, and pursued him up the steps of Holborn Viaduct, but +just as the officer, at the top of the steps, reached out and was on the +point of grabbing his man, Peace with lightning agility slipped through +his fingers and disappeared. The police never had a shadow of suspicion +that Mr. Thompson of Peckham was Charles Peace of Sheffield. They knew +the former only as a polite and chatty old gentleman of a scientific +turn of mind, who drove his own pony and trap, and had a fondness for +music and keeping pet animals. + +Peace made the mistake of outstaying his welcome in the neighbourhood +of South-East London. Perhaps he hardly realised the extent to which +his fame was spreading. During the last three months of Peace's career, +Blackheath was agog at the number of successful burglaries committed +in the very midst of its peaceful residents. The vigilance of the local +police was aroused, the officers on night duty were only too anxious to +effect the capture of the mysterious criminal. + +About two o'clock in the morning of October 10, 1878, a police +constable, Robinson by name, saw a light appear suddenly in a window at +the back of a house in St. John's Park, Blackheath, the residence of a +Mr. Burness. Had the looked-for opportunity arrived? Was the mysterious +visitor, the disturber of the peace of Blackheath, at his burglarious +employment? Without delay Robinson summoned to his aid two of his +colleagues. One of them went round to the front of the house and rang +the bell, the other waited in the road outside, while Robinson stayed in +the garden at the back. No sooner had the bell rung than Robinson saw a +man come from the dining-room window which opened on to the garden, and +make quickly down the path. Robinson followed him. The man turned; "Keep +back!" he said, "or by God I'll shoot you!" Robinson came on. The man +fired three shots from a revolver, all of which passed close to the +officer's head. Robinson made another rush for him, the man fired +another shot. It missed its mark. The constable closed with his would-be +assassin, and struck him in the face. "I'll settle you this time," cried +the man, and fired a fifth shot, which went through Robinson's arm just +above the elbow. But, in spite of his wound, the valiant officer held +his prisoner, succeeded in flinging him to the ground, and catching hold +of the revolver that hung round the burglar's wrist, hit him on the head +with it. Immediately after the other two constables came to the help of +their colleague, and the struggling desperado was secured. + +Little did the police as they searched their battered and moaning +prisoner realise the importance of their capture. When next morning +Peace appeared before the magistrate at Greenwich Police Court he was +not described by name--he had refused to give any--but as a half-caste +about sixty years of age, of repellant aspect. He was remanded for a +week. The first clue to the identity of their prisoner was afforded +by a letter which Peace, unable apparently to endure the loneliness and +suspense of prison any longer, wrote to his co-inventor Mr. Brion. It is +dated November 2, and is signed "John Ward." Peace was disturbed at the +absence of all news from his family. Immediately after his arrest, the +home in Peckham had been broken up. Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Peace, taking +with them some large boxes, had gone first to the house of a sister of +Mrs. Thompson's in Nottingham, and a day or two later Mrs. Peace had +left Nottingham for Sheffield. There she went to a house in Hazel Road, +occupied by her son-in-law Bolsover, a working collier.(10) + + + (10) Later, Mrs. Peace was arrested and charged with being in possession +of stolen property. She was taken to London and tried at the Old Bailey +before Mr. Commissioner Kerr, but acquitted on the ground of her having +acted under the compulsion of her husband. + + +It was no doubt to get news of his family that Peace wrote to Brion. But +the letters are sufficiently ingenious. Peace represents himself as a +truly penitent sinner who has got himself into a most unfortunate and +unexpected "mess" by giving way to drink. The spelling of the letters is +exaggeratedly illiterate. He asks Mr. Brion to take pity on him and not +despise him as "his own famery has don," to write him a letter to "hease +his trobel hart," if possible to come and see him. Mr. Brion complied +with the request of the mysterious "John Ward," and on arriving at +Newgate where Peace was awaiting trial, found himself in the presence of +his friend and colleague, Mr. Thompson. + +In the meantime the police were getting hot on the scent of the identity +of "John Ward" with the great criminal who in spite of all their efforts +had eluded them for two years. The honour and profit of putting the +police on the right scent were claimed by Mrs. Thompson. To her Peace +had contrived to get a letter conveyed about the same time that he wrote +to Mr. Brion. It is addressed to his "dearly beloved wife." He asks +pardon for the "drunken madness" that has involved him in his present +trouble, and gives her the names of certain witnesses whom he would wish +to be called to prove his independent means and his dealings in musical +instruments. It is, he writes, his first offence, and as he has "never +been in prison before," begs her not to feel it a disgrace to come and +see him there. But Peace was leaning on a broken reed. Loyalty does not +appear to have been Susan Thompson's strong point. In her own words she +"was not of the sentimental sort." The "traitress Sue," as she is called +by chroniclers of the time, had fallen a victim to the wiles of the +police. Since, after Peace's arrest, she had been in possession of a +certain amount of stolen property, it was easier no doubt to persuade +her to be frank. + +In any case, we find that on February 5, 1879, the day after Peace had +been sentenced to death for the murder of Dyson, Mrs. Thompson appealed +to the Treasury for the reward of L100 offered for Peace's conviction. +She based her application on information which she said she had supplied +to the police officers in charge of the case on November 5 in the +previous year, the very day on which Peace had first written to her from +Newgate. In reply to her letter the Treasury referred "Mrs. S. Bailey, +alias Thompson," to the Home Office, but whether she received from that +office the price of blood history does not relate. + +The police scouted the idea that any revelation of hers had assisted +them to identify "John Ward" with Charles Peace. They said that it +was information given them in Peckham, no doubt by Mr. Brion, who, on +learning the deplorable character of his coadjutor, had placed himself +unreservedly in their hands, which first set them on the track. From +Peckham they went to Nottingham, where they no doubt came across Sue +Thompson, and thence to Sheffield, where on November 6 they visited +the house in Hazel Road, occupied by Mrs. Peace and her daughter, Mrs. +Bolsover. There they found two of the boxes which Mrs. Peace had brought +with her from Peckham. Besides stolen property, these boxes contained +evidence of the identity of Ward with Peace. A constable who had known +Peace well in Sheffield was sent to Newgate, and taken into the yard +where the prisoners awaiting trial were exercising. As they passed +round, the constable pointed to the fifth man: "That's Peace," he said, +"I'd know him anywhere." The man left the ranks and, coming up to the +constable, asked earnestly, "What do you want me for?" but the Governor +ordered him to go on with his walk. + +It was as John Ward, alias Charles Peace, that Peace, on November 19, +1878, was put on his trial for burglary and the attempted murder of +Police Constable Robinson, at the Old Bailey before Mr. Justice Hawkins. +His age was given in the calendar as sixty, though Peace was actually +forty-six. The evidence against the prisoner was clear enough. All Mr. +Montagu Williams could urge in his defence was that Peace had never +intended to kill the officer, merely to frighten him. The jury found +Peace guilty of attempted murder. Asked if he had anything to say why +judgment should not be passed upon him, he addressed the Judge. He +protested that he had not been fairly dealt with, that he never intended +to kill the prosecutor, that the pistol was one that went off very +easily, and that the last shot had been fired by accident. "I really did +not know," he said, "that the pistol was loaded, and I hope, my lord, +that you will have mercy on me. I feel that I have disgraced myself, I +am not fit either to live or die. I am not prepared to meet my God, but +still I feel that my career has been made to appear much worse than it +really is. Oh, my lord, do have mercy on me; do give me one chance of +repenting and of preparing to meet my God. Do, my lord, have mercy on +me; and I assure you that you shall never repent it. As you hope for +mercy yourself at the hands of the great God, do have mercy on me, and +give me a chance of redeeming my character and preparing myself to meet +my God. I pray, and beseech you to have mercy upon me." + +Peace's assumption of pitiable senility, sustained throughout the trial, +though it imposed on Sir Henry Hawkins, failed to melt his heart. He +told Peace that he did not believe his statement that he had fired the +pistol merely to frighten the constable; had not Robinson guarded +his head with his arm he would have been wounded fatally, and Peace +condemned to death. He did not consider it necessary, he said, to make +an inquiry into Peace's antecedents; he was a desperate burglar, and +there was an end of the matter. Notwithstanding his age, Mr. Justice +Hawkins felt it his duty to sentence him to penal servitude for life. +The severity of the sentence was undoubtedly a painful surprise +to Peace; to a man of sixty years of age it would be no doubt less +terrible, but to a man of forty-six it was crushing. + +Not that Peace was fated to serve any great part of his sentence. + +With as little delay as possible he was to be called on to answer to +the murder of Arthur Dyson. The buxom widow of the murdered man had been +found in America, whither she had returned after her husband's death. +She was quite ready to come to England to give evidence against +her husband's murderer. On January 17, 1879, Peace was taken from +Pentonville prison, where he was serving his sentence, and conveyed by +an early morning train to Sheffield. There at the Town Hall he appeared +before the stipendiary magistrate, and was charged with the murder of +Arthur Dyson. When he saw Mrs. Dyson enter the witness box and tell her +story of the crime, he must have realised that his case was desperate. +Her cross-examination was adjourned to the next hearing, and Peace was +taken back to London. On the 22nd, the day of the second hearing in +Sheffield, an enormous crowd had assembled outside the Town Hall. Inside +the court an anxious and expectant audiience{sic}, among them Mrs. +Dyson, in the words of a contemporary reporter, "stylish and cheerful," +awaited the appearance of the protagonist. Great was the disappointment +and eager the excitement when the stipendiary came into the court about +a quarter past ten and stated that Peace had attempted to escape that +morning on the journey from London to Sheffield, and that in consequence +of his injuries the case would be adjourned for eight days. + +What had happened was this. Peace had left King's Cross by the 5.15 +train that morning, due to arrive at Sheffield at 8.45. From the very +commencement of the journey he had been wilful and troublesome. He kept +making excuses for leaving the carriage whenever the train stopped. +To obviate this nuisance the two warders, in whose charge he was, had +provided themselves with little bags which Peace could use when he +wished and then throw out of the window. Just after the train passed +Worksop, Peace asked for one of the bags. When the window was lowered +to allow the bag to be thrown away, Peace with lightning agility took a +flying leap through it. One of the warders caught him by the left foot. +Peace, hanging from the carriage, grasped the footboard with his hands +and kept kicking the warder as hard as he could with his right foot. +The other warder, unable to get to the window to help his colleague, was +making vain efforts to stop the train by pulling the communication cord. +For two miles the train ran on, Peace struggling desperately to escape. +At last he succeeded in kicking off his left shoe, and dropped on to the +line. The train ran on another mile until, with the assistance of some +gentlemen in other carriages, the warders were able to get it pulled up. +They immediately hurried back along the line, and there, near a place +called Kineton Park, they found their prisoner lying in the footway, +apparently unconscious and bleeding from a severe wound in the scalp. A +slow train from Sheffield stopped to pick up the injured man. As he was +lifted into the guard's van, he asked them to cover him up as he was +cold. On arriving at Sheffield, Peace was taken to the Police Station +and there made as comfortable as possible in one of the cells. Even then +he had energy enough to be troublesome over taking the brandy ordered +for him by the surgeon, until one of the officers told "Charley" they +would have none of his hanky-panky, and he had got to take it. "All +right," said Peace, "give me a minute," after which he swallowed +contentedly a couple of gills of the genial spirit. + +Peace's daring feat was not, according to his own account, a mere +attempt to escape from the clutches of the law; it was noble and Roman +in its purpose. This is what he told his stepson, Willie Ward: "I saw +from the way I was guarded all the way down from London and all the way +back, when I came for my first trial, that I could not get away from the +warders, and I knew I could not jump from an express train without being +killed. I took a look at Darnall as I went down and as I went back, and +after I was put in my cell, I thought it all over. I felt that I could +not get away, and then I made up my mind to kill myself. I got two bits +of paper and pricked on them the words, 'Bury me at Darnall. God bless +you all!' With a bit of black dirt that I found on the floor of my cell +I wrote the same words on another piece of paper, and then I hid them in +my clothes. My hope was that, when I jumped from the train I should be +cut to pieces under the wheels. Then I should have been taken to the +Duke of York (a public-house at Darnall) and there would have been an +inquest over me. As soon as the inquest was over you would have claimed +my body, found the pieces of paper, and then you would have buried me at +Darnall." + +This statement of Peace is no doubt in the main correct. But it is +difficult to believe that there was not present to his mind the sporting +chance that he might not be killed in leaping from the train, in which +event he would no doubt have done his best to get away, trusting to his +considerable powers of ingenious disguise to elude pursuit. But such a +chance was remote. Peace had faced boldly the possibility of a dreadful +death. + +With that strain of domestic sentiment, which would appear to have been +a marked characteristic of his family, Peace was the more ready to +cheat the gallows in the hope of being by that means buried decently at +Darnall. It was at Darnall that he had spent some months of comparative +calm in his tempestuous career, and it was at Darnall that he had first +met Mrs. Dyson. Another and more practical motive that may have urged +Peace to attempt to injure seriously, if not kill himself, was the +hope of thereby delaying his trial. If the magisterial investigation +in Sheffield were completed before the end of January, Peace could be +committed for trial to the ensuing Leeds Assizes which commenced in the +first week in February. If he were injured too seriously, this would not +be possible. Here again he was doomed to disappointment. + +Peace recovered so well from the results of his adventure on the railway +that the doctor pronounced him fit to appear for his second examination +before the magistrate on January 30. To avoid excitement, both on +the part of the prisoner and the public, the court sat in one of the +corridors of the Town Hall. The scene is described as dismal, dark and +cheerless. The proceedings took place by candlelight, and Peace, who was +seated in an armchair, complained frequently of the cold. At other times +he moaned and groaned and protested against the injustice with which +he was being treated. But the absence of any audience rather dashed the +effect of his laments. + +The most interesting part of the proceedings was the cross-examination +of Mrs. Dyson by Mr. Clegg, the prisoner's solicitor. + +Its purpose was to show that Mrs. Dyson had been on more intimate terms +with Peace than she was ready to admit, and that Dyson had been shot +by Peace in the course of a struggle, in which the former had been the +aggressor. + +In the first part of his task Mr. Clegg met with some success. Mrs. +Dyson, whose memory was certainly eccentric--she could not, she said, +remember the year in which she had been married--was obliged to admit +that she had been in the habit of going to Peace's house, that she had +been alone with him to public-houses and places of entertainment, and +that she and Peace had been photographed together during the summer fair +at Sheffield. She could not "to her knowledge" recollect having told the +landlord of a public-house to charge her drink to Peace. + +A great deal of Mrs. Dyson's cross-examination turned on a bundle of +letters that had been found near the scene of Dyson's murder on the +morning following the crime. These letters consisted for the most part +of notes, written in pencil on scraps of paper, purporting to have been +sent from Mrs. Dyson to Peace. In many of them she asks for money to get +drink, others refer to opportunities for their meetings in the absence +of Dyson; there are kind messages to members of Peace's family, his wife +and daughter, and urgent directions to Peace to hold his tongue and not +give ground for suspicion as to their relations. This bundle of letters +contained also the card which Dyson had thrown into Peace's garden +requesting him not to interfere with his family. According to the theory +of the defence, these letters had been written by Mrs. Dyson to Peace, +and went to prove the intimacy of their relations. At the inquest after +her husband's murder, Mrs. Dyson had been questioned by the coroner +about these letters. She denied that she had ever written to Peace; in +fact, she said, she "never did write." It was stated that Dyson himself +had seen the letters, and declared them to be forgeries written by Peace +or members of his family for the purpose of annoyance. Nevertheless, +before the Sheffield magistrate Mr. Clegg thought it his duty to +cross-examine Mrs. Dyson closely as to their authorship. He asked her +to write out a passage from one of them: "You can give me something as a +keepsake if you like, but I don't like to be covetous, and to take them +from your wife and daughter. Love to all!" Mrs. Dyson refused to admit +any likeness between what she had written and the handwriting of the +letter in question. Another passage ran: "Will see you as soon as I +possibly can. I think it would be easier after you move; he won't watch +so. The r--g fits the little finger. Many thanks and love to--Jennie +(Peace's daughter Jane). I will tell you what I thought of when I see +you about arranging matters. Excuse this scribbling." In answer to Mr. +Clegg, Mrs. Dyson admitted that Peace had given her a ring, which she +had worn for a short time on her little finger. + +Another letter ran: "If you have a note for me, send now whilst he is +out; but you must not venture, for he is watching, and you cannot be too +careful. Hope your foot is better. I went to Sheffield yesterday, but +I could not see you anywhere. Were you out? Love to Jane." Mrs. Dyson +denied that she had known of an accident which Peace had had to his foot +at this time. In spite of the ruling of the magistrate that Mr. +Clegg had put forward quite enough, if true, to damage Mrs. Dyson's +credibility, he continued to press her as to her authorship of these +notes and letters, but Mrs. Dyson was firm in her repudiation of +them. She was equally firm in denying that anything in the nature of a +struggle had taken place between Peace and her husband previous to his +murder. + +At the conclusion of Mrs. Dyson's evidence the prisoner was committed to +take his trial at the Leeds Assizes, which commenced the week following. +Peace, who had groaned and moaned and constantly interrupted the +proceedings, protested his innocence, and complained that his witnesses +had not been called. The apprehension with which this daring malefactor +was regarded by the authorities is shown by this clandestine hearing +of his case in a cold corridor of the Town Hall, and the rapidity with +which his trial followed on his committal. There is an appearance almost +of precipitation in the haste with which Peace was bustled to his doom. +After his committal he was taken to Wakefield Prison, and a few days +later to Armley Jail, there to await his trial. + +This began on February 4, and lasted one day. Mr. Justice Lopes, who had +tried vainly to persuade the Manchester Grand Jury to throw out the +bill in the case of the brothers Habron, was the presiding judge. Mr. +Campbell Foster, Q.C., led for the prosecution. Peace was defended by +Mr. Frank Lockwood, then rising into that popular success at the bar +which some fifteen years later made him Solicitor-General, and but for +his premature death would have raised him to even higher honours in his +profession. + +In addressing the jury, both Mr. Campbell Foster and Mr. Lockwood took +occasion to protest against the recklessness with which the press of +the day, both high and low, had circulated stories and rumours about +the interesting convict. As early as November in 1878 one leading London +daily newspaper had said that "it was now established beyond doubt that +the burglar captured by Police Constable Robinson was one and the same +as the Banner Cross murderer." Since then, as the public excitement grew +and the facts of Peace's extraordinary career came to light, the press +had responded loyally to the demands of the greedy lovers of sensation, +and piled fiction on fact with generous profusion. "Never," said Mr. +Lockwood, "in the whole course of his experience--and he defied any +of his learned friends to quote an experience--had there been such an +attempt made on the part of those who should be most careful of all +others to preserve the liberties of their fellowmen and to preserve the +dignity of the tribunals of justice to determine the guilt of a man." +Peace exclaimed "Hear, hear!" as Mr. Lockwood went on to say that "for +the sake of snatching paltry pence from the public, these persons had +wickedly sought to prejudice the prisoner's life." Allowing for Mr. +Lockwood's zeal as an advocate, there can be no question that, had +Peace chosen or been in a position to take proceedings, more than one +newspaper had at this time laid itself open to prosecution for contempt +of Court. The Times was not far wrong in saying that, since Muller +murdered Mr. Briggs on the North London Railway and the poisonings of +William Palmer, no criminal case had created such excitement as that of +Charles Peace. The fact that property seemed to be no more sacred to him +than life aggravated in a singular degree the resentment of a commercial +people. + +The first witness called by the prosecution was Mrs. Dyson. She +described how on the night of November 29, 1876, she had come out of +the outhouse in the yard at the back of her house, and found herself +confronted by Peace holding a revolver; how he said: "Speak, or I'll +fire!" and the sequence of events already related up to the moment when +Dyson fell, shot in the temple. + +Mr. Lockwood commenced his cross-examination of Mrs. Dyson by +endeavouring to get from her an admission; the most important to the +defence, that Dyson had caught hold of Peace after the first shot had +been fired, and that in the struggle which ensued, the revolver had gone +off by accident. But he was not very successful. He put it to Mrs. Dyson +that before the magistrate at Sheffield she had said: "I can't say +my husband did not get hold of the prisoner." "Put in the little +word 'try,' please," answered Mrs. Dyson. In spite of Mr. Lockwood's +questions, she maintained that, though her husband may have attempted to +get hold of Peace, he did not succeed in doing so. As she was the only +witness to the shooting there was no one to contradict her statement. + +Mr. Lockwood fared better when he came to deal with the relations of +Mrs. Dyson with Peace previous to the crime. Mrs. Dyson admitted that +in the spring of 1876 her husband had objected to her friendship with +Peace, and that nevertheless, in the following summer, she and Peace +had been photographed together at the Sheffield fair. She made a vain +attempt to escape from such an admission by trying to shift the occasion +of the summer fair to the previous year, 1875, but Mr. Lockwood put +it to her that she had not come to Darnall, where she first met Peace, +until the end of that year. Finally he drove her to say that she could +not remember when she came to Darnall, whether in 1873, 1874, 1875, or +1876. She admitted that she had accepted a ring from Peace, but could +not remember whether she had shown it to her husband. She had been +perhaps twice with Peace to the Marquis of Waterford public-house, and +once to the Star Music Hall. She could not swear one way or the other +whether she had charged to Peace's account drink consumed by her at an +inn in Darnall called the Half-way House. Confronted with a little girl +and a man, whom Mr. Lockwood suggested she had employed to carry notes +to Peace, Mrs. Dyson said that these were merely receipts for pictures +which he had framed for her. On the day before her husband's murder, +Mrs. Dyson was at the Stag Hotel at Sharrow with a little boy belonging +to a neighbour. A man followed her in and sat beside her, and afterwards +followed her out. In answer to Mr. Lockwood, Mrs. Dyson would "almost +swear" the man was not Peace; he had spoken to her, but she could not +remember whether she had spoken to him or not. She denied that this man +had said to her that he would come and see her the next night. As +the result of a parting shot Mr. Lockwood obtained from Mrs. Dyson a +reluctant admission that she had been "slightly inebriated" at the +Half-way House in Darnall, but had not to her knowledge been turned +out of the house on that account. "You may not have known you were +inebriated?" suggested Mr. Lockwood. "I always know what I am doing," +was Mrs. Dyson's reply, to which an unfriendly critic might have replied +that she did not apparently know with anything like certainty what she +had been doing during the last three or four years. In commenting on +the trial the following day, the Times stigmatised as "feeble" the +prevarications by which Mrs. Dyson tried to explain away her intimacy +with Peace. In this part of his cross-examination Mr. Lockwood had made +it appear at least highly probable that there had been a much closer +relationship between Mrs. Dyson and Peace than the former was willing to +acknowledge. + +The evidence of Mrs. Dyson was followed by that of five persons who had +either seen Peace in the neighbourhood of Banner Cross Terrace on the +night of the murder, or heard the screams and shots that accompanied it. +A woman, Mrs. Gregory, whose house was between that of the Dysons and +the passage in which Dyson was shot, said that she had heard the noise +of the clogs Mrs. Dyson was wearing as she went across the yard. A +minute later she heard a scream. She opened her back door and saw Dyson +standing by his own. She told him to go to his wife. She then went back +into her house, and almost directly after heard two shots, followed by +another scream, but no sound as of any scuffling. + +Another witness was a labourer named Brassington. He was a stranger to +Peace, but stated that about eight o'clock on the night of the murder +a man came up to him outside the Banner Cross Hotel, a few yards from +Dyson's house. He was standing under a gas lamp, and it was a bright +moonlight night. The man asked him if he knew of any strange people who +had come to live in the neighbourhood. Brassington answered that he +did not. The man then produced a bundle of letters which he asked +Brassington to read. But Brassington declined, as reading was not one of +his accomplishments. The man then said that "he would make it a warm 'un +for those strange folks before morning--he would shoot both of them," +and went off in the direction of Dyson's house. Brassington swore +positively that Peace was the stranger who had accosted him that night, +and Mr. Lockwood failed to shake him in his evidence. Nor could Mr. +Lockwood persuade the surgeon who was called to Dyson at the time of his +death to admit that the marks on the nose and chin of the dead man +could have been caused by a blow; they were merely abrasions of the skin +caused by the wounded man falling to the ground. + +Evidence was then given as to threats uttered by Peace against the +Dysons in the July of 1876, and as to his arrest at Blackheath in the +October of 1878. The revolver taken from Peace that night was produced, +and it was shown that the rifling of the bullet extracted from Dyson's +head was the same as that of the bullet fired from the revolver carried +by Peace at the time of his capture. + +Mr. Campbell Foster wanted to put in as evidence the card that Dyson +had flung into Peace's garden at Darnall requesting him not to interfere +with his family. This card had been found among the bundle of letters +dropped by Peace near the scene of the murder. Mr. Lockwood objected to +the admission of the card unless all the letters were admitted at the +same time. The Judge ruled that both the card and the letters were +inadmissible, as irrelevant to the issue; Mr. Lockwood had, he said, +very properly cross-examined Mrs. Dyson on these letters to test her +credibility, but he was bound by her answers and could not contradict +her by introducing them as evidence in the case. + +Mr. Lockwood in his address to the jury did his best to persuade them +that the death of Dyson was the accidental result of a struggle between +Peace and himself. He suggested that Mrs. Dyson had left her house that +night for the purpose of meeting Peace, and that Dyson, who was jealous +of his wife's intimacy with him, had gone out to find her; that Dyson, +seeing Peace, had caught hold of him; and that the revolver had gone +off accidentally as Dyson tried to wrest it from his adversary. +He repudiated the suggestion of Mr. Foster that the persons he had +confronted with Mrs. Dyson in the course of his cross-examination had +been hired for a paltry sum to come into court and lie. + +Twice, both at the beginning and the end of his speech, Mr. Lockwood +urged as a reason for the jury being tender in taking Peace's life that +he was in such a state of wickedness as to be quite unprepared to meet +death. Both times that his counsel put forward this curious plea, Peace +raised his eyes to heaven and exclaimed "I am not fit to die." + +Mr. Justice Lopes in summing up described as an "absolute surmise" the +theory of the accidental discharge of the pistol. He asked the jury to +take Peace's revolver in their hands and try the trigger, so as to see +for themselves whether it was likely to go off accidentally or not. He +pointed out that the pistol produced might not have been the pistol used +at Banner Cross; at the same time the bullet fired in November, 1876, +bore marks such as would have been produced had it been fired from the +pistol taken from Peace at Blackheath in October, 1878. He said that Mr. +Lockwood had been perfectly justified in his attempt to discredit the +evidence of Mrs. Dyson, but the case did not rest on her evidence alone. +In her evidence as to the threats uttered by Peace in July, 1876, Mrs. +Dyson was corroborated by three other witnesses. In the Judge's opinion +it was clearly proved that no struggle or scuffle had taken place +before the murder. If the defence, he concluded, rested on no solid +foundation, then the jury must do their duty to the community at large +and by the oath they had sworn. + +It was a quarter past seven when the jury retired. Ten minutes later +they came back into court with a verdict of guilty. Asked if he had +anything to say, Peace in a faint voice replied, "It is no use my +saying anything." The Judge, declining very properly to aggravate the +prisoner's feelings by "a recapitulation of any portion of the details +of what I fear, I can only call your criminal career," passed on him +sentence of death. Peace accepted his fate with composure. + +Before we proceed to describe the last days of Peace on earth, let us +finish with the two women who had succeeded Mrs. Peace in his ardent +affections. + +A few days after Peace's execution Mrs. Dyson left England for America, +but before going she left behind her a narrative intended to contradict +the imputations which she felt had been made against her moral +character. An Irishwoman by birth, she said that she had gone to America +when she was fifteen years old. + +There she met and married Dyson, a civil engineer on the Atlantic and +Great Western Railway. Theirs was a rough and arduous life. But Mrs. +Dyson was thoroughly happy in driving her husband about in a buggy among +bears and creeks. She did not know fear and loved danger: "My husband +loved me and I loved him, and in his company and in driving him about in +this wild kind of fashion I derived much pleasure." However, Mr. Dyson's +health broke down, and he was obliged to return to England. It was at +Darnall that the fatal acquaintance with Peace began. Living next +door but one to the Dysons, Peace took the opportunity of introducing +himself, and Mr. Dyson "being a gentleman," took polite notice of his +advances. He became a constant visitor at the house. But after a time +Peace began to show that he was not the gentleman Mr. Dyson was. He +disgusted the latter by offering to show him improper pictures and "the +sights of the town" of Sheffield. + +The Dysons tried to shake off the unwelcome acquaintance, but that was +easier said than done. By this time Peace had set his heart on making +Mrs. Dyson leave her husband. He kept trying to persuade her to go to +Manchester with him, where he would take a cigar or picture shop, to +which Mrs. Dyson, in fine clothes and jewelry, should lend the charm of +her comely presence. He offered her a sealskin jacket, yards of silk, +a gold watch. She should, he said, live in Manchester like a lady, to +which Mrs. Dyson replied coldly that she had always lived like one and +should continue to do so quite independently of him. But Peace would +listen to no refusal, however decided its tone. Dyson threw over +the card into Peace's garden. This only served to aggravate his +determination to possess himself of the wife. He would listen at +keyholes, leer in at the window, and follow Mrs. Dyson wherever she +went. When she was photographed at the fair, she found that Peace had +stood behind her chair and by that means got himself included in the +picture. At times he had threatened her with a revolver. On one occasion +when he was more insulting than usual, Mrs. Dyson forgot her fear of him +and gave him a thrashing. Peace threatened "to make her so that neither +man nor woman should look at her, and then he would have her all to +himself." It was with some purpose of this kind, Mrs. Dyson suggested, +that Peace stole a photograph of herself out of a locket, intending to +make some improper use of it. At last, in desperation, the Dysons moved +to Banner Cross. From the day of their arrival there until the murder, +Mrs. Dyson never saw Peace. She denied altogether having been in his +company the night before the murder. The letters were "bare forgeries," +written by Peace or members of his family to get her into their power. + +Against the advice of all her friends Mrs. Dyson had come back from +America to give evidence against Peace. To the detective who saw her at +Cleveland she said, "I will go back if I have to walk on my head all the +way"; and though she little knew what she would have to go through in +giving her evidence, she would do it again under the circumstances. "My +opinion is," she said, "that Peace is a perfect demon--not a man. I am +told that since he has been sentenced to death he has become a changed +character. That I don't believe. The place to which the wicked go is not +bad enough for him. I think its occupants, bad as they might be, are too +good to be where he is. No matter where he goes, I am satisfied that +there will be hell. Not even a Shakespeare could adequately paint such a +man as he has been. My lifelong regret will be that I ever knew him." + +With these few earnest words Mrs. Dyson quitted the shores of England, +hardly clearing up the mystery of her actual relations with Peace. + +A woman with whom Mrs. Dyson very much resented finding herself +classed--inebriety would appear to have been their only common +weakness--was Mrs. Thompson, the "traitress Sue." In spite of the fact +that on February 5 Mrs. Thompson had applied to the Treasury for L100, +blood money due her for assisting the police in the identification of +Peace, she was at the same time carrying on a friendly correspondence +with her lover and making attempts to see him. Peace had written to her +before his trial hoping she would not forsake him; "you have been my +bosom friend, and you have ofttimes said you loved me, that you would +die for me." He asked her to sell some goods which he had left with +her in order to raise money for his defence. The traitress replied on +January 27 that she had already sold everything and shared the proceeds +with Mrs. Peace. "You are doing me great injustice," she wrote, "by +saying that I have been out to 'work' with you. Do not die with such a +base falsehood on your conscience, for you know I am young and have my +living and character to redeem. I pity you and myself to think we should +have met." After his condemnation Mrs. Thompson made repeated efforts +to see Peace, coming to Leeds for the purpose. Peace wrote a letter on +February 9 to his "poor Sue," asking her to come to the prison. But, +partly at the wish of Peace's relatives and for reasons of their own, a +permission given Mrs. Thompson by the authorities to visit the convict +was suddenly withdrawn, and she never saw him again. + + + +III + +HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION + + +In the lives of those famous men who have perished on the scaffold +their behaviour during the interval between their condemnation and their +execution has always been the subject of curiosity and interest. + +It may be said at once that nothing could have been more deeply +religious, more sincerely repentant, more Christian to all appearances +than Peace's conduct and demeanour in the last weeks of his life. He +threw himself into the work of atonement with the same uncompromising +zeal and energy that he had displayed as a burglar. By his death a truly +welcome and effective recruit was lost to the ranks of the contrite +and converted sinners. However powerless as a controlling force--and he +admitted it--his belief in God and the devil may have been in the past, +that belief was assured and confident, and in the presence of death +proclaimed itself with vigour, not in words merely, but in deeds. + +In obedience to the wishes of his family, Peace had refrained from +seeing Sue Thompson. This was at some sacrifice, for he wished very much +to see her and to the last, though he knew that she had betrayed him, +sent her affectionate and forgiving messages. These were transmitted +to Sue by Mr. Brion. This disingenuous gentleman was a fellow-applicant +with Sue to the Treasury for pecuniary recognition of his efforts in +bringing about the identification of Peace, and furnishing the police +with information as to the convict's disposal of his stolen property. In +his zeal he had even gone so far as to play the role of an accomplice of +Peace, and by this means discovered a place in Petticoat Lane where the +burglar got rid of some of his booty. + +After Peace's condemnation Mr. Brion visited him in Armley Jail. His +purpose in doing so was to wring from his co-inventor an admission that +the inventions which they had patented together were his work alone. +Peace denied this, but offered to sell his share for L50. Brion refused +the offer, and persisted in his assertion that Peace had got his name +attached to the patents by undue influence, whatever that might mean. +Peace, after wrestling with the spirit, gave way. "Very well, my +friend," he said, "let it be as you say. I have not cheated you, Heaven +knows. But I also know that this infamy of mine has been the cause of +bringing harm to you, which is the last thing I should have wished to +have caused to my friend." A deed of gift was drawn up, making over to +Brion Peace's share in their inventions; this Peace handed to Brion +as the price of the latter's precious forgiveness and a token of the +sincerity of his colleague's repentance. Thus, as has often happened +in this sad world, was disreputable genius exploited once again by +smug mediocrity. Mr. Brion, having got all he wanted, left the prison, +assuring the Governor that Peace's repentance was "all bunkum," and +advising, with commendable anxiety for the public good, that the warders +in the condemned cell should be doubled. + +Peace had one act of atonement to discharge more urgent than displaying +Christian forbearance towards ignoble associates. That was the righting +of William Habron, who was now serving the third year of his life +sentence for the murder of Constable Cock at Whalley Range. Peace +sent for the Governor of the jail a few days before his execution and +obtained from him the materials necessary for drawing up a plan. Peace +was quite an adept at making plans; he had already made an excellent one +of the scene of Dyson's murder. He now drew a plan of the place where +Cock had been shot, gave a detailed account of how he came by his death, +and made a full confession of his own guilt. + +In the confession he described how, some days before the burglary, he +had, according to his custom, "spotted" the house at Whalley Range. In +order to do this he always dressed himself respectably, because he had +found that the police never suspected anyone who wore good clothes. On +the night of the crime he passed two policemen on the road to the house. +He had gone into the grounds and was about to begin operations when he +heard a rustle behind him and saw a policeman, whom he recognised as one +of those he had met in the road, enter the garden. With his well-known +agility Peace climbed on to the wall, and dropped on to the other side, +only to find himself almost in the arms of the second policeman. Peace +warned the officer to stand back and fired his revolver wide of him. +But, as Peace said, "these Manchester policemen are a very obstinate +lot." The constable took out his truncheon. Peace fired again and killed +him. + +Soon after the murderer saw in the newspapers that two men had been +arrested for the crime. "This greatly interested me," said Peace. "I +always had a liking to be present at trials, as the public no doubt know +by this time." So he went to Manchester Assizes and saw William Habron +sentenced to death. "People will say," he said, "that I was a hardened +wretch for allowing an innocent man to suffer for the crime of which +I was guilty but what man would have given himself up under such +circumstances, knowing as I did that I should certainly be hanged?" +Peace's view of the question was a purely practical one: "Now that I +am going to forfeit my own life and feel that I have nothing to gain +by further secrecy, I think it is right in the sight of God and man to +clear this innocent young man." It would have been more right in the +sight of God and man to have done it before, but then Peace admitted +that during all his career he had allowed neither God nor man to +influence his actions. + +How many men in the situation of Peace at the time, with the certainty +of death before him if he confessed, would have sacrificed themselves to +save an innocent man? Cold-blooded heroism of this kind is rare in the +annals of crime. Nor did Peace claim to have anything of the hero about +him. + + "Lion-hearted I've lived, + And when my time comes + Lion-hearted I'll die." + +Though fond of repeating this piece of doggerel, Peace would have +been the last man to have attributed to himself all those qualities +associated symbolically with the lion. + +A few days before his execution Peace was visited in his prison by Mr. +Littlewood, the Vicar of Darnall. Mr. Littlewood had known Peace a few +years before, when he had been chaplain at Wakefield Prison. "Well, my +old friend Peace," he said as he entered the cell, "how are you to-day?" +"'I am very poorly, sir," replied the convict, "but I am exceedingly +pleased to see you." Mr. Littlewood assured Peace that there was at any +rate one person in the world who had deep sympathy with him, and that +was himself. Peace burst into tears. He expressed a wish to unburden +himself to the vicar, but before doing so, asked for his assurance that +he believed in the truth and sincerity of what he was about to say to +him. He said that he preferred to be hanged to lingering out his life +in penal servitude, that he was grieved and repentant for his past +life. "If I could undo, or make amends for anything I have done, I would +suffer my body as I now stand to be cut in pieces inch by inch. I feel, +sir, that I am too bad to live or die, and having this feeling I cannot +think that either you or anyone else would believe me, and that is the +reason why I ask you so much to try to be assured that you do not think +I am telling lies. I call my God to witness that all I am saying and +wish to say shall be the truth--the whole truth--nothing but the truth." +Mr. Littlewood said that, after carefully watching Peace and having +regard to his experience of some of the most hardened of criminals +during his service in Wakefield Prison, he felt convinced that Peace +was in earnest and as sincere as any man could be; he spoke rationally, +coherently, and without excitement. + +Peace was determined to test the extent of the reverend gentleman's +faith in his asseverations. "Now, sir," he said, "I understand that you +still have the impression that I stole the clock from your day-schools." +Mr. Littlewood admitted that such was his impression. "I thought so," +replied Peace, "and this has caused me much grief and pain, for I can +assure you I have so much respect for you personally that I would rather +have given you a clock and much more besides than have taken it. At the +time your clock was stolen I had reason for suspecting that it was taken +by some colliers whom I knew." There was a pause. Mr. Littlewood thought +that Peace was going to give him the name of the colliers. But that was +not Peace's way. He said sharply: "Do you now believe that I have spoken +the truth in denying that I took your clock, and will you leave me +to-day fully believing that I am innocent of doing that?" Mr. Littlewood +looked at him closely and appeared to be deliberating on his reply. +Peace watched him intently. At last Mr. Littlewood said, "Peace, I am +convinced that you did not take the clock. I cannot believe that you +dare deny it now in your position, if you really did." Once more Peace +burst into tears, and was unable for some time to speak. + +Having recovered his self-possession, Peace turned to the serious +business of confession. He dealt first with the murder of Dyson. + +He maintained that his relations with Mrs. Dyson had been of an intimate +character. He wanted to see her on the night of the crime in order +to get her to induce her husband to withdraw the warrant which he had +procured against him; he was tired, he said, of being hunted about +from place to place. He intercepted Mrs. Dyson as she crossed the +yard. Instead of listening to him quietly Mrs. Dyson became violent and +threatening in her language. Peace took out his revolver, and, holding +it close to her head, warned her that he was not to be trifled with. She +refused to be warned. Dyson, hearing the loud voices, came out of his +house. Peace tried to get away down the passage into Banner Cross Road, +but Dyson followed and caught hold of him. In the struggle Peace fired +one barrel of his revolver wide. Dyson seized the hand in which Peace +was holding the weapon. "Then I knew," said Peace, "I had not a moment +to spare. I made a desperate effort, wrenched the arm from him and fired +again. All that was in my head at the time was to get away. I never did +intend, either there or anywhere else, to take a man's life; but I was +determined that I should not be caught at that time, as the result, +knowing what I had done before, would have been worse even than had I +stayed under the warrant." If he had intended to murder Dyson, Peace +pointed out that he would have set about it in quite a different and +more secret way; it was as unintentional a thing as ever was done; Mrs. +Dyson had committed the grossest perjury in saying that no struggle had +taken place between her husband and himself. + +It is to be remembered that Peace and Mrs. Dyson were the sole +witnesses of what took place that night between the two men. In point +of credibility there may be little to choose between them, but Peace can +claim for his account that it was the statement of a dying, and, to all +appearances, sincerely repentant sinner. + +Peace then repeated to Mr. Littlewood his confession of the killing of +Constable Cock, and his desire that Habron should be set free.(11) As to +this part of his career Peace indulged in some general reflections. +"My great mistake, sir," he said, "and I can see it now as my end +approaches, has been this--in all my career I have used ball cartridge. +I can see now that in using ball cartridge I did wrong I ought to have +used blank cartridge; then I would not have taken life." Peace said that +he hoped he would meet his death like a hero. "I do not say this in +any kind of bravado. I do not mean such a hero as some persons will +understand when they read this. I mean such a hero as my God might wish +me to be. I am deeply grieved for all I have done, and would atone +for it to the utmost of my power." To Mr. Littlewood the moment seemed +convenient to suggest that as a practical means of atonement Peace +should reveal to him the names of the persons with whom he had disposed +of the greater part of his stolen property. But in spite of much +attempted persuasion by the reverend gentleman Peace explained that he +was a man and meant to be a man to the end. + + + (11) William Habron was subsequently given a free pardon and L800 by way +of compensation. + + +Earlier in their interview Peace had expressed to Mr. Littlewood a hope +that after his execution his name would never be mentioned again, but +before they parted he asked Mr. Littlewood, as a favour, to preach a +sermon on him after his death to the good people of Darnall. He wished +his career held up to them as a beacon, in order that all who saw might +avoid his example, and so his death be of some service to society. + +Before Mr. Littlewood left, Peace asked him to hear him pray. Having +requested the warders to kneel down, Peace began a prayer that lasted +twenty minutes. He prayed for himself, his family, his victims, Mr. +Littlewood, society generally, and all classes of the community. Mr. +Littlewood described the prayer as earnest, fervent and fluent. At the +end Peace asked Mr. Littlewood if he ought to see Mrs. Dyson and beg +her forgiveness for having killed her husband. Mr. Littlewood, believing +erroneously that Mrs. Dyson had already left the country, told Peace +that he should direct all his attention to asking forgiveness of his +Maker. At the close of their interview Peace was lifted into bed and, +turning his face to the wall, wept. + +Tuesday, February 25, was the day fixed for the execution of Peace. +As the time drew near, the convict's confidence in ultimate salvation +increased. A Dr. Potter of Sheffield had declared in a sermon that "all +hope of Peace's salvation was gone for ever." Peace replied curtly, +"Well, Dr. Potter may think so, but I don't." Though his health had +improved, Peace was still very feeble in body. But his soul was hopeful +and undismayed. On the Saturday before his death his brother and +sister-in-law, a nephew and niece visited him for the last time. He +spoke with some emotion of his approaching end. He said he should die +about eight o'clock, and that at four o'clock an inquest would be held +on his body; he would then be thrown into his grave without service +or sermon of any kind. He asked his relatives to plant a flower on a +certain grave in a cemetery in Sheffield on the day of his execution. He +was very weak, he said, but hoped he should have strength enough to +walk to the scaffold. He sent messages to friends and warnings to avoid +gambling and drinking. He begged his brother to change his manner of +life and "become religious." His good counsel was not apparently +very well received. Peace's visitors took a depressing view of their +relative's condition. They found him "a poor, wretched, haggard man," +and, meeting Mrs. Thompson who was waiting outside the gaol for news of +"dear Jack," wondered how she could have taken up with such a man. + +When, the day before his execution, Peace was visited for the last time +by his wife, his stepson, his daughter, Mrs. Bolsover, and her husband, +he was in much better spirits. He asked his visitors to restrain +themselves from displays of emotion, as he felt very happy and did +not wish to be disturbed. He advised them to sell or exhibit for money +certain works of art of his own devising. Among them was a design +in paper for a monument to be placed over his grave. The design is +elaborate but well and ingeniously executed; in the opinion of Frith, +the painter, it showed "the true feeling of an artist." It is somewhat +in the style of the Albert Memorial, and figures of angels are prominent +in the scheme. The whole conception is typical of the artist's sanguine +and confident assurance of his ultimate destiny. A model boat and a +fiddle made out of a hollow bamboo cane he wished also to be made the +means of raising money. He was describing with some detail the ceremony +of his approaching death and burial when he was interrupted by a sound +of hammering. Peace listened for a moment and then said, "That's a noise +that would make some men fall on the floor. They are working at my own +scaffold." A warder said that he was mistaken. "No, I am not," answered +Peace, "I have not worked so long with wood without knowing the sound of +deals; and they don't have deals inside a prison for anything else than +scaffolds." But the noise, he said, did not disturb him in the least, as +he was quite prepared to meet his fate. He would like to have seen his +grave and coffin; he knew that his body would be treated with scant +ceremony after his death. But what of that? By that time his soul would +be in Heaven. He was pleased that one sinner who had seen him on his way +from Pentonville to Sheffield, had written to tell him that the sight of +the convict had brought home to him the sins of his own past life, and +by this means he had found salvation. + +The time had come to say good-bye for the last time. Peace asked his +weeping relatives whether they had anything more that they wished to ask +him. Mrs. Peace reminded him that he had promised to pray with them +at the last. Peace, ever ready, knelt with them and prayed for half an +hour. He then shook hands with them, prayed for and blessed each one +singly, and himself gave way to tears as they left his presence. To his +wife as she departed Peace gave a funeral card of his own designing. It +ran: + + In + Memory + of + Charles Peace + Who was executed in + Armley Prison + Tuesday February 25th, + 1879 Aged 47 + + For that I don but never + Intended. + + +The same day there arrived in the prison one who in his own trade had +something of the personality and assurance of the culprit he was to +execute. William Marwood--unlike his celebrated victim, he has his place +in the Dictionary of National Biography--is perhaps the most remarkable +of these persons who have held at different times the office of public +executioner. As the inventor of the "long drop," he has done a lasting +service to humanity by enabling the death-sentence passed by the judge +to be carried out with the minimum of possible suffering. Marwood took a +lofty view of the office he held, and refused his assent to the somewhat +hypocritical loathing, with which those who sanction and profit by his +exertions are pleased to regard this servant of the law. "I am doing +God's work," said Marwood, "according to the divine command and the +law of the British Crown. I do it simply as a matter of duty and as +a Christian. I sleep as soundly as a child and am never disturbed by +phantoms. Where there is guilt there is bad sleeping, but I am conscious +that I try to live a blameless life. Detesting idleness, I pass +my vacant time in business (he was a shoemaker at Horncastle, in +Lincolnshire) and work in my shoeshop near the church day after day +until such time as I am required elsewhere. It would have been better +for those I executed if they had preferred industry to idleness." + +Marwood had not the almost patriarchal air of benevolent respectability +which his predecessor Calcraft had acquired during a short experience +as a family butler; but as an executioner that kindly old gentleman +had been a sad bungler in his time compared with the scientific and +expeditious Marwood. The Horncastle shoemaker was saving, businesslike, +pious and thoughtful. Like Peace, he had interests outside his ordinary +profession. He had at one time propounded a scheme for the abolition of +the National Debt, a man clearly determined to benefit his fellowmen in +some way or other. A predilection for gin would seem to have been his +only concession to the ordinary weakness of humanity. And now he had +arrived in Armley Jail to exercise his happy dispatch on the greatest +of the many criminals who passed through his hands, one who, in his own +words, "met death with greater firmness" than any man on whom he had +officiated during seven years of Crown employment. + +The day of February the 25th broke bitterly cold. Like Charles I. +before him, Peace feared lest the extreme cold should make him appear +to tremble on the scaffold. He had slept calmly till six o'clock in the +morning. A great part of the two hours before the coming of the hangman +Peace spent in letter-writing. He wrote two letters to his wife, in one +of which he copied out some verses he had written in Woking Prison +on the death of their little boy John. In the second he expressed his +satisfaction that he was to die now and not linger twenty years in +prison. To his daughter, step-son and son-in-law he wrote letters of +fervent, religious exhortation and sent them tracts and pictures +which he had secured from well-intentioned persons anxious about +his salvation. To an old friend, George Goodlad, a pianist, who +had apparently lived up to his name, he wrote: "You chose an honest +industrious way through life, but I chose the one of dishonesty, +villainy and sin"; let his fate, he said, be a warning. + +Peace ate a hearty breakfast and awaited the coming of the executioner +with calm. He had been troubled with an inconvenient cough the night +before. "I wonder," he said to one of his warders, "if Marwood could +cure this cough of mine." He had got an idea into his head that Marwood +would "punish" him when he came to deal with him on the scaffold, and +asked to see the hangman a few minutes before the appointed hour. "I +hope you will not punish me. I hope you will do your work quickly," he +said to Marwood. "You shall not suffer pain from my hand," replied that +worthy. "God bless you," exclaimed Peace, "I hope to meet you all in +heaven. I am thankful to say my sins are all forgiven." And so these two +pious men--on the morning of an execution Marwood always knelt down and +asked God's blessing on the work he had to do--shook hands together and +set about their business. Firmly and fearlessly Peace submitted himself +to the necessary preparations. For one moment he faltered as the gallows +came in sight, but recovered himself quickly. + +As Marwood was about to cover his face, Peace stopped him with some +irritation of manner and said that he wished to speak to the gentlemen +of the press who had been admitted to the ceremony. No one gainsaid him, +and he thus addressed the reporters: "You gentlemen reporters, I wish +you to notice the few words I am going to say. You know what my life +has been. It has been base; but I wish you to notice, for the sake of +others, how a man can die, as I am about to die, in fear of the Lord. +Gentlemen, my heart says that I feel assured that my sins are forgiven +me, that I am going to the Kingdom of Heaven, or else to the place +prepared for those who rest until the great Judgment day. I do not think +I have any enemies, but if there are any who would be so, I wish them +well. Gentlemen, all and all, I wish them to come to the Kingdom of +Heaven when they die, as I am going to die." He asked a blessing on the +officials of the prison and, in conclusion, sent his last wishes and +respects to his dear children and their mother. "I hope," he said, "no +one will disgrace them by taunting them or jeering them on my account, +but to have mercy upon them. God bless you, my dear children. Good-bye, +and Heaven bless you. Amen: Oh, my Lord God, have mercy upon me!" + +After the cap had been placed over his head Peace asked twice very +sharply, as a man who expected to be obeyed, for a drink of water. But +this time his request was not compiled with. He died instantaneously and +was buried in Armley Jail. + +Had Peace flourished in 1914 instead of 1874, his end might have been +honourable instead of dishonourable. The war of to-day has no doubt +saved many a man from a criminal career by turning to worthy account +qualities which, dangerous in crime, are useful in war. Absolute +fearlessness, agility, resource, cunning and determination; all these +are admirable qualities in the soldier; and all these Charles Peace +possessed in a signal degree. But fate denied him opportunity, he became +a burglar and died on the scaffold. Years of prison life failed, as they +did in those days, to make any impression for good on one resolute in +whatever way he chose to go. Peace was a born fighter. A detective who +knew him and had on one occasion come near capturing him in London, said +that he was a fair fighter, that he always gave fair warning to those on +whom he fired, and that, being a dead shot, the many wide shots which +he fired are to be reckoned proofs of this. Peace maintained to the last +that he had never intended to kill Dyson. This statement ex-detective +Parrock believed, and that the fatal shot was fired over Peace's +shoulder as he was making off. Though habitually sober, Peace was made +intoxicated now and then by the drink, stood him by those whom he used +to amuse with his musical tricks and antics in public-houses. At such +times he would get fuddled and quarrelsome. He was in such a frame +of mind on the evening of Dyson's murder. His visit to the Vicar of +Ecclesall brought him little comfort or consolation. It was in this +unsatisfactory frame of mind that he went to Dyson's house. This much +the ex-detective would urge in his favour. To his neighbours he was an +awe-inspiring but kind and sympathetic man. "If you want my true opinion +of him," says Detective Parrock, "he was a burglar to the backbone but +not a murderer at heart. He deserved the fate that came to him as little +as any who in modern times have met with a like one." Those who are in +the fighting line are always the most generous about their adversaries. +Parrock as a potential target for Peace's revolver, may have erred on +the side of generosity, but there is some truth in what he says. + +As Peace himself admitted, his life had been base. He was well aware +that he had misused such gifts as nature had bestowed on him. One +must go back to mediaeval times to find the counterpart of this daring +ruffian who, believing in personal God and devil, refuses until the end +to allow either to interfere with his business in life. In this respect +Charles Peace reminds us irresistibly of our Angevin kings. + +There is only one criminal who vies with Charley Peace in that genial +popular regard which makes Charles "Charley" and John "Jack," and that +is Jack Sheppard. What Jack was to the eighteenth century, that Charley +was to the nineteenth. And each one is in a sense typical of his period. +Lecky has said that the eighteenth century is richer than any other +in the romance of crime. I think it may fairly be said that in the +nineteenth century the romance of crime ceased to be. In the eighteenth +century the scenery and dresses, all the stage setting of crime make for +romance; its literature is quaint and picturesque; there is something +gay and debonair about the whole business. + +Sheppard is typical of all this. There is a certain charm about the +rascal; his humour is undeniable; he is a philosopher, taking all that +comes with easy grace, even his betrayal by his brother and others +who should have been loyal to him. Jack Sheppard has the good-humoured +carelessness of that most engaging of all eighteenth century +malefactors, Deacon Brodie. It is quite otherwise with Charley Peace. +There is little enough gay or debonair about him. Compared with +Sheppard, Peace is as drab as the surroundings of mid-Victorian crime +are drab compared with the picturesqueness of eighteenth century +England. + +Crime in the nineteenth century becomes more scientific in its methods +and in its detection also. The revolver places a more hasty, less +decorous weapon than the old-fashioned pistol in the hands of the +determined burglar. The literature of crime, such as it is, becomes +vulgar and prosaic. Peace has no charm about him, no gaiety, but he has +the virtues of his defects. He, unlike Sheppard, shuns company; he works +alone, never depending on accomplices; a "tight cock," as Sheppard would +have phrased it, and not relying on a like quality of tightness in +his fellows. Sheppard is a slave to his women, Edgeworth Bess and Mrs. +Maggot; Mrs. Peace and Sue Thompson are the slaves of Peace. Sheppard +loves to stroll openly about the London streets in his fine suit +of black, his ruffled shirt and his silver-hilted sword. Peace lies +concealed at Peckham beneath the homely disguise of old Mr. Thompson. +Sheppard is an imp, Peace a goblin. But both have that gift of +personality which, in their own peculiar line, lifts them out from the +ruck, and makes them Jack and Charley to those who like to know famous +people by cheery nicknames. + +And so we must accept Charles Peace as a remarkable character, whose +unquestioned gifts as a man of action were squandered on a criminal +career; neither better nor worse than a great number of other persons, +whose good fortune it has been to develop similar qualities under +happier surroundings. There are many more complete villains than the +ordinary criminal, who contrive to go through life without offending +against the law. Close and scientific investigation has shown that the +average convicted criminal differs intellectually from the normal person +only in a slightly lower level of intelligence, a condition that may +well be explained by the fact that the convicted criminal has been +found out. Crime has been happily defined by a recent and most able +investigator into the character of the criminal(12) as "an unusual act +committed by a perfectly normal person." At the same time, according +to the same authority, there is a type of normal person who tends to +be convicted of crime, and he is differentiated from his fellows by +defective physique and mental capacity and an increased possession of +antisocial qualities.(13) + + + (12) "The English Convict," a statistical study, by Charles Goring, M.D. +His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1913. + + (13) Murderers--at least those executed for their crimes--have not for +obvious reasons been made the subject of close scientific observation. +Their mental capacity would in all probability be found to be rather +higher than that of less ambitious criminals. + + +How does Peace answer to the definition? Though short in stature, his +physical development left little to be desired: he was active, agile, +and enjoyed excellent health at all times. For a man of forty-seven he +had aged remarkably in appearance. That is probably to be accounted for +by mental worry. With two murders on his conscience we know from Sue +Thompson that all she learnt of his secrets was what escaped from him in +his troubled dreams--Peace may well have shown traces of mental +anxiety. But in all other respects Charles Peace would seem to have been +physically fit. In intellectual capacity he was undoubtedly above the +average of the ordinary criminal. The facts of his career, his natural +gifts, speak for themselves. Of anti-social proclivities he no doubt +possessed his share at the beginning, and these were aggravated, as in +most cases they were in his day, by prison life and discipline. + +Judged as scientifically as is possible where the human being is +concerned, Peace stands out physically and intellectually well above +the average of his class, perhaps the most naturally gifted of all those +who, without advantages of rank or education, have tried their hands at +crime. Ordinary crime for the most part would appear to be little better +than the last resort of the intellectually defective, and a poor game +at that. The only interesting criminals are those worthy of something +better. Peace was one of these. If his life may be said to point a +moral, it is the very simple one that crime is no career for a man of +brains. + + + + +The Career of Robert Butler + + +There is a report of Butler's trial published in Dunedin. It gives in +full the speeches and the cross-examination of the witnesses, but not +in all cases the evidence-in-chief. By the kindness of a friend in +New Zealand I obtained a copy of the depositions taken before the +magistrate; with this I have been able to supplement the report of the +trial. A collection of newspaper cuttings furnished me with the details +of the rest of Butler's career. + +I + +THE DUNEDIN MURDERS + +On the evening of March 23, 1905, Mr. William Munday, a highly respected +citizen of the town of Tooringa, in Queensland, was walking to the +neighbouring town of Toowong to attend a masonic gathering. It was about +eight o'clock, the moon shining brightly. Nearing Toowong, Mr. Munday +saw a middle-aged man, bearded and wearing a white overcoat, step +out into the moonlight from under the shadow of a tree. As Mr. Munday +advanced, the man in the white coat stood directly in his way. "Out with +all you have, and quick about it," he said. Instead of complying with +this peremptory summons, Mr. Munday attempted to close with him. The man +drew back quickly, whipped out a revolver, fired, and made off as fast +as he could. The bullet, after passing through Mr. Munday's left arm, +had lodged in the stomach. The unfortunate gentleman was taken to a +neighbouring hospital where, within a few hours, he was dead. + +In the meantime a vigorous search was made for his assailant. Late the +same night Constable Hennessy, riding a bicycle, saw a man in a white +coat who seemed to answer to the description of the assassin. He +dismounted, walked up to him and asked him for a match. The man put his +hand inside his coat. "What have you got there?" asked the constable. +"I'll--soon show you," replied the man in the white coat, producing +suddenly a large revolver. But Hennessy was too quick for him. Landing +him one under the jaw, he sent him to the ground and, after a sharp +struggle, secured him. Constable Hennessy little knew at the time that +his capture in Queensland of the man in the white coat was almost as +notable in the annals of crime as the affray at Blackheath on an autumn +night in 1878, when Constable Robinson grappled successfully, wounded as +he was, with Charles Peace. + +The man taken by Hennessy gave the name of James Wharton, and as +James Wharton he was hanged at Brisbane. But before his death it was +ascertained beyond doubt, though he never admitted it himself, that +Wharton was none other than one Robert Butler, whose career as a +criminal and natural wickedness may well rank him with Charles Peace in +the hierarchy of scoundrels. Like Peace, Butler was, in the jargon of +crime, a "hatter," a "lone hand," a solitary who conceived and +executed his nefarious designs alone; like Peace, he supplemented an +insignificant physique by a liberal employment of the revolver; like +Peace, he was something of a musician, the day before his execution he +played hymns for half an hour on the prison organ; like Peace, he knew +when to whine when it suited his purpose; and like Peace, though not +with the same intensity, he could be an uncomfortably persistent lover, +when the fit was on him. Both men were cynics in their way and viewed +their fellow-men with a measure of contempt. But here parallel ends. +Butler was an intellectual, inferior as a craftsman to Peace, the +essentially practical, unread, naturally gifted artist. Butler was a man +of books. He had been schoolmaster, journalist. He had studied the lives +of great men, and as a criminal, had devoted especial attention to those +of Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Butler's defence in the Dunedin +murder trial was a feat of skill quite beyond the power of Peace. Peace +was a religious man after the fashion of the mediaeval tyrant, Butler +an infidel. Peace, dragged into the light of a court of justice, cut a +sorry figure; here Butler shone. Peace escaped a conviction for murder +by letting another suffer in his place; Butler escaped a similar +experience by the sheer ingenuity of his defence. Peace had the modesty +and reticence of the sincere artist; Butler the loquacious vanity of the +literary or forensic coxcomb. Lastly, and it is the supreme difference, +Butler was a murderer by instinct and conviction, as Lacenaire or +Ruloff; "a man's life," he said, "was of no more importance than a +dog's; nature respects the one no more than the other, a volcanic +eruption kills mice and men with the one hand. The divine command, +'kill, kill and spare not,' was intended not only for Joshua, but for +men of all time; it is the example of our rulers, our Fredericks and +Napoleons." + +Butler was of the true Prussian mould. "In crime," he would say, "as +in war, no half measures. Let us follow the example of our rulers whose +orders in war run, 'Kill, burn and sink,' and what you cannot carry +away, destroy.'" Here is the gospel of frightfulness applied almost +prophetically to crime. To Butler murder is a principle of warfare; to +Peace it was never more than a desperate resort or an act the outcome of +ungovernable passion. + +Ireland can claim the honour of Butler's birth. It took place at +Kilkenny about 1845. At an early age he left his native land for +Australia, and commenced his professional career by being sentenced +under the name of James Wilson--the same initials as those of James +Wharton of Queensland--to twelve months' imprisonment for vagrancy. Of +the sixteen years he passed in Victoria he spent thirteen in prison, +first for stealing, then in steady progression for highway robbery and +burglary. Side by side with the practical and efficient education in +crime furnished by the Victorian prisons of that day, Butler availed +himself of the opportunity to educate his mind. It was during this +period that he found inspiration and encouragement in the study of the +lives of Frederick and Napoleon, besides acquiring a knowledge of music +and shorthand. + +When in 1876 Butler quitted Australia for New Zealand, he was +sufficiently accomplished to obtain employment as a schoolmaster. + +At Cromwell, Otago, under the name of "C. J. Donelly, Esq.," Butler +opened a "Commercial and Preparatory Academy," and in a prospectus that +recalls Mr. Squeers' famous advertisement of Dotheboys Hall, announced +that the programme of the Academy would include "reading, taught as +an art and upon the most approved principles of elocution, writing, +arithmetic, euclid, algebra, mensuration, trigonometry, book-keeping, +geography, grammar, spelling and dictation, composition, logic and +debate, French, Latin, shorthand, history, music, and general lectures +on astronomy, natural philosophy, geology, and other subjects." The +simpler principles of these branches of learning were to be "rendered +intelligible, and a firm foundation laid for the acquirement of future +knowledge." Unfortunately a suspicion of theft on Butler's part cut +short the fulfilment of this really splendid programme, and Butler left +Cromwell hurriedly for the ampler field of Dunedin. There, less than a +fortnight after his arrivel{sic}, he was sentenced to four years' hard +labour for several burglaries committed in and about that city. + +On the 18th of February, 1880, Butler was released from prison. With +that consummate hypocrisy which was part of the man, he had contrived to +enlist the sympathies of the Governor of the Dunedin Jail, who gave +him, on his departure, a suit of clothes and a small sum of money. +A detective of the name of Bain tried to find him employment. Butler +wished to adopt a literary career. He acted as a reporter on the Dunedin +Evening Star, and gave satisfaction to the editor of that newspaper. An +attempt to do some original work, in the shape of "Prison Sketches," +for another newspaper, was less successful. Bain had arranged for the +publication of the articles in the Sunday Advertiser, but when the time +came to deliver his manuscript, Butler failed to appear. Bain, whose +duty it was to keep an eye on Butler, found him in the street looking +wild and haggard. He said that he had found the work "too much for his +head," that he had torn up what he had written, that he had nowhere to +go, and had been to the end of the jetty with the intention of drowning +himself. Bain replied somewhat caustically that he thought it a pity he +had not done so, as nothing would have given him greater joy than +going to the end of the jetty and identifying his body. "You speak +very plainly," said Butler. "Yes, and what is more, I mean what I say," +replied Bain. Butler justified Bain's candour by saying that if he broke +out again, he would be worse than the most savage tiger ever let loose +on the community. As a means of obviating such an outbreak, Butler +suggested that, intellectual employment having failed, some form of +manual labour should be found him. Bain complied with Butler's request, +and got him a job at levelling reclaimed ground in the neighbourhood of +Dunedin. On Wednesday, March 10, Butler started work, but after three +hours of it relinquished the effort. Bain saw Butler again in Dunedin on +the evening of Saturday, March 13, and made an appointment to meet him +at half-past eight that night. Butler did not keep the appointment. Bain +searched the town for him, but he was nowhere to be found. + +About the same time Butler had some talk with another member of the +Dunedin police force, Inspector Mallard. They discussed the crimes of +Charles Peace and other notable artists of that kind. Butler remarked to +Mallard how easy it would be to destroy all traces of a murder by fire, +and asked the inspector whether if he woke up one morning to find some +brutal murder had been committed, he would not put it down to him. "No, +Butler," replied the inspector, "the first thing I should do would be to +look for suspicious circumstances, and most undoubtedly, if they pointed +to you, you would be looked after." + +In the early morning of this Saturday, March 13, the house of a Mr. +Stamper, a solicitor of Dunedin, had been broken into, and some articles +of value, among them a pair of opera glasses, stolen. The house had been +set on fire, and burned to the ground. On the morning of the following +day, Sunday, the 14th, Dunedin was horrified by the discovery of a far +more terrible crime, tigerish certainly in its apparent ferocity. In a +house in Cumberland Street, a young married couple and their little baby +were cruelly murdered and un{sic}{an??} unsuccessful attempt made to +fire the scene of the crime. + +About half-past six on Sunday morning a man of the name of Robb, a +carpenter, on getting out of bed, noticed smoke coming from the house +of a neighbor of his, Mr. J. M. Dewar, who occupied a small one-floored +cottage standing by itself in Cumberland Street, a large and broad +thoroughfare on the outskirts of the town. Dewar was a butcher by trade, +a young man, some eighteen months married, and father of a baby girl. +Robb, on seeing smoke coming from Dewar's house, woke his son, who was +a member of the fire brigade. The latter got up, crossed the street, +and going round to the back door, which he found wide open, entered the +house. As he went along the passage that separated the two front rooms, +a bedroom and sitting-room, he called to the inmates to get up. He +received no answer, but as he neared the bedroom he heard a "gurgling" +sound. Crawling on his hands and knees he reached the bedroom door, and +two feet inside it his right hand touched something. It was the body of +a woman; she was still alive, but in a dying condition. Robb dragged +her across the passage into the sitting-room. He got some water, and +extinguished the fire in the bedroom. On the bed lay the body of Dewar. +To all appearances he had been killed in his sleep. By his side was +the body of the baby, suffocated by the smoke. Near the bed was an +axe belonging to Dewar, stained with blood. It was with this weapon, +apparently, that Mr. and Mrs. Dewar had been attacked. Under the bed was +a candlestick belonging also to the Dewars, which had been used by +the murderer in setting fire to the bed. The front window of the +sitting-room was open, there were marks of boot nails on the sill, and +on the grass in front of the window a knife was found. An attempt +had been made to ransack a chest of drawers in the bedroom, but some +articles of jewellery lying in one of the drawers, and a ring on the +dressing-table had been left untouched. As far as was known, Mr. and +Mrs. Dewar were a perfectly happy and united couple. Dewar had been last +seen alive about ten o'clock on the Saturday night getting off a car +near his home. At eleven a neighbour had noticed a light in the Dewars' +house. About five o'clock on the Sunday morning another neighbour +had been aroused from his sleep by the sound as of something falling +heavily. It was a wild and boisterous night. Thinking the noise might be +the slamming of his stable door, he got up and went out to see that +it was secure. He then noticed that a light was burning in the bedroom +window of the Dewars' cottage. + +Nothing more was known of what had occurred that morning until at +half-past six Robb saw the smoke coming from Dewars' house. Mrs. Dewar, +who alone could have told something, never recovered consciousness +and died on the day following the crime. Three considerable wounds +sufficient to cause death had been inflicted on the unfortunate woman's +head, and five of a similar character on that of her husband. At the +head of the bed, which stood in the corner of the room, there was a +large smear of blood on the wall just above the door; there were spots +of blood all over the top of the bed, and some smaller ones that had to +all appearances spurted on to the panel of the door nearest to the bed. + +The investigation of this shocking crime was placed in the hands of +Detective Bain, whose duty it had been to keep an eye on Robert Butler, +but he did not at first associate his interesting charge with the +commission of the murder. About half-past six on Sunday evening Bain +happened to go to a place called the Scotia Hotel, where the landlord +informed him that one of his servants, a girl named Sarah Gillespie, was +very anxious to see him. Her story was this: On the morning of Thursday, +March 11, Robert Butler had come to the hotel; he was wearing a dark +lavender check suit and carried a top coat and parcel. Butler had stayed +in the hotel all Thursday and slept there that night. He had not slept +in the hotel on the Friday night, and Sarah Gillespie had not seen him +again until he came into the house about five and twenty minutes to +seven on Sunday morning. The girl noticed that he was pale and excited, +seemed afraid and worried, as if someone were coming after him. After +giving her some money for the landlord, he went upstairs, fetched his +top coat, a muffler, and his parcel. Before leaving he said he would +have a pint of beer, as he had not breakfasted. He then left, presumably +to catch an early train. + +Butler was next seen a few minutes later at a shop near the hotel, where +he bought five tins of salmon, and about the same time a milk-boy saw +him standing on the kerb in Cumberland Street in a stooping position, +his head turned in the direction of Dewars' house. A little after ten +the same night Butler entered a hotel at a place called Blueskin, some +twelve miles distant from Dunedin. He was wearing an overcoat and a +light muffler. He sat down at a table in the dining-room and seemed +weary and sleepy. Someone standing at the bar said "What a shocking +murder that was in Cumberland Street!" Butler started up, looked +steadily from one to the other of the two men who happened to be in the +room, then sat down again and, taking up a book, appeared to be reading. +More than once he put down the book and kept shifting uneasily in his +chair. After having some supper he got up, paid his reckoning, and left +the hotel. + +At half-past three the following morning, about fifteen miles from +Dunedin, on the road to Waikouaiti, two constables met a man whom they +recognised as Butler from a description that had been circulated by the +police. The constables arrested and searched him. They found on him a +pair of opera glasses, the property of Mr. Stamper, whose house had been +burgled and burned down on the morning of the 13th. Of this crime Butler +acknowledged himself to be the perpetrator. Besides the opera glasses +the constables took from Butler two tins of salmon, a purse containing +four shillings and sixpence, a pocket knife, a box of matches, a piece +of candle, and a revolver and cartridges. The prisoner was carrying a +top coat, and was dressed in a dark coat and grey trousers, underneath +which he was wearing a white shirt, an under flannel and a Rob Roy +Crimean shirt. One of the constables noticed that there were marks of +blood on his shirt. Another singular feature in Butler's attire was the +fact that the outer soles of his boots had been recently removed. When +last seen in Dunedin Butler had been wearing a moustache; he was now +clean shaven. + +The same evening a remarkable interview took place in the lock-up at +Waikouaiti between Butler and Inspector Mallard. Mallard, who had some +reason for suspecting Butler, bearing in mind their recent conversation, +told the prisoner that he would be charged with the murder in Cumberland +Street. For a few seconds, according to Mallard, the prisoner seemed +terribly agitated and appeared to be choking. Recovering himself +somewhat, he said, "If for that, you can get no evidence against me; and +if I am hanged for it, I shall be an innocent man, whatever other crimes +I may have committed." Mallard replied, "There is evidence to convict +you--the fire was put out." Butler than{sic} said that he would ask +Mallard a question, but, after a pause, decided not to do so. Mallard, +after examining Butler's clothes, told him that those were not the +clothes in which he had left the Scotia Hotel. Butler admitted it, and +said he had thrown those away in the North East Valley. Mallard alluded +to the disappearance of the prisoner's moustache. Butler replied that he +had cut it off on the road. Mallard noticed then the backs of Butler's +hands were scratched, as if by contact with bushes. Butler seemed often +on the point of asking questions, but would then stop and say "No, I +won't ask you anything." To the constables who had arrested him Butler +remarked, "You ought to remember me, because I could have shot you if I +had wished." When Mallard later in the evening visited Butler again, the +prisoner who was then lying down said, "I want to speak to you. I want +to ask the press not to publish my career. Give me fair play. I suppose +I shall be convicted and you will see I can die like a man." + +A few days after Butler's arrest a ranger on the Town Belt, a hill +overlooking Dunedin, found a coat, a hat and silk striped cravat, and +a few days later a pair of trousers folded up and placed under a bush. +These articles of clothing were identified as those which Butler +had been seen wearing on the Saturday and Sunday morning. They were +examined. There were a number of bloodstains on them, not one of them +larger in size than a pea, some almost invisible. On the front of the +trousers about the level of the groin there were blood spots on both +sides. There was blood on the fold of the left breast of the coat and on +the lining of the cuff of the right arm. The shirt Butler was wearing +at the time of his arrest was examined also. There were small spots of +blood, about fourteen altogether, on the neck and shoulder bands, the +right armpit, the left sleeve, and on both wristbands. Besides the +clothes, a salmon tin was found on the Town Belt, and behind a seat in +the Botanical Gardens, from which a partial view of the Dewars' house +in Cumberland Street could be obtained, two more salmon tins were found, +all three similar to the five purchased by Butler on the Sunday morning, +two of which had been in his possession at the time of his arrest. + +Such were the main facts of the case which Butler had to answer when, +a few weeks later, he was put on his trial before the Supreme Court at +Dunedin. The presiding judge was Mr. Justice Williams, afterwards Sir +Joshua Williams and a member of the Privy Council. The Crown Prosecutor, +Mr. Haggitt, conducted the case for the Crown, and Butler defended +himself. + + +II + +THE TRIAL OF BUTLER + + +To a man of Butler's egregious vanity his trial was a glorious +opportunity for displaying his intellectual gifts, such as they were. +One who had known him in prison about this time describes him as a +strange compound of vanity and envy, blind to his own faults and envious +of the material advantages enjoyed by others. Self-willed and arrogant, +he could bully or whine with equal effect. Despising men, he believed +that if a man did not possess some requisite quality, he had only to ape +it, as few would distinguish between the real and the sham. + +But with all these advantages in the struggle for life, it is certain +that Butler's defence would have been far less effective had be{sic} +been denied all professional aid. As a matter of fact, throughout his +trial Butler was being advised by three distinguished members of the New +Zealand bar, now judges of the Supreme Court, who though not appearing +for him in court, gave him the full benefit of their assistance +outside it. At the same time Butler carried off the thing well. Where +imagination was required, Butler broke down; he could not write sketches +of life in prison; that was too much for his pedestrian intellect. But +given the facts of a case, dealing with a transaction of which he alone +knew the real truth, and aided by the advice and guidance of trained +intellects, Butler was unquestionably clever and shrewd enough to make +the best use of such advantages in meeting the case against him. + +Thus equipped for the coming struggle, this high-browed ruffian, with +his semi-intellectual cast of countenance, his jerky restless posturing, +his splay-footed waddle, "like a lame Muscovy duck," in the graphic +words of his gaol companion, stood up to plead for his life before the +Supreme Court at Dunedin. + +It may be said at the outset that Butler profited greatly by the +scrupulous fairness shown by the Crown Prosecutor. Mr. Haggitt extended +to the prisoner a degree of consideration and forbearance, justified +undoubtedly towards an undefended prisoner. But, as we have seen, Butler +was not in reality undefended. At every moment of the trial he was in +communication with his legal advisers, and being instructed by them how +to meet the evidence given against him. Under these circumstances the +unfailing consideration shown him by the Crown Prosecutor seems almost +excessive. From the first moment of the trial Butler was fully alive +to the necessities of his situation. He refrained from including in his +challenges of the jury the gentleman who was afterwards foreman; he knew +he was all right, he said, because he parted his hair in the middle, a +"softy," in fact. He did not know in all probability that one gentleman +on the jury had a rooted conviction that the murder of the Dewars was +the work of a criminal lunatic. There was certainly nothing in Butler's +demeanour or behaviour to suggest homicidal mania. + +The case against Butler rested on purely circumstantial evidence. + +No new facts of importance were adduced at the trial. The stealing +of Dewar's wages, which had been paid to him on the Saturday, was the +motive for the murder suggested by the Crown. The chief facts pointing +to Butler's guilt were: his conversation with Mallard and Bain previous +to the crime; his demeanour after it; his departure from Dunedin; the +removal of his moustache and the soles of his boots; his change of +clothes and the bloodstains found upon them, added to which was +his apparent inability to account for his movements on the night in +question. + +Such as the evidence was, Butler did little to shake it in +cross-examination. His questions were many of them skilful and pointed, +but on more than one occasion the judge intervened to save him from the +danger common to all amateur cross-examiners, of not knowing when to +stop. He was most successful in dealing with the medical witnesses. +Butler had explained the bloodstains on his clothes as smears that had +come from scratches on his hands, caused by contact with bushes. This +explanation the medical gentlemen with good reason rejected. But they +went further, and said that these stains might well have been caused by +the spurting and spraying of blood on to the murderer as he struck his +victims. Butler was able to show by the position of the bloodstains on +the clothes that such an explanation was open to considerable doubt. + +Butler's speech in his defence lasted six hours, and was a creditable +performance. Its arrangement is somewhat confused and repetitious, some +points are over-elaborated, but on the whole he deals very successfully +with most of the evidence given against him and exposes the +unquestionable weakness of the Crown case. At the outset he declared +that he had taken his innocence for his defence. "I was not willing," +he said, "to leave my life in the hands of a stranger. I was willing to +incur all the disadvantages which the knowledge of the law might bring +upon me. I was willing, also, to enter on this case without +any experience whatever of that peculiarly acquired art of +cross-examination. I fear I have done wrong. If I had had the assistance +of able counsel, much more light would have been thrown on this case +than has been." As we have seen, Butler enjoyed throughout his trial the +informal assistance of three of the most able counsel in New Zealand, so +that this heroic attitude of conscious innocence braving all dangers +loses most of its force. Without such assistance his danger might have +been very real. + +A great deal of the evidence as to his conduct and demeanour at the time +of the murder Butler met by acknowledging that it was he who had broken +into Mr. Stamper's house on the Saturday morning, burgled it and set it +on fire. His consciousness of guilt in this respect was, he said, quite +sufficient to account for anything strange or furtive in his manner +at that time. He was already known to the police; meeting Bain on the +Saturday night, he felt more than ever sure that he was susspected{sic} +of the robbery at Mr. Stamper's; he therefore decided to leave Dunedin +as soon as possible. That night, he said, he spent wandering about the +streets half drunk, taking occasional shelter from the pouring rain, +until six o'clock on the Sunday morning, when he went to the Scotia +Hotel. A more detailed account of his movements on the night of the +Dewars' murder he did not, or would not, give. + +When he comes to the facts of the murder and his theories as to the +nature and motive of the crime--theories which he developed at rather +unnecessary length for the purpose of his own defence--his speech is +interesting. It will be recollected that on the discovery of the murder, +a knife was found on the grass outside the house. This knife was not +the property of the Dewars. In Butler's speech he emphasised the opinion +that this knife had been brought there by the murderer: "Horrible though +it may be, my conclusion is that he brought it with the intention of +cutting the throats of his victims, and that, finding they lay in rather +an untoward position, he changed his mind, and, having carried out the +object with which he entered the house, left the knife and, going back, +brought the axe with which he effected his purpose. What was the purpose +of the murderer? Was it the robbery of Dewar's paltry wages? Was it +the act of a tiger broken loose on the community? An act of pure wanton +devilry? or was there some more reasonable explanation of this most +atrocious crime?" + +Butler rejected altogether the theory of ordinary theft. No thief +of ambitious views, he said, would pitch upon the house of a poor +journeyman butcher. The killing of the family appeared to him to be +the motive: "an enemy hath done this." The murderer seems to have had a +knowledge of the premises; he enters the house and does his work swiftly +and promptly, and is gone. "We cannot know," Butler continues, "all the +passages in the lives of the murdered man or woman. What can we know of +the hundred spites and jealousies or other causes of malice which might +have caused the crime? If you say some obscure quarrel, some spite or +jealousy is not likely to have been the cause of so dreadful a murder, +you cannot revert to the robbery theory without admitting a motive much +weaker in all its utter needlessness and vagueness. The prominent +feature of the murder, indeed the only feature, is its ruthless, +unrelenting, determined vindictiveness. Every blow seemed to say, 'You +shall die you shall not live.'" + +Whether Butler were the murderer of the Dewars or not, the theory that +represented them as having been killed for the purpose of robbery +has its weak side all the weaker if Butler, a practical and ambitious +criminal, were the guilty man. + +In 1882, two years after Butler's trial, there appeared in a New Zealand +newspaper, Society, published in Christchurch, a series of Prison +"Portraits," written evidently by one who had himself undergone a term +of imprisonment. One of the "Portraits" was devoted to an account of +Butler. The writer had known Butler in prison. According to the story +told him by Butler, the latter had arrived in Dunedin with a quantity of +jewellery he had stolen in Australia. This jewellery he entrusted to a +young woman for safe keeping. After serving his first term of two years' +imprisonment in Dunedin, Butler found on his release that the young +woman had married a man of the name of Dewar. Butler went to Mrs. Dewar +and asked for the return of his jewellery; she refused to give it up. On +the night of the murder he called at the house in Cumberland Street and +made a last appeal to her, but in vain. He determined on revenge. During +his visit to Mrs. Dewar he had had an opportunity of seeing the axe and +observing the best way to break into the house. He watched the husband's +return, and decided to kill him as well as his wife on the chance of +obtaining his week's wages. With the help of the knife which he had +found in the backyard of a hotel he opened the window. The husband he +killed in his sleep, the woman waked with the first blow he struck her. +He found the jewellery in a drawer rolled up in a pair of stockings. +He afterwards hid it in a well-marked spot some half-hour before his +arrest. + +A few years after its appearance in Society, this account of Butler was +reproduced in an Auckland newspaper. Bain, the detective, wrote a letter +questioning the truth of the writer's statements. He pointed out +that when Butler first came to Dunedin he had been at liberty only a +fortnight before serving his first term of imprisonment, very little +time in which to make the acquaintance of a woman and dispose of the +stolen jewellery. He asked why, if Butler had hidden the jewellery just +before his arrest, he had not also hidden the opera-glasses which he +had stolen from Mr. Stamper's house. Neither of these comments is very +convincing. A fortnight seems time enough in which a man of Butler's +character might get to know a woman and dispose of some jewellery; +while, if Butler were the murderer of Mr. Dewar as well as the burglar +who had broken into Stamper's house, it was part of his plan to +acknowledge himself guilty of the latter crime and use it to justify his +movements before and after the murder. Bain is more convincing when he +states at the conclusion of his letter that he had known Mrs. Dewar from +childhood as a "thoroughly good and true woman," who, as far as he knew, +had never in her life had any acquaintance with Butler. + +At the same time, the account given by Butler's fellow-prisoner, in +which the conduct of the murdered woman is represented as constituting +the provocation for the subsequent crime, explains one peculiar +circumstance in connection with the tragedy, the selection of this +journeyman butcher and his wife as the victims of the murderer. It +explains the theory, urged so persistently by Butler in his speech to +the jury, that the crime was the work of an enemy of the Dewars, the +outcome of some hidden spite, or obscure quarrel; it explains the +apparent ferocity of the murder, and the improbability of a practical +thief selecting such an unprofitable couple as his prey. The rummaged +chest of drawers and the fact that some trifling articles of jewellery +were left untouched on the top of them, are consistent with an eager +search by the murderer for some particular object. Against this theory +of revenge is the fact that Butler was a malignant ruffian and liar in +any case, that, having realised very little in cash by the burglary at +Stamper's house, he would not be particular as to where he might get a +few shillings more, that he had threatened to do a tigerish deed, and +that it is characteristic of his vanity to try to impute to his crime a +higher motive than mere greed or necessity. + +Butler showed himself not averse to speaking of the murder in Cumberland +Street to at least one of those, with whom he came in contact in his +later years. After he had left New Zealand and returned to Australia, +he was walking in a street in Melbourne with a friend when they passed +a lady dressed in black, carrying a baby in her arms. The baby looked +at the two men and laughed. Butler frowned and walked rapidly away. His +companion chaffed him, and asked whether it was the widow or the baby +that he was afraid of. Butler was silent, but after a time asked his +companion to come into some gardens and sit down on one of the seats, as +he had something serious to say to him. For a while Butler sat silent. +Then he asked the other if he had ever been in Dunedin. "Yes," was the +reply. "Look here," said Butler, "you are the only man I ever made any +kind of confidant of. You are a good scholar, though I could teach you +a lot." After this gracious compliment he went on: "I was once tried in +Dunedin on the charge of killing a man, woman and child, and although +innocent, the crime was nearly brought home to me. It was my own ability +that pulled me through. Had I employed a professional advocate, I should +not have been here to-day talking to you." After describing the murder, +Butler said: "Trying to fire the house was unnecessary, and killing +the baby was unnecessary and cruel. I respect no man's life, for no man +respects mine. A lot of men I have never injured have tried to put a +rope round my neck more than once. I hate society in general, and one +or two individuals in particular. The man who did that murder in Dunedin +has, if anything, my sympathy, but it seems to me he need not have +killed that child." His companion was about to speak. Butler stopped +him. "Now, don't ever ask me such a silly question as that," he said. +"What?" asked his friend. "You were about to ask me if I did that deed," +replied Butler, "and you know perfectly well that, guilty or innocent, +that question would only be answered in one way." "I was about to ask +nothing of the kind," said the other, "for you have already told me that +you were innocent." "Good!" said Butler, "then let that be the end of +the subject, and never refer to it again, except, perhaps, in your own +mind, when you can, if you like, remember that I said the killing of the +child was unnecessary and cruel." + +Having developed to the jury his theory of why the crime was committed, +Butler told them that, as far as he was concerned, there were four +points against him on which the Crown relied to prove his guilt. +Firstly, there was the fact of his being in the neighbourhood of the +crime on the Sunday morning; that, he said, applied to scores of other +people besides himself. Then there was his alleged disturbed appearance +and guilty demeanour. The evidence of that was, he contended, doubtful +in any case, and referable to another cause; as also his leaving Dunedin +in the way and at the time he did. He scouted the idea that murderers +are compelled by some invisible force to betray their guilt. "The doings +of men," he urged, "and their success are regulated by the amount +of judgment that they possess, and, without impugning or denying the +existence of Providence, I say this is a law that holds good in all +cases, whether for evil or good. Murderers, if they have the sense and +ability and discretion to cover up their crime, will escape, do escape, +and have escaped. Many people, when they have gravely shaken their heads +and said 'Murder will out,' consider they have done a great deal and +gone a long way towards settling the question. Well, this, like many +other stock formulas of Old World wisdom, is not true. How many murders +are there that the world has never heard of, and never will? How many a +murdered man, for instance, lies among the gum-trees of Victoria, or +in the old abandoned mining-shafts on the diggings, who is missed by +nobody, perhaps, but a pining wife at home, or helpless children, or +an old mother? But who were their murderers? Where are they? God knows, +perhaps, but nobody else, and nobody ever will." The fact, he said, that +he was alleged to have walked up Cumberland Street on the Sunday morning +and looked in the direction of the Dewars' house was, unless the causes +of superstition and a vague and incomplete reasoning were to be accepted +as proof, evidence rather of his innocence than his guilt. He had +removed the soles of his boots, he said, in order to ease his feet in +walking; the outer soles had become worn and ragged, and in lumps under +his feet. He denied that he had told Bain, the detective, that he would +break out as a desperate tiger let loose on the community; what he had +said was that he was tired of living the life of a prairie dog or a +tiger in the jungle. + +Butler was more successful when he came to deal with the bloodstains on +his clothes. These, he said, were caused by the blood from the scratches +on his hands, which had been observed at the time of his arrest. The +doctors had rejected this theory, and said that the spots of blood +had been impelled from the axe or from the heads of the victims as the +murderer struck the fatal blow. Butler put on the clothes in court, and +was successful in showing that the position and appearance of certain +of the blood spots was not compatible with such a theory. "I think," +he said, "I am fairly warranted in saying that the evidence of these +gentlemen is, not to put too fine a point on it, worth just nothing at +all." + +Butler's concluding words to the jury were brief but emphatic: "I stand +in a terrible position. So do you. See that in your way of disposing of +me you deliver yourselves of your responsibilities." + +In the exercise of his forbearance towards an undefended prisoner, Mr. +Haggitt did not address the jury for the Crown. At four o'clock the +judge commenced his summing-up. Mr. Justice Williams impressed on +the jury that they must be satisfied, before they could convict the +prisoner, that the circumstances of the crime and the prisoner's conduct +were inconsistent with any other reasonable hypothesis than his guilt. +There was little or no evidence that robbery was the motive of the +crime. The circumstance of the prisoner being out all Saturday night and +in the neighbourhood of the crime on Sunday morning only amounted to +the fact that he had an opportunity shared by a great number of other +persons of committing the murder. The evidence of his agitation and +demeanour at the time of his arrest must be accepted with caution. The +evidence of the blood spots was of crucial importance; there was nothing +save this to connect him directly with the crime. The jury must be +satisfied that the blood on the clothes corresponded with the blood +marks which, in all probability, would be found on the person who +committed the murder. In regard to the medical testimony some caution +must be exercised. Where medical gentlemen had made observations, seen +with their own eyes, the direct inference might be highly trustworthy, +but, when they proceeded to draw further inferences, they might be in +danger of looking at facts through the spectacles of theory; "we know +that people do that in other things besides science--politics, religion, +and so forth." Taking the Crown evidence, at its strongest, there was +a missing link; did the evidence of the bloodstains supply it? These +bloodstains were almost invisible. Could a person be reasonably asked to +explain how they came where they did? Could they be accounted for in no +other reasonable way than that the clothes had been worn by the murderer +of the Dewars? + +In spite of a summing-up distinctly favourable to the prisoner, the jury +were out three hours. According to one account of their proceedings, +told to the writer, there was at first a majority of the jurymen in +favour of conviction. But it was Saturday night; if they could not come +to a decision they were in danger of being locked up over Sunday. For +this reason the gentleman who held an obstinate and unshaken belief that +the crime was the work of a homicidal maniac found an unexpected ally in +a prominent member of a church choir who was down to sing a solo in his +church on Sunday, and was anxious not to lose such an opportunity for +distinction. Whatever the cause, after three hours' deliberation the +jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." Later in the Session Butler +pleaded guilty to the burglary at Mr. Stamper's house, and was sentenced +to eighteen years' imprisonment. The severity of this sentence was not, +the judge said, intended to mark the strong suspicion under which Butler +laboured of being a murderer as well as a burglar. + +The ends of justice had been served by Butler's acquittal. But in the +light of after events, it is perhaps unfortunate that the jury did not +stretch a point and so save the life of Mr. Munday of Toowong. Butler +underwent his term of imprisonment in Littleton Jail. There his +reputation was most unenviable. He is described by a fellow prisoner as +ill-tempered, malicious, destructive, but cowardly and treacherous. He +seems to have done little or no work; he looked after the choir and the +library, but was not above breaking up the one and smashing the other, +if the fit seized him. + + + +III + +HIS DECLINE AND FALL + + +In 1896 Butler was released from prison. The news of his release was +described as falling like a bombshell among the peaceful inhabitants +of Dunedin. In the colony of Victoria, where Butler had commenced his +career, it was received with an apprehension that was justified by +subsequent events. It was believed that on his release the New Zealand +authorities had shipped Butler off to Rio. But it was not long before he +made his way once more to Australia. From the moment of his arrival +in Melbourne he was shadowed by the police. One or two mysterious +occurrences soon led to his arrest. On June 5 he was sentenced to twelve +months' imprisonment under the Criminal Influx Act, which makes it a +penal offence for any convict to enter Victoria for three years +after his release from prison. Not content with this, the authorities +determined to put Butler on trial on two charges of burglary and one of +highway robbery, committed since his return to the colony. To one charge +of burglary, that of breaking into a hairdresser's shop and stealing a +wig, some razors and a little money, Butler pleaded guilty. + +But the charge of highway robbery, which bore a singular resemblance +to the final catastrophe in Queensland, he resisted to the utmost, and +showed that his experience in the Supreme Court at Dunedin had not been +lost on him. At half-past six one evening in a suburb of Melbourne an +elderly gentleman found himself confronted by a bearded man, wearing a +long overcoat and a boxer hat and flourishing a revolver, who told him +abruptly to "turn out his pockets." The old man did ashe was told. The +robber then asked for his watch and chain, saying "Business must +be done." The old gentleman mildly urged that this was a dangerous +business. On being assured that the watch was a gold one, the robber +appeared willing to risk the danger, and departed thoroughly satisfied. +The old gentleman afterwards identified Butler as the man who had taken +his watch. Another elderly man swore that he had seen Butler at the time +of the robbery in the possession of a fine gold watch, which he said had +been sent him from home. But the watch had not been found in Butler's +possession. + +On June 18 Butler was put on his trial in the Melbourne Criminal +Court before Mr. Justice Holroyd, charged with robbery under arms. His +appearance in the dock aroused very considerable interest. "It was the +general verdict," wrote one newspaper, "that his intellectual head and +forehead compared not unfavourably with those of the judge." He +was decently dressed and wore pince-nez, which he used in the best +professional manner as he referred to the various documents that lay in +front of him. He went into the witness-box and stated that the evening +of the crime he had spent according to his custom in the Public Library. + +For an hour and a half he addressed the jury. He disputed the +possibility of his identification by his alleged victim. He was "an old +gentleman of sedentary pursuits and not cast in the heroic mould." Such +a man would be naturally alarmed and confused at meeting suddenly an +armed robber. Now, under these circumstances, could his recognition of +a man whose face was hidden by a beard, his head by a boxer hat, and his +body by a long overcoat, be considered trustworthy? And such recognition +occurring in the course of a chance encounter in the darkness, that +fruitful mother of error? The elderly gentleman had described his +moustache as a slight one, but the jury could see that it was full and +overhanging. He complained that he had been put up for identification +singly, not with other men, according to the usual custom; the police +had said to the prosecutor: "We have here a man that we think robbed +you, and, if he is not the man, we shall be disappointed," to which +the prosecutor had replied: "Yes, and if he is not the man, I shall be +disappointed too." For the elderly person who had stated that he had +seen a gold watch in Butler's possession the latter had nothing but +scorn. He was a "lean and slippered pantaloon in Shakespeare's last +stage"; and he, Butler, would have been a lunatic to have confided in +such a man. + +The jury acquitted Butler, adding as a rider to their verdict that there +was not sufficient evidence of identification. The third charge against +Butler was not proceeded with. He was put up to receive sentence for the +burglary at the hairdresser's shop. Butler handed to the judge a written +statement which Mr. Justice Holroyd described as a narrative that +might have been taken from those sensational newspapers written for +nursery-maids, and from which, he said, he could not find that Butler +had ever done one good thing in the whole course of his life. Of that +life of fifty years Butler had spent thirty-five in prison. The judge +expressed his regret that a man of Butler's knowledge, information, +vanity, and utter recklessness of what evil will do, could not be put +away somewhere for the rest of his life, and sentenced him to fifteen +years' imprisonment with hard labour. "An iniquitous and brutal +sentence!" exclaimed the prisoner. After a brief altercation with the +judge, who said that he could hardly express the scorn he felt for such +a man, Butler was removed. The judge subsequently reduced the sentence +to one of ten years. Chance or destiny would seem implacable in their +pursuit of Mr. William Munday of Toowong. + +Butler after his trial admitted that it was he who had robbed the old +gentleman of his watch, and described to the police the house in which +it was hidden. When the police went there to search they found that the +house had been pulled down, but among the debris they discovered a brown +paper parcel containing the old gentleman's gold watch and chain, a +five-chambered revolver, a keen-edged butcher's knife, and a mask. + +Butler served his term of imprisonment in Victoria, "an unmitigated +nuisance" to his custodians. On his release in 1904, he made, as in +Dunedin, an attempt to earn a living by his pen. He contributed some +articles to a Melbourne evening paper on the inconveniences of prison +discipline, but he was quite unfitted for any sustained effort as a +journalist. According to his own account, with the little money he had +left he made his way to Sydney, thence to Brisbane. He was half-starved, +bewildered, despairing; in his own words, "if a psychological camera +could have been turned on me it would have shown me like a bird +fascinated by a serpent, fascinated and bewildered by the fate in front, +behind, and around me." Months of suffering and privation passed, months +of tramping hundreds of miles with occasional breakdowns, months of +hunger and sickness; "my actions had become those of a fool; my mind and +will had become a remnant guided or misguided by unreasoning impulse." + +It was under the influence of such an impulse that on March 23 Butler +had met and shot Mr. Munday at Toowong. On May 24 he was arraigned at +Brisbane before the Supreme Court of Queensland. But the Butler who +stood in the dock of the Brisbane Criminal Court was very different +from the Butler who had successfully defended himself at Dunedin and +Melbourne. The spirit had gone out of him; it was rather as a suppliant, +represented by counsel, that he faced the charge of murder. His attitude +was one of humble and appropriate penitence. In a weak and nervous voice +he told the story of his hardships since his release from his Victorian +prison; he would only urge that the shooting of Mr. Munday was +accidental, caused by Munday picking up a stone and attacking him. When +about to be sentenced to death he expressed great sorrow and contrition +for his crime, for the poor wife and children of his unfortunate victim. +His life, he said, was a poor thing, but he would gladly give it fifty +times over. + +The sentence of death was confirmed by the Executive on June 30. To +a Freethought advocate who visited him shortly before his execution, +Butler wrote a final confession of faith: "I shall have to find my way +across the harbour bar without the aid of any pilot. In these matters +I have for many years carried an exempt flag, and, as it has not been +carried through caprice or ignorance, I am compelled to carry it to the +last. There is an impassable bar of what I honestly believe to be the +inexorable logic of philosophy and facts, history and experience of the +nature of the world, the human race and myself, between me and the +views of the communion of any religious organisation. So instead of the +'depart Christian soul' of the priest, I only hope for the comfort and +satisfaction of the last friendly good-bye of any who cares to give it." + +From this positive affirmation of unbelief Butler wilted somewhat at the +approach of death. The day before his execution he spent half an hour +playing hymns on the church organ in the prison; and on the scaffold, +where his agitation rendered him almost speechless, he expressed his +sorrow for what he had done, and the hope that, if there were a heaven, +mercy would be shown him. + + + + +M. Derues + + +The last word on Derues has been said by M. Georges Claretie in his +excellent monograph, "Derues L'Empoisonneur," Paris. 1907. There is a +full account of the case in Vol. V. of Fouquier, "Causes Celebres." + +I + +THE CLIMBING LITTLE GROCER + +M. Etienne Saint-Faust de Lamotte, a provincial nobleman of ancient +lineage and moderate health, ex-equerry to the King, desired in +the year 1774 to dispose of a property in the country, the estate of +Buisson-Souef near Villeneuve-le-Roi, which he had purchased some ten +years before out of money acquired by a prudent marriage. + +With an eye to the main chance M. de Lamotte had in 1760 ran away with +the daughter of a wealthy citizen of Rheims, who was then staying with +her sister in Paris. They lived together in the country for some time, +and a son was born to them, whom the father legitimised by subsequently +marrying the mother. For a few years M. and Mme. de Lamotte dwelt +happily together at Buisson-Souef. But as their boy grew up they became +anxious to leave the country and return to Paris, where M. de Lamotte +hoped to be able to obtain for his son some position about the Court of +Louis XVI. And so it was that in May, 1775, M. de Lamotte gave a +power of attorney to his wife in order that she might go to Paris +and negotiate for the sale of Buisson-Souef. The legal side of the +transaction was placed in the hands of one Jolly, a proctor at the +Chatelet in Paris. + +Now the proctor Jolly had a client with a great desire to acquire a +place in the country, M. Derues de Cyrano de Bury, lord of Candeville, +Herchies, and other places. Here was the very man to comply with +the requirements of the de Lamottes, and such a pleasing, ready, +accommodating gentleman into the bargain! Very delicate to all +appearances, strangely pale, slight, fragile in build, with his +beardless chin and feminine cast of feature, there was something +cat-like in the soft insinuating smile of this seemingly most amiable, +candid and pious of men. Always cheerful and optimistic, it was quite +a pleasure to do business with M. Derues de Cyrano de Bury. The +de Lamottes after one or two interviews were delighted with their +prospective purchaser. Everything was speedily settled. M. Derues and +his wife, a lady belonging to the distinguished family of Nicolai, +visited Buisson-Souef. They were enchanted with what they saw, and their +hosts were hardly less enchanted with their visitors. By the end of +December, 1775, the purchase was concluded. M. Derues was to give +130,000 livres (about L20,000) for the estate, the payments to be made +by instalments, the first of 12,000 livres to be paid on the actual +signing of the contract of sale, which, it was agreed, was to be +concluded not later than the first of June, 1776. In the meantime, as an +earnest of good faith, M. Derues gave Mme. de Lamotte a bill for 4,200 +livres to fall due on April 1, 1776. + +What could be more satisfactory? That M. Derues was a substantial person +there could be no doubt. Through his wife he was entitled to a sum of +250,000 livres as her share of the property of a wealthy kinsman, one +Despeignes-Duplessis, a country gentleman, who some four years before +had been found murdered in his house under mysterious circumstances. +The liquidation of the Duplessis inheritance, as soon as the law's delay +could be overcome, would place the Derues in a position of affluence +fitting a Cyrano de Bury and a Nicolai. + +At this time M. Derues was in reality far from affluent. In point of +fact he was insolvent. Nor was his lineage, nor that of his wife, in any +way distinguished. He had no right to call himself de Cyrano de Bury or +Lord of Candeville. His wife's name was Nicolais, not Nicolai--a very +important difference from the genealogical point of view. The Duplessis +inheritance, though certainly existent, would seem to have had little +more chance of realisation than the mythical Crawford millions of Madame +Humbert. And yet, crippled with debt, without a penny in the world, +this daring grocer of the Rue Beaubourg, for such was M. Derues' +present condition in life, could cheerfully and confidently engage in +a transaction as considerable as the purchase of a large estate for +130,000 livres! The origin of so enterprising a gentleman is worthy of +attention. + +Antoine Francois Derues was born at Chartres in 1744; his father was a +corn merchant. His parents died when he was three years old. For some +time after his birth he was assumed to be a girl; it was not until +he was twelve years old that an operation determined his sex to be +masculine. Apprenticed by his relatives to a grocer, Derues succeeded +so well in the business that he was able in 1770 to set up on his +own account in Paris, and in 1772 he married. Among the grocer's +many friends and acquaintances this marriage created something of a +sensation, for Derues let it be known that the lady of his choice was of +noble birth and an heiress. The first statement was untrue. The lady +was one Marie Louise Nicolais, daughter of a non-commissioned artillery +officer, turned coachbuilder. But by suppressing the S at the end of her +name, which Derues was careful also to erase in his marriage contract, +the ambitious grocer was able to describe his wife as connected with +the noble house of Nicolai, one of the most distinguished of the great +French families. + +There was more truth in the statement that Mme. Derues was an heiress. A +kinsman of her mother, Beraud by name, had become the heir to a certain +Marquis Desprez. Beraud was the son of a small merchant. His mother +had married a second time, the husband being the Marquis Desprez, and +through her Beraud had inherited the Marquis' property. According to the +custom of the time, Beraud, on coming into his inheritance, took a +title from one of his estates and called himself thenceforth the lord of +Despeignes-Duplessis. A rude, solitary, brutal man, devoted to sport, +he lived alone in his castle of Candeville, hated by his neighbours, a +terror to poachers. One day he was found lying dead in his bedroom; he +had been shot in the chest; the assassin had escaped through an open +window. + +The mystery of Beraud's murder was never solved. His estate of 200,000 +livres was divided among three cousins, of whom the mother of Mme. +Derues was one. Mme. Derues herself was entitled to a third of his +mother's share of the estate, that is, one-ninth of the whole. But in +1775 Derues acquired the rest of the mother's share on condition that +he paid her an annual income of 1,200 livres. Thus on the liquidation +of the Duplessis inheritance Mme. Derues would be entitled nominally to +some 66,500 livres, about L11,000 in English money. But five years had +passed since the death of Despeignes-Duplessis, and the estate was still +in the slow process of legal settlement. If Derues were to receive the +full third of the Duplessis inheritance--a very unlikely supposition +after four years of liquidation--66,000 livres would not suffice to pay +his ordinary debts quite apart from the purchase money of Buisson-Souef. +His financial condition was in the last degree critical. Not content +with the modest calling of a grocer, Derues had turned money-lender, +a money-lender to spendthrift and embarrassed noblemen. Derues dearly +loved a lord; he wanted to become one himself; it delighted him to +receive dukes and marquises at the Rue Beaubourg, even if they came +there with the avowed object of raising the wind. The smiling grocer, in +his everlasting bonnet and flowered dressing-gown a la J. J. Rousseau, +was ever ready to oblige the needy scion of a noble house. What he +borrowed at moderate interest from his creditors he lent at enhanced +interest to the quality. Duns and bailiffs jostled the dukes and +marquises whose presence at the Rue Beaubourg so impressed the wondering +neighbours of the facile grocer. + +This aristocratic money-lending proved a hopeless trade; it only plunged +Derues deeper and deeper into the mire of financial disaster. The +noblemen either forgot to pay while they were alive, or on their death +were found to be insolvent. Derues was driven to ordering goods and +merchandise on credit, and selling them at a lower price for ready +money. Victims of this treatment began to press him seriously for their +money or their goods. Desperately he continued to fence them off with +the long expected windfall of the Duplessis inheritance. + +Paris was getting too hot for him. Gay and irrepressible as he was, the +strain was severe. If he could only find some retreat in the country +where he might enjoy at once refuge from his creditors and the rank and +consequence of a country gentleman! Nothing--no fear, no disappointment, +no disaster--could check the little grocer's ardent and overmastering +desire to be a gentleman indeed, a landed proprietor, a lord or +something or other. At the beginning of 1775 he had purchased a place +near Rueil from a retired coffeehouse-keeper, paying 1,000 livres on +account, but the non-payment of the rest of the purchase-money had +resulted in the annulment of the contract. Undefeated, Derues only +determined to fly the higher. Having failed to pay 9,000 livres for a +modest estate near Rueil, he had no hesitation in pledging himself to +pay 130,000 livres for the lordly domain of Buisson-Souef. So great were +his pride and joy on the conclusion of the latter bargain that he amused +himself by rehearsing on paper his future style and title: "Antoine +Francois de Cyrano Derues de Bury, Seigneur de Buisson-Souef et Valle +Profonde." He is worthy of Thackeray's pen, this little grocer-snob, +with his grand and ruinous acquaintance with the noble and the great, +his spurious titles, his unwearied climbing of the social ladder. + +The confiding, if willing, dupe of aristocratic impecuniosity, Derues +was a past master of the art of duping others. From the moment of the +purchase of Buisson-Souef all his art was employed in cajoling the +trusting and simple de Lamottes. Legally Buisson-Souef was his from the +signing of the agreement in December, 1775. His first payment was due +in April, 1776. Instead of making it, Derues went down to Buisson-Souef +with his little girl, and stayed there as the guests of the de Lamottes +for six months. His good humour and piety won all hearts. The village +priest especially derived great satisfaction from the society of so +devout a companion. He entertained his good friends, the merry little +man, by dressing up as a woman, a role his smooth face and effeminate +features well fitted him to play. If business were alluded to, the merry +gentleman railed at the delay and chicanery of lawyers; it was that +alone that postponed the liquidation of the Duplessis inheritance; as +soon as the lawyers could be got rid of, the purchase-money of his new +estate would be promptly paid up. But as time went on and no payment was +forthcoming the de Lamottes began to feel a little uneasy. As soon as +Derues had departed in November M. de Lamotte decided to send his +wife to Paris to make further inquiries and, if possible, bring their +purchaser up to the scratch. Mme. de Lamotte had developed into a stout, +indolent woman, of the Mrs. Bloss type, fond of staying in bed and +taking heavy meals. Her son, a fat, lethargic youth of fourteen, +accompanied his mother. + +On hearing of Mme. de Lamotte's contemplated visit to Paris, Derues was +filled with alarm. If she were living free and independent in Paris she +might find out the truth about the real state of his affairs, and then +good-bye to Buisson-Souef and landed gentility! No, if Mme. de Lamotte +were to come to Paris, she must come as the guest of the Derues, +a pleasant return for the hospitality accorded to the grocer at +Buisson-Souef. The invitation was given and readily accepted; M. de +Lamotte still had enough confidence in and liking for the Derues to be +glad of the opportunity of placing his wife under their roof. And so it +was that on December 16, 1776, Mme. de Lamotte arrived at Paris and took +up her abode at the house of the Derues in the Rue Beaubourg Her son she +placed at a private school in a neighbouring street. + +To Derues there was now one pressing and immediate problem to be +solved--how to keep Buisson-Souef as his own without paying for it? To +one less sanguine, less daring, less impudent and desperate in his need, +the problem would have appeared insoluble. + +But that was by no means the view of the cheery and resourceful grocer. +He had a solution ready, well thought out and bearing to his mind +the stamp of probability. He would make a fictitious payment of the +purchase-money to Mme. de Lamotte. She would then disappear, taking her +son with her. Her indiscretion in having been the mistress of de Lamotte +before she became his wife, would lend colour to his story that she had +gone off with a former lover, taking with her the money which Derues +had paid her for Buisson-Souef. He would then produce the necessary +documents proving the payment of the purchase-money, and Buisson-Souef +would be his for good and all. + +The prime necessity to the success of this plan was the disappearance, +willing or unwilling, of Mme. de Lamotte and her son. The former had +settled down quite comfortably beneath the hospitable roof of the +Derues, and under the soothing influence of her host showed little +vigour in pressing him for the money due to herself and her husband. She +had already spent a month in quietly enjoying Paris and the society of +her friends when, towards the end of January, 1770, her health and that +of her son began to fail. Mme. de Lamotte was seized with sickness and +internal trouble. Though Derues wrote to her husband that his wife was +well and their business was on the point of conclusion, by the 30th of +January Mme. de Lamotte had taken to her bed, nursed and physicked by +the ready Derues. On the 31st the servant at the Rue Beaubourg was +told that she could go to her home at Montrouge, whither Derues had +previously sent his two children. Mme. Derues, who was in an interesting +condition, was sent out for an hour by her husband to do some shopping. +Derues was alone with his patient. + +In the evening a friend, one Bertin, came to dine with Derues. Bertin +was a short, hustling, credulous, breathless gentleman, always in a +hurry, with a great belief in the abilities of M. Derues. He found the +little man in excellent spirits. Bertin asked if he could see Mme. de +Lamotte. Mme. Derues said that that was impossible, but that her husband +had given her some medicine which was working splendidly. The young de +Lamotte called to see his mother. Derues took him into her room; in the +dim light the boy saw her sleeping, and crept out quietly for fear of +disturbing her. The Derues and their friends sat down to dinner. Derues +kept jumping up and running into the sick room, from which a horrible +smell began to pervade the house. But Derues was radiant at the success +of his medicine. "Was there ever such a nurse as I am?" he exclaimed. +Bertin remarked that he thought it was a woman's and not a man's place +to nurse a lady under such distressing circumstances. Derues protested +that it was an occupation he had always liked. Next day, February 1, the +servant was still at Montrouge; Mme. Derues was again sent out shopping; +again Derues was alone with his patient. But she was a patient no +longer; she had become a corpse. The highly successful medicine +administered to the poor lady by her jolly and assiduous nurse had +indeed worked wonders. + +Derues had bought a large leather trunk. It is possible that to Derues +belongs the distinction of being the first murderer to put that harmless +and necessary article of travel to a criminal use. He was engaged in +his preparations for coffining Mme. de Lamotte, when a female creditor +knocked insistently at the door. She would take no denial. Clad in his +bonnet and gown, Derues was compelled to admit her. She saw the +large trunk, and suspected a bolt on the part of her creditor. Derues +reassured her; a lady, he said, who had been stopping with them was +returning to the country. The creditor departed. Later in the day Derues +came out of the house and summoned some porters. With their help the +heavy trunk was taken to the house of a sculptor, a friend of Derues, +who agreed to keep it in his studio until Derues could take it down to +his place in the country. Bertin came in to dinner again that evening, +and also the young de Lamotte. Derues was gayer than ever, laughing +and joking with his guests. He told the boy that his mother had quite +recovered and gone to Versailles to see about finding him some post at +the Court. "We'll go and see her there in a day or two," he said, "I'll +let you know when." + +On the following day a smartly dressed, dapper, but very pale little +gentleman, giving the name of Ducoudray, hired a vacant cellar in a +house in the Rue de la Mortellerie. He had, he said, some Spanish wine +he wanted to store there, and three or four days later M. Ducoudray +deposited in this cellar a large grey trunk. A few days after he +employed a man to dig a large hole in the floor of the cellar, giving as +his reason for such a proceeding that "there was no way of keeping wine +like burying it." While the man worked at the job, his genial employer +beguiled his labours with merry quips and tales, which he illustrated +with delightful mimicry. The hole dug, the man was sent about his +business. "I will bury the wine myself," said his employer, and on one +or two occasions M. Ducoudray was seen by persons living in the house +going in and out of his cellar, a lighted candle in his hand. One day +the pale little gentleman was observed leaving the cellar, accompanied +by a porter carrying a large trunk, and after that the dwellers in the +Rue de la Mortellerie saw the pale little gentleman no more. + +A few days later M. Derues sent down to his place at Buisson-Souef a +large trunk filled with china. It was received there by M. de Lamotte. +Little did the trusting gentleman guess that it was in this very trunk +that the body of his dear wife had been conveyed to its last resting +place in the cellar of M. Ducoudray in the Rue de la Mortellerie. Nor +had M. Mesvrel-Desvergers, importunate creditor of M. Derues, guessed +the contents of the large trunk that he had met his debtor one day +early in February conveying through the streets of Paris. Creditors +were always interrupting Derues at inconvenient moments. M. +Mesvrel-Desvergers had tapped Derues on the shoulder, reminded him +forcibly of his liability towards him, and spoken darkly of possible +imprisonment. Derues pointed to the trunk. It contained, he said, a +sample of wine; he was going to order some more of it, and he would then +be in a position to pay his debt. But the creditor, still doubting, had +M. Derues followed, and ascertained that he had deposited his sample of +wine at a house in the Rue de la Mortellerie. + +On Wednesday, February 12, a M. Beaupre of Commercy arrived at +Versailles with his nephew, a fat boy, in reality some fourteen years of +age, but given out as older. They hired a room at the house of a cooper +named Pecquet. M. Beaupre was a very pale little gentleman, who seemed +in excellent spirits, in spite of the fact that his nephew was clearly +anything but well. Indeed, so sick and ailing did he appear to be that +Mme. Pecquet suggested that his uncle should call in a doctor. But +M. Beaupre said that that was quite unnecessary; he had no faith in +doctors; he would give the boy a good purge. His illness was due, he +said, to a venereal disorder and the drugs which he had been taking in +order to cure it; it was a priest the boy needed rather than a +doctor. On the Thursday and Friday the boy's condition showed little +improvement; the vomiting continued. But on Saturday M. Beaupre declared +himself as highly delighted with the success of his medicine. The same +night the boy was dead. The priest, urgently sent for by his devout +uncle, arrived to find a corpse. On the following day "Louis Anotine +Beaupre, aged twenty-two and a half," was buried at Versailles, his +pious uncle leaving with the priest six livres to pay for masses for the +repose of his erring nephew's soul. + +The same evening M. Derues who, according to his own account, had left +Paris with the young de Lamotte in order to take the boy to his mother +in Versailles, returned home to the Rue Beaubourg. As usual, Bertin +dropped in to dinner. He found his host full of merriment, singing in +the lightness of his heart. Indeed, he had reason to be pleased, for +at last, he told his wife and his friend, Buisson-Souef was his. He had +seen Mme. de Lamotte at Versailles and paid her the full purchase-money +in good, sounding gold. And, best joke of all, Mme. de Lamotte had no +sooner settled the business than she had gone off with a former lover, +her son and her money, and would in all probability never be heard of +again. The gay gentleman laughingly reminded his hearers that such an +escapade on the part of Mme. de Lamotte was hardly to be wondered at, +when they recollected that her son had been born out of wedlock. + +To all appearances Mme. de Lamotte had undoubtedly concluded the sale of +Buisson-Souef to Derues and received the price of it before disappearing +with her lover. Derues had in his possession a deed of sale signed +by Mme. de Lamotte and acknowledging the payment to her by Derues of +100,000 livres, which he had borrowed for that purpose from an advocate +of the name of Duclos. As a fact the loan from Duclos to Derues was +fictitious. A legal document proving the loan had been drawn up, but the +cash which the notary had demanded to see before executing the document +had been borrowed for a few hours. Duclos, a provincial advocate, +had acted in good faith, in having been represented to him that such +fictitious transactions were frequently used in Paris for the purpose +of getting over some temporary financial difficulty. On the 15th of +February the deed of the sale of Buisson-Souef had been brought by a +woman to the office of a scrivener employed by Derues; it was already +signed, but the woman asked that certain blanks should be filled in and +that the document should be dated. She was told that the date should +be that of the day on which the parties had signed it. She gave it as +February 12. A few days later Derues called at the office and was told +of the lady's visit. "Ah!" he said, "it was Mme. de Lamotte herself, the +lady who sold me the estate." + +In the meantime Derues, through his bustling and ubiquitous friend +Bertin, took good care that the story of Mme. de Lamotte's sale of +Buisson-Souef and subsequent elopement should be spread sedulously +abroad. By Bertin it was told to M. Jolly, the proctor in whose hands +the de Lamottes had placed the sale of Buisson-Souef. It was M. Jolly +who had in the first instance recommended to them his client Derues as a +possible purchaser. The proctor, who knew Mme. de Lamotte to be a woman +devoted to her husband and her home, was astonished to hear of her +infidelity, more especially as the story told by Derues represented her +as saying in very coarse terms how little she cared for her husband's +honour. He was surprised, too, that she should not have consulted +him about the conclusion of the business with Derues, and that Derues +himself should have been able to find so considerable a sum of money as +100,000 livres. But, said M. Jolly, if he were satisfied that Mme. de +Lamotte had taken away the money with her, then he would deliver up to +Derues the power of attorney which M. de Lamotte had left with him in +1775, giving his wife authority to carry out the sale of Buisson-Souef. +Mme. de Lamotte, being a married woman, the sale of the property to +Derues would be legally invalid if the husband's power of attorney were +not in the hands of the purchaser. + + + +II + +THE GAME OF BLUFF + + +To Derues, on the eve of victory, the statement of Jolly in regard to +the power of attorney was a serious reverse. He had never thought of +such an instrument, or he would have persuaded Mme. de Lamotte to have +gotten permission of it before her disappearance. Now he must try to get +it from Jolly himself. On the 26th of February he once again raised from +a friendly notary a few thousand livres on the Duplessis inheritance, +and deposited the deed of sale of Buisson-Souef as further security. +His pocket full of gold, he went straight to the office of Jolly. To the +surprise of the proctor Derues announced that he had come to pay him 200 +livres which he owed him, and apologised for the delay. Taking the +gold coins from his pockets he filled his three-cornered hat with +considerably more than the sum due, and held it out invitingly to +M. Jolly. Then he proceeded to tell him of his dealings with Mme. de +Lamotte. She had offered, he said, to get the power of attorney for him, +but he, trusting in her good faith, had said that there was no occasion +for hurry; and then, faithless, ungrateful woman that she was, she had +gone off with his money and left him in the lurch. "But," he added, "I +trust you absolutely, M. Jolly, you have all my business in your hands, +and I shall be a good client in the future. You have the power of +attorney--you will give it to me?" and he rattled the coins in his +hat. "I must have it," he went on, "I must have it at any price at any +price," and again the coins danced in his hat, while his eyes looked +knowingly at the proctor. M. Jolly saw his meaning, and his surprise +turned to indignation. He told Derues bluntly that he did not believe +his story, that until he was convinced of its truth he would not part +with the power of attorney, and showed the confounded grocer the door. + +Derues hastened home filled with wrath, and took counsel with his friend +Bertin. Bertin knew something of legal process; they would try whether +the law could not be invoked to compel Jolly to surrender the power of +attorney. Bertin went off to the Civil Lieutenant and applied for an +order to oblige M. Jolly to give up the document in question. An order +was made that Jolly must either surrender it into the hands of Derues or +appear before a referee and show cause why he should not comply with +the order. Jolly refused still to give it up or allow a copy of it to be +made, and agreed to appear before the referee to justify his action. In +the meantime Derues, greatly daring, had started for Buisson-Souef to +try what "bluff" could do in this serious crisis in his adventure. + +At Buisson-Souef poor M. de Lamotte waited, puzzled and distressed, +for news from his wife. On Saturday, 17th, the day after the return of +Derues from Versailles, he heard from Mme. Derues that his wife had left +Paris and gone with her son to Versailles. A second letter told him that +she had completed the sale of Buisson-Souef to Derues, and was still at +Versailles trying to obtain some post for the boy. On February 19 Mme. +Derues wrote again expressing surprise that M. de Lamotte had not had +any letter from his wife and asking if he had received some oysters +which the Derues had sent him. The distracted husband was in no mood for +oysters. "Do not send me oysters," he writes, "I am too ill with worry. +I thank you for all your kindness to my son. I love him better than +myself, and God grant he will be good and grateful." The only reply he +received from the Derues was an assurance that he would see his wife +again in a few days. + +The days passed, but Mme. de Lamotte made no sign. About four o'clock on +the afternoon of February 28, Derues, accompanied by the parish +priest of Villeneuvele-Roi, presented himself before M. de Lamotte at +Buisson-Souef. For the moment M. de Lamotte was rejoiced to see +the little man; at last he would get news of his wife. But he was +disappointed. Derues could tell him only what he had been told already, +that his wife had sold their estate and gone away with the money. + +M. de Lamotte was hardly convinced. How, he asked Derues, had he found +the 100,000 livres to buy Buisson-Souef, he who had not a halfpenny a +short time ago? Derues replied that he had borrowed it from a friend; +that there was no use in talking about it; the place was his now, his +alone, and M. de Lamotte had no longer a right to be there; he was very +sorry, poor dear gentleman, that his wife had gone off and left him +without a shilling, but personally he would always be a friend to him +and would allow him 3,000 livres a year for the rest of his life. In the +meantime, he said, he had already sold forty casks of the last year's +vintage, and would be obliged if M. de Lamotte would see to their being +sent off at once. + +By this time the anger and indignation of M. de Lamotte blazed forth. He +told Derues that his story was a pack of lies, that he was still master +at Buisson-Souef, and not a bottle of wine should leave it. "You are +torturing me," he exclaimed, "I know something has happened to my wife +and child. I am coming to Paris myself, and if it is as I fear, +you shall answer for it with your head!" Derues, undismayed by this +outburst, re-asserted his ownership and departed in defiant mood, +leaving on the premises a butcher of the neighbourhood to look after his +property. + +But things were going ill with Derues. M. de Lamotte meant to show +fight; he would have powerful friends to back him; class against class, +the little grocer would be no match for him. It was immediate possession +of Buisson-Souef that Derues wanted, not lawsuits; they were expensive +and the results uncertain. He spoke freely to his friends of the +difficulties of the situation. + +What could he do? The general opinion seemed to be that some fresh +news of Mme. de Lamotte--her reappearance, perhaps--would be the +only effective settlement of the dispute. He had made Mme. de Lamotte +disappear, why should he not make her reappear? He was not the man to +stick at trifles. His powers of female impersonation, with which he +had amused his good friends at Buisson-Souef, could now be turned to +practical account. On March 5 he left Paris again. + +On the evening of March 7 a gentleman, M. Desportes of Paris, hired a +room at the Hotel Blanc in Lyons. On the following day he went out early +in the morning, leaving word that, should a lady whom he was expecting, +call to see him, she was to be shown up to his room. The same morning a +gentleman, resembling M. Desportes of Paris, bought two lady's dresses +at a shop in Lyons. + +The same afternoon a lady dressed in black silk, with a hood well drawn +over her eyes, called at the office of M. Pourra, a notary. + +The latter was not greatly attracted by his visitor, whose nose struck +him as large for a woman. She said that she had spent her youth in +Lyons, but her accent was distinctly Parisian. The lady gave her name as +Madame de Lamotte, and asked for a power of attorney by which she could +give her husband the interest due to her on a sum of 30,000 livres, +part of the purchase-money of the estate of Buisson-Souef, which she +had recently sold. As Mme. de Lamotte represented herself as having been +sent to M. Pourra by a respectable merchant for whom he was in the +habit of doing business, he agreed to draw up the necessary document, +accepting her statement that she and her husband had separate estates. +Mme. de Lamotte said that she would not have time to wait until the +power of attorney was ready, and therefore asked M. Pourra to send it +to the parish priest at Villeneuvele-Roi; this he promised to do. Mme. +de-Lamotte had called twice during the day at the Hotel Blanc and asked +for M. Desportes of Paris, but he was not at home. While Derues, alias +Desportes, alias Mme. de Lamotte, was masquerading in Lyons, events had +been moving swiftly and unfavourably in Paris. Sick with misgiving and +anxiety, M. de Lamotte had come there to find, if possible, his wife and +child. By a strange coincidence he alighted at an inn in the Rue de la +Mortellerie, only a few yards from the wine-cellar in which the corpse +of his ill-fated wife lay buried. He lost no time in putting his case +before the Lieutenant of Police, who placed the affair in the hands +of one of the magistrates of the Chatelet, then the criminal court of +Paris. At first the magistrate believed that the case was one of fraud +and that Mme. de Lamotte and her son were being kept somewhere in +concealment by Derues. But as he investigated the circumstances further, +the evidence of the illness of the mother and son, the date of the +disappearance of Mme. de Lamotte, and her reputed signature to the deed +of sale on February 12, led him to suspect that he was dealing with a +case of murder. + +When Derues returned to Paris from Lyons, on March 11, he found that the +police had already visited the house and questioned his wife, and +that he himself was under close surveillance. A day or two later the +advocate, Duclos, revealed to the magistrate the fictitious character +of the loan of 100,000 livres, which Derues alleged that he had paid +to Mme. de Lamotte as the price of Buisson-Souef. When the new power of +attorney purporting to be signed by Mme. de Lamotte arrived from +Lyons, and the signature was compared with that on the deed of sale of +Buisson-Souef to Derues, both were pronounced to be forgeries. Derues +was arrested and lodged in the Prison of For l'Eveque. + +The approach of danger had not dashed the spirits of the little man, nor +was he without partisans in Paris. Opinion in the city was divided as +to the truth of his account of Mme. de Lamotte's elopement. The nobility +were on the side of the injured de Lamotte, but the bourgeoisie +accepted the grocer's story and made merry over the deceived husband. +Interrogated, however, by the magistrate of the Chatelet, Derues' +position became more difficult. Under the stress of close questioning +the flimsy fabric of his financial statements fell to pieces like a +house of cards. He had to admit that he had never paid Mme. de Lamotte +100,000 livres; he had paid her only 25,000 livres in gold; further +pressed he said that the 25,000 livres had been made up partly in gold, +partly in bills; but where the gold had come from, or on whom he had +drawn the bills, he could not explain. Still his position was not +desperate; and he knew it. In the absence of Mme. de Lamotte he could +not be charged with fraud or forgery; and until her body was discovered, +it would be impossible to charge him with murder. + +A month passed; Mme. Derues, who had made a belated attempt to follow +her husband's example by impersonating Mme. de Lamotte in Paris, had +been arrested and imprisoned in the Grand Chatelet; when, on April 18, +information was received by the authorities which determined them to +explore the wine-cellar in the Rue de la Mortellerie. Whether the woman +who had let the cellar to Derues, or the creditor who had met him taking +his cask of wine there, had informed the investigating magistrate, seems +uncertain. In any case, the corpse of the unhappy lady was soon brought +to light and Derues confronted with it. At first he said that he failed +to recognise it as the remains of Mme. de Lamotte, but he soon abandoned +that rather impossible attitude. He admitted that he had given some +harmless medicine to Mme. de Lamotte during her illness, and then, to +his horror, one morning had awakened to find her dead. A fear lest +her husband would accuse him of having caused her death had led him to +conceal the body, and also that of her son who, he now confessed, had +died and been buried by him at Versailles. On April 23 the body of the +young de Lamotte was exhumed. Both bodies were examined by doctors, and +they declared themselves satisfied that mother and son had died "from +a bitter and corrosive poison administered in some kind of drink." What +the poison was they did not venture to state, but one of their number, +in the light of subsequent investigation, arrived at the conclusion that +Derues had used in both cases corrosive sublimate. How or where he had +obtained the poison was never discovered. + +Justice moved swiftly in Paris in those days. The preliminary +investigation in Derues' case was ended on April 28. Two days later his +trial commenced before the tribunal of the Chatelet. + +It lasted one day. The judges had before them the depositions taken by +the examining magistrate. Both Derues and his wife were interrogated. He +maintained that he had not poisoned either Mme. de Lamotte or her son; +his only crime, he said, lay in having concealed their deaths. Mme; +Derues said: "It is Buisson-Souef that has ruined us! I always told my +husband that he was mad to buy these properties--I am sure my husband is +not a poisoner--I trusted my husband and believed every word he said." +The court condemned Derues to death, but deferred judgment in his wife's +case on the ground of her pregnancy. + +And now the frail, cat-like little man had to brace himself to meet +a cruel and protracted execution. But sanguine to the last, he still +hoped. An appeal lay from the Chatelet to the Parliament of Paris. It +was heard on March 5. Derues was brought to the Palais de Justice. +The room in which he waited was filled with curious spectators, who +marvelled at his coolness and impudence. He recognised among them a +Benedictine monk of his acquaintance. "My case," he called out to him, +"will soon be over; we'll meet again yet and have a good time together." +One visitor, wishing not to appear too curious, pretended to be looking +at a picture. "Come, sir," said Derues, "you haven't come here to see +the pictures, but to see me. Have a good look at me. Why study copies of +nature when you can look at such a remarkable original as I?" But there +were to be no more days of mirth and gaiety for the jesting grocer. His +appeal was rejected, and he was ordered for execution on the morrow. + +At six o'clock on the morning of May 6 Derues returned to the Palais +de Justice, there to submit to the superfluous torments of the question +ordinary and extraordinary. Though condemned to death, torture was to +be applied in the hope of wringing from the prisoner some sort of +confession. The doctors declared him too delicate to undergo the torture +of pouring cold water into him, which his illustrious predecessor, Mme. +de Brinvilliers, had suffered; he was to endure the less severe torture +of the "boot." + +His legs were tightly encased in wood, and wedges were then hammered in +until the flesh was crushed and the bones broken. But never a word +of confession was wrung from the suffering creature. Four wedges +constituting the ordinary torture he endured; at the third of the +extraordinary he fainted away. Put in the front of a fire the warmth +restored him. Again he was questioned, again he asserted his wife's +innocence and his own. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon Derues was recovered sufficiently to be +taken to Notre Dame. There, in front of the Cathedral, candle in hand +and rope round his neck, he made the amende honorable. But as the +sentence was read aloud to the people Derues reiterated the assertion +of his innocence. From Notre Dame he was taken to the Hotel de Ville. +A condemned man had the right to stop there on his way to execution, +to make his will and last dying declarations. Derues availed himself +of this opportunity to protest solemnly and emphatically his wife's +absolute innocence of any complicity in whatever he had done. "I want +above all," he said, "to state that my wife is entirely innocent. She +knew nothing. I used fifty cunning devices to hide everything from her. +I am speaking nothing but the truth, she is wholly innocent--as for me, +I am about to die." His wife was allowed to see him; he enjoined her to +bring up their children in the fear of God and love of duty, and to let +them know how he had died. Once again, as he took up the pen to sign the +record of his last words, he re-asserted her innocence. + +Of the last dreadful punishment the offending grocer was to be spared +nothing. For an aristocrat like Mme. de Brinvilliers beheading was +considered indignity enough. But Derues must go through with it all; he +must be broken on the wheel and burnt alive and his ashes scattered to +the four winds of heaven; there was to be no retentum for him, a +clause sometimes inserted in the sentence permitting the executioner to +strangle the broken victim before casting him on to the fire. He must +endure all to the utmost agony the law could inflict. It was six o'clock +when Derues arrived at the Place de Greve, crowded to its capacity, the +square itself, the windows of the houses; places had been bought at high +prices, stools, ladders, anything that would give a good view of the end +of the now famous poisoner. + +Pale but calm, Derues faced his audience. He was stripped of all but his +shirt; lying flat on the scaffold, his face looking up to the sky, his +head resting on a stone, his limbs were fastened to the wheel. Then with +a heavy bar of iron the executioner broke them one after another, and +each time he struck a fearful cry came from the culprit. The customary +three final blows on the stomach were inflicted, but still the little +man lived. Alive and broken, he was thrown on to the fire. His burnt +ashes, scattered to the winds, were picked up eagerly by the mob, +reputed, as in England the pieces of the hangman's rope, talismans. + +Some two months after the execution of her husband Mme. Derues was +delivered in the Conciergerie of a male child; it is hardly surprising, +in face of her experiences during her pregnancy, that it was born an +idiot. In January, 1778, the judges of the Parliament, by a majority of +one, decided that she should remain a prisoner in the Conciergerie for +another year, while judgment in her case was reserved. In the following +August she was charged with having forged the signature of Mme. de +Lamotte on the deeds of sale. In February, 1779, the two experts in +handwriting to whom the question had been submitted decided in her +favour, and the charge was abandoned. + +But Mme. Derues had a far sterner, more implacable and, be it added, +more unscrupulous adversary than the law in M. de Lamotte. + +Not content with her husband's death, M. de Lamotte believed the wife to +have been his partner in guilt, and thirsted for revenge. + +To accomplish it he even stooped to suborn witnesses, but the conspiracy +was exposed, and so strong became the sympathy with the accused woman +that a young proctor of the Parliament published a pamphlet in her +defence, asking for an immediate inquiry into the charges made against +her, charges that had in no instance been proved. + +At last, in March, 1779, the Parliament decided to finish with the +affair. In secret session the judges met, examined once more all the +documents in the case, listened to a report on it from one of their +number, interrogated the now weary, hopeless prisoner, and, by a large +majority, condemned her to a punishment that fell only just short of +the supreme penalty. On the grounds that she had wilfully and knowingly +participated with her husband in the fraudulent attempt to become +possessed of the estate of Buisson-Souef, and was strongly suspected of +having participated with him in his greater crime, she was sentenced +to be publicly flogged, branded on both shoulders with the letter V +(Voleuse) and imprisoned for life in the Salpetriere Prison. On March +13, in front of the Conciergerie Mme. Derues underwent the first part of +her punishment. The same day her hair was cut short, and she was dressed +in the uniform of the prison in which she was to pass the remainder of +her days. + +Paris had just begun to forget Mme. Derues when a temporary interest +was-excited in her fortunes by the astonishing intelligence that, two +months after her condemnation, she had been delivered of a child in her +new prison. Its fatherhood was never determined, and, taken from her +mother, the child died in fifteen days. Was its birth the result of some +passing love affair, or some act of drunken violence on the part of her +jailors, or had the wretched woman, fearing a sentence of death, made an +effort to avert once again the supreme penalty? History does not relate. + +Ten years passed. A fellow prisoner in the Salpetriere described Mme. +Derues as "scheming, malicious, capable of anything." She was accused +of being violent, and of wishing to revenge herself by setting fire to +Paris. At length the Revolution broke on France, the Bastille fell, and +in that same year an old uncle of Mme. Derues, an ex-soldier of +Louis XV., living in Brittany, petitioned for his niece's release. He +protested her innocence, and begged that he might take her to his home +and restore her to her children. For three years he persisted vainly in +his efforts. At last, in the year 1792, it seemed as if they might be +crowned with success. He was told that the case would be re-examined; +that it was possible that the Parliament had judged unjustly. This good +news came to him in March. But in September of that year there took +place those shocking massacres in the Paris prisons, which rank high +among the atrocities of the Revolution. At four o'clock on the afternoon +of September 4, the slaughterers visited the Salpetriere Prison, and +fifth among their victims fell the widow of Derues. + + + + +Dr. Castaing + + +There are two reports of the trial of Castaing: "Proces Complet d'Edme +Samuel Castaing," Paris, 1823; "Affaire Castaing," Paris, 1823. + +I + +AN UNHAPPY COINCIDENCE + +Edme Castaing, born at Alencon in 1796, was the youngest of the three +sons of an Inspector-General in the department of Woods and Forests. +His elder brother had entered the same service as his father, the other +brother was a staff-captain of engineers. Without being wealthy, the +family, consisting of M. and Mme. Castaing and four children, was in +comfortable circumstances. The young Edme was educated at the College of +Angers--the Alma Mater of Barre and Lebiez--where, intelligent and hard +working, he carried off many prizes. He decided to enter the medical +profession, and at the age of nineteen commenced his studies at the +School of Medicine in Paris. For two years he worked hard and well, +living within the modest allowance made him by his father. At the end of +that time this young man of two or three-and-twenty formed a passionate +attachment for a lady, the widow of a judge, and the mother of three +children. Of the genuine depth and sincerity of this passion for a woman +who must have been considerably older than himself, there can be no +doubt. Henceforth the one object in life to Castaing was to make money +enough to relieve the comparative poverty of his adored mistress, and +place her and her children beyond the reach of want. In 1821 Castaing +became a duly qualified doctor, and by that time had added to the +responsibilities of his mistress and himself by becoming the father of +two children, whom she had brought into the world. The lady was exigent, +and Castaing found it difficult to combine his work with a due regard to +her claims on his society. Nor was work plentiful or lucrative. To add +to his embarrassments Castaing, in 1818, had backed a bill for a +friend for 600 francs. To meet it when it fell due two years later was +impossible, and desperate were the efforts made by Castaing and his +mother to put off the day of reckoning. His father, displeased with his +son's conduct, would do nothing to help him. But his mother spared +no effort to extricate him from his difficulties. She begged a highly +placed official to plead with the insistent creditor, but all in vain. +There seemed no hope of a further delay when suddenly, in the October +of 1822, Castaing became the possessor of 100,000 francs. How he became +possessed of this considerable sum of money forms part of a strange and +mysterious story. + +Among the friends of Castaing were two young men of about his own age, +Auguste and Hippolyte Ballet. Auguste, the elder, had the misfortune +a few days after his birth to incur his mother's lasting dislike. The +nurse had let the child fall from her arms in the mother's presence, and +the shock had endangered Mme. Ballet's life. From that moment the +mother took a strong aversion to her son; he was left to the charge of +servants; his meals were taken in the kitchen. As soon as he was five +years old he was put out to board elsewhere, while his brother Hippolyte +and his sister were well cared for at home. The effect of this unjust +neglect on the character of Auguste Ballet was, as may be imagined, had; +he became indolent and dissipated. His brother Hippolyte, on the other +hand, had justified the affectionate care bestowed on his upbringing; he +had grown into a studious, intelligent youth of a refined and attractive +temperament. Unhappily, early in his life he had developed consumption, +a disease he inherited from his mother. As he grew older his health grew +steadily worse until, in 1822, his friends were seriously alarmed at his +condition. It became so much graver that, in the August of that year, +the doctors recommended him to take the waters at Enghien. In September +he returned to Paris apparently much better, but on October 2 he was +seized with sudden illness, and three days later he was dead. + +A few years before the death of Hippolyte his father and mother had +died almost at the same time. M. Ballet had left to each of his sons a +fortune of some 260,000 francs. Though called to the bar, both Auguste +and Hippolyte Ballet were now men of independent means. After the death +of their parents, whatever jealousy Auguste may have felt at the unfair +preference which his mother had shown for her younger son, had died +down. At the time of Hippolyte's death the brothers were on good terms, +though the more prudent Hippolyte disapproved of his elder brother's +extravagance. + +Of Hippolyte Ballet Dr. Castaing had become the fast friend. Apart +from his personal liking for Castaing, it was a source of comfort to +Hippolyte, in his critical state of health, to have as his friend one +whose medical knowledge was always at his service. + +About the middle of August, 1822, Hippolyte, on the advice of his +doctors, went to Enghien to take the waters. There Castaing paid him +frequent visits. He returned to Paris on September 22, and seemed to +have benefited greatly by the cure. On Tuesday, October 1, he saw his +sister, Mme. Martignon, and her husband; he seemed well, but said that +he was having leeches applied to him by his friend Castaing. On the +Wednesday evening his sister saw him again, and found him well and with +a good appetite. On the Thursday, after a night disturbed by severe +attacks of vomiting, his condition seemed serious. His brother-in-law, +who visited him, found that he had taken to his bed, his face was +swollen, his eyes were red. His sister called in the evening, but could +not see him. The servants told her that her brother was a little better +but resting, and that he did not wish to be disturbed; they said that +Dr. Castaing had been with him all day. + +On Friday Castaing himself called on the Martignons, and told them that +Hippolyte had passed a shockingly bad night. Madame Martignon insisted +on going to nurse her brother herself, but Castaing refused positively +to let her see him; the sight of her, he said, would be too agitating +to the patient. Later in the day Mme. Martignon went to her brother's +house. In order to obey Dr. Castaing's injunctions, she dressed herself +in some of the clothes of the servant Victoire, in the hope that if she +went into his bedroom thus disguised, Hippolyte would not recognise her. +But even this subterfuge was forbidden by Castaing, and Mme. Martignon +had to content herself with listening in an adjoining room for the sound +of her brother's voice. At eight o'clock that evening the Martignons +learnt that Hippolyte was better, but at ten o'clock they received a +message that he was dying, and that his brother Auguste had been sent +for. Mme. Martignon was prostrated with grief, but her husband hastened +to his brother-in-law's house. There he found Castaing, who said that +the death agony of his friend was so dreadful that he had not the +strength to remain in the room with the dying man. Another doctor was +sent for, but at ten o'clock the following morning, after protracted +suffering, Hippolyte Ballet passed away. + +A post-mortem was held on his body. It was made by Drs. Segalas and +Castaing. They stated that death was due to pleurisy aggravated by the +consumptive condition of the deceased, which, however serious, was not +of itself likely to have been so rapidly fatal in its consequences. + +Hippolyte had died, leaving a fortune of some 240,000 francs. In the +previous September he had spoken to the notary Lebret, a former clerk +of his father's, of his intention of making a will. He had seen that his +brother Auguste was squandering his share of their inheritance; he told +Lebret that whatever he might leave to Auguste should not be placed at +his absolute disposal. To his servant Victoire, during his last illness, +Hippolyte had spoken of a will he had made which he wished to destroy. +If Hippolyte had made such a will, did he destroy it before his death? +In any case, no trace of it was ever found after his death. He +was presumed to have died intestate, and his fortune was divided, +three-quarters of it going to his brother Auguste, the remaining quarter +to his sister, Mme. Martignon. + +On the day of Hippolyte's death Auguste Ballet wrote from his brother's +house to one Prignon: "With great grief I have to tell you that I have +just lost my brother; I write at the same time to say that I must have +100,000 francs to-day if possible. I have the greatest need of it. +Destroy my letter, and reply at once. M. Sandrie will, I am sure, +accommodate me. I am at my poor brother's house, from which I am +writing." Prignon did as he was asked, but it was two days before the +stockbroker, Sandrie, could raise the necessary sum. On October 7 he +sold out sufficient of Auguste's stock to realise 100,000 francs, and +the following day gave Prignon an order on the Bank of France for that +amount. The same day Prignon took the order to Auguste. Accompanied by +Castaing and Jean, Auguste's black servant, Auguste and Prignon drove to +the bank. There the order was cashed. Prignon's part of the business was +at an end. He said good-bye to Auguste outside the bank. As the latter +got into his cabriolet, carrying the bundle of notes, Prignon heard him +say to Castaing: "There are the 100,000 francs." + +Why had Auguste Ballet, after his brother's death, such urgent need of +100,000 francs? If the statements of Auguste made to other persons +are to be believed, he had paid the 100,000 francs which he had raised +through Prignon to Lebret, his father's former clerk, who would seem to +have acted as legal and financial adviser to his old master's children. +According to Auguste's story, his sister, Mme. Martignon, had offered +Lebret 80,000 francs to preserve a copy of a will made by Hippolyte, +leaving her the bulk of his fortune. Castaing, however, had ascertained +that Lebret would be willing, if Auguste would outbid his sister and pay +100,000 francs, to destroy the will so that, Hippolyte dying intestate, +Auguste would take the greater part of his brother's fortune. Auguste +agreed to accept Lebret's terms, raised the necessary sum, and handed +over the money to Castaing, who, in turn, gave it to Lebret, who had +thereupon destroyed the copy of the will. Castaing, according to the +evidence of Auguste's mistress, an actress of the name of Percillie, +had spoken in her presence of having himself destroyed one copy of +Hippolyte's will before his death, and admitted having arranged with +Lebret after Hippolyte's death for the destruction of the other copy. + +How far was the story told by Auguste, and repeated in somewhat +different shape by Castaing to other persons, true? There is no doubt +that after the visit to the Bank of France with Prignon on October +8, Auguste and Castaing drove together to Lebret's office. The negro +servant said that on arriving there one of them got out of the cab and +went up to Lebret's house, but which of the two he would not at first +say positively. Later he swore that it was Auguste Ballet. Whatever +happened on that visit to Lebret's--and it was the theory of the +prosecution that Castaing and not Auguste had gone up to the office--the +same afternoon Auguste Ballet showed his mistress the seals of the copy +of his brother's will which Lebret had destroyed, and told her that +Lebret, all through the business, had refused to deal directly with him, +and would only act through the intermediary of Castaing. + +Did Lebret, as a fact, receive the 100,000 francs? A close examination +of his finances showed no trace of such a sum. Castaing, on the other +hand, on October 10, 1822, had given a stockbroker a sum of 66,000 +francs to invest in securities; on the 11th of the same month he had +lent his mother 30,000 francs; and on the 14th had given his mistress +4,000 francs. Of how this large sum of money had come to Castaing at +a time when he was practically insolvent he gave various accounts. +His final version was that in the will destroyed by Auguste, Hippolyte +Ballet had left him an income for life equivalent to a capital of +100,000 francs, and that Auguste had given him that sum out of respect +for his brother's wishes. If that explanation were true, it was +certainly strange that shortly after his brother's death Auguste Ballet +should have expressed surprise and suspicion to a friend on hearing that +Castaing had been buying stock to the value of 8,000 francs. If he had +given Castaing 100,000 francs for himself, there was no occasion for +surprise or suspicion at his investing 8,000. That Auguste had paid out +100,000 francs to some one in October the state of his finances at +his death clearly proved. According to the theory of the prosecution, +Auguste believed that he had paid that money to Lebret through the +intermediary of Castaing, and not to Castaing himself. Hence his +surprise at hearing that Castaing, whom he knew to be impecunious, was +investing such a sum as 8,000 francs. + +No money had ever reached Lebret. His honesty and good faith were +demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt; no copy of any will of +Hippolyte Ballet had ever been in his possession. But Castaing had shown +Auguste Ballet a copy of his brother's will, the seals of which Auguste +had shown to his mistress. In all probability, and possibly at the +instigation of Castaing, Hippolyte Ballet had made a will, leaving the +greater part of his property to his sister. Somehow or other Castaing +had got possession of this will. On his death Castaing had invented the +story of Mme. Martignon's bribe to Lebret, and so persuaded Auguste +to outbid her. He had ingeniously kept Auguste and Lebret apart by +representing Lebret as refusing to deal direct with Auguste, and by +these means had secured to his own use the sum of 100,000 francs, which +Auguste believed was being paid to Lebret as the price of his +alleged destruction of his brother's will. The plot was ingenious and +successful. To Lebret and the Martignons Castaing said that Hippolyte +had made a will in Mme. Martignon's favour, but had destroyed it himself +some days before his death. The Martignons expressed themselves as glad +that Hippolyte had done so, for they feared lest such a will should +have provoked resentment against them on the part of Auguste. By keeping +Auguste and Lebret apart, Castaing prevented awkward explanations. The +only possible danger of discovery lay in Auguste's incautious admissions +to his mistress and friends; but even had the fact of the destruction +of the will come to the ears of the Martignons, it is unlikely that they +would have taken any steps involving the disgrace of Auguste. + +Castaing had enriched himself considerably by the opportune death of his +friend Hippolyte. It might be made a matter of unfriendly comment that, +on the first day of May preceding that sad event, Castaing had purchased +ten grains of acetate of morphia from a chemist in Paris, and on +September 18, less than a month before Hippolyte's death, he had +purchased another ten grains of acetate of morphia from the same +chemist. The subject of poisons had always been a favourite branch of +Castaing's medical studies, especially vegetable poisons; morphia is a +vegetable poison. + +Castaing's position relative to Auguste Ballet was now a strong one. +They were accomplices in the unlawful destruction of Hippolyte's will. +Auguste believed it to be in his friend's power to ruin him at any time +by revealing his dealings with Lebret. But, more than that, to Auguste, +who believed that his 100,000 francs had gone into Lebret's pocket, +Castaing could represent himself as so far unrewarded for his share in +the business; Lebret had taken all the money, while he had received no +recompense of any kind for the trouble he had taken and the risk he was +encountering on his friend's behalf. Whatever the motive, from fear or +gratitude, Auguste Ballet was persuaded to make a will leaving Dr. Edme +Samuel Castaing the whole of his fortune, subject to a few trifling +legacies. But Auguste's feelings towards his sole legatee were no longer +cordial. To one or two of his friends he expressed his growing distaste +for Castaing's society. + +Dr. Castaing can hardly have failed to observe this change. He knew +Auguste to be reckless and extravagant with his money; he learnt that he +had realised another 100,000 francs out of his securities, and that he +kept the money locked up in a drawer in his desk. If Auguste's fortune +were dissipated by extravagance, or he revoked his will, Castaing stood +to lose heavily. As time went on Castaing felt less and less sure that +he could place much reliance on the favourable disposition or thrift of +Auguste. The latter had fallen in love with a new mistress; he began to +entertain expensively; even if he should not change his mind and leave +his money away from Castaing, there might very soon be no money to +leave. At the end of May, 1823, Castaing consulted a cousin of his, +Malassis, a notary's clerk, as to the validity of a will made by a sick +man in favour of his medical attendant. He said that he had a patient +gravely ill who, not wishing to leave his money to his sister, whom he +disliked, intended to leave it to him. Malassis reassured him as to the +validity of such a will, and gave him the necessary instructions for +preparing it. On May 29 Castaing sent Malassis the will of Auguste +Ballet with the following note, "I send you the will of M. Ballets +examine it and keep it as his representative." The will was dated +December 1, 1822, and made Castaing sole legatee. On the same day +that the will was deposited with Malassis, Castaing and Auguste Ballet +started to-gether on a little two days' trip into the country. To his +friends Auguste seemed in the best of health and spirits; so much so +that his housekeeper remarked as he left how well he was looking, and +Castaing echoed her remark, saying that he looked like a prince! + +During the afternoon the two friends visited Saint Germain, then +returned to Paris, and at seven o'clock in the evening arrived at the +Tete Noire Hotel at Saint Cloud, where they took a double-bedded room, +Castaing paying five francs in advance. They spent the following day, +Friday, May 30, in walking about the neighbourhood, dined at the hotel +at seven, went out again and returned about nine o'clock. Soon after +their return Castaing ordered some warmed wine to be sent up to the +bedroom. It was taken up by one of the maid-servants. Two glasses were +mixed with lemon and sugar which Castaing had brought with him. Both the +young men drank of the beverage. Auguste complained that it was sour, +and thought that he had put too much lemon in it. He gave his glass to +the servant to taste, who also found the drink sour. Shortly after +she left the room and went upstairs to the bedside of one of her +fellow-servants who was ill. Castaing, for no apparent reason, followed +her up and stayed in the room for about five minutes. Auguste spent a +bad night, suffering from internal pains, and in the morning his legs +were so swollen that he could not put on his boots. + +Castaing got up at four o'clock that morning and asked one of the +servants to let him out. Two hours later he drove up in a cabriolet to +the door of a chemist in Paris, and asked for twelve grains of tartar +emetic, which he wanted to mix in a wash according to a prescription of +Dr. Castaing. But he did not tell the chemist that he was Dr. Castaing +himself. An hour later Castaing arrived at the shop of another chemist, +Chevalier, with whom he had already some acquaintance; he had bought +acetate of morphia from him some months before, and had discussed with +him then the effects of vegetable poisons. On this particular morning he +bought of his assistant thirty-six grains of acetate of morphia, paying, +as a medical man, three francs fifty centimes for it instead of the +usual price of four francs. Later in the morning Castaing returned to +Saint Cloud, a distance of ten miles from Paris, and said that he had +been out for a long walk. He found Auguste ill in bed. Castaing asked +for some cold milk, which was taken up to the bedroom by one of the +servants. Shortly after this Castaing went out again. During his absence +Auguste was seized with violent pains and sickness. When Castaing +returned he found his friend in the care of the people of the hotel. He +told them to throw away the matter that had been vomited, as the smell +was offensive, and Auguste told them to do as his friend directed. +Castaing proposed to send for a doctor from Paris, but Auguste insisted +that a local doctor should be called in at once. + +Accordingly Dr. Pigache of Saint Cloud was summoned. He arrived at the +hotel about eleven o'clock. Before seeing the patient Castaing told the +doctor that he believed him to be suffering from cholera. Pigache asked +to see the matter vomited but was told that it had been thrown away. He +prescribed a careful diet, lemonade and a soothing draught. + +Dr. Pigache returned at three o'clock, when he found that the patient +had taken some lemonade, but, according to Castaing, had refused to take +the draught. He called again that afternoon. Ballet was much better; +he said that he would be quite well if he could get some sleep, and +expressed a wish to return to Paris. Dr. Pigache dissuaded him from this +and left, saying that he would come again in the evening. Castaing said +that that would be unnecessary, and it was agreed that Pigache should +see the patient again at eight o'clock the next morning. During the +afternoon Castaing sent a letter to Paris to Jean, Auguste's negro +servant, telling him to take the two keys of his master's desk to his +cousin Malassis. But the negro distrusted Castaing. He knew of the will +which his master had made in the doctor's favour. Rather than compromise +himself by any injudicious act, he brought the keys to Saint Cloud and +there handed them over to Castaing. + +When Jean arrived his master complained to him of feeling very ill. +Jean said that he hoped he would be well enough to go back to Paris the +following day, to which Auguste replied, "I don't think so. But if I am +lucky enough to get away to-morrow, I shall leave fifty francs for +the poor here." About eleven o'clock that night Castaing, in Jean's +presence, gave the sick man a spoonful of the draught prescribed by Dr. +Pigache. Four or five minutes later Auguste was seized with terrible +convulsions, followed by unconsciousness. Dr. Pigache was sent for. He +found Ballet lying on his back unconscious, his throat strained, his +mouth shut and his eyes fixed; the pulse was weak, his body covered +with cold sweat; and every now and then he was seized with strong +convulsions. The doctor asked Castaing the cause of the sudden change in +Ballet's condition. Castaing replied that it had commenced shortly after +he had taken a spoonful of the draught which the doctor had prescribed +for him. Dr. Pigache bled the patient and applied twenty leeches. He +returned about six; Ballet was sinking, and Castaing appeared to be +greatly upset. He told the doctor what an unhappy coincidence it was +that he should have been present at the deathbeds of both Hippolyte and +his brother Auguste; and that the position was the more distressing +for him as he was the sole heir to Auguste's fortune. To M. Pelletan, a +professor of medicine, who had been sent for to St. Cloud in the early +hours of Sunday morning, Castaing appeared to be in a state of great +grief and agitation; he was shedding tears. Pelletan was from the first +impressed by the suspicious nature of the case, and pointed out to +Castaing the awkwardness of his situation as heir to the dying man. +"You're right," replied Castaing, "my position is dreadful, horrible. In +my great grief I had never thought of it till now, but now you make me +see it clearly. Do you think there will be an investigation?" Pelletan +answered that he should be compelled to ask for a post-mortem. "Ah! You +will be doing me the greatest service," said Castaing, "I beg you to +insist on a post-mortem. You will be acting as a second father to me in +doing so." The parish priest was sent for to administer extreme unction +to the dying man. To the parish clerk who accompanied the priest +Castaing said, "I am losing a friend of my childhood," and both priest +and clerk went away greatly edified by the sincere sorrow and pious +demeanour of the young doctor. About mid-day on Sunday, June 1, Auguste +Ballet died. + +During the afternoon Castaing left the hotel for some hours, and that +same afternoon a young man about twenty-five years of age, short and +fair, left a letter at the house of Malassis. The letter was from +Castaing and said, "My dear friend, Ballet has just died, but do nothing +before to-morrow, Monday. I will see you and tell you, yes or no, +whether it is time to act. I expect that his brother-in-law, M. +Martignon, whose face is pock-marked and who carries a decoration, will +call and see you. I have said that I did not know what dispositions +Ballet may have made, but that before his death he had told me to give +you two little keys which I am going to deliver to you myself to-morrow, +Monday. I have not said that we are cousins, but only that I had seen +you once or twice at Ballet's, with whom you were friendly. So say +nothing till I have seen you, but whatever you do, don't say you are +a relative of mine." When he returned to the hotel Castaing found +Martignon, Lebret, and one or two friends of Auguste already assembled. +It was only that morning that Martignon had received from Castaing any +intimation of his brother-in-law's critical condition. From the first +Castaing was regarded with suspicion; the nature of the illness, the +secrecy maintained about it by Castaing, the coincidence of some of +the circumstances with those of the death of Hippolyte, all combined to +excite suspicion. Asked if Auguste had left a will Castaing said no; +but the next day he admitted its existence, and said that it was in the +hands of Malassis. + +Monday, June 2, was the day fixed for the post-mortem; it was performed +in the hotel at Saint Cloud. Castaing was still in the hotel under +provisional arrest. While the post-mortem was going on his agitation was +extreme; he kept opening the door of the room in which he was confined, +to hear if possible some news of the result. At last M. Pelletan +obtained permission to inform him of the verdict of the doctors. It was +favourable to Castaing; no trace of death by violence or poison had been +discovered. + +The medical men declared death to be due to an inflammation of +the stomach, which could be attributed to natural causes; that the +inflammation had subsided; that it had been succeeded by cerebral +inflammation, which frequently follows inflammation of the stomach, +and may have been aggravated in this case by exposure to the sun or by +over-indulgence of any kind. + + +II + +THE TRIAL OF DR. CASTAING + + +Castaing expected, as a result of the doctors' report, immediate +release. In this he was disappointed; he was placed under stricter +arrest and taken to Paris, where a preliminary investigation commenced, +lasting five months. During the early part of his imprisonment Castaing +feigned insanity, going to disgusting lengths in the hope of convincing +those about him of the reality of his madness. But after three days of +futile effort he gave up the attempt, and turned his attention to more +practical means of defence. In the prison at Versailles, whither he had +been removed from Paris, he got on friendly terms with a prisoner, one +Goupil, who was awaiting trial for some unimportant offence. To Goupil +Castaing described the cruelty of his position and the causes that had +led to his wrongful arrest. He admitted his unfortunate possession of +the poison, and said that the 100,000 francs which he had invested +he had inherited from an uncle. Through Goupil he succeeded in +communicating with his mother in the hope that she would use her +influence to stifle some of the more serious evidence against him. +Through other prisoners he tried to get at the chemists from whom he had +bought acetate of morphia, and persuade them to say that the preparation +of morphia which he had purchased was harmless. + +The trial of Castaing commenced before the Paris Assize Court on +November 10, 1823. He was charged with the murder of Hippolyte Ballet, +the destruction of a document containing the final dispositions of +Hippolyte's property, and with the murder of Auguste Ballet. The three +charges were to be tried simultaneously. The Act of Accusation +in Castaing's case is a remarkable document, covering a hundred +closely-printed pages. It is a well-reasoned, graphic and unfair +statement of the case for the prosecution. It tells the whole story +of the crime, and inserts everything that can possibly prejudice the +prisoner in the eyes of the jury. As an example, it quotes against +Castaing a letter of his mistress in which, in the course of some +quarrel, she had written to him saying that his mother had said some +"horrible things" (des horreurs) of him; but what those "horrible +things" were was not revealed, nor were they ever alluded to again +in the course of the trial, nor was his mistress called as a witness, +though payments of money by Castaing to her formed an important part +of the evidence against him. Again, the evidence of Goupil, his fellow +prisoner, as to the incriminating statements made to him by Castaing is +given in the Act of Accusation, but Goupil himself was not called at the +trial. + +During the reading of the Act of Accusation by the Clerk of the Court +Castaing listened calmly. Only when some allusion was made to his +mistress and their children did he betray any sign of emotion. As soon +as the actual facts of the case were set out he was all attention, +making notes busily. He is described as rather attractive in appearance, +his face long, his features regular, his forehead high, his hair, +fair in colour, brushed back from the brows; he wore rather large +side-whiskers. One of the witnesses at Saint Cloud said that Castaing +looked more like a priest than a doctor; his downcast eyes, gentle +voice, quiet and unassuming demeanour, lent him an air of patience and +humility. + +The interrogatory of Castaing by the presiding judge lasted all the +afternoon of the first day of the trial and the morning of the second. +The opening part of it dealt with the murder of Hippolyte Ballet, +and elicited little or nothing that was fresh. Beyond the purchase +of acetate of morphia previous to Hippolyte's death, which Castaing +reluctantly admitted, there was no serious evidence against him, and +before the end of the trial the prosecution abandoned that part of the +charge. + +Questioned by the President as to the destruction of Hippolyte Ballet's +will, Castaing admitted that he had seen a draft of a will executed by +Hippolyte in favour of his sister, but he denied having told Auguste +that Lebret had in his possession a copy which he was prepared to +destroy for 100,000 francs. Asked to explain the assertion of Mlle. +Percillie, Auguste's mistress, that statements to this effect had been +made in her presence by both Auguste Ballet and himself, he said that it +was not true; that he had never been to her house. "What motive," he was +asked, "could Mlle. Percillie have for accusing you?" "She hated me," +was the reply, "because I had tried to separate Auguste from her." +Castaing denied that he had driven with Auguste to Lebret's office on +October 8. Asked to explain his sudden possession of 100,000 francs at a +moment when he was apparently without a penny, he repeated his statement +that Auguste had given him the capital sum as an equivalent for an +income of 4,000 francs which his brother had intended to leave him. +"Why, when first asked if you had received anything from Auguste, did +you say you had received nothing?" was the question. + +"It was a thoughtless statement," was the answer. "Why," pursued the +President, "should you not have admitted at once a fact that went to +prove your own good faith? If, however, this fact be true, it does not +explain the mysterious way in which Auguste asked Prignon to raise for +him 100,000 francs; and unless those 100,000 francs were given to you, +it is impossible to account for them. It is important to your case that +you should give the jury a satisfactory explanation on this point." +Castaing could only repeat his previous explanations. + +The interrogatory was then directed to the death of Auguste Ballet. +Castaing said that Auguste Ballet had left him all his fortune on +account of a disagreement with his sister. Asked why, after Auguste's +death, he had at first denied all knowledge of the will made in his +favour and deposited by him with Malassis, he could give no satisfactory +reason. Coming to the facts of the alleged poisoning of Auguste Ballet, +the President asked Castaing why, shortly after the warm wine was +brought up on the night of May 30, he went up to the room where one of +the servants of the hotel was lying sick. Castaing replied that he was +sent for by the wife of the hotel-keeper. This the woman denied; she +said that she did not even know that he was a doctor. "According to +the prosecution," said the judge, "you left the room in order to avoid +drinking your share of the wine." Castaing said that he had drunk half +a cupful of it. The judge reminded him that to one of the witnesses +Castaing had said that he had drunk only a little. + +A ridiculous statement made by Castaing to explain the purchase of +morphia and antimony in Paris on May 31 was brought up against him. +Shortly after his arrest Castaing had said that the cats and dogs about +the hotel had made such a noise on the night of May 30 that they had +disturbed the rest of Auguste, who, in the early morning, had asked +Castaing to get some poison to kill them. He had accordingly gone all +the way, about ten miles, to Paris at four in the morning to purchase +antimony and morphia to kill cats and dogs. All the people of the +hotel denied that there had been any such disturbance on the night in +question. Castaing now said that he had bought the poisons at Auguste's +request, partly to kill the noisy cats and dogs, and partly for the +purpose of their making experiments on animals. Asked why he had not +given this second reason before, he said that as Auguste was not a +medical man it would have been damaging to his reputation to divulge the +fact of his wishing to make unauthorised experiments on animals. "Why +go to Paris for the poison?" asked the judge, "there was a chemist a few +yards from the hotel. And when in Paris, why go to two chemists?" To all +these questions Castaing's answers were such as to lead the President +to express a doubt as to whether they were likely to convince the jury. +Castaing was obliged to admit that he had allowed, if not ordered, the +evacuations of the sick man to be thrown away. He stated that he had +thrown away the morphia and antimony, which he had bought in Paris, +in the closets of the hotel, because, owing to the concatenation of +circumstances, he thought that he would be suspected of murder. In reply +to a question from one of the jury, Castaing said that he had mixed +the acetate of morphia and tartar emetic together before reaching Saint +Cloud, but why he had done so he could not explain. + +The medical evidence at the trial was favourable to the accused. Orfila, +the famous chemist of that day, said that, though the symptoms in +Auguste Ballet's case might be attributed to poisoning by acetate of +morphia or some other vegetable poison, at the same time they could +be equally well attributed to sudden illness of a natural kind. The +liquids, taken from the stomach of Ballet, had yielded on analysis no +trace of poison of any sort. The convulsive symptoms present in Ballet's +case were undoubtedly a characteristic result of a severe dose of +acetate of morphia.(14) Castaing said that he had mixed the acetate of +morphia and tartar emetic together, but in any case no trace of either +poison was found in Auguste's body, and his illness might, from all +appearances, have been occasioned by natural causes. Some attempt was +made by the prosecution to prove that the apoplexy to which Hippolyte +Ballet had finally succumbed, might be attributed to a vegetable poison; +one of the doctors expressed an opinion favourable to that conclusion +"as a man but not as a physician." But the evidence did not go further. + + + (14) It was asserted some years later by one medical authority in +Palmer's case that it might have been morphia and not strychnine that +had caused the tetanic symptoms which preceded Cook's death. + + +To the young priest-like doctor the ordeal of his trial was a severe +one. It lasted eight days. It was only at midday on the sixth day that +the evidence was concluded. Not only was Castaing compelled to submit to +a long interrogatory by the President, but, after each witness had given +his or her evidence, the prisoner was called on to refute or explain any +points unfavourable to him. This he did briefly, with varying success; +as the trial went on, with increasing embarrassment. A great deal of +the evidence given against Castaing was hearsay, and would have been +inadmissible in an English court of justice. Statements made by Auguste +to other persons about Castaing were freely admitted. But more serious +was the evidence of Mlle. Percillie, Auguste's mistress. She swore that +on one occasion in her presence Castaing had reproached Auguste with +ingratitude; he had complained that he had destroyed one copy of +Hippolyte Ballet's will, and for Auguste's sake had procured the +destruction of the other, and that yet, in spite of all this, Auguste +hesitated to entrust him with 100,000 francs. Asked what he had to say +to this statement Castaing denied its truth. He had, he said, only been +in Mlle. Percillie's house once, and then not with Auguste Ballet. Mlle. +Percillie adhered to the truth of her evidence, and the President left +it to the jury to decide between them. + +A Mme. Durand, a patient of Castaing, gave some curious evidence as to +a story told her by the young doctor. He said that a friend of his, +suffering from lung disease, had been persuaded into making a will in +his sister's favour. The sister had offered a bribe of 80,000 francs to +her brother's lawyer to persuade him to make such a will, and paid one +of his clerks 3,000 francs for drawing it up. Castaing, in his friend's +interest, and in order to expose the fraud, invited the clerk to come +and see him. His friend, hidden in an alcove in the room, overheard the +conversation between Castaing and the clerk, and so learnt the details +of his sister's intrigue. He at once destroyed the will and became +reconciled with his brother, whom he had been about to disinherit. After +his death the brother, out of gratitude, had given Castaing 100,000 +francs. + +President: Castaing, did you tell this story to Mme. Durand? + +Castaing: I don't recollect. + +Avocat-General: But Mme. Durand says that you did. + +Castaing: I don't recollect. + +President: You always say that you don't recollect; that is no answer. +Have you, yes or no, made such a statement to Mme. Durand? + +Castaing: I don't recollect; if I had said it, I should recollect it. + +Another lady whom Castaing had attended free of charge swore, with a +good deal of reluctance, that Castaing had told her a somewhat similar +story as accounting for his possession of 100,000 francs. + +Witnesses were called for the defence who spoke to the diligence and +good conduct of Castaing as a medical student; and eighteen, whom he had +treated free of expense, testified to his kindness and generosity. "All +these witnesses," said the President, "speak to your generosity; but, +for that very reason, you must have made little profit out of your +profession, and had little opportunity for saving anything," to which +Castaing replied: "These are not the only patients I attended; I have +not called those who paid me for my services." At the same time Castaing +found it impossible to prove that he had ever made a substantial living +by the exercise of his profession. + +One of the medical witnesses called for the defence, M. Chaussier, had +volunteered the remark that the absence of any trace of poison in the +portions of Auguste Ballet's body submitted to analysis, constituted an +absence of the corpus delicti. To this the President replied that that +was a question of criminal law, and no concern of his. But in his speech +for the prosecution the Avocat-General dealt with the point raised +at some length--a point which, if it had held good as a principle of +English law, would have secured the acquittal of so wicked a poisoner as +Palmer. He quoted from the famous French lawyer d'Aguesseau: "The corpus +delicti is no other thing than the delictum itself; but the proofs of +the delictum are infinitely variable according to the nature of things; +they may be general or special, principal or accessory, direct or +indirect; in a word, they form that general effect (ensemble) which goes +to determine the conviction of an honest man." If such a contention as +M. Chaussier's were correct, said the Avocat-General, then it would +be impossible in a case of poisoning to convict a prisoner after his +victim's death, or, if his victim survived, to convict him of the +attempt to poison. He reminded the jury of that paragraph in the Code +of Criminal Procedure which instructed them as to their duties: "The Law +does not ask you to give the reasons that have convinced you; it +lays down no rules by which you are to decide as to the fullness or +sufficiency of proof... it only asks you one question: 'Have you an +inward conviction?'" "If," he said, "the actual traces of poison are a +material proof of murder by poison, then a new paragraph must be added +to the Criminal Code--'Since, however, vegetable poisons leave no trace, +poisoning by such means may be committed with impunity.'" To poisoners +he would say in future: "Bunglers that you are, don't use arsenic or any +mineral poison; they leave traces; you will be found out. Use vegetable +poisons; poison your fathers, poison your mothers, poison all your +families, and their inheritance will be yours--fear nothing; you will go +unpunished! You have committed murder by poisoning, it is true; but the +corpus delicti will not be there because it can't be there!" This was +a case, he urged, of circumstantial evidence. "We have," he said, "gone +through a large number of facts. Of these there is not one that does not +go directly to the proof of poisoning, and that can only be explained on +the supposition of poisoning; whereas, if the theory of the defence +be admitted, all these facts, from the first to the last, become +meaningless and absurd. They can only be refuted by arguments or +explanations that are childish and ridiculous." + +Castaing was defended by two advocates--Roussel, a schoolfellow of his, +and the famous Berryer, reckoned by some the greatest French orator +since Mirabeau. Both advocates were allowed to address the jury. Roussel +insisted on the importance of the corpus delicti. "The delictum," he +said, "is the effect, the guilty man merely the cause; it is useless to +deal with the cause if the effect is uncertain," and he cited a case +in which a woman had been sent for trial, charged with murdering her +husband; the moral proof of her guilt seemed conclusive, when suddenly +her husband appeared in court alive and well. The advocate made a good +deal of the fact that the remains of the draught prescribed by Dr. +Pigache, a spoonful of which Castaing had given to Auguste Ballet, +had been analysed and showed no trace of poison. Against this the +prosecution set the evidence of the chemist at Saint Cloud, who had made +up the prescription. He said that the same day he had made up a second +prescription similar to that of Dr. Pigache, but not made out for +Auguste Ballet, which contained, in addition to the other ingredients, +acetate of morphia. The original of this prescription he had given to a +friend of Castaing, who had come to his shop and asked him for it a few +days after Ballet's death. It would seem therefore that there had +been two bottles of medicine, one of which containing morphia had +disappeared. + +M. Roussel combatted the suggestion that the family of Castaing were in +a state of indigence. He showed that his father had an income of 10,000 +francs, while his two brothers were holding good positions, one as an +officer in the army, the other as a government official. The mistress +of Castaing he represented as enjoying an income of 5,000 francs. +He protested against the quantity of hearsay evidence that had been +admitted into the case. "In England," he said, "when a witness is +called, he is asked 'What have you seen?' If he can only testify to mere +talk, and hearsay, he is not heard." He quoted the concluding paragraph +of the will of Auguste Ballet as showing his friendly feeling towards +Castaing: "It is only after careful reflection that I have made +this final disposition of my property, in order to mark the sincere +friendship which I have never for one moment ceased to feel for MM. +Castaing, Briant and Leuchere, in order to recognise the faithful +loyalty of my servants, and deprive M. and Mme. Martignon, my +brother-in-law and sister, of all rights to which they might be legally +entitled on my death, fully persuaded in soul and conscience that, in +doing so, I am giving to each their just and proper due." "Is this," +asked M. Roussel, "a document wrested by surprise from a weak man, +extorted by trickery? Is he not acting in the full exercise of his +faculties? He forgets no one, and justifies his conduct." + +When M. Roussel came to the incident of the noisy cats and dogs at Saint +Cloud, he was as ingenious as the circumstances permitted: "A serious +charge engrosses public attention; men's minds are concentrated on +the large, broad aspects of the case; they are in a state of unnatural +excitement. They see only the greatness, the solemnity of the +accusation, and then, suddenly, in the midst of all that is of such +tragic and surpassing interest, comes this trivial fact about cats and +dogs. It makes an unfavourable impression, because it is dramatically +out of keeping with the tragedy of the story. But we are not here to +construct a drama. No, gentlemen, look at it merely as a trivial +incident of ordinary, everyday life, and you will see it in its proper +light." M. Roussel concluded by saying that Castaing's most eloquent +advocate, if he could have been present, would have been Auguste Ballet. +"If Providence had permitted him to enter this court, he would cry out +to you, 'Save my friend's life! His heart is undefiled! He is +innocent!'" + +M. Roussel concluded his speech at ten o'clock on Sunday night, November +16. The next morning Berryer addressed the jury. His speech in defence +of Castaing is not considered one of his most successful efforts. He +gave personal testimony as to the taste of acetate of morphia. He said +that with the help of his own chemist he had put a quarter of a grain +of the acetate into a large spoonful of milk, and had found it so +insupportably bitter to the taste that he could not keep it in his +mouth. If, he contended, Ballet had been poisoned by tartar emetic, then +twelve grains given in milk would have given it an insipid taste, and +vomiting immediately after would have got rid of the poison. Later +investigations have shown that, in cases of antimonial poisoning, +vomiting does not necessarily get rid of all the poison, and the +convulsions in which Auguste Ballet died are symptomatic of poisoning +either by morphia or antimony. In conclusion, Berryer quoted the words +addressed by one of the Kings of France to his judges: "When God has not +vouchsafed clear proof of a crime, it is a sign that He does not wish +that man should determine it, but leaves its judgment to a higher +tribunal." + +The Avocat-General, in reply, made a telling answer to M. Roussel's +attempt to minimise the importance of the cats and dogs: "He has spoken +of the drama of life, and of its ordinary everyday incidents. If there +is drama in this case, it is of Castaing's making. As to the ordinary +incidents of everyday life, a man buys poison, brings it to the bedside +of his sick friend, saying it is for experiments on cats and dogs, the +friend dies, the other, his sole heir, after foretelling his death, +takes possession of his keys, and proceeds to gather up the spoils--are +these ordinary incidents of every-day life?" + +It was nine o'clock at night when the jury retired to consider their +verdict. They returned into court after two hours' deliberation. They +found the prisoner "Not Guilty" of the murder of Hippolyte Ballet, +"Guilty" of destroying his will, and "Guilty" by seven votes to five +of the murder of Auguste Ballet. Asked if he had anything to say before +judgment was given, Castaing, in a very loud voice, said "No; but I +shall know how to die, though I am the victim of ill-fortune, of fatal +circumstance. I shall go to meet my two friends. I am accused of having +treacherously murdered them. There is a Providence above us! If there +is such a thing as an immortal soul, I shall see Hippolyte and Auguste +Ballet again. This is no empty declamation; I don't ask for human pity" +(raising his hands to heaven), "I look to God's mercy, and shall go +joyfully to the scaffold. My conscience is clear. It will not reproach +me even when I feel" (putting his hands to his neck). "Alas! It is +easier to feel what I am feeling than to express what I dare not +express." (In a feeble voice): "You have desired my death; you have it!" +The judges retired to consider the sentence. The candles were guttering, +the light of the lamps was beginning to fade; the aspect of the court +grim and terrible. M. Roussel broke down and burst into tears. Castaing +leant over to his old schoolfellow: "Courage, Roussel," he said; "you +have always believed me innocent, and I am innocent. Embrace for me my +father, my mother, my brothers, my child." He turned to a group of young +advocates standing near: "And you, young people, who have listened to +my trial, attend also my execution; I shall be as firm then as I am now. +All I ask is to die soon. I should be ashamed to plead for mercy." The +judges returned. Castaing was condemned to death, and ordered to pay +100,000 francs damages to the family of Auguste Ballet. + +Castaing was not ashamed to appeal to the Court of Cassation for a +revision of his trial, but on December 4 his appeal was rejected. Two +days later he was executed. He had attempted suicide by means of poison, +which one of his friends had brought to him in prison, concealed inside +a watch. His courage failed him at the last, and he met his death in a +state of collapse. + +It is not often, happily, that a young man of gentle birth and good +education is a double murderer at twenty-six. And such a soft, humble, +insinuating young man too!--good to his mother, good to his mistress, +fond of his children, kind to his patients. + +Yet this gentle creature can deliberately poison his two friends. + +Was ever such a contradictory fellow? + + + + +Professor Webster + + +The best report of Webster's trial is that edited by Bemis. The +following tracts in the British Museum have been consulted by the +writer: "Appendix to the Webster Trial," Boston, 1850: "Thoughts on the +Conviction of Webster"; "The Boston Tragedy," by W. E. Bigelow. + + +It is not often that the gaunt spectre of murder invades the cloistered +calm of academic life. Yet such a strange and unwonted tragedy befell +Harvard University in the year 1849, when John W. Webster, Professor of +Chemistry, took the life of Dr. George Parkman, a distinguished citizen +of Boston. The scene of the crime, the old Medical School, now a Dental +Hospital, is still standing, or was when the present writer visited +Boston in 1907. It is a large and rather dreary red-brick, three-storied +building, situated in the lower part of the city, flanked on its west +side by the mud flats leading down to the Charles River. The first +floor consists of two large rooms, separated from each other by the main +entrance hall, which is approached by a flight of steps leading up +from the street level. Of these two rooms, the left, as you face the +building, is fitted up as a lecture-room. In the year 1849 it was +the lecture-room of Professor Webster. Behind the lecture-room is a +laboratory, known as the upper laboratory, communicating by a private +staircase with the lower laboratory, which occupies the left wing of the +ground floor. A small passage, entered by a door on the left-hand side +of the front of the building, separated this lower laboratory from the +dissecting-room, an out-house built on to the west wall of the college, +but now demolished. From this description it will be seen that any +person, provided with the necessary keys, could enter the college by +the side-door near the dissecting room on the ground floor, and pass +up through the lower and upper laboratory into Professor Webster's +lecture-room without entering any other part of the building. The +Professor of Chemistry, by locking the doors of his lecture-rooms and +the lower laboratory, could, if he wished, make himself perfectly secure +against intrusion, and come and go by the side-door without attracting +much attention. These rooms are little altered at the present time from +their arrangement in 1849. The lecture-room and laboratory are used for +the same purposes to-day; the lower laboratory, a dismal chamber, now +disused and somewhat rearranged, is still recognisable as the scene of +the Professor's chemical experiments. + +On the second floor of the hospital is a museum, once anatomical, now +dental. One of the principal objects of interest in this museum is a +plaster cast of the jaws of Dr. George Parkman, made by a well-known +dentist of Boston, Dr. Keep, in the year 1846. In that year the +new medical college was formally opened. Dr. Parkman, a wealthy and +public-spirited citizen of Boston, had given the piece of land, on which +the college had been erected. He had been invited to be present at the +opening ceremony. In anticipation of being asked to make a speech on +this occasion Dr. Parkman, whose teeth were few and far between, had +himself fitted by Dr. Keep with a complete set of false teeth. Oliver +Wendell Holmes, then Professor of Anatomy at Harvard, who was present at +the opening of the college, noticed how very nice and white the doctor's +teeth appeared to be. It was the discovery of the remains of these same +admirable teeth three years later in the furnace in Professor Webster's +lower laboratory that led to the conviction of Dr. Parkman's murderer. +By a strange coincidence the doctor met his death in the very college +which his generosity had helped to build. Though to-day the state of the +college has declined from the medical to the dental, his memory still +lives within its walls by the cast of his jaws preserved in the dental +museum as a relic of a case, in which the art of dentistry did signal +service to the cause of justice. + +In his lifetime Dr. Parkman was a well-known figure in the streets of +Boston. His peculiar personal appearance and eccentric habits combined +to make him something of a character. As he walked through the streets +he presented a remarkable appearance. He was exceptionally tall, longer +in the body than the legs; his lower jaw protruded some half an inch +beyond the upper; he carried his body bent forward from the small of his +back. He seemed to be always in a hurry; so impetuous was he that, if +his horse did not travel fast enough to please him, he would get off its +back, and, leaving the steed in the middle of the street, hasten on his +way on foot. A just and generous man, he was extremely punctilious in +matters of business, and uncompromising in his resentment of any form +of falsehood or deceit. It was the force of his resentment in such a +case that cost him his life. + +The doctor was unfailingly punctual in taking his meals. Dr. Kingsley, +during the fourteen years he had acted as his agent, had always been +able to make sure of finding him at home at his dinner hour, half-past +two o'clock. But on Friday, November 23, 1849, to his surprise and +that of his family, Dr. Parkman did not come home to dinner; and their +anxiety was increased when the day passed, and there was still no sign +of the doctor's return. Inquiries were made. From these it appeared that +Dr. Parkman had been last seen alive between one and two o'clock on the +Friday afternoon. About half-past one he had visited a grocer's shop +in Bridge Street, made some purchases, and left behind him a paper bag +containing a lettuce, which, he said, he would call for on his way home. +Shortly before two o'clock he was seen by a workman, at a distance of +forty or fifty feet from the Medical College, going in that direction. +From that moment all certain trace of him was lost. His family knew that +he had made an appointment for half-past one that day, but where and +with whom they did not know. As a matter of fact, Professor John +W. Webster had appointed that hour to receive Dr. Parkman in his +lecture-room in the Medical College. + +John W. Webster was at this time Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy +in Harvard University, a Doctor of Medicine and a Member of the American +Academy of Arts and Sciences, the London Geological Society and the St. +Petersburg Mineralogical Society. He was the author of several works +on geology and chemistry, a man now close on sixty years of age. His +countenance was genial, his manner mild and unassuming; he was clean +shaven, wore spectacles, and looked younger than his years. + +Professor Webster was popular with a large circle of friends. To those +who liked him he was a man of pleasing and attractive manners, artistic +in his tastes--he was especially fond of music--not a very profound +or remarkable chemist, but a pleasant social companion. His temper was +hasty and irritable. Spoilt in his boyhood as an only child, he was +self-willed and self-indulgent. His wife and daughters were better liked +than he. By unfriendly criticics{sic} the Professor was thought to be +selfish, fonder of the good things of the table and a good cigar than +was consistent with his duty to his family or the smallness of his +income. His father, a successful apothecary at Boston, had died in 1833, +leaving John, his only son, a fortune of some L10,000. In rather less +than ten years Webster had run through the whole of his inheritance. He +had built himself a costly mansion in Cambridge, spent a large sum +of money in collecting minerals, and delighted to exercise lavish +hospitality. By living consistently beyond his means he found himself +at length entirely dependent on his professional earnings. These were +small. His salary as Professor was fixed at L240 a year;(15) the rest of +his income he derived from the sale of tickets for his lectures at the +Medical College. That income was insufficient to meet his wants. + + + (15) I have given these sums of money in their English equivalents +in order to give the reader an idea of the smallness of the sum which +brought about the tragedy. + + +As early as 1842 he had borrowed L80 from his friend Dr. Parkman. It was +to Parkman's good offices that he owed his appointment as a Professor at +Harvard; they had entered the University as under-graduates in the same +year. Up to 1847 Webster had repaid Parkman twenty pounds of his debt; +but, in that year he found it necessary to raise a further loan of L490, +which was subscribed by a few friends, among them Parkman himself. As +a security for the repayment of this loan, the professor executed a +mortgage on his valuable collection of minerals in favour of Parkman. +In the April of 1848 the Professor's financial difficulties became so +serious that he was threatened with an execution in his house. In this +predicament he went to a Mr. Shaw, Dr. Parkman's brother-in-law, and +begged a loan of L240, offering him as security a bill of sale on the +collection of minerals, which he had already mortgaged to Parkman. Shaw +accepted the security, and lent the money. Shaw would seem to have had +a good deal of sympathy with Webster's embarrassments; he considered the +Professor's income very inadequate to his position, and showed himself +quite ready at a later period to waive his debt altogether. + +Dr. Parkman was a less easy-going creditor. Forbearing and patient as +long as he was dealt with fairly, he was merciless where he thought +he detected trickery or evasion. His forbearance and his patience were +utterly exhausted, his anger and indignation strongly aroused, when he +learnt from Shaw that Webster had given him as security for his debt +a bill of sale on the collection of minerals, already mortgaged to +himself. From the moment of the discovery of this act of dishonesty +on the part of Webster, Parkman pursued his debtor with unrelenting +severity. + +He threatened him with an action at law; he said openly that he was +neither an honourable, honest, nor upright man; he tried to appropriate +to the payment of his debt the fees for lectures which Mr. Pettee, +Webster's agent, collected on the Professor's behalf. He even visited +Webster in his lecture-room and sat glaring at him in the front row +of seats, while the Professor was striving under these somewhat +unfavourable conditions to impart instruction to his pupils--a +proceeding which the Doctor's odd cast of features must have aggravated +in no small degree. + +It was early in November that Parkman adopted these aggressive tactics. +On the 19th of that month Webster and the janitor of the College, +Ephraim Littlefield, were working in the upper laboratory. It was dark; +they had lit candles. Webster was reading a chemical book. As he looked +up from the book he saw Parkman standing in the doorway leading from +the lecture-room. "Dr. Webster, are you ready for me to-night?" asked +Parkman. "No," replied the other, "I am not ready to-night." After a +little further conversation in regard to the mortgage, Parkman departed +with the ominous remark, "Doctor, something must be done to-morrow." + +Unfortunately the Professor was not in a position to do anything. He had +no means sufficient to meet his creditor's demands; and that creditor +was unrelenting. On the 22nd Parkman rode into Cambridge, where Webster +lived, to press him further, but failed to find him. Webster's patience, +none too great at any time, was being sorely tried. To whom could +he turn? What further resource was open to him? There was none. He +determined to see his creditor once more. At 8 o'clock on the morning +of Friday the 23rd, Webster called at Dr. Parkman's house and made the +appointment for their meeting at the Medical College at half-past +one, to which the Doctor had been seen hastening just before his +disappearance. At nine o'clock the same morning Pettee, the agent, had +called on the Professor at the College and paid him by cheque a balance +of L28 due on his lecture tickets, informing him at the same time that, +owing to the trouble with Dr. Parkman, he must decline to receive any +further sums of money on his behalf. Webster replied that Parkman was +a nervous, excitable man, subject to mental aberrations, but he added, +"You will have no further trouble with Dr. Parkman, for I have settled +with him." It is difficult to see how the Professor could have settled, +or proposed to settle, with his creditor on that day. A balance of L28 +at his bank, and the L18 which Mr. Pettee had paid to him that morning, +represented the sum of Professor Webster's fortune on Friday, November +23, 1849. + +Since the afternoon of that day the search for the missing Parkman had +been unremitting. On the Saturday his friends communicated with the +police. On Sunday hand-bills were issued stating the fact of the +Doctor's disappearance, and on Monday, the 26th, a description and +the offer of a considerable reward for the discovery of his body were +circulated both in and out of the city. Two days later a further reward +was offered. But these efforts were fruitless. The only person who gave +any information beyond that afforded by those who had seen the Doctor in +the streets on the morning of his disappearance, was Professor Webster. +About four o'clock on the Sunday afternoon the Professor called at the +house of the Revd. Francis Parkman, the Doctor's brother. They were +intimate friends. Webster had for a time attended Parkman's chapel; and +Mr. Parkman had baptised the Professor's grand-daughter. On this Sunday +afternoon Mr. Parkman could not help remarking Webster's peculiar +manner. With a bare greeting and no expression of condolence with the +family's distress, his visitor entered abruptly and nervously on the +object of his errand. He had called, he said, to tell Mr. Parkman that +he had seen his brother at the Medical College on Friday afternoon, that +he had paid him L90 which he owed him, and that the Doctor had in the +course of their interview taken out a paper and dashed his pen +through it, presumably as an acknowledgment of the liquidation of the +Professor's debt. Having communicated this intelligence to the somewhat +astonished gentleman, Webster left him as abruptly as he had come. + +Another relative of Dr. Parkman, his nephew, Mr. Parkman Blake, in the +course of inquiries as to his uncle's fate, thought it right to see +Webster. Accordingly he went to the college on Monday, the 26th, about +eleven o'clock in the morning. Though not one of his lecture days, the +janitor Littlefield informed him that the Professor was in his room. The +door of the lecture-room, however, was found to be locked, and it was +only after considerable delay that Mr. Blake gained admittance. As he +descended the steps to the floor of the lecture-room Webster, dressed in +a working suit of blue overalls and wearing on his head a smoking cap, +came in from the back door. Instead of advancing to greet his visitor, +he stood fixed to the spot, and waited, as if defensively, for Mr. +Blake to speak. In answer to Mr. Blake's questions Webster described +his interview with Dr. Parkman on the Friday afternoon. He gave a +very similar account of it to that he had already given to Mr. Francis +Parkman. He added that at the end of their interview he had asked the +Doctor for the return of the mortgage, to which the latter had replied, +"I haven't it with me, but I will see it is properly cancelled." Mr. +Blake asked Webster if he could recollect in what form of money it +was that he had paid Dr. Parkman. Webster answered that he could only +recollect a bill of L20 on the New Zealand Bank: pressed on this point, +he seemed to rather avoid any further inquiries. Mr. Blake left him, +dissatisfied with the result of his visit. + +One particular in Webster's statement was unquestionably strange, if +not incredible. He had, he said, paid Parkman a sum of L90, which he +had given him personally, and represented the Doctor as having at their +interview promised to cancel the mortgage on the collection of minerals +which Webster had given as security for the loan of L490 that had been +subscribed by Parkman and four of his friends. Now L120 of this loan +was still owing. If Webster's statement were true, Parkman had a perfect +right to cancel Webster's personal debt to himself; but he had no right +to cancel entirely the mortgage on the minerals, so long as money due to +others on that mortgage was yet unpaid. Was it conceivable that one so +strict and scrupulous in all monetary transactions as Parkman would have +settled his own personal claim, and then sacrificed in so discreditable +a manner the claims of others, for the satisfaction of which he had made +himself responsible? + +There was yet another singular circumstance. On Saturday, the 24th, the +day after his settlement with Parkman, Webster paid into his own account +at the Charles River Bank the cheque for L18, lecture fees, handed +over to him by the agent Pettee just before Dr. Parkman's visit on the +Friday. This sum had not apparently gone towards the making up of the +L90, which Webster said that he had paid to Parkman that day. The +means by which Webster had been enabled to settle this debt became more +mysterious than ever. + +On Tuesday, November 27, the Professor received three other visitors in +his lecture-room. These were police officers who, in the course of +their search for the missing man, felt it their duty to examine, however +perfunctorily, the Medical College. With apologies to the Professor, +they passed through his lecture room to the laboratory at the back, +and from thence, down the private stairs, past a privy, into the lower +laboratory. As they passed the privy one of the officers asked what +place it was. "Dr. Webster's private lavatory," replied the janitor, who +was conducting them. At that moment Webster's voice called them away +to examine the store-room in the lower laboratory, and after a cursory +examination the officers departed. + +The janitor, Ephraim Littlefield, did not take the opportunity afforded +him by the visit of the police officers to impart to them the feelings +of uneasiness; which the conduct of Professor Webster during the last +three days had excited in his breast. There were circumstances in the +Professor's behaviour which could not fail to attract the attention of +a man, whose business throughout the day was to dust and sweep +the College, light the fires and overlook generally the order and +cleanliness of the building. + +Littlefield, it will be remembered, had seen Dr. Parkman on the Monday +before his disappearance, when he visited Webster at the College, and +been present at the interview, in the course of which the Doctor told +Webster that "something must be done." That Monday morning Webster asked +Littlefield a number of questions about the dissecting-room vault, which +was situated just outside the door of the lower laboratory. He asked +how it was built, whether a light could be put into it, and how it was +reached for the purpose of repair. On the following Thursday, the day +before Parkman's disappearance, the Professor told Littlefield to get +him a pint of blood from the Massachusetts Hospital; he said that +he wanted it for an experiment. On the morning of Friday, the day of +Parkman's disappearance, Littlefield informed the Professor that he had +been unsuccessful in his efforts to get the blood, as they had not been +bleeding anyone lately at the hospital. The same morning Littlefield +found to his surprise a sledge-hammer behind the door of the Professor's +back room; he presumed that it had been left there by masons, and took +it down to the lower laboratory. This sledge-hammer Littlefield never +saw again. About a quarter to two that afternoon Littlefield, standing +at the front door, after his dinner, saw Dr. Parkman coming towards +the College. At two o'clock Littlefield went up to Dr. Oliver Wendell +Holmes' room, immediately above Professor Webster's, to help the Doctor +to clear his table after his lecture, which was the last delivered that +day. About a quarter of an hour later he let Dr. Holmes out, locked the +front door and began to clear out the stoves in the other lecture-rooms. +When he reached Webster's he was surprised to find that both doors, that +of the lecture room and that of the lower laboratory, were either locked +or bolted. He could hear nothing but the running of water in one of the +sinks. About half-past five Littlefield saw the Professor coming down +the back stairs with a lighted candle in his hand. Webster blew out the +candle and left the building. Late that night Littlefield again tried +the Professor's doors; they were still fastened. The janitor was +surprised at this, as he had never known such a thing to happen before. + +On Saturday, the 24th, though not lecturing that day, the Professor came +to the College in the morning. He told Littlefield to light the stove +in the lower laboratory. When Littlefield made to pass from the +lecture-room into the Professor's private room at the back, and so down +by the private stairs to the lower laboratory, the Professor stopped him +and told him to go round by the door in front of the building. The whole +of that day and Sunday, the Professor's doors remained fast. On Sunday +evening at sunset Littlefield, who was talking with a friend in North +Grove Street, the street that faces the College, was accosted by +Webster. The Professor asked him if he recollected Parkman's visit +to the College on Friday, the 23rd, and, on his replying in the +affirmative, the Professor described to him their interview and the +repayment of his debt. Littlefield was struck during their conversation +by the uneasiness of the Professor's bearing; contrary to his habit he +seemed unable to look him in the face, his manner was confused, his face +pale. + +During the whole of Monday, except for a visit from Mr. Parkman Blake, +Professor Webster was again locked alone in his laboratory. Neither +that night, nor early Tuesday morning, could Littlefield get into +the Professor's rooms to perform his customary duties. On Tuesday the +Professor lectured at twelve o'clock, and later received the visit of +the police officers that has been described already. At four o'clock +that afternoon, the Professor's bell rang. Littlefield answered it. +The Professor asked the janitor whether he had bought his turkey for +Thanksgiving Day, which was on the following Thursday. Littlefield said +that he had not done so yet. Webster then handed him an order on his +provision dealer. "Take that," he said, "and get a nice turkey; perhaps +I shall want you to do some odd jobs for me." Littlefield thanked him, +and said that he would be glad to do anything for him that he could. The +janitor was the more surprised at Webster's generosity on this occasion, +as this turkey was the first present he had received at the Professor's +hands during the seven years he had worked in the College. Littlefield +saw the Professor again about half-past six that evening as the latter +was leaving the College. The janitor asked him if he wanted any more +fires lighted in his rooms, because owing to the holidays there were +to be no further lectures that week. Webster said that he did not, and +asked Littlefield whether he were a freemason. The janitor said "Yes," +and with that they parted. + +Littlefield was curious. The mysterious activity of the Professor of +Chemistry seemed to him more than unusual. His perplexity was increased +on the following day. Though on account of the holidays all work had +been suspended at the College for the remainder of the week, Webster was +again busy in his room early Wednesday morning. Littlefield could hear +him moving about. In vain did the janitor look through the keyhole, bore +a hole in the door, peep under it; all he could get was a sight of the +Professor's feet moving about the laboratory. Perplexity gave way to +apprehension when in the course of the afternoon Littlefield discovered +that the outer wall of the lower laboratory was so hot that he could +hardly bear to place his hand on it. On the outer side of this wall was +a furnace sometimes used by the Professor in his chemical experiments. +How came it to be so heated? The Professor had told Littlefield on +Tuesday that he should not be requiring any fires during the remainder +of the week. + +The janitor determined to resolve his suspicions. He climbed up to the +back windows of the lower laboratory, found one of them unfastened, and +let himself in. But, beyond evidences of the considerable fires that had +been kept burning during the last few days, Littlefield saw nothing +to excite peculiar attention. Still he was uneasy. Those he met in +the street kept on telling him that Dr. Parkman would be found in the +Medical College. He felt that he himself was beginning to be suspected +of having some share in the mystery, whilst in his own mind he became +more certain every day that the real solution lay within the walls +of Professor Webster's laboratory. His attention had fixed itself +particularly on the lavatory at the foot of the stairs connecting the +upper and lower laboratories. This room he found to be locked and the +key, a large one, had disappeared. He recollected that when the police +officers had paid their visit to the college, the Professor had +diverted their attention as they were about to inspect this room. The +only method by which, unknown to the Professor and without breaking open +the door, Littlefield could examine the vault of this retiring room was +by going down to the basement floor of the college and digging a hole +through the wall into the vault itself. This he determined to do. + +On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, Littlefield commenced operations with +a hatchet and a chisel. Progress was slow, as that evening he had been +invited to attend a festal gathering. On Friday the janitor, before +resuming work, acquainted two of the Professors of the college with +his proposed investigation, and received their sanction. As Webster, +however, was going constantly in and out of his rooms, he could make +little further progress that day. The Professor had come into town early +in the morning. + +Before going to the college he purchased some fish-hooks and gave orders +for the making of a strong tin box with firm handles, a foot and a half +square and a little more than a foot in depth; during the rest of the +day he had been busy in his rooms until he left the college about four +o'clock. Not till then was the watchful janitor able to resume his +labours. Armed with a crowbar, he worked vigorously until he succeeded +in penetrating the wall sufficiently to admit a light into the vault of +the lavatory. The first objects which the light revealed to his eyes, +were the pelvis of a man and two parts of a human leg. + +Leaving his wife in charge of the remains, Littlefield went immediately +to the house of Professor Bigelow, and informed him of the result of +his search. They returned to the college some twenty minutes later, +accompanied by the City Marshal. The human remains--a pelvis, a thigh +and a leg--were taken out of the vault, and on a further search some +pieces of bone were removed from one of the furnaces in the lower +laboratory. The City Marshal at once dispatched three of his officers to +Cambridge, to the house of Professor Webster. + +To his immediate circle of friends and relations the conduct of +the Professor during this eventful week had betrayed no unwonted +discomposure or disturbance of mind. His evenings had been spent either +at the house of friends, or at his own, playing whist, or reading +Milton's "Allegro" and "Penseroso" to his wife and daughters. On Friday +evening, about eight o'clock, as the Professor was saying good-bye to a +friend on the steps of his house at Cambridge, the three police officers +drove up to the door and asked him to accompany them to the Medical +College. It was proposed, they said, to make a further search there that +evening, and his presence was considered advisable. Webster assented +immediately, put on his boots, his hat and coat, and got into the hired +coach. As they drove towards the city, Webster spoke to the officers +of Parkman's disappearance, and suggested that they should stop at the +house of a lady who, he said, could give them some peculiar information +on that subject. As they entered Boston, he remarked that they were +taking the wrong direction for reaching the college. One of the officers +replied that the driver might be "green," but that he would find his +way to the college in time. At length the coach stopped. One of the +officers alighted, and invited his companions to follow him into the +office of the Leverett Street Jail. They obeyed. The Professor asked +what it all meant; he was informed that he must consider himself +in custody, charged with the murder of Dr. George Parkman. Webster, +somewhat taken aback, desired that word should be sent to his family, +but was dissuaded from his purpose for the time being. He was searched, +and among other articles taken from him was a key some four or five +inches long; it was the missing lavatory key. Whilst one of the officers +withdrew to make out a mittimus, the Professor asked one of the others +if they had found Dr. Parkman. The officer begged him not to question +him. "You might tell me something about it," pleaded Webster. "Where did +they find him? Did they find the whole body? Oh, my children! What will +they do? What will they think of me? Where did you get the information?" +The officers asked him if anybody had access to his apartments but +himself. "Nobody," he replied, "but the porter who makes the fire." +Then, after a pause, he exclaimed: "That villain! I am a ruined man." +He was walking up and down wringing his hands, when one of the officers +saw him put one hand into his waistcoat pocket, and raise it to his +lips. A few moments later the unhappy man was seized with violent +spasms. He was unable to stand, and was laid down in one of the cells. +From this distressing state he was roused shortly before eleven, to be +taken to the college. He was quite incapable of walking, and had to be +supported by two of the officers. He was present there while his rooms +were searched; but his state was painful in the extreme. He asked for +water, but trembled so convulsively that he could only snap at the +tumbler like a dog; his limbs were rigid; tears and sweat poured down +his cheeks. On the way back to the jail, one of the officers, moved +by his condition, expressed his pity for him. "Do you pity me? Are you +sorry for me? What for?" asked Webster. "To see you so excited," replied +the officer. "Oh! that's it," said the Professor. + +The whole night through the prisoner lay without moving, and not until +the following afternoon were his limbs relaxed sufficiently to allow of +his sitting up. As his condition improved, he grew more confident. "That +is no more Dr. Parkman's body," he said, "than mine. How in the world +it came there I don't know," and he added: "I never liked the looks of +Littlefield the janitor; I opposed his coming there all I could." + +In the meantime a further examination of the Professor's rooms on +Saturday had resulted in the discovery, in a tea-chest in the lower +laboratory, of a thorax, the left thigh of a leg, and a hunting knife +embedded in tan and covered over with minerals; some portions of bone +and teeth were found mixed with the slag and cinders of one of the +furnaces; also some fish-hooks and a quantity of twine, the latter +identical with a piece of twine that had been tied round the thigh found +in the chest. + +Two days later the Professor furnished unwittingly some additional +evidence against himself. On the Monday evening after his arrest he +wrote from prison to one of his daughters the following letter: + + +"MY DEAREST MARIANNE,--I wrote Mama yesterday; I had a good sleep last +night, and dreamt of you all. I got my clothes off, for the first time, +and awoke in the morning quite hungry. It was a long time before my +first breakfast from Parker's came; and it was relished, I can assure +you. At one o'clock I was notified that I must appear at the court room. +All was arranged with great regard to my comfort, and went off better +than I had anticipated. + +"On my return I had a bit of turkey and rice from Parker's. They send +much more than I can eat, and I have directed the steward to distribute +the surplus to any poor ones here. + +"If you will send me a small canister of tea, I can make my own. A +little pepper I may want some day. I would send the dirty clothes, but +they were taken to dry. Tell Mama NOT TO OPEN the little bundle I gave +her the other day, but to keep it just as she received it. With many +kisses to you all. Good night!--From your affectionate + +"FATHER." + +"P.S.--My tongue troubles me yet very much, and I must have bitten it +in my distress the other night; it is painful and swollen, affecting my +speech. Had Mama better send for Nancy? I think so; or Aunt Amelia." + +"Couple of coloured neck handkerchiefs, one Madras." + + +This letter, which shows an anxiety about his personal comfort singular +in one so tragically situated, passed through the hands of the keeper +of the jail. He was struck by the words underlined, "NOT TO OPEN," +in regard to the small bundle confided to Mrs. Webster. He called the +attention of the police to this phrase. They sent immediately an officer +armed with a search warrant to the Professor's house. He received from +Mrs. Webster among other papers a package which, on being opened, +was found to contain the two notes given by Webster to Parkman as +acknowledgments of his indebtedness to him in 1842 and 1847, and a paper +showing the amount of his debts to Parkman in 1847. There were daubs and +erasures made across these documents, and across one was written twice +over the word "paid." All these evidences of payments and cancellations +appeared on examination to be in the handwriting of the Professor. + +After an inquest lasting nine days the coroner's jury declared the +remains found in the college to be those of Dr. George Parkman, and that +the deceased had met his death at the hands of Professor J. W. Webster. +The prisoner waived his right to a magisterial investigation, and on +January 26, 1850, the Grand Jury returned a true bill. But it was not +until March 17 that the Professor's trial opened before the Supreme +Court of Massachusetts. The proceedings were conducted with that +dignity and propriety which we look for in the courts of that State. +The principal features in the defence were an attempt to impugn the +testimony of the janitor Littlefield, and to question the possibility +of the identification of the remains of Parkman's teeth. There was a +further attempt to prove that the deceased had been seen by a number +of persons in the streets of Boston on the Friday afternoon, after his +visit to the Medical College. The witness Littlefield was unshaken by a +severe cross-examination. The very reluctance with which Dr. Keep +gave his fatal evidence, and the support given to his conclusions +by distinguished testimony told strongly in favour of the absolute +trustworthiness of his statements. The evidence called to prove that +the murdered man had been seen alive late on Friday afternoon was highly +inconclusive. + +Contrary to the advice of his counsel, Webster addressed the jury +himself. He complained of the conduct of his case, and enumerated +various points that his counsel had omitted to make, which he conceived +to be in his favour. The value of his statements may be judged by the +fact that he called God to witness that he had not written any one of +the anonymous letters, purporting to give a true account of the doctor's +fate, which had been received by the police at the time of Parkman's +disappearance. After his condemnation Webster confessed to the +authorship of at least one of them. + +The jury retired at eight o'clock on the eleventh day of the trial. They +would seem to have approached their duty in a most solemn and devout +spirit, and it was with the greatest reluctance and after some searching +of heart that they brought themselves to find the prisoner guilty of +wilful murder. On hearing their verdict, the Professor sank into a seat, +and, dropping his head, rubbed his eyes behind his spectacles as if +wiping away tears. On the following morning the Chief Justice sentenced +him to death after a well-meaning speech of quite unnecessary length and +elaboration, at the conclusion of which the condemned man wept freely. + +A petition for a writ of error having been dismissed, the Professor in +July addressed a petition for clemency to the Council of the State. Dr. +Putnam, who had been attending Webster in the jail, read to the Council +a confession which he had persuaded the prisoner to make. According to +this statement Webster had, on the Friday afternoon, struck Parkman on +the head with a heavy wooden stick in a wild moment of rage, induced by +the violent taunts and threats of his creditor. Appalled by his deed, +he had in panic locked himself in his room, and proceeded with desperate +haste to dismember the body; he had placed it for that purpose in the +sink in his back room, through which was running a constant stream of +water that carried away the blood. Some portions of the body he had +burnt in the furnace; those in the lavatory and the tea-chest he had +concealed there, until he should have had an opportunity of getting rid +of them. + +In this statement Professor Webster denied all premeditation. Dr. Putnam +asked him solemnly whether he had not, immediately before the crime, +meditated at any time on the advantages that would accrue to him +from Parkman's death. Webster replied "Never, before God!" He had, he +protested, no idea of doing Parkman an injury until the bitter tongue +of the latter provoked him. "I am irritable and violent," he said, "a +quickness and brief violence of temper has been the besetting sin of my +life. I was an only child, much indulged, and I have never secured the +control over my passions that I ought to have acquired early; and the +consequence is--all this!" He denied having told Parkman that he was +going to settle with him that afternoon, and said that he had asked him +to come to the college with the sole object of pleading with him for +further indulgence. He explained his convulsive seizure at the time +of his arrest by his having taken a dose of strychnine, which he had +carried in his pocket since the crime. In spite of these statements and +the prayers of the unfortunate man's wife and daughters, who, until his +confession to Dr. Putnam, had believed implicity in his innocence, the +Council decided that the law must take its course, and fixed August 30 +as the day of execution. + +The Professor resigned himself to his fate. He sent for Littlefield and +his wife, and expressed his regret for any injustice he had done them: +"All you said was true. You have misrepresented nothing." Asked by the +sheriff whether he was to understand from some of his expressions that +he contemplated an attempt at suicide, "Why should I?" he replied, +"all the proceedings in my case have been just... and it is just that +I should die upon the scaffold in accordance with that sentence." +"Everybody is right," he said to the keeper of the jail, "and I am +wrong. And I feel that, if the yielding up of my life to the injured +law will atone, even in part, for the crime I have committed, that is a +consolation." + +In a letter to the Reverend Francis Parkman he expressed deep contrition +for his guilt. He added one sentence which may perhaps fairly express +the measure of premeditation that accompanied his crime. "I had never," +he wrote, "until the two or three last interviews with your brother, +felt towards him anything but gratitude for his many acts of kindness +and friendship." + +Professor Webster met his death with fortitude and resignation. That he +deserved his fate few will be inclined to deny. The attempt to procure +blood, the questions about the dissecting-room vault, the appointment +made with Parkman at the college, the statement to Pettee, all point to +some degree of premeditation, or at least would make it appear that the +murder of Parkman had been considered by him as a possible eventuality. +His accusation of Littlefield deprives him of a good deal of sympathy. +On the other hand, the age and position of Webster, the aggravating +persistency of Parkman, his threats and denunciations, coupled with his +own shortness of temper, make it conceivable that he may have killed his +victim on a sudden and overmastering provocation, in which case he had +better at once have acknowledged his crime instead of making a repulsive +attempt to conceal it. But for the evidence of Dr. Keep he would +possibly have escaped punishment altogether. Save for the portions +of his false teeth, there was not sufficient evidence to identify the +remains found in the college as those of Parkman. Without these teeth +the proof of the corpus delicti would have been incomplete, and so +afforded Webster a fair chance of acquittal. + + + + +The Mysterious Mr. Holmes + + +"The Holmes-Pitezel Case," by F. B. Geyer, 1896; "Holmes' Own Story," +Philadelphia, 1895; and "Celebrated Criminal Cases of America," by T. S. +Duke, San Francisco, are the authorities for this account of the case. + + + +I + +HONOUR AMONGST THIEVES + +In the year 1894 Mr. Smith, a carpenter, of Philadelphia, had patented a +new saw-set. Wishing to make some money out of his invention, Mr. Smith +was attracted by the sign: + +B. F. PERRY + +PATENTS BOUGHT AND SOLD + +which he saw stretched across the window of a two-storied house, 1,316 +Callowhill Street. He entered the house and made the acquaintance of Mr. +Perry, a tall, dark, bony man, to whom he explained the merits of his +invention. Perry listened with interest, and asked for a model. In the +meantime he suggested that Smith should do some carpenter's work for him +in the house. Smith agreed, and on August 22, while at work there saw a +man enter the house and go up with Perry to a room on the second story. + +A few days later Smith called at Callowhill Street to ask Perry about +the sale of the patent. He waited half an hour in the shop below, called +out to Perry who, he thought, might be in the rooms above, received no +answer and went away. Next day, September 4, Smith returned, found the +place just as he had left it the day before; called Perry again, but +again got no answer. Surprised, he went upstairs, and in the back room +of the second story the morning sunshine, streaming through the window, +showed him the dead body of a man, his face charred beyond recognition, +lying with his feet to the window and his head to the door. There was +evidence of some sort of explosion: a broken bottle that had contained +an inflammable substance, a broken pipe filled with tobacco, and a burnt +match lay by the side of the body. + +The general appearance of the dead man answered to that of B. F. Perry. +A medical examination of the body showed that death had been sudden, +that there had been paralysis of the involuntary muscles, and that the +stomach, besides showing symptoms of alcoholic irritation, emitted a +strong odour of chloroform. An inquest was held, and a verdict returned +that B. F. Perry had died of congestion of the lungs caused by the +inhalation of flame or chloroform. After lying in the mortuary for +eleven days the body was buried. + +In the meantime the Philadelphia branch of the Fidelity Mutual Life +Association had received a letter from one Jephtha D. Howe, an attorney +at St. Louis, stating that the deceased B. F. Perry was Benjamin F. +Pitezel of that city, who had been insured in their office for a sum of +ten thousand dollars. The insurance had been effected in Chicago in the +November of 1893. Mr. Howe proposed to come to Philadelphia with some +members of the Pitezel family to identify the remains. Referring to +their Chicago branch, the insurance company found that the only person +who would seem to have known Pitezel when in that city, was a certain +H. H. Holmes, living at Wilmette, Illinois. They got into communication +with Mr. Holmes, and forwarded to him a cutting from a newspaper, which +stated erroneously that the death of B. F. Perry had taken place in +Chicago. + +On September 18 they received a letter from Mr. Holmes, in which he +offered what assistance he could toward the identification of B. F. +Perry as B. F. Pitezel. He gave the name of a dentist in Chicago who +would be able to recognise teeth which he had made for Pitezel, and +himself furnished a description of the man, especially of a malformation +of the knee and a warty growth on the back of the neck by which he could +be further identified. Mr. Holmes offered, if his expenses were paid, to +come to Chicago to view the body. Two days later he wrote again saying +that he had seen by other papers that Perry's death had taken place in +Philadelphia and not in Chicago, and that as he had to be in Baltimore +in a day or two, he would run over to Philadelphia and visit the office +of the Fidelity Life Association. + +On September 20 the assiduous Mr. Holmes called at the office of the +Association in Philadelphia, inquired anxiously about the nature and +cause of Perry's death, gave again a description of him and, on learning +that Mr. Howe, the attorney from St. Louis, was about to come to +Philadelphia to represent the widow, Mrs. Pitezel, and complete the +identification, said that he would return to give the company any +further help he could in the matter. The following day Mr. Jephtha D. +Howe, attorney of St. Louis, arrived in Philadelphia, accompanied by +Alice Pitezel, a daughter of the deceased. Howe explained that Pitezel +had taken the name of Perry owing to financial difficulties. The company +said that they accepted the fact that Perry and Pitezel were one and the +same man, but were not convinced that the body was Pitezel's body. +The visit of Holmes was mentioned. Howe said that he did not know Mr. +Holmes, but would be willing to meet him. At this moment Holmes arrived +at the office. He was introduced to Howe as a stranger, and recognised +as a friend by Alice Pitezel, a shy, awkward girl of fourteen or fifteen +years of age. It was then arranged that all the parties should meet +again next day to identify, if possible, the body, which had been +disinterred for that purpose. + +The unpleasant duty of identifying the rapidly decomposing remains was +greatly curtailed by the readiness of Mr. Holmes. When the party met on +the 22nd at the Potter's Field, where the body had been disinterred and +laid out, the doctor present was unable to find the distinctive marks +which would show Perry and Pitezel to have been the same man. Holmes at +once stepped into the breach, took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, +put on the rubber gloves, and taking a surgeon's knife from his pocket, +cut off the wart at the back of the neck, showed the injury to the +leg, and revealed also a bruised thumbnail which had been another +distinctive mark of Pitezel. The body was then covered up all but +the teeth; the girl Alice was brought in, and she said that the teeth +appeared to be like those of her father. The insurance company declared +themselves satisfied, and handed to Mr. Howe a cheque for 9,175 dollars, +and to Mr. Holmes ten dollars for his expenses. Smith, the carpenter, +had been present at the proceedings at the Potter's Field. For a moment +he thought he detected a likeness in Mr. Holmes to the man who had +visited Perry at Callowhill Street on August 22 and gone upstairs with +him, but he did not feel sure enough of the fact to make any mention of +it. + +In the prison at St. Louis there languished in the year 1894 one Marion +Hedgspeth, serving a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment for +an audacious train robbery. On the night of November 30, 1891, the +'Friscow express from St. Louis had been boarded by four ruffians, the +express car blown open with dynamite, and 10,000 dollars carried off. +Hedgspeth and another man were tried for the robbery, and sentenced to +twenty years' imprisonment. On October 9, 1894, Hegspeth{sic} made a +statement to the Governor of the St. Louis prison, which he said he +wished to be communicated to the Fidelity Mutual Life Association. In +the previous July Hedgspeth said that he had met in the prison a man +of the name of H. M. Howard, who was charged with fraud, but had +been released on bail later in the month. While in prison Howard told +Hedgspeth that he had devised a scheme for swindling an insurance +company of 10,000 dollars, and promised Hedgspeth that, if he would +recommend him a lawyer suitable for such an enterprise, he should have +500 dollars as his share of the proceeds. Hedgspeth recommended Jephtha +D. Howe. The latter entered with enthusiasm into the scheme, and told +Hedgspeth that he thought Mr. Howard "one of the smoothest and slickest" +men he had ever known. A corpse was to be found answering to Pitezel's +description, and to be so treated as to appear to have been the victim +of an accidental explosion, while Pitezel himself would disappear to +Germany. From Howe Hedgspeth learnt that the swindle had been carried +out successfully, but he had never received from Howard the 500 dollars +promised him. Consequently, he had but little compunction in divulging +the plot to the authorities. + +It was realised at once that H. M. Howard and H. H. Holmes were the same +person, and that Jephtha D. Howe and Mr. Holmes were not the +strangers to each other that they had affected to be when they met +in Philadelphia. Though somewhat doubtful of the truth of Hedgspeth's +statement, the insurance company decided to set Pinkerton's detectives +on the track of Mr. H. H. Holmes. After more than a month's search he +was traced to his father's house at Gilmanton, N. H., and arrested in +Boston on November 17. + +Inquiry showed that, early in 1894, Holmes and Pitezel had acquired some +real property at Fort Worth in Texas and commenced building operations, +but had soon after left Texas under a cloud, arising from the theft of a +horse and other dubious transactions. + +Holmes had obtained the property at Fort Worth from a Miss Minnie +Williams, and transferred it to Pitezel. Pitezel was a drunken "crook," +of mean intelligence, a mesmeric subject entirely under the influence of +Holmes, who claimed to have considerable hypnotic powers. Pitezel had a +wife living at St. Louis and five children, three girls--Dessie, Alice, +and Nellie--a boy, Howard, and a baby in arms. At the time of Holmes' +arrest Mrs. Pitezel, with her eldest daughter, Dessie, and her little +baby, was living at a house rented by Holmes at Burlington, Vermont. She +also was arrested on a charge of complicity in the insurance fraud and +brought to Boston. + +Two days after his arrest Holmes, who dreaded being sent back to Texas +on a charge of horse-stealing, for which in that State the punishment is +apt to be rough and ready, made a statement to the police, in which he +acknowledged the fraud practised by him and Pitezel on the insurance +company. The body substituted for Pitezel had been obtained, said +Holmes, from a doctor in New York, packed in a trunk and sent to +Philadelphia, but he declined for the present to give the doctor's name. +Pitezel, he said, had gone with three of his children--Alice, Nellie +and Howard--to South America. This fact, however, Holmes had not +communicated to Mrs. Pitezel. When she arrived at Boston, the poor woman +was in great distress of mind. Questioned by the officers, she attempted +to deny any complicity in the fraud, but her real anxiety was to get +news of her husband and her three children. Alice she had not seen since +the girl had gone to Philadelphia to identify the supposed remains of +her father. Shortly after this Holmes had come to Mrs. Pitezel at St. +Louis, and taken away Nellie and Howard to join Alice, who, he said, +was in the care of a widow lady at Ovington, Kentucky. Since then Mrs. +Pitezel had seen nothing of the children or her husband. At Holmes' +direction she had gone to Detroit, Toronto, Ogdensberg and, lastly, to +Burlington in the hope of meeting either Pitezel or the children, but +in vain. She believed that her husband had deserted her; her only desire +was to recover her children. + +On November 20 Holmes and Mrs. Pitezel were transferred from Boston +to Philadelphia, and there, along with Benjamin Pitezel and Jephtha +D. Howe, were charged with defrauding the Fidelity Life Association of +10,000 dollars. Soon after his arrival in Philadelphia Holmes, who was +never averse to talking, was asked by an inspector of the insurance +company who it was that had helped him to double up the body sent from +New York and pack it into the trunk. He replied that he had done it +alone, having learned the trick when studying medicine in Michigan. The +inspector recollected that the body when removed from Callowhill Street +had been straight and rigid. He asked Holmes what trick he had learnt in +the course of his medical studies by which it was possible to re-stiffen +a body once the rigor mortis had been broken. To this Holmes made no +reply. But he realised his mistake, and a few weeks later volunteered +a second statement. He now said that Pitezel, in a fit of depression, +aggravated by his drinking habits, had committed suicide on the third +story of the house in Callowhill Street. There Holmes had found his +body, carried it down on to the floor below, and arranged it in the +manner agreed upon for deceiving the insurance company. Pitezel, he +said, had taken his life by lying on the floor and allowing chloroform +to run slowly into his mouth through a rubber tube placed on a chair. +The three children, Holmes now stated, had gone to England with a friend +of his, Miss Minnie Williams. + +Miss Minnie Williams was the lady, from whom Holmes was said to have +acquired the property in Texas which he and Pitezel had set about +developing. There was quite a tragedy, according to Holmes, connected +with the life of Miss Williams. She had come to Holmes in 1893, as +secretary, at a drug store which he was then keeping in Chicago. Their +relations had become more intimate, and later in the year Miss Williams +wrote to her sister, Nannie, saying that she was going to be married, +and inviting her to the wedding. Nannie arrived, but unfortunately a +violent quarrel broke out between the two sisters, and Holmes came home +to find that Minnie in her rage had killed her sister. He had helped +her out of the trouble by dropping Nannie's body into the Chicago lake. +After such a distressing occurrence Miss Williams was only too glad of +the opportunity of leaving America with the Pitezel children. In the +meantime Holmes, under the name of Bond, and Pitezel, under that of +Lyman, had proceeded to deal with Miss Williams' property in Texas. + +For women Holmes would always appear to have possessed some power of +attraction, a power of which he availed himself generously. Holmes, +whose real name was Herman W. Mudgett, was thirty-four years of age +at the time of his arrest. As a boy he had spent his life farming in +Vermont, after which he had taken up medicine and acquired some kind +of medical degree. In the course of his training Holmes and a fellow +student, finding a body that bore a striking resemblance to the latter; +obtained 1,000 dollars from an insurance company by a fraud similar +to that in which Holmes had engaged subsequently with Pitezel. After +spending some time on the staff of a lunatic asylum in Pennsylvania, +Holmes set up as a druggist in Chicago. His affairs in this city +prospered, and he was enabled to erect, at the corner of Wallace and +Sixty-Third Streets, the four-storied building known later as "Holmes +Castle." It was a singular structure. The lower part consisted of a shop +and offices. Holmes occupied the second floor, and had a laboratory on +the third. In his office was a vault, air proof and sound proof. In the +bathroom a trap-door, covered by a rug, opened on to a secret staircase +leading down to the cellar, and a similar staircase connected the cellar +with the laboratory. In the cellar was a large grate. To this building +Miss Minnie Williams had invited her sister to come for her wedding +with Holmes, and it was in this building, according to Holmes, that the +tragedy of Nannie's untimely death occurred. + +In hoping to become Holmes' wife, Miss Minnie Williams was not to enjoy +an exclusive privilege. At the time of his arrest Holmes had three +wives, each ignorant of the others' existence. He had married the first +in 1878, under the name of Mudgett, and was visiting her at Burlington, +Vermont, when the Pinkerton detectives first got on his track. The +second he had married at Chicago, under the name of Howard, and the +third at Denver as recently as January, 1894, under the name of Holmes. +The third Mrs. Holmes had been with him when he came to Philadelphia to +identify Pitezel's body. The appearance of Holmes was commonplace, but +he was a man of plausible and ingratiating address, apparent candour, +and able in case of necessity to "let loose," as he phrased it, "the +fount of emotion." + +The year 1895 opened to find the much enduring Holmes still a prisoner +in Philadelphia. The authorities seemed in no haste to indict him for +fraud; their interest was concentrated rather in endeavouring to find +the whereabouts of Miss Williams and her children, and of one Edward +Hatch, whom Holmes had described as helping him in arranging for +their departure. The "great humiliation" of being a prisoner was very +distressing to Holmes. + + "I only know the sky has lost its blue, + The days are weary and the night is drear." + +These struck him as two beautiful lines very appropriate to his +situation. He made a New Year's resolve to give up meat during his close +confinement. The visits of his third wife brought him some comfort. He +was "agreeably surprised" to find that, as an unconvicted prisoner, he +could order in his own meals and receive newspapers and periodicals. But +he was hurt at an unfriendly suggestion on the part of the authorities +that Pitezel had not died by his own hand, and that Edward Hatch was but +a figment of his rich imagination. He would like to have been released +on bail, but in the same unfriendly spirit was informed that, if he +were, he would be detained on a charge of murder. And so the months +dragged on. Holmes, studious, patient, injured, the authorities puzzled, +suspicions, baffled--still no news of Miss Williams or the three +children. It was not until June 3 that Holmes was put on his trial for +fraud, and the following day pleaded guilty. Sentence was postponed. + +The same day Holmes was sent for to the office of the District Attorney, +who thus addressed him: "It is strongly suspected, Holmes, that you have +not only murdered Pitezel, but that you have killed the children. The +best way to remove this suspicion is to produce the children at once. +Now, where are they?" Unfriendly as was this approach, Holmes met it +calmly, reiterated his previous statement that the children had gone +with Miss Williams to England, and gave her address in London, 80 Veder +or Vadar Street, where, he said, Miss Williams had opened a massage +establishment. He offered to draw up and insert a cipher advertisement +in the New York Herald, by means of which, he said, Miss Williams and he +had agreed to communicate, and almost tearfully he added, "Why should I +kill innocent children?" + +Asked to give the name of any person who had seen Miss Williams and the +children in the course of their journeyings in America, he resented +the disbelief implied in such a question, and strong was his manly +indignation when one of the gentlemen present expressed his opinion that +the story was a lie from beginning to end. This rude estimate of +Holmes' veracity was, however, in some degree confirmed when a cipher +advertisement published in the New York Herald according to Holmes' +directions, produced no reply from Miss Williams, and inquiry showed +that no such street as Veder or Vadar Street was to be found in London. + +In spite of these disappointments, Holmes' quiet confidence in his +own good faith continued unshaken. When the hapless Mrs. Pitezel was +released, he wrote her a long letter. "Knowing me as you do," he said, +"can you imagine me killing little and innocent children, especially +without any motive?" But even Mrs. Pitezel was not wholly reassured. She +recollected how Holmes had taken her just before his arrest to a house +he had rented at Burlington, Vermont, how he had written asking her to +carry a package of nitro-glycerine from the bottom to the top of the +house, and how one day she had found him busily removing the boards in +the cellar. + + +II THE WANDERING ASSASSIN + + +The District Attorney and the Insurance Company were not in agreement +as to the fate of the Pitezel children. The former still inclined to the +hope and belief that they were in England with Miss Williams, but the +insurance company took a more sinister view. No trace of them existed +except a tin box found among Holmes' effects, containing letters +they had written to their mother and grandparents from Cincinnati, +Indianapolis, and Detroit, which had been given to Holmes to dispatch +but had never reached their destination. The box contained letters from +Mrs. Pitezel to her children, which Holmes had presumably intercepted. + +It was decided to make a final attempt to resolve all doubts by sending +an experienced detective over the route taken by the children in +America. He was to make exhaustive inquiries in each city with a view to +tracing the visits of Holmes or the three children. For this purpose a +detective of the name of Geyer was chosen. The record of his search is a +remarkable story of patient and persistent investigation. + +Alice Pitezel had not seen her mother since she had gone with Holmes +to identify her father's remains in Philadelphia. From there Holmes had +taken her to Indianapolis. In the meantime he had visited Mrs. Pitezel +at St. Louis, and taken away with him the girl, Nellie, and the boy, +Howard, alleging as his reason for doing so that they and Alice were to +join their father, whose temporary effacement was necessary to carry out +successfully the fraud on the insurance company, to which Mrs. Pitezel +had been from the first an unwilling party. Holmes, Nellie and Howard +had joined Alice at Indianapolis, and from there all four were believed +to have gone to Cincinnati. It was here, accordingly, on June 27, 1895, +that Geyer commenced his search. + +After calling at a number of hotels, Geyer found that on Friday, +September 28, 1894, a man, giving the name of Alexander E. Cook, and +three children had stayed at a hotel called the Atlantic House. Geyer +recollected that Holmes, when later on he had sent Mrs. Pitezel to the +house in Burlington, had described her as Mrs. A. E. Cook and, though +not positive, the hotel clerk thought that he recognised in the +photographs of Holmes and he three children, which Geyer showed him, the +four visitors to the hotel. + +They had left the Atlantic House the next day, and on that same day, the +29th, Geyer found that Mr. A. E. Cook and three children had registered +at the Bristol Hotel, where they had stayed until Sunday the 30th. + +Knowing Holmes' habit of renting houses, Geyer did not confine his +enquiries to the hotels. He visited a number of estate agents and learnt +that a man and a boy, identified as Holmes and Howard Pitezel, had +occupied a house No. 305 Poplar Street. The man had given the name of A. +C. Hayes. He had taken the house on Friday the 28th, and on the 29th had +driven up to it with the boy in a furniture wagon. A curious neighbour, +interested in the advent of a newcomer, saw the wagon arrive, and was +somewhat astonished to observe that the only furniture taken into the +house was a large iron cylinder stove. She was still further surprised +when, on the following day, Mr. Hayes told her that he was not going +after all to occupy the house, and made her a present of the cylinder +stove. + +From Cincinnati Geyer went to Indianapolis. Here inquiry showed that +on September 30 three children had been brought by a man identified as +Holmes to the Hotel English, and registered in the name of Canning. +This was the maiden name of Mrs. Pitezel. The children had stayed at the +hotel one night. After that Geyer seemed to lose track of them until he +was reminded of a hotel then closed, called the Circle House. With some +difficulty he got a sight of the books of the hotel, and found that the +three Canning children had arrived there on October 1 and stayed until +the 10th. From the former proprietor of the hotel he learnt that Holmes +had described himself as the children's uncle, and had said that Howard +was a bad boy, whom he was trying to place in some institution. The +children seldom went out; they would sit in their room drawing or +writing, often they were found crying; they seemed homesick and unhappy. + +There are letters of the children written from Indianapolis to their +mothers, letters found in Holmes' possession, which had never reached +her. In these letters they ask their mother why she does not write to +them. She had written, but her letters were in Holmes' possession. Alice +writes that she is reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin." She has read so much +that her eyes hurt; they have bought a crystal pen for five cents which +gives them some amusement; they had been to the Zoo in Cincinnati the +Sunday before: "I expect this Sunday will pass away slower than I don't +know--Howard is two (sic) dirty to be seen out on the street to-day." +Sometimes they go and watch a man who paints "genuine oil paintings" +in a shoe store, which are given away with every dollar purchase of +shoes--"he can paint a picture in one and a half minutes, ain't that +quick!" Howard was getting a little troublesome. "I don't like to tell +you," writes Alice, "but you ask me, so I will have to. Howard won't +mind me at all. He wanted a book and I got 'Life of General Sheridan,' +and it is awful nice, but now he don't read it at all hardly." Poor +Howard! One morning, says Alice, Mr. Holmes told him to stay in and wait +for him, as he was coming to take him out, but Howard was disobedient, +and when Mr. Holmes arrived he had gone out. Better for Howard had he +never returned! "We have written two or three letters to you," Alice +tells her mother, "and I guess you will begin to get them now." She +will not get them. Mr. Holmes is so very particular that the insurance +company shall get no clue to the whereabouts of any member of the +Pitezel family. + +Geyer knew that from Indianapolis Holmes had gone to Detroit. He +ascertained that two girls, "Etta and Nellie Canning," had registered +on October 12 at the New Western Hotel in that city, and from there had +moved on the 15th to a boarding-house in Congress Street. From Detroit +Alice had written to her grandparents. It was cold and wet, she wrote; +she and Etta had colds and chapped hands: "We have to stay in all the +time. All that Nell and I can do is to draw, and I get so tired sitting +that I could get up and fly almost. I wish I could see you all. I am +getting so homesick that I don't know what to do. I suppose Wharton +(their baby brother) walks by this time, don't he? I would like to have +him here, he would pass away the time a good deal." As a fact little +Wharton, his mother and sister Dessie, were at this very moment in +Detroit, within ten minutes' walk of the hotel at which Holmes had +registered "Etta and Nellie Canning." + +On October 14 there had arrived in that city a weary, anxious-looking +woman, with a girl and a little baby. They took a room at Geis's Hotel, +registering as Mrs. Adams and daughter. Mrs. Adams seemed in great +distress of mind, and never left her room. + +The housekeeper, being shown their photographs, identified the woman +and the girl as Mrs. Pitezel and her eldest daughter Dessie. As the same +time there had been staying at another hotel in Detroit a Mr. and Mrs. +Holmes, whose photographs showed them to be the Mr. Holmes in question +and his third wife. These three parties--the two children, Mrs. Pitezel +and her baby, and the third Mrs. Holmes--were all ignorant of each +other's presence in Detroit; and under the secret guidance of Mr. Holmes +the three parties (still unaware of their proximity to each other), left +Detroit for Canada, arriving in Toronto on or about October 18, and +registering at three separate hotels. The only one who had not to all +appearances reached Toronto was the boy Howard. + +In Toronto "Alice and Nellie Canning" stayed at the Albion Hotel. + +They arrived there on October 19, and left on the 25th. During their +stay a man, identified as Holmes, had called every morning for the two +children, and taken them out; but they had come back alone, usually in +time for supper. On the 25th he had called and taken them out, but they +had not returned to supper. After that date Geyer could find no trace +of them. Bearing in mind Holmes' custom of renting houses, he compiled a +list of all the house agents in Toronto, and laboriously applied to each +one for information. The process was a slow one, and the result seemed +likely to be disappointing. + +To aid his search Geyer decided to call in the assistance of the Press. +The newspapers readily published long accounts of the case and portraits +of Holmes and the children. At last, after eight days of patient and +untiring investigation, after following up more than one false clue, +Geyer received a report that there was a house--No. 16 St. Vincent +Street--which had been rented in the previous October by a man answering +to the description of Holmes. The information came from an old Scottish +gentleman living next door. Geyer hastened to see him. The old gentleman +said that the man who had occupied No. 16 in October had told him that +he had taken the house for his widowed sister, and he recognised the +photograph of Alice Pitezel as one of the two girls accompanying +him. The only furniture the man had taken into the house was a bed, a +mattress and a trunk. During his stay at No. 16 this man had called on +his neighbour about four o'clock one afternoon and borrowed a spade, +saying that he wanted to dig a place in the cellar where his widowed +sister could keep potatoes; he had returned the spade the following +morning. The lady to whom the house belonged recognised Holmes' portrait +as that of the man to whom she had let No. 16. + +At last Geyer seemed to be on the right track. He hurried back to St. +Vincent Street, borrowed from the old gentleman at No. 18 the very +spade which he had lent to Holmes in the previous October, and got the +permission of the present occupier of No. 16 to make a search. In the +centre of the kitchen Geyer found a trap-door leading down into a small +cellar. In one corner of the cellar he saw that the earth had been +recently dug up. With the help of the spade the loose earth was removed, +and at a depth of some three feet, in a state of advanced decomposition, +lay the remains of what appeared to be two children. A little toy wooden +egg with a snake inside it, belonging to the Pitezel children, had been +found by the tenant who had taken the house after Holmes; a later tenant +had found stuffed into the chimney, but not burnt, some clothing that +answered the description of that worn by Alice and Etta Pitezel; and by +the teeth and hair of the two corpses Mrs. Pitezel was able to identify +them as those of her two daughters. The very day that Alice and Etta had +met their deaths at St. Vincent Street, their mother had been staying +near them at a hotel in the same city, and later on the same day Holmes +had persuaded her to leave Toronto for Ogdensburg. He said that they +were being watched by detectives, and so it would be impossible for her +husband to come to see her there. + +But the problem was not yet wholly solved. What had become of Howard? So +far Geyer's search had shown that Holmes had rented three houses, one in +Cincinnati, one in Detroit, and one in Toronto. Howard had been with his +sisters at the hotels in Indianapolis, and in Detroit the house agents +had said that, when Holmes had rented a house there, he had been +accompanied by a boy. Yet an exhaustive search of that house had +revealed no trace of him. Geyer returned to Detroit and again questioned +the house agents; on being pressed their recollection of the boy who had +accompanied Holmes seemed very vague and uncertain. This served only to +justify a conclusion at which Geyer had already arrived, that Howard +had never reached Detroit, but had disappeared in Indianapolis. Alice's +letters, written from there, had described how Holmes had wanted to take +Howard out one day and how the boy had refused to stay in and wait for +him. In the same way Holmes had called for the two girls at the Albion +Hotel in Toronto on October 25 and taken them out with him, after which +they had never been seen alive except by the old gentleman at No. 18 St. +Vincent Street. + +If Geyer could discover that Holmes had not departed in Indianapolis +from his usual custom of renting houses, he might be on the high way +to solving the mystery of Howard's fate. Accordingly he returned to +Indianapolis. + +In the meantime, Holmes, in his prison at Philadelphia, learnt of the +discovery at Toronto. "On the morning of the 16th of July," he writes +in his journal, "my newspaper was delivered to me about 8.30 a.m., and I +had hardly opened it before I saw in large headlines the announcement +of the finding of the children in Toronto. For the moment it seemed +so impossible that I was inclined to think it was one of the frequent +newspaper excitements that had attended the earlier part of the case, +but, in attempting to gain some accurate comprehension of what was +stated in the article, I became convinced that at least certain bodies +had been found there, and upon comparing the date when the house was +hired I knew it to be the same as when the children had been in Toronto; +and thus being forced to realise the awfulness of what had probably +happened, I gave up trying to read the article, and saw instead the two +little faces as they had looked when I hurriedly left them--felt the +innocent child's kiss so timidly given, and heard again their earnest +words of farewell, and realised that I had received another burden to +carry to my grave with me, equal, if not worse, than the horrors of +Nannie Williams' death." + +Questioned by the district attorney, Holmes met this fresh evidence by +evoking once again the mythical Edward Hatch and suggesting that Miss +Minnie Williams, in a "hellish wish for vengeance" because of Holmes' +fancied desertion, and in order to make it appear probable that he, +and not she, had murdered her sister, had prompted Hatch to commit the +horrid deed. Holmes asked to be allowed to go to Toronto that he might +collect any evidence which he could find there in his favour. The +district attorney refused his request; he had determined to try Holmes +in Philadelphia. "What more could, be said?" writes Holmes. Indeed, +under the circumstances, and in the unaccountable absence of Edward +Hatch and Minnie Williams, there was little more to be said. + +Detective Geyer reopened his search in Indianapolis by obtaining a list +of advertisements of houses to let in the city in 1894. Nine hundred +of these were followed up in vain. He then turned his attention to the +small towns lying around Indianapolis with no happier result. Geyer +wrote in something of despair to his superiors: "By Monday we will +have searched every outlying town except Irvington. After Irvington, I +scarcely know where we shall go." Thither he went on August 27, exactly +two months from the day on which his quest had begun. As he entered the +town he noticed the advertisement of an estate agent. He called at +the office and found a "pleasant-faced old gentleman," who greeted him +amiably. Once again Geyer opened his now soiled and ragged packet of +photographs, and asked the gentleman if in October, 1894, he had let +a house to a man who said that he wanted one for a widowed sister. He +showed him the portrait of Holmes. + +The old man put on his glasses and looked at the photograph for some +time. Yes, he said, he did remember that he had given the keys of +a cottage in October, 1894, to a man of Holmes' appearance, and he +recollected the man the more distinctly for the uncivil abruptness with +which he had asked for the keys; "I felt," he said, "he should have had +more respect for my grey hairs." + +From the old gentleman's office Geyer hastened to the cottage, and +made at once for the cellar. There he could find no sign of recent +disturbance. But beneath the floor of a piazza adjoining the house he +found the remains of a trunk, answering to the description of that which +the Pitezel children had had with them, and in an outhouse he discovered +the inevitable stove, Holmes' one indispensable piece of furniture. It +was stained with blood on the top. A neighbour had seen Holmes in the +same October drive up to the house in the furniture wagon accompanied +by a boy, and later in the day Holmes had asked him to come over to the +cottage and help him to put up a stove. The neighbour asked him why he +did not use gas; Holmes replied that he did not think gas was healthy +for children. While the two men were putting up the stove, the +little boy stood by and watched them. After further search there were +discovered in the cellar chimney some bones, teeth, a pelvis and the +baked remains of a stomach, liver and spleen. + +Medical examination showed them to be the remains of a child between +seven and ten years of age. A spinning top, a scarf-pin, a pair of shoes +and some articles of clothing that had belonged to the little Pitezels, +had been found in the house at different times, and were handed over to +Geyer. + +His search was ended. On September 1 he returned to Philadelphia. + +Holmes was put on his trial on October 28, 1895, before the Court of +Oyer and Terminer in Philadelphia, charged with the murder of Benjamin +Pitezel. In the course of the trial the district attorney offered to put +in evidence showing that Holmes had also murdered the three children of +Pitezel, contending that such evidence was admissible on the ground +that the murders of the children and their father were parts of the same +transaction. The judge refused to admit the evidence, though expressing +a doubt as to its inadmissibility. The defence did not dispute the +identity of the body found in Callowhill Street, but contended that +Pitezel had committed suicide. The medical evidence negatived such a +theory. The position of the body, its condition when discovered, +were entirely inconsistent with self-destruction, and the absence of +irritation in the stomach showed that the chloroform found there must +have been poured into it after death. In all probability, Holmes had +chloroformed Pitezel when he was drunk or asleep. He had taken the +chloroform to Callowhill Street as a proposed ingredient in a solution +for cleaning clothes, which he and Pitezel were to patent. It was no +doubt with the help of the same drug that he had done to death the +little children, and failing the nitro-glycerine, with that drug he had +intended to put Mrs. Pitezel and her two remaining children out of the +way at the house in Burlington; for after his trial there was found +there, hidden away in the cellar, a bottle containing eight or ten +ounces of chloroform. + +Though assisted by counsel, Holmes took an active part in his defence. +He betrayed no feeling at the sight of Mrs. Pitezel, the greater part of +whose family he had destroyed, but the appearance of his third wife as a +witness he made an opportunity for "letting loose the fount of emotion," +taking care to inform his counsel beforehand that he intended to perform +this touching feat. He was convicted and sentenced to death on November +2. + +Previous to the trial of Holmes the police had made an exhaustive +investigation of the mysterious building in Chicago known as "Holmes' +Castle." The result was sufficiently sinister. In the stove in the +cellar charred human bones were found, and in the middle of the room +stood a large dissecting table stained with blood. On digging up the +cellar floor some human ribs, sections of vertebrae and teeth were +discovered buried in quicklime, and in other parts of the "castle" the +police found more charred bones, some metal buttons, a trunk, and a +piece of a watch chain. + +The trunk and piece of watch chain were identified as having belonged to +Miss Minnie Williams. + +Inquiry showed that Miss Williams had entered Holmes' employment as a +typist in 1893, and had lived with him at the castle. In the latter part +of the year she had invited her sister, Nannie, to be present at her +wedding with Holmes. Nannie had come to Chicago for that purpose, and +since then the two sisters had never been seen alive. In February in the +following year Pitezel, under the name of Lyman, had deposited at Fort +Worth, Texas, a deed according to which a man named Bond had transferred +to him property in that city which had belonged to Miss Williams, and +shortly after, Holmes, under the name of Pratt, joined him at Fort +Worth, whereupon the two commenced building on Miss Williams' land. + +Other mysterious cases besides those of the Williams sisters revealed +the Bluebeard-like character of this latterday castle of Mr. Holmes. In +1887 a man of the name of Connor entered Holmes' employment. He brought +with him to the castle a handsome, intelligent wife and a little girl of +eight or nine years of age. + +After a short time Connor quarrelled with his wife and went away, +leaving Mrs. Connor and the little girl with Holmes. After 1892 Mrs. +Connor and her daughter had disappeared, but in August, 1895, the police +found in the castle some clothes identified as theirs, and the janitor, +Quinlan, admitted having seen the dead body of Mrs. Connor in the +castle. Holmes, questioned in his prison in Philadelphia, said that Mrs. +Connor had died under an operation, but that he did not know what had +become of the little girl. + +In the year of Mrs. Connor's disappearance, a typist named Emily +Cigrand, who had been employed in a hospital in which Benjamin Pitezel +had been a patient, was recommended by the latter to Holmes. She entered +his employment, and she and Holmes soon became intimate, passing as +"Mr. and Mrs. Gordon." Emily Cigrand had been in the habit of writing +regularly to her parents in Indiana, but after December 6, 1892, they +had never heard from her again, nor could any further trace of her be +found. + +A man who worked for Holmes as a handy man at the castle stated to the +police that in 1892 Holmes had given him a skeleton of a man to mount, +and in January, 1893, showed him in the laboratory another male skeleton +with some flesh still on it, which also he asked him to mount. As there +was a set of surgical instruments in the laboratory and also a tank +filled with a fluid preparation for removing flesh, the handy man +thought that Holmes was engaged in some kind of surgical work. + +About a month before his execution, when Holmes' appeals from his +sentence had failed and death appeared imminent, he sold to the +newspapers for 7,500 dollars a confession in which he claimed to have +committed twenty-seven murders in the course of his career. The day +after it appeared he declared the whole confession to be a "fake." +He was tired, he said, of being accused by the newspapers of having +committed every mysterious murder that had occurred during the last +ten years. When it was pointed out to him that the account given in his +confession of the murder of the Pitezel children was clearly untrue, +he replied, "Of course, it is not true, but the newspapers wanted +a sensation and they have got it." The confession was certainly +sensational enough to satisfy the most exacting of penny-a-liners, and a +lasting tribute to Holmes' undoubted power of extravagant romancing. + +According to his story, some of his twenty-seven victims had met their +death by poison, some by more violent methods, some had died a lingering +death in the air-tight and sound-proof vault of the castle. Most of +these he mentioned by name, but some of these were proved afterwards to +be alive. Holmes had actually perpetrated, in all probability, about ten +murders. But, given further time and opportunity, there is no reason why +this peripatetic assassin should not have attained to the considerable +figure with which he credited himself in his bogus confession. + +Holmes was executed in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896. He seemed to meet +his fate with indifference. + +The motive of Holmes in murdering Pitezel and three of his children and +in planning to murder his wife and remaining children, originated in all +probability in a quarrel that occurred between Pitezel and himself in +the July of 1894. Pitezel had tired apparently of Holmes and his doings, +and wanted to break off the connection. But he must have known enough +of Holmes' past to make him a dangerous enemy. It was Pitezel who had +introduced to Holmes, Emily Cigrand, the typist, who had disappeared +so mysteriously in the castle; Pitezel had been his partner in the +fraudulent appropriation of Miss Minnie Williams' property in Texas; it +is more than likely, therefore, that Pitezel knew something of the fate +of Miss Williams and her sister. By reviving, with Pitezel's help, his +old plan for defrauding insurance companies, Holmes saw the opportunity +of making 10,000 dollars, which he needed sorely, and at the same time +removing his inconvenient and now lukewarm associate. Having killed +Pitezel and received the insurance money, Holmes appropriated to his +own use the greater part of the 10,000 dollars, giving Mrs. Pitezel +in return for her share of the plunder a bogus bill for 5,000 dollars. +Having robbed Mrs. Pitezel of both her husband and her money, to +this thoroughgoing criminal there seemed only one satisfactory way of +escaping detection, and that was to exterminate her and the whole of her +family. + +Had Holmes not confided his scheme of the insurance fraud to Hedgspeth +in St. Louis prison and then broken faith with him, there is no reason +why the fraud should ever have been discovered. The subsequent murders +had been so cunningly contrived that, had the Insurance Company not put +the Pinkerton detectives on his track, Holmes would in all probability +have ended by successfully disposing of Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie, and the +baby at the house in Burlington, Vermont, and the entire Pitezel family +would have disappeared as completely as his other victims. + +Holmes admitted afterwards that his one mistake had been his confiding +to Hedgspeth his plans for defrauding an insurance company--a mistake, +the unfortunate results of which might have been avoided, if he had kept +faith with the train robber and given him the 500 dollars which he had +promised. + +The case of Holmes illustrates the practical as well as the purely +ethical value of "honour among thieves," and shows how a comparatively +insignificant misdeed may ruin a great and comprehensive plan of crime. +To dare to attempt the extermination of a family of seven persons, and +to succeed so nearly in effecting it, could be the work of no tyro, no +beginner like J. B. Troppmann. It was the act of one who having +already succeeded in putting out of the way a number of other persons +undetected, might well and justifiably believe that he was born for +greater and more compendious achievements in robbery and murder than +any who had gone before him. One can almost subscribe to America's claim +that Holmes is the "greatest criminal" of a century boasting no mean +record in such persons. + +In the remarkable character of his achievements as an assassin we are +apt to lose sight of Holmes' singular skill and daring as a liar and +a bigamist. As an instance of the former may be cited his audacious +explanation to his family, when they heard of his having married a +second time. He said that he had met with a serious accident to his +head, and that when he left the hospital, found that he had entirely +lost his memory; that, while in this state of oblivion, he had married +again and then, when his memory returned, realised to his horror his +unfortunate position. Plausibility would seem to have been one of +Holmes' most useful gifts; men and women alike--particularly the +latter--he seems to have deceived with ease. His appearance was +commonplace, in no way suggesting the conventional criminal, his +manner courteous, ingratiating and seemingly candid, and like so many +scoundrels, he could play consummately the man of sentiment. + +The weak spot in Holmes' armour as an enemy of society was a dangerous +tendency to loquacity, the defect no doubt of his qualities of plausible +and insinuating address and ever ready mendacity. + + + + +The Widow Gras + + +Report of the trial of the woman Gras and Gaudry in the Gazette +des Tribunaux. The case is dealt with also by Mace in his "Femmes +Criminelles." + +I + +THE CHARMER + +Jenny Amenaide Brecourt was born in Paris in the year 1837. Her father +was a printer, her mother sold vegetables. The parents neglected the +child, but a lady of title took pity on her, and when she was five years +old adopted her. Even as a little girl she was haughty and imperious. At +the age of eight she refused to play with another child on the ground +of her companion's social inferiority. "The daughter of a Baroness," she +said, "cannot play with the daughter of a wine-merchant." When she was +eleven years old, her parents took her away from her protectress and +sent her into the streets to sell gingerbread--a dangerous experience +for a child of tender years. After six years of street life, Amenaide +sought out her benefactress and begged her to take her back. The +Baroness consented, and found her employment in a silk manufactory. One +day the girl, now eighteen years old, attended the wedding of one of +her companions in the factory. She returned home after the ceremony +thoughtful. + +She said that she wanted to get married. The Baroness did not take her +statement seriously, and on the grocer calling one day, said in jest to +Amenaide, "You want a husband, there's one." + +But Amenaide was in earnest. She accepted the suggestion and, to the +Baroness' surprise, insisted on taking the grocer as her husband. +Reluctantly the good lady gave her consent, and in 1855 Amenaide +Brecourt became the wife of the grocer Gras. + +A union, so hasty and ill-considered, was not likely to be of long +duration. With the help of the worthy Baroness the newly married couple +started a grocery business. But Amenaide was too economical for her +husband and mother-in-law. Quarrels ensued, recriminations. In a spirit +of unamiable prophecy husband and wife foretold each other's future. +"You will die in a hospital," said the wife. "You will land your carcase +in prison," retorted the husband. In both instances they were correct in +their anticipations. One day the husband disappeared. For a short time +Amenaide returned to her long-suffering protectress, and then she too +disappeared. + +When she is heard of again, Amenaide Brecourt has become Jeanne de la +Cour. Jeanne de la Cour is a courtesan. She has tried commerce, acting, +literature, journalism, and failed at them all. Henceforth men are +to make her fortune for her. Such charms as she may possess, such +allurements as she can offer, she is ready to employ without heart or +feeling to accomplish her end. Without real passion, she has an almost +abnormal, erotic sensibility, which serves in its stead. She cares +only for one person, her sister. To her Jeanne de la Cour unfolded her +philosophy of life. While pretending to love men, she is going to make +them suffer. They are to be her playthings, she knows how to snare them: +"All is dust and lies. So much the worse for the men who get in my way. +Men are mere stepping-stones to me. As soon as they begin to fail or are +played out, I put them scornfully aside. Society is a vast chess-board, +men the pawns, some white, some black; I move them as I please, and +break them when they bore me." + +The early years of Jeanne de la Cour's career as a Phryne were hardly +more successful than her attempts at literature, acting and journalism. +True to her philosophy, she had driven one lover, a German, to suicide, +and brought another to his death by over-doses of cantharides. On +learning of the death of the first, she reflected patriotically, +"One German the less in Paris!" That of the second elicited the +matter-of-fact comment, "It was bound to happen; he had no moderation." +A third admirer, who died in a hospital, was dismissed as "a fool who, +in spite of all, still respects women." But, in ruining her lovers, she +had ruined her own health. In 1865 she was compelled to enter a private +asylum. There she is described as "dark in complexion, with dark +expressive eyes, very pale, and of a nervous temperament, agreeable, and +pretty." She was suffering at the time of her admission from hysterical +seizures, accompanied by insane exaltation, convulsions and loss of +speech. In speaking of her humble parents she said, "I don't know such +people"; her manner was bombastic, and she was fond of posing as a fine +lady. + +After a few months Jeanne de la Cour was discharged from the asylum as +cured, and on the advice of her doctors went to Vittel. + +There she assumed the rank of Baroness and recommenced her career, but +this time in a more reasonable and businesslike manner. Her comments, +written to her sister, on her fellow guests at the hotel are caustic. +She mocks at some respectable married women who are trying to convert +her to Catholicism. To others who refuse her recognition, she makes +herself so mischievous and objectionable that in self-defence they are +frightened into acknowledging her. Admirers among men she has many, +ex-ministers, prefects. It was at Vittel that occurred the incident +of the wounded pigeon. There had been some pigeon-shooting. One of the +wounded birds flew into the room of the Baroness de la Cour. She took +pity on it, tended it, taught it not to be afraid of her and to stay in +her room. So touching was her conduct considered by some of those who +heard it, that she was nicknamed "the Charmer." But she is well aware, +she writes to her sister, that with the true ingratitude of the male, +the pigeon will leave her as soon as it needs her help no longer. + +However, for the moment, "disfigured as it is, beautiful or ugly," she +loves it. "Don't forget," she writes, "that a woman who is practical and +foreseeing, she too enjoys her pigeon shooting, but the birds are her +lovers." + +Shortly after she left Vittel an event occurred which afforded Jeanne de +la Cour the prospect of acquiring that settled position in life which, +"practical and foreseeing," she now regarded as indispensable to her +future welfare. Her husband, Gras, died, as she had foretold, in the +Charity Hospital. The widow was free. If she could bring down her bird, +it was now in her power to make it hers for life. Henceforth all her +efforts were directed to that end. She was reaching her fortieth year, +her hair was turning grey, her charms were waning. Poverty, degradation, +a miserable old age, a return to the wretched surroundings of her +childhood, such she knew to be the fate of many of her kind. There was +nothing to be hoped for from the generosity of men. Her lovers were +leaving her. Blackmail, speculation on the Bourse, even the desperate +expedient of a supposititious child, all these she tried as means of +acquiring a competence. But fortune was shy of the widow. There was +need for dispatch. The time was drawing near when it might be man's +unkind privilege to put her scornfully aside as a thing spent and done +with. She must bring down her bird, and that quickly. It was at this +critical point in the widow's career, in the year 1873, that she met at +a public ball for the first time Georges de Saint Pierre.(16) + + + (16) For obvious reasons I have suppressed the real name of the widow's +lover. + + +Georges de Saint Pierre was twenty years of age when he made the +acquaintance of the Widow Gras. He had lost his mother at an early age, +and since then lived with relatives in the country. He was a young man +of independent means, idle, of a simple, confiding and affectionate +disposition. Four months after his first meeting with the widow they +met again. The end of the year 1873 saw the commencement of an intimacy, +which to all appearances was characterised by a more lasting and sincere +affection than is usually associated with unions of this kind. There can +be no doubt that during the three years the Widow Gras was the mistress +of Georges de Saint Pierre, she had succeeded in subjugating entirely +the senses and the affection of her young lover. In spite of the twenty +years between them, Georges de Saint Pierre idolised his middle-aged +mistress. She was astute enough to play not only the lover, but the +mother to this motherless youth. After three years of intimacy he writes +to her: "It is enough for me that you love me, because I don't weary +you, and I, I love you with all my heart. I cannot bear to leave you. +We will live happily together. You will always love me truly, and as for +me, my loving care will ever protect you. I don't know what would become +of me if I did not feel that your love watched over me." The confidence +of Georges in the widow was absolute. When, in 1876, he spent six months +in Egypt, he made her free of his rooms in Paris, she was at liberty to +go there when she liked; he trusted her entirely, idolised her. Whatever +her faults, he was blind to them. "Your form," he writes, "is ever +before my eyes; I wish I could enshrine your pure heart in gold and +crystal." + +The widow's conquest, to all appearances, was complete. But Georges was +very young. He had a family anxious for his future; they knew of his +liaison; they would be hopeful, no doubt, of one day breaking it off and +of marrying him to some desirable young person. From the widow's point +of view the situation lacked finality. How was that to be secured? + +One day, toward the end of the year 1876, after the return of Georges +from Egypt, the widow happened to be at the house of a friend, a ballet +dancer. She saw her friend lead into the room a young man; he was +sightless, and her friend with tender care guided him to a seat on the +sofa. The widow was touched by the spectacle. When they were alone, she +inquired of her friend the reason of her solicitude for the young man. +"I love this victim of nature," she replied, "and look after him with +every care. He is young, rich, without family, and is going to marry +me. Like you, I am just on forty; my hair is turning grey, my youth +vanishing. I shall soon be cast adrift on the sea, a wreck. This boy is +the providential spar to which I am going to cling that I may reach land +in safety." "You mean, then," said the widow, "that you will soon be +beyond the reach of want?" "Yes," answered the friend, "I needn't worry +any more about the future." + +"I congratulate you," said the widow, "and what is more, your lover will +never see you grow old." + +To be cast adrift on the sea and to have found a providential spar! The +widow was greatly impressed by her friend's rare good fortune. Indeed, +her experience gave the widow furiously to think, as she revolved in her +brain various expedients by which Georges de Saint Pierre might become +the "providential spar" in her own impending wreck. The picture of +the blind young man tenderly cared for, dependent utterly on the +ministrations of his devoted wife, fixed itself in the widow's mind; +there was something inexpressibly pathetic in the picture, whilst its +practical significance had its sinister appeal to one in her situation. + +At this point in the story there appears on the scene a character as +remarkable in his way as the widow herself, remarkable at least for +his share in the drama that is to follow. Nathalis Gaudry, of humble +parentage, rude and uncultivated, had been a playmate of the widow when +she was a child in her parents' house. + +They had grown up together, but, after Gaudry entered the army, had +lost sight of each other. Gaudry served through the Italian war of 1859, +gaining a medal for valour. In 1864 he had married. + +Eleven years later his wife died, leaving him with two children. He came +to Paris and obtained employment in an oil refinery at Saint Denis. His +character was excellent; he was a good workman, honest, hard-working, +his record unblemished. When he returned to Paris, Gaudry renewed his +friendship with the companion of his youth. But Jeanne Brecourt was now +Jeanne de la Cour, living in refinement and some luxury, moving in a +sphere altogether remote from and unapproachable by the humble workman +in an oil refinery. He could do no more than worship from afar +this strange being, to him wonderfully seductive in her charm and +distinction. + +On her side the widow was quite friendly toward her homely admirer. +She refused to marry him, as he would have wished, but she did her best +without success to marry him to others of her acquaintance. Neither a +sempstress nor an inferior actress could she persuade, for all her +zeal, to unite themselves with a hand in an oil mill, a widower with two +children. It is typical of the widow's nervous energy that she should +have undertaken so hopeless a task. In the meantime she made use of +her admirer. On Sundays he helped her in her apartment, carried coals, +bottled wine, scrubbed the floors, and made himself generally useful. He +was supposed by those about the house to be her brother. Occasionally, +in the absence of a maid, the widow allowed him to attend on her +personally, even to assist her in her toilette and perform for her such +offices as one woman would perform for another. The man soon came to be +madly in love with the woman; his passion, excited but not gratified, +enslaved and consumed him. To some of his fellow-workmen who saw him +moody and preoccupied, he confessed that he ardently desired to marry a +friend of his childhood, not a working woman but a lady. + +Such was the situation and state of mind of Nathalis Gaudry when, in +November, 1876, he received a letter from the widow, in which she wrote, +"Come at once. I want you on a matter of business. Tell your employer +it is a family affair; I will make up your wages." In obedience to this +message Gaudry was absent from the distillery from the 17th to the 23rd +of November. + +The "matter of business" about which the widow wished to consult with +Gaudry turned out to be a scheme of revenge. She told him that she had +been basely defrauded by a man to whom she had entrusted money. She +desired to be revenged on him, and could think of no better way than to +strike at his dearest affections by seriously injuring his son. This she +proposed to do with the help of a knuckle-duster, which she produced and +gave to Gaudry. Armed with this formidable weapon, Gaudry was to strike +her enemy's son so forcibly in the pit of the stomach as to disable him +for life. The widow offered to point out to Gaudry the young man whom he +was to attack. She took him outside the young man's club and showed him +his victim. He was Georges de Saint Pierre. + +The good fortune of her friend, the ballet-dancer, had proved a +veritable toxin in the intellectual system of the Widow Gras. The poison +of envy, disappointment, suspicion, apprehension had entered into her +soul. Of what use to her was a lover, however generous and faithful, +who was free to take her up and lay her aside at will? But such was her +situation relative to Georges de Saint Pierre. She remembered that the +wounded pigeon, as long as it was dependent on her kind offices, had +been compelled to stay by her side; recovered, it had flown away. Only a +pigeon, maimed beyond hope of recovery, could she be sure of compelling +to be hers for all time, tied to her by its helpless infirmity, too +suffering and disfigured to be lured from its captivity. And so, in +accordance with her philosophy of life, the widow, by a blow in the pit +of the stomach with a knuckle-duster, was to bring down her bird which +henceforth would be tended and cared for by "the Charmer" to her own +satisfaction and the admiration of all beholders. + +For some reason, the natural reluctance of Gaudry, or perhaps a feeling +of compunction in the heart of the widow, this plan was not put into +immediate execution. Possibly she hesitated before adopting a plan more +cruel, more efficacious. Her hesitation did not last long. + +With the dawn of the year 1877 the vigilant apprehension of the widow +was roused by the tone of M. de Saint Pierre's letters. He wrote from +his home in the country, "I cannot bear leaving you, and I don't +mean to. We will live together." But he adds that he is depressed by +difficulties with his family, "not about money or business but of a kind +he can only communicate to her verbally." To the widow it was clear that +these difficulties must relate to the subject of marriage. The character +of Georges was not a strong one; sooner or later he might yield to the +importunities of his family; her reign would be ended, a modest and +insufficient pension the utmost she could hope for. She had passed the +meridian of her life as a charmer of men, her health was giving way, she +was greedy, ambitious, acquisitive. In January she asked her nephew, who +worked as a gilder, to get her some vitriol for cleaning her copper. He +complied with her request. + +During Jeanne de la Cour's brief and unsuccessful appearance as an +actress she had taken part in a play with the rather cumbrous title, Who +Puts out the Eyes must Pay for Them. The widow may have forgotten +this event; its occurrence so many years before may have been merely +a sinister coincidence. But the incident of the ballet-dancer and her +sightless lover was fresh in her mind. + +Early in January the widow wrote to Georges, who was in the country, and +asked him to take her to the masked ball at the Opera on the 13th. Her +lover was rather surprised at her request, nor did he wish to appear +with her at so public a gathering. "I don't understand," he writes, "why +you are so anxious to go to the Opera. I can't see any real reason for +your wanting to tire yourself out at such a disreputable gathering. +However, if you are happy and well, and promise to be careful, I will +take you. I would be the last person, my dear little wife, to deny you +anything that would give you pleasure." But for some reason Georges was +unhappy, depressed. Some undefined presentiment of evil seems to have +oppressed him. His brother noticed his preoccupation. + +He himself alludes to it in writing to his mistress: "I am depressed +this evening. For a very little I could break down altogether and give +way to tears. You can't imagine what horrid thoughts possess me. If I +felt your love close to me, I should be less sad." Against his better +inclination Georges promised to take the widow to the ball on the 13th. +He was to come to Paris on the night of the 12th. + + + +II + +THE WOUNDED PIGEON + + +On the afternoon of January 11, Gaudry called to see the widow. There +had been an accident at the distillery that morning, and work was +suspended for three days. The widow showed Gaudry the bottle containing +the vitriol which her nephew had procured for her use. She was ill, +suffering, she said; the only thing that could make her well again would +be the execution of her revenge on the son of the man who had defrauded +her so wickedly: "Make him suffer, here are the means, and I swear I +will be yours." She dropped a little of the vitriol on to the floor to +show its virulent effect. At first Gaudry was shocked, horrified. He +protested that he was a soldier, that he could not do such a deed; he +suggested that he should provoke the young man to a duel and kill +him. "That is no use," said the widow, always sensitive to social +distinctions; "he is not of your class, he would refuse to fight with +you." Mad with desire for the woman, his senses irritated and excited, +the ultimate gratification of his passion held alluringly before him, +the honest soldier consented to play the cowardly ruffian. The trick was +done. The widow explained to her accomplice his method of proceeding. +The building in the Rue de Boulogne, in which the widow had her +apartment, stood at the end of a drive some twenty-seven and a half +yards long and five and a half yards wide. About half-way up the drive, +on either side, there were two small houses, or pavilions, standing by +themselves and occupied by single gentlemen. The whole was shut off from +the street by a large gate, generally kept closed, in which a smaller +gate served to admit persons going in or out. According to the widow's +plan, the young man, her enemy's son, was to take her to the ball at the +Opera on the night of January 13. Gaudry was to wait in her apartment +until their return. When he heard the bell ring, which communicated with +the outer gate, he was to come down, take his place in the shadow of one +of the pavilions on either side of the drive, and from the cover of this +position fling in the face of the young man the vitriol which she had +given him. The widow herself, under the pretence of closing the smaller +gate, would be well behind the victim, and take care to leave the gate +open so that Gaudry could make his escape. + +In spite of his reluctance, his sense of foreboding, Georges de Saint +Pierre came to Paris on the night of the 12th, which he spent at the +widow's apartment. He went to his own rooms on the morning of the 13th. + +This eventful day, which, to quote Iago, was either to "make or +fordo quite" the widow, found her as calm, cool and deliberate in the +execution of her purpose as the Ancient himself. Gaudry came to her +apartment about five o'clock in the afternoon. The widow showed him the +vitriol and gave him final directions. She would, she said, return from +the ball about three o'clock in the morning. Gaudry was then sent +away till ten o'clock, as Georges was dining with her. He returned at +half-past ten and found the widow dressing, arraying herself in a pink +domino and a blonde wig. She was in excellent spirits. When Georges came +to fetch her, she put Gaudry into an alcove in the drawing-room which +was curtained off from the rest of the room. Always thoughtful, she had +placed a stool there that he might rest himself. Gaudry could hear her +laughing and joking with her lover. She reproached him playfully with +hindering her in her dressing. To keep him quiet, she gave him a book to +read, Montaigne's "Essays." Georges opened it and read the thirty-fifth +chapter of the second book, the essay on "Three Good Women," which tells +how three brave women of antiquity endured death or suffering in order +to share their husbands' fate. Curiously enough, the essay concludes +with these words, almost prophetic for the unhappy reader: "I am +enforced to live, and sometimes to live is magnanimity." Whilst Georges +went to fetch a cab, the widow released Gaudry from his place of +concealment, exhorted him to have courage, and promised him, if he +succeeded, the accomplishment of his desire. And so the gay couple +departed for the ball. There the widow's high spirits, her complete +enjoyment, were remarked by more than one of her acquaintances; she +danced one dance with her lover, and with another young man made an +engagement for the following week. + +Meanwhile, at the Rue de Boulogne, Gaudry sat and waited in the widow's +bedroom. From the window he could see the gate and the lights of the cab +that was to bring the revellers home. The hours passed slowly. He tried +to read the volume of Montaigne where Georges had left it open, but the +words conveyed little to him, and he fell asleep. Between two and three +o'clock in the morning he was waked by the noise of wheels. They had +returned. He hurried downstairs and took up his position in the shadow +of one of the pavilions. As Georges de Saint Pierre walked up the drive +alone, for the widow had stayed behind to fasten the gate, he thought he +saw the figure of a man in the darkness. The next moment he was blinded +by the burning liquid flung in his face. The widow had brought down her +pigeon. + +At first she would seem to have succeeded perfectly in her attempt. +Georges was injured for life, the sight of one eye gone, that of the +other threatened, his face sadly disfigured. Neither he nor anyone +else suspected the real author of the crime. It was believed that the +unfortunate man had been mistaken for some other person, and made by +accident the victim of an act of vengeance directed against another. +Georges was indeed all the widow's now, lodged in her own house to +nurse and care for. She undertook the duty with every appearance of +affectionate devotion. The unhappy patient was consumed with gratitude +for her untiring solicitude; thirty nights she spent by his bedside. His +belief in her was absolute. It was his own wish that she alone should +nurse him. His family were kept away, any attempts his relatives or +friends made to see or communicate with him frustrated by the zealous +widow. + +It was this uncompromising attitude on her part toward the friends of +Georges, and a rumour which reached the ears of one of them that she +intended as soon as possible to take her patient away to Italy, that +sounded the first note of danger to her peace of mind. This friend +happened to be acquainted with the son of one of the Deputy Public +Prosecutors in Paris. To that official he confided his belief that there +were suspicious circumstances in the case of Georges de Saint Pierre. +The judicial authorities were informed and the case placed in the hands +of an examining magistrate. On February 2, nearly a month after the +crime, the magistrate, accompanied by Mace, then a commissary of police, +afterwards head of the Detective Department, paid a visit to the Rue de +Boulogne. Their reception was not cordial. It was only after they had +made known their official character that they got audience of the widow. +She entered the room, carrying in her hand a surgical spray, with which +she played nervously while the men of the law asked to see her charge. +She replied that it was impossible. Mace placed himself in front of the +door by which she had entered, and told her that her attitude was not +seemly. "Leave that spray alone," he said; "it might shoot over us, and +then perhaps we should be sprinkled as M. de Saint Pierre was." From +that moment, writes Mace, issue was joined between the widow and +himself. + +The magistrate insisted on seeing the patient. He sat by his bedside. +M. de Saint Pierre told him that, having no enemies, he was sure he had +been the victim of some mistake, and that, as he claimed no damages +for his injuries, he did not wish his misfortune to be made public. +He wanted to be left alone with his brave and devoted nurse, and to be +spared the nervous excitement of a meeting with his family. He intended, +he added, to leave Paris shortly for change of scene and air. The widow +cut short the interview on the ground that her patient was tired. + +It was inhuman, she said, to make him suffer so. The magistrate, before +leaving, asked her whither she intended taking her patient. She replied, +"To Italy." That, said the magistrate, would be impossible until his +inquiry was closed. In the meantime she might take him to any place +within the Department of the Seine; but she must be prepared to be under +the surveillance of M. Mace, who would have the right to enter her +house whenever he should think it expedient. With this disconcerting +intelligence the men of the law took leave of the widow. + +She was no longer to be left in undisturbed possession of her prize. +Her movements were watched by two detectives. She was seen to go to +the bachelor lodgings of Georges and take away a portable desk, which +contained money and correspondence. More mysterious, however, was a +visit she paid to the Charonne Cemetery, where she had an interview with +an unknown, who was dressed in the clothes of a workman. She left the +cemetery alone, and the detectives lost track of her companion. This +meeting took place on February 11. Shortly after the widow left Paris +with Georges de Saint Pierre for the suburb of Courbevoie. + +Mace had elicited certain facts from the porter at the Rue de Boulogne +and other witnesses, which confirmed his suspicion that the widow had +played a sinister part in her lover's misfortune. Her insistence that +he should take her to the ball on January 13; the fact that, contrary to +the ordinary politeness of a gentleman, he was walking in front of her +at the time of the attack; and that someone must have been holding the +gate open to enable the assailant to escape it was a heavy gate, which, +if left to itself after being opened, would swing too quickly on its +hinges and shut of its own accord--these facts were sufficient to +excite suspicion. The disappearance, too, of the man calling himself +her brother, who had been seen at her apartment on the afternoon of the +13th, coupled with the mysterious interview in the cemetery, suggested +the possibility of a crime in which the widow had had the help of an +accomplice. To facilitate investigation it was necessary to separate the +widow from her lover. The examining magistrate, having ascertained from +a medical report that such a separation would not be hurtful to the +patient, ordered the widow to be sent back to Paris, and the family of +M. de Saint Pierre to take her place. The change was made on March 6. On +leaving Courbevoie the widow was taken to the office of Mace. There the +commissary informed her that she must consider herself under provisional +arrest. "But who," she asked indignantly, "is to look after my Georges?" +"His family," was the curt reply. The widow, walking up and down the +room like a panther, stormed and threatened. When she had in some +degree recovered herself, Mace asked her certain questions. Why had she +insisted on her lover going to the ball? She had done nothing of the +kind. How was it his assailant had got away so quickly by the open gate? +She did not know. What was the name and address of her reputed brother? +She was not going to deliver an honest father of a family into the +clutches of the police. What was the meaning of her visit to the +Charonne Cemetery? She went there to pray, not to keep assignations. +"And if you want to know," she exclaimed, "I have had typhoid +fever, which makes me often forget things. So I shall say nothing +more--nothing--nothing." + +Taken before the examining magistrate, her attitude continued to +be defiant and arrogant. "Your cleverest policemen," she told the +magistrate, "will never find any evidence against me. Think well before +you send me to prison. I am not the woman to live long among thieves and +prostitutes." Before deciding finally whether the widow should be thrown +into such uncongenial society, the magistrate ordered Mace to search her +apartment in the Rue de Boulogne. + +On entering the apartment the widow asked that all the windows should be +opened. "Let in the air," she said; "the police are coming in; they +make a nasty smell." She was invited to sit down while the officers +made their search. Her letters and papers were carefully examined; +they presented a strange mixture of order and disorder. Carefully kept +account books of her personal expenses were mixed up with billets +dous, paints and pomades, moneylenders' circulars, belladonna and +cantharides. But most astounding of all were the contents of the widows' +prie-Dieu. In this devotional article of furniture were stored all the +inmost secrets of her profligate career. Affectionate letters from the +elderly gentleman on whom she had imposed a supposititious child lay +side by side with a black-edged card, on which was written the last +message of a young lover who had killed himself on her account. "Jeanne, +in the flush of my youth I die because of you, but I forgive you.--M." +With these genuine outpourings of misplaced affection were mingled the +indecent verses of a more vulgar admirer, and little jars of hashish. +The widow, unmoved by this rude exposure of her way of life, only broke +her silence to ask Mace the current prices on the Stock Exchange. + +One discovery, however, disturbed her equanimity. In the drawer of a +cupboard, hidden under some linen, Mace found a leather case containing +a sheaf of partially-burnt letters. As he was about to open it the widow +protested that it was the property of M. de Saint Pierre. Regardless of +her protest, Mace opened the case, and, looking through the letters, saw +that they were addressed to M. de Saint Pierre and were plainly of an +intimate character. "I found them on the floor near the stove in the +dining-room," said the widow, "and I kept them. I admit it was a wrong +thing to do, but Georges will forgive me when he knows why I did it." +From his better acquaintance with her character Mace surmised that +an action admitted by the widow to be "wrong" was in all probability +something worse. Without delay he took the prisoner back to his office, +and himself left for Courbevoie, there to enlighten, if possible, her +unhappy victim as to the real character of his enchantress. + +The interview was a painful one. The lover refused to hear a word +against his mistress. "Jeanne is my Antigone," he said. "She has +lavished on me all her care, her tenderness, her love, and she believes +in God." Mace told him of her past, of the revelations contained in the +prie-Dieu of this true believer, but he could make no impression. "I +forgive her past, I accept her present, and please understand me, no one +has the power to separate me from her." It was only when Mace placed in +his hands the bundle of burnt letters, that he might feel what he could +not see, and read him some passages from them, that the unhappy man +realised the full extent of his mistress' treachery. Feeling himself +dangerously ill, dying perhaps, M. de Saint Pierre had told the widow to +bring from his rooms to the Rue de Boulogne the contents of his private +desk. It contained some letters compromising to a woman's honour. These +he was anxious to destroy before it was too late. As he went through the +papers, his eyes bandaged, he gave them to the widow to throw into the +stove. He could hear the fire burning and feel its warmth. He heard the +widow take up the tongs. He asked her why she did so. She answered that +it was to keep the burning papers inside the stove. Now from Mace he +learnt the real truth. She had used the tongs to take out some of the +letters half burnt, letters which in her possession might be one day +useful instruments for levying blackmail on her lover. "To blind me," +exclaimed M. de Saint Pierre, "to torture me, and then profit by my +condition to lie to me, to betray me--it's infamous--infamous!" His +dream was shattered. Mace had succeeded in his task; the disenchantment +of M. de Saint Pierre was complete. That night the fastidious widow +joined the thieves and prostitutes in the St. Lazare Prison. + +It was all very well to imprison the widow, but her participation in the +outrage on M. de Saint Pierre was by no means established. + +The reputed brother, who had been in the habit of attending on her at +the Rue de Boulogne, still eluded the searches of the police. In silence +lay the widow's only hope of baffling her enemies. Unfortunately for the +widow, confinement told on her nerves. She became anxious, excited. Her +very ignorance of what was going on around her, her lover's silence +made her apprehensive; she began to fear the worst. At length--the widow +always had an itch for writing--she determined to communicate at all +costs with Gaudry and invoke his aid. She wrote appealing to him to +come forward and admit that he was the man the police were seeking, for +sheltering whom she had been thrown into prison. She drew a harrowing +picture of her sufferings in jail. She had refused food and been +forcibly fed; she would like to dash her head against the walls. If any +misfortune overtake Gaudry, she promises to adopt his son and leave him +a third of her property. She persuaded a fellow-prisoner; an Italian +dancer undergoing six months' imprisonment for theft, who was on the +point of being released, to take the letter and promise to deliver it to +Gaudry at Saint Denis. On her release the dancer told her lover of her +promise. He refused to allow her to mix herself up in such a case, and +destroyed the letter. Then the dancer blabbed to others, until her story +reached the ears of the police. Mace sent for her. At first she could +remember only that the name Nathalis occurred in the letter, but after +visiting accidentally the Cathedral at Saint Denis, she recollected that +this Nathalis lived there, and worked in an oil factory. It was easy +after this for the police to trace Gaudry. He was arrested. At his +house, letters from the widow were found, warning him not to come to her +apartment, and appointing to meet him in Charonne Cemetery. Gaudry made +a full confession. It was his passion for the widow, and a promise on +her part to marry him, which, he said, had induced him to perpetrate so +abominable a crime. He was sent to the Mazas Prison. + +In the meantime the Widow Gras was getting more and more desperate. +Her complete ignorance tormented her. At last she gave up all hope, and +twice attempted suicide with powdered glass and verdigris. On May 12 the +examining magistrate confronted her with Gaudry. The man told his story, +the widow feigned surprise that the "friend of her childhood" should +malign her so cruelly. But to her desperate appeals Gaudry would only +reply, "It is too late!" They were sent for trial. + +The trial of the widow and her accomplice opened before the Paris Assize +Court on July 23, 1877, and lasted three days. The widow was defended by +Lachaud, one of the greatest criminal advocates of France, the defender +of Madame Lafarge, La Pommerais, Troppmann, and Marshal Bazaine. M. +Demange (famous later for his defence of Dreyfus) appeared for Gaudry. +The case had aroused considerable interest. Among those present at the +trial were Halevy, the dramatist, and Mounet-Sully and Coquelin, from +the Comedie Francaise. Fernand Rodays thus described the widow in the +Figaro: "She looks more than her age, of moderate height, well made, +neither blatant nor ill at ease, with nothing of the air of a woman of +the town. Her hands are small. Her bust is flat, and her back round, her +hair quite white. Beneath her brows glitter two jet-black eyes--the eyes +of a tigress, that seem to breathe hatred and revenge." + +Gaudry was interrogated first. Asked by the President the motive of +his crime, he answered, "I was mad for Madame Gras; I would have done +anything she told me. I had known her as a child, I had been brought +up with her. Then I saw her again. I loved her, I was mad for her, I +couldn't resist it. Her wish was law to me." + +Asked if Gaudry had spoken the truth, the widow said that he lied. The +President asked what could be his motive for accusing her unjustly. +The widow was silent. Lachaud begged her to answer. "I cannot," she +faltered. The President invited her to sit down. After a pause the widow +seemed to recover her nerve. + +President: Was Gaudry at your house while you were at the ball? + +Widow: No, no! He daren't look me in the face and say so. + +President: But he is looking at you now. + +Widow: No, he daren't! (She fixes her eyes on Gaudry, who lowers his +head.) + +President: I, whose duty it is to interrogate you, look you in the face +and repeat my question: Was Gaudry at your house at half-past ten that +night? + +Widow: No. + +President: You hear her, Gaudry? + +Gaudry: Yes, Monsieur, but I was there. + +Widow: It is absolutely impossible! Can anyone believe me guilty of such +a thing. + +President: Woman Gras, you prefer to feign indignation and deny +everything. You have the right. I will read your examination before the +examining magistrate. I see M. Lachaud makes a gesture, but I must beg +the counsel for the defence not to impart unnecessary passion into these +proceedings. + +Lachaud: My gesture was merely meant to express that the woman Gras +is on her trial, and that under the circumstances her indignation is +natural. + +President: Very good. + +The appearance in the witness box of the widow's unhappy victim +evoked sympathy. He gave his evidence quietly, without resentment or +indignation. As he told his story the widow, whose eyes were fixed on +him all the time, murmured: "Georges! Georges! Defend me! Defend me!" "I +state the facts," he replied. + +The prisoners could only defend themselves by trying to throw on each +other the guilt of the crime. M. Demange represented Gaudry as acting +under the influence of his passion for the Widow Gras. Lachaud, on the +other hand, attributed the crime solely to Gaudry's jealousy of the +widow's lover, and contended that he was the sole author of the outrage. + +The jury by their verdict assigned to the widow the greater share of +responsibility. She was found guilty in the full degree, but to Gaudry +were accorded extenuating circumstances. The widow was condemned +to fifteen years' penal servitude, her accomplice to five years' +imprisonment. + +It is dreadful to think how very near the Widow Gras came to +accomplishing successfully her diabolical crime. A little less +percipitancy on her part, and she might have secured the fruits of +her cruelty. Her undoubted powers of fascination, in spite of the +fiendishness of her real character, are doubly proved by the devotion of +her lover and the guilt of her accomplice. At the same time, with that +strange contradiction inherent in human nature, the Jekyll and Hyde +elements which, in varying degree, are present in all men and women, the +Widow Gras had a genuine love for her young sister. Her hatred of men +was reasoned, deliberate, merciless and implacable. There is something +almost sadistic in the combination in her character of erotic sensibility +with extreme cruelty. + + + + +Vitalis and Marie Boyer + + +I found the story of this case in a brochure published in Paris as +one of a series of modern causes celebres. I have compared it with the +reports of the trial in the Gazette des Tribunaux. + +I In the May of 1874, in the town of Montpellier, M. Boyer, a retired +merchant, some forty-six years of age, lay dying. For some months +previous to his death he had been confined to his bed, crippled by +rheumatic gout. As the hour of his death drew near, M. Boyer was filled +with a great longing to see his daughter, Marie, a girl of fifteen, and +embrace her for the last time. The girl was being educated in a convent +at Marseilles. One of M. Boyer's friends offered to go there to fetch +her. On arriving at the convent, he was told that Marie had become +greatly attracted by the prospect of a religious life. "You are happy," +the Mother Superior had written to her mother, "very happy never to +have allowed the impure breath of the world to have soiled this little +flower. She loves you and her father more than one can say." Her +father's friend found the girl dressed in the costume of a novice, and +was told that she had expressed her desire to take, one day, her final +vows. He informed Marie of her father's dying state, of his earnest wish +to see her for the last time, and told her that he had come to take +her to his bedside. "Take me away from here?" she exclaimed. The Mother +Superior, surprised at her apparent reluctance to go, impressed on her +the duty of acceding to her father's wish. To the astonishment of both, +Marie refused to leave the convent. If she could save her father's life, +she said, she would go, but, as that was impossible and she dreaded +going out into the world again, she would stay and pray for her father +in the chapel of the convent, where her prayers would be quite as +effective as by his bedside. In vain the friend and the Mother Superior +tried to bend her resolution. + +Happily M. Boyer died before he could learn of his daughter's singular +refusal. But it had made an unfavourable impression on the friend's +mind. He looked on Marie as a girl without real feeling, an egoist, her +religion purely superficial, hiding a cold and selfish disposition; he +felt some doubt as to the future development of her character. + +M. Boyer left a widow, a dark handsome woman, forty years of age. + +Some twenty years before his death, Marie Salat had come to live with +M. Boyer as a domestic servant. He fell in love with her, she became his +mistress, and a few months before the birth of Marie, M. Boyer made her +his wife. Madame Boyer was at heart a woman of ardent and voluptuous +passions that only wanted opportunity to become careless in their +gratification. Her husband's long illness gave her such an opportunity. +At the time of his death she was carrying on an intrigue with a +bookseller's assistant, Leon Vitalis, a young man of twenty-one. Her +bed-ridden husband, ignorant of her infidelity, accepted gratefully +the help of Vitalis, whom his wife described as a relative, in the +regulation of his affairs. At length the unsuspecting Boyer died. The +night of his death Madame Boyer spent with her lover. + +The mother had never felt any great affection for her only child. + +During her husband's lifetime she was glad to have Marie out of the way +at the convent. But the death of M. Boyer changed the situation. He +had left almost the whole of his fortune, about 100,000 francs, to his +daughter, appointing her mother her legal guardian with a right to the +enjoyment of the income on the capital until Marie should come of age. +Madame Boyer had not hitherto taken her daughter's religious devotion +very seriously. But now that the greater part of her husband's fortune +was left to Marie, she realised that, should her daughter persist in +her intention of taking the veil, that fortune would in a very few +years pass into the hands of the sisterhood. Without delay Madame Boyer +exercised her authority, and withdrew Marie from the convent. The girl +quitted it with every demonstration of genuine regret. + +Marie Boyer when she left the convent was growing into a tall and +attractive woman, her figure slight and elegant, her hair and eyes +dark, dainty and charming in her manner. Removed from the influences of +convent life, her religious devotion became a thing of the past. In her +new surroundings she gave herself up to the enjoyments of music and +the theatre. She realised that she was a pretty girl, whose beauty +well repaid the hours she now spent in the adornment of her person. The +charms of Marie were not lost on Leon Vitalis. Mean and significant +in appearance, Vitalis would seem to have been one of those men who, +without any great physical recommendation, have the knack of making +themselves attractive to women. After her husband's death Madame Boyer +had yielded herself completely to his influence and her own undoubted +passion for him. She had given him the money with which to purchase +a business of his own as a second-hand bookseller. This trade the +enterprising and greedy young man combined with money-lending and he +clandestine sale of improper books and photographs. To such a man the +coming of Marie Boyer was a significant event. She was younger, more +attractive than her mother; in a very few years the whole of her +father's fortune would be hers. Slowly Vitalis set himself to win the +girl's affections. The mother's suspicions were aroused; her jealousy +was excited. She sent Marie to complete her education at a convent +school in Lyons. This was in the April of 1875. By this time Marie +and Vitalis had become friendly enough to arrange to correspond +clandestinely during the girl's absence from home. Marie was so far +ignorant of the relations of Vitalis with her mother. + +Her daughter sent away, Madame Boyer surrendered herself with complete +abandonment to her passion for her lover. At Castelnau, close to +Montpellier, she bought a small country house. There she could give full +rein to her desire. To the scandal of the occasional passerby she and +her lover would bathe in a stream that passed through the property, +and sport together on the grass. Indoors there were always books from +Vitalis' collection to stimulate their lascivious appetites. This life +of pastoral impropriety lasted until the middle of August, when Marie +Boyer came home from Lyons. + +Vitalis would have concealed from the young girl as long as he could the +nature of his relations with Madame Boyer, but his mistress by her own +deliberate conduct made all concealment impossible. Whether from the +utter recklessness of her passion for Vitalis, or a desire to kill in +her daughter's heart any attachment which she may have felt towards her +lover, the mother paraded openly before her daughter the intimacy of her +relations with Vitalis, and with the help of the literature with which +the young bookseller supplied her, set about corrupting her child's mind +to her own depraved level. The effect of her extraordinary conduct was, +however, the opposite to what she had intended. The mind of the young +girl was corrupted; she was familiarised with vice. But in her heart +she did not blame Vitalis for what she saw and suffered; she pitied, she +excused him. It was her mother whom she grew to hate, with a hate all +the more determined for the cold passionless exterior beneath which it +was concealed. + +Madame Boyer's deliberate display of her passion for Vitalis served only +to aggravate and intensify in Marie Boyer an unnatural jealousy that was +fast growing up between mother and daughter. + +Marie did not return to the school at Lyons. In the winter of 1875, +Madame Boyer gave up the country house and, with her daughter, settled +in one of the suburbs of Montpellier. In the January of 1876 a theft +occurred in her household which obliged Madame Boyer to communicate +with the police. Spendthrift and incompetent in the management of her +affairs, she was hoarding and suspicious about money itself. Cash and +bonds she would hide away in unexpected places, such as books, dresses, +even a soup tureen. One of her most ingenious hiding places was a +portrait of her late husband, behind which she concealed some bearer +bonds in landed security, amounting to about 11,000 francs. One day in +January these bonds disappeared. She suspected a theft, and informed +the police. Three days later she withdrew her complaint, and no more +was heard of the matter. As Marie and Vitalis were the only persons who +could have known her secret, the inference is obvious. When, later in +the year, Vitalis announced his intention of going to Paris on business, +his mistress expressed to him the hope that he would "have a good time" +with her bonds. Vitalis left for Paris. But there was now a distinct +understanding between Marie and himself. Vitalis had declared himself +her lover and asked her to marry him. The following letter, written to +him by Marie Boyer in the October of 1876, shows her attitude toward his +proposal: + + +"I thank you very sincerely for your letter, which has given me very +great pleasure, because it tells me that you are well. It sets my mind +at rest, for my feelings towards you are the same as ever. I don't say +they are those of love, for I don't know myself; I don't know what such +feelings are. But I feel a real affection for you which may well turn to +love. How should I not hold in affectionate remembrance one who has done +everything for me? But love does not come to order. So I can't and don't +wish to give any positive answer about our marriage--all depends on +circumstances. I don't want any promise from you, I want you to be as +free as I am. I am not fickle, you know me well enough for that. So +don't ask me to give you any promise. You may find my letter a little +cold. But I know too much of life to pledge myself lightly. I assure +you I think on it often. Sometimes I blush when I think what marriage +means." + + +Madame Boyer, displeased at the theft, had let her lover go without any +great reluctance. No sooner had he gone than she began to miss him. Life +seemed dull without him. Mother and daughter were united at least in +their common regret at the absence of the young bookseller. To vary the +monotony of existence, to find if possible a husband for her daughter, +Madame Boyer decided to leave Montpellier for Marseilles, and there +start some kind of business. The daughter, who foresaw greater amusement +and pleasure in the life of a large city, assented willingly. On October +6, 1876, they arrived at Marseilles, and soon after Madame bought at +a price considerably higher than their value, two shops adjoining one +another in the Rue de la Republique. One was a cheese shop, the other a +milliner's. + +The mother arranged that she should look after the cheese shop, while +her daughter presided over the milliner's. The two shops were next door +to one another. Behind the milliner's was a drawing-room, behind the +cheese shop a kitchen; these two rooms communicated with each other by +a large dark room at the back of the building. In the kitchen was a +trap-door leading to a cellar. The two women shared a bedroom in an +adjoining house. + +Vitalis had opposed the scheme of his mistress to start shop-keeping in +Marseilles. He knew how unfitted she was to undertake a business of +any kind. But neither mother nor daughter would relinquish the plan. It +remained therefore to make the best of it. Vitalis saw that he must get +the business into his own hands; and to do that, to obtain full control +of Madame Boyer's affairs, he must continue to play the lover to her. To +the satisfaction of the two women, he announced his intention of coming +to Marseilles in the New Year of 1877. It was arranged that he should +pass as a nephew of Madame Boyer, the cousin of Marie. He arrived at +Marseilles on January 1, and received a cordial welcome. Of the domestic +arrangements that ensued, it is sufficient to say that they were +calculated to whet the jealousy and inflame the hatred that Marie felt +towards her mother, who now persisted as before in parading before her +daughter the intimacy of her relations with Vitalis. + +In these circumstances Vitalis succeeded in extracting from his mistress +a power of attorney, giving him authority to deal with her affairs and +sell the two businesses, which were turning out unprofitable. This done, +he told Marie, whose growing attachment to him, strange as it may seem, +had turned to love, that now at last they could be free. He would sell +the two shops, and with the money released by the sale they could go +away to-gether. Suddenly Madame Boyer fell ill, and was confined to her +bed. Left to themselves, the growing passion of Marie Boyer for Vitalis +culminated in her surrender. But for the sick mother the happiness of +the lovers was complete. If only her illness were more serious, more +likely to be fatal in its result! "If only God would take her!" said +Vitalis. "Yes," replied her daughter, "she has caused us so much +suffering!" + +To Madame Boyer her illness had brought hours of torment, and at last +remorse. She realised the duplicity of her lover, she knew that he meant +to desert her for her daughter, she saw what wrong she had done that +daughter, she suspected even that Marie and Vitalis were poisoning her. +Irreligious till now, her thoughts turned to religion. As soon as she +could leave her bed she would go to Mass and make atonement for her sin; +she would recover her power of attorney, get rid of Vitalis for good +and all, and send her daughter back to a convent. But it was too late. +Nemesis was swift to overtake the hapless woman. Try as he might, +Vitalis had found it impossible to sell the shops at anything but a +worthless figure. He had no money of his own, with which to take Marie +away. He knew that her mother had resolved on his instant dismissal. + +As soon as Madame Boyer was recovered sufficiently to leave her bed, +she turned on her former lover, denounced his treachery, accused him +of robbing and swindling her, and bade him go without delay. To Vitalis +dismissal meant ruin, to Marie it meant the loss of her lover. During +her illness the two young people had wished Madame Boyer dead, but she +had recovered. Providence or Nature having refused to assist Vitalis, +he resolved to fall back on art. He gave up a whole night's rest to +the consideration of the question. As a result of his deliberations he +suggested to the girl of seventeen the murder of her mother. "This must +end," said Vitalis. "Yes, it must," replied Marie. Vitalis asked her if +she had any objection to such a crime. Marie hesitated, the victim was +her mother. Vitalis reminded her what sort of a mother she had been to +her. The girl said that she was terrified at the sight of blood; Vitalis +promised that her mother should be strangled. At length Marie consented. +That night on some slight pretext Madame Boyer broke out into violent +reproaches against her daughter. She little knew that every reproach +she uttered served only to harden in her daughter's heart her unnatural +resolve. + +On the morning of March 19 Madame Boyer rose early to go to Mass. + +Before she went out, she reminded Vitalis that this was his last day in +her service, that when she returned she would expect to find him gone. +It was after seven when she left the house. The lovers had no time to +lose; the deed must be done immediately on the mother's return. They +arranged that Vitalis should get rid of the shop-boy, and that, as soon +as he had gone, Marie should shut and lock the front doors of the +two shops. At one o'clock Madame Boyer came back. She expressed her +astonishment and disgust that Vitalis still lingered, and threatened to +send for the police to turn him out. Vitalis told the shop-boy that he +could go away for a few hours; they had some family affairs to settle. +The boy departed. Madame Boyer, tired after her long morning in the +town, was resting on a sofa in the sitting-room, at the back of the +milliner's shop. Vitalis entered the room, and after a few heated words, +struck her a violent blow in the chest. She fell back on the sofa, +calling to her daughter to come to her assistance. The daughter sought +to drown her mother's cries by banging the doors, and opening and +shutting drawers. Vitalis, who was now trying to throttle his victim, +called to Marie to shut the front doors of the two shops. + +To do so Marie had to pass through the sitting-room, and was a witness +to the unsuccessful efforts of Vitalis to strangle her mother. Having +closed the doors, she retired into the milliner's shop to await the +issue. After a few moments her lover called to her for the large cheese +knife; he had caught up a kitchen knife, but in his struggles it had +slipped from his grasp. Quickly Marie fetched the knife and returned to +the sitting-room. There a desperate struggle was taking place between +the man and woman. At one moment it seemed as if Madame Boyer would get +the better of Vitalis, whom nature had not endowed greatly for work of +this kind. Marie came to his aid. She kicked and beat her mother, until +at last the wretched creature released her hold and sank back exhausted. +With the cheese knife, which her daughter had fetched, Vitalis killed +Madame Boyer. + +They were murderers now, the young lovers. What to do with the body? The +boy would be coming back soon. The cellar under the kitchen seemed +the obvious place of concealment. With the help of a cord the body was +lowered into the cellar, and Marie washed the floor of the sitting-room. +The boy came back. He asked where Madame Boyer was. Vitalis told him +that she was getting ready to return to Montpellier the same evening, +and that he had arranged to go with her, but that he had no intention +of doing so; he would accompany her to the station, he said, and then at +the last moment, just as the train was starting, slip away and let +her go on her journey alone. To the boy, who knew enough of the inner +history of the household to enjoy the piquancy of the situation, such a +trick seemed quite amusing. He went away picturing in his mind the scene +at the railway station and its humorous possibilities. + +At seven o'clock Vitalis and Marie Boyer were alone once more with +the murdered woman. They had the whole night before them. Vitalis had +already considered the matter of the disposal of the body. He had bought +a pick and spade. He intended to bury his former mistress in the soil +under the cellar. After that had been done, he and Marie would sell the +business for what it would fetch, and go to Brussels--an admirable plan, +which two unforeseen circumstances defeated. The Rue de la Republique +was built on a rock, blasted out for the purpose. The shop-boy had gone +to the station that evening to enjoy the joke which, he believed, was to +be played on his mistress. + +When Vitalis tried to dig a grave into the ground beneath the cellar +he realised the full horror of the disappointment. What was to be done? +They must throw the body into the sea. But how to get it there? The +crime of Billoir, an old soldier, who the year before in Paris had +killed his mistress in a fit of anger and cut up her body, was fresh in +the recollection of Vitalis. The guilty couple decided to dismember +the body of Madame Boyer and so disfigure her face as to render it +unrecognisable. In the presence of Marie, Vitalis did this, and the two +lovers set out at midnight to discover some place convenient for the +reception of the remains. They found the harbour too busy for their +purpose, and decided to wait until the morrow, when they would go +farther afield. They returned home and retired for the night, occupying +the bed in which Madame Boyer had slept the night before. + +On the morning of the 20th the lovers rose early, and a curious +neighbour, looking through the keyhole, saw them counting joyously money +and valuables, as they took them from Madame Boyer's cashbox. When the +shop-boy arrived, he asked Vitalis for news of Madame Boyer. Vitalis +told him that he had gone with her to the station, that she had taken +the train to Montpellier, and that, in accordance with his plan, he had +given her the slip just as the train was starting. This the boy knew to +be false: he had been to the station himself to enjoy the fun, and had +seen neither Vitalis nor Madame Boyer. He began to suspect some mystery. +In the evening, when the shops had been closed, and he had been sent +about his business, he waited and watched. In a short time he saw +Vitalis and Marie Boyer leave the house, the former dragging a hand-cart +containing two large parcels, while Marie walked by his side. They +travelled some distance with their burden, leaving the city behind +them, hoping to find some deserted spot along the coast where they could +conceal the evidence of their crime. Their nerves were shaken by meeting +with a custom-house officer, who asked them what it was they had in +the cart. Vitalis answered that it was a traveller's luggage, and the +officer let them pass on. But soon after, afraid to risk another such +experience, the guilty couple turned out the parcels into a ditch, +covered them with stones and sand, and hurried home. + +The next day, the shop-boy and the inquisitive neighbour having +consulted together, went to the Commissary of Police and told him of +the mysterious disappearance of Madame Boyer. The Commissary promised to +investigate the matter, and had just dismissed his informants when word +was brought to him of the discovery, in a ditch outside Marseilles, of +two parcels containing human remains. He called back the boy and took +him to view the body at the Morgue. The boy was able, by the clothes, +to identify the body as that of his late mistress. The Commissary went +straight to the shops in the Rue de la Republique, where he found the +young lovers preparing for flight. At first they denied all knowledge of +the crime, and said that Madame Boyer had gone to Montpellier. They were +arrested, and it was not long before they both confessed their guilt to +the examining magistrate. + +Vitalis and Marie Boyer were tried before the Assize Court at Aix +on July 2, 1877. Vitalis is described as mean and insignificant in +appearance, thin, round-backed, of a bilious complexion; Marie Boyer +as a pretty, dark girl, her features cold in expression, dainty and +elegant. At her trial she seemed to be still so greatly under the +influence of Vitalis that during her interrogatory the President sent +him out of court. To the examining magistrate Marie Boyer, in describing +her mother's murder, had written, "I cannot think how I came to take +part in it. I, who wouldn't have stayed in the presence of a corpse for +all the money in the world." Vitalis was condemned to death, and was +executed on August 17. He died fearful and penitent, acknowledging +his miserable career to be a warning to misguided youth. Extenuating +circumstances were accorded to Marie Boyer, and she was sentenced to +penal servitude for life. Her conduct in prison was so repentant and +exemplary that she was released in 1892. + +M. Proal, a distinguished French judge, and the author of some important +works on crime, acted as the examining magistrate in the case of Vitalis +and Marie Boyer. He thus sums up his impression of the two criminals: +"Here is an instance of how greed and baseness on the one side, lust and +jealousy on the other, bring about by degrees a change in the +characters of criminals, and, after some hesitation, the suggestion and +accomplishment of parricide, Is it necessary to seek an explanation +of the crime in any psychic abnormality which is negatived to all +appearances by the antecedents of the guilty pair? Is it necessary to +ask it of anatomy or physiology? Is not the crime the result of moral +degradation gradually asserting itself in two individuals, whose moral +and intellectual faculties are the same as those of other men, but +who fall, step by step, into vice and crime? It is by a succession of +wrongful acts that a man first reaches the frontier of crime and then at +length crosses it." + + + + +The Fenayrou Case + + +There is an account of this case in Bataille "Causes Criminelles et +Mondaines" (1882), and in Mace's book, "Femmes Criminelles." It is +alluded to in "Souvenirs d'un President d'Assises," by Berard des +Glajeux. The murder of the chemist Aubert by Marin Fenayrou and his wife +Gabrielle was perpetrated near Paris in the year 1882. In its beginning +the story is commonplace enough. Fenayrou was the son of a small +chemist in the South of France, and had come to Paris from the Aveyron +Department to follow his father's vocation. He obtained a situation +as apprentice in the Rue de la Ferme des Mathurins in the shop of a M. +Gibon. On the death of M. Gibon his widow thought she saw in Fenayrou +a man capable of carrying on her late husband's business. She gave her +daughter in marriage to her apprentice, and installed him in the +shop. The ungrateful son-in-law, sure of his wife and his business and +contrary to his express promise, turned the old lady out of the house. +This occurred in the year 1870, Fenayrou being then thirty years of age, +his wife, Gabrielle, seventeen. + +They were an ill-assorted and unattractive couple. The man, a compound +of coarse brutality and shrewd cunning, was at heart lazy and selfish, +the woman a spoilt child, in whom a real want of feeling was supplied by +a shallow sentimentalism. Vain of the superior refinement conferred +on her by a good middle-class education, she despised and soon came to +loathe her coarse husband, and lapsed into a condition of disappointment +and discontent that was only relieved superficially by an extravagant +devotion to religious exercises. + +It was in 1875, when the disillusionment of Mme. Fenayrou was complete, +that her husband received into his shop a pupil, a youth of twenty-one, +Louis Aubert. He was the son of a Norman tradesman. The ambitious father +had wished his son to enter the church, but the son preferred to be a +chemist. He was a shrewd, hard-working fellow, with an eye to the main +chance and a taste for pleasures that cost him nothing, jovial, but +vulgar and self-satisfied, the kind of man who, having enjoyed the +favours of woman, treats her with arrogance and contempt, till from +loving she comes to loathe him--a characteristic example, according +to M. Bourget, of le faux homme a femmes. Such was Aubert, Fenayrou's +pupil. He was soon to become something more than pupil. + +Fenayrou as chemist had not answered to the expectations of his +mother-in-law. His innate laziness and love of coarse pleasures had +asserted themselves. At first his wife had shared in the enjoyments, but +as time went on and after the birth of their two children, things became +less prosperous. She was left at home while Fenayrou spent his time +in drinking bocks of beer, betting and attending race-meetings. It was +necessary, under these circumstances, that someone should attend to +the business of the shop. In Aubert Fenayrou found a ready and willing +assistant. + +From 1876 to 1880, save for an occasional absence for military service, +Aubert lived with the Fenayrous, managing the business and making love +to the bored and neglected wife, who after a few months became his +mistress. Did Fenayrou know of this intrigue or not? That is a crucial +question in the case. If he did not, it was not for want of warning from +certain of his friends and neighbours, to whom the intrigue was a matter +of common knowledge. Did he refuse to believe in his wife's guilt? or, +dependent as he was for his living on the exertions of his assistant, +did he deliberately ignore it, relying on his wife's attractions to +keep the assiduous Aubert at work in the shop? In any case Aubert's +arrogance, which had increased with the consciousness of his importance +to the husband and his conquest of the wife, led in August of 1880, to +a rupture. Aubert left the Fenayrous and bought a business of his own on +the Boulevard Malesherbes. + +Before his departure Aubert had tried to persuade Mme. Gibon to sell up +her son-in-law by claiming from him the unpaid purchase-money for her +husband's shop. He represented Fenayrou as an idle gambler, and hinted +that he would find her a new purchaser. Such an underhand proceeding was +likely to provoke resentment if it should come to the ears of Fenayrou. +During the two years that elapsed between his departure from Fenayrou's +house and his murder, Aubert had prospered in his shop on the Boulevard +Malesherbes, whilst the fortunes of the Fenayrous had steadily +deteriorated. + +At the end of the year 1881 Fenayrou sold his shop and went with +his family to live on one of the outer boulevards, that of +Gouvion-Saint-Cyr. He had obtained a post in a shady mining company, in +which he had persuaded his mother-in-law to invest 20,000 francs. He had +attempted also to make money by selling fradulent imitations of a +famous table-water. For this offence, at the beginning of 1882, he +was condemned by the Correctional Tribunal of Paris to three months' +imprisonment and 1,000 francs costs. + +In March of 1882 the situation of the Fenayrous was parlous, that of +Aubert still prosperous. + +Since Aubert's departure Mme. Fenayrou had entertained another lover, a +gentleman on the staff of a sporting newspaper, one of Fenayrou's turf +acquaintances. This gentleman had found her a cold mistress, preferring +the ideal to the real. As a murderess Madame Fenayrou overcame this +weakness. + +If we are to believe Fenayrou's story, the most critical day in his life +was March 22, 1882, for it was on that day, according to his account, +that he learnt for the first time of his wife's intrigue with Aubert. +Horrified and enraged at the discovery, he took from her her nuptial +wreath, her wedding-ring, her jewellery, removed from its frame her +picture in charcoal which hung in the drawing-room, and told her, +paralysed with terror, that the only means of saving her life was to +help him to murder her lover. + +Two months later, with her assistance, this outraged husband +accomplished his purpose with diabolical deliberation. He must have been +well aware that, had he acted on the natural impulse of the moment and +revenged himself then and there on Aubert, he would have committed what +is regarded by a French jury as the most venial of crimes, and would +have escaped with little or no punishment. He preferred, for reasons of +his own, to set about the commission of a deliberate and cold-blooded +murder that bears the stamp of a more sinister motive than the vengeance +of a wronged husband. + +The only step he took after the alleged confession of his wife on March +22 was to go to a commissary of police and ask him to recover from +Aubert certain letters of his wife's that were in his possession. This +the commissary refused to do. Mme. Gibon, the mother-in-law, was sent to +Aubert to try to recover the letters, but Aubert declined to give them +up, and wrote to Mme. Fenayrou: + + +"Madame, to my displeasure I have had a visit this morning from your +mother, who has come to my home and made a most unnecessary scene +and reproached me with facts so serious that I must beg you to see me +without delay. It concerns your honour and mine.... I have no fear of +being confronted with your husband and yourself. I am ready, when +you wish, to justify myself.... Please do all you can to prevent +a repetition of your mother's visit or I shall have to call in the +police." + + +It is clear that the Fenayrous attached the utmost importance to the +recovery of this correspondence, which disappeared with Aubert's death. +Was the prime motive of the murder the recovery and destruction of these +letters? Was Aubert possessed of some knowledge concerning the Fenayrous +that placed them at his mercy? + +It would seem so. To a friend who had warned him of the danger to which +his intimacy with Gabrielle Fenayrou exposed him, Aubert had replied, +"Bah! I've nothing to fear. I hold them in my power." The nature of +the hold which Aubert boasted that he possessed over these two persons +remains the unsolved mystery of the case, "that limit of investigation," +in the words of a French judge, "one finds in most great cases, beyond +which justice strays into the unknown." + +That such a hold existed, Aubert's own statement and the desperate +attempts made by the Fenayrous to get back these letters, would seem +to prove beyond question. Had Aubert consented to return them, would +he have saved his life? It seems probable. As it was, he was doomed. +Fenayrou hated him. They had had a row on a race-course, in the course +of which Aubert had humiliated his former master. More than this, Aubert +had boasted openly of his relations with Mme. Fenayrou, and the fact +had reached the ears of the husband. Fenayrou believed also, though +erroneously, that Aubert had informed against him in the matter of the +table-water fraud. Whether his knowledge of Aubert's relations with +his wife was recent or of long standing, he had other grounds of hate +against his former pupil. He himself had failed in life, but he saw his +rival prosperous, arrogant in his prosperity, threatening, dangerous +to his peace of mind; he envied and feared as well as hated him. +Cruel, cunning and sinister, Fenayrou spent the next two months in the +meditation of a revenge that was not only to remove the man he feared, +but was to give him a truly fiendish opportunity of satisfying his +ferocious hatred. + +And the wife what of her share in the business? Had she also come to +hate Aubert? Or did she seek to expiate her guilt by assisting her +husband in the punishment of her seducer? A witness at the trial +described Mme. Fenayrou as "a soft paste" that could be moulded equally +well to vice or virtue, a woman destitute of real feeling or strength of +will, who, under the direction of her husband, carried out implicitly, +precisely and carefully her part in an atrocious murder, whose only +effort to prevent the commission of such a deed was to slip away into a +church a few minutes before she was to meet the man she was decoying to +his death, and pray that his murder might be averted. + +Her religious sense, like the images in the hat of Louis XI., was a +source of comfort and consolation in the doing of evil, but powerless +to restrain her from the act itself, in the presence of a will stronger +than her own. At the time of his death Aubert contemplated marriage, and +had advertised for a wife. If Mme. Fenayrou was aware of this, it may +have served to stimulate her resentment against her lover, but there +seems little reason to doubt that, left to herself, she would never have +had the will or the energy to give that resentment practical expression. +It required the dictation of the vindictive and malevolent Fenayrou to +crystallise her hatred of Aubert into a deliberate participation in his +murder. + +Eight or nine miles north-west of Paris lies the small town of Chatou, a +pleasant country resort for tired Parisians. Here Madeleine Brohan, the +famous actress, had inhabited a small villa, a two-storied building. At +the beginning of 1882 it was to let. In the April of that year a person +of the name of "Hess" agreed to take it at a quarterly rent of 1,200 +francs, and paid 300 in advance. "Hess" was no other than Fenayrou--the +villa that had belonged to Madeleine Brohan the scene chosen for +Aubert's murder. Fenayrou was determined to spare no expense in the +execution of his design: it was to cost him some 3,000 francs before he +had finished with it. + +As to the actual manner of his betrayer's death, the outraged husband +found it difficult to make up his mind. It was not to be prompt, nor +was unnecessary suffering to be avoided. At first he favoured a pair of +"infernal" opera-glasses that concealed a couple of steel points which, +by means of a spring, would dart out into the eyes of anyone using them +and destroy their sight. This rather elaborate and uncertain machine was +abandoned later in favour of a trap for catching wolves. This was to be +placed under the table, and seize in its huge iron teeth the legs of the +victim. In the end simplicity, in the shape of a hammer and sword-stick, +won the day. An assistant was taken in the person of Lucien Fenayrou, a +brother of Marin. + +This humble and obliging individual, a maker of children's toys, +regarded his brother the chemist with something like veneration as the +gentleman and man of education of the family. Fifty francs must +have seemed to him an almost superfluous inducement to assist in the +execution of what appeared to be an act of legitimate vengeance, an +affair of family honour in which the wife and brother of the injured +husband were in duty bound to participate. Mme. Fenayrou, with +characteristic superstition, chose the day of her boy's first communion +to broach the subject of the murder to Lucien. By what was perhaps more +than coincidence, Ascension Day, May 18, was selected as the day for the +crime itself. There were practical reasons also. It was a Thursday and +a public holiday. On Thursdays the Fenayrou children spent the day with +their grandmother, and at holiday time there was a special midnight +train from Chatou to Paris that would enable the murderers to return to +town after the commission of their crime. A goat chaise and twenty-six +feet of gas piping had been purchased by Fenayrou and taken down to the +villa. + +Nothing remained but to secure the presence of the victim. At the +direction of her husband Mme. Fenayrou wrote to Aubert on May 14, a +letter in which she protested her undying love for him, and expressed +a desire to resume their previous relations. Aubert demurred at first, +but, as she became more pressing, yielded at length to her suggestion. +If it cost him nothing, Aubert was the last man to decline an invitation +of the kind. A trip to Chatou was arranged for Ascension Day, May 18, by +the train leaving Paris from the St. Lazare Station, at half-past eight +in the evening. + +On the afternoon of that day Fenayrou, his wife and his brother sent +the children to their grandmother and left Paris for Chatou at three +o'clock. Arrived there, they went to the villa, Fenayrou carrying +the twenty-six feet of gas-piping wound round him like some huge +hunting-horn. He spent the afternoon in beating out the piping till it +was flat, and in making a gag. He tried to take up the flooring in the +kitchen, but this plan for the concealment of the body was abandoned +in favour of the river. As soon as these preparations, in which he was +assisted by his two relatives, had been completed, Fenayrou placed a +candle, some matches and the sword-stick on the drawing-room table and +returned to Paris. + +The three conspirators dined together heartily in the Avenue de +Clichy--soup, fish, entree, sweet and cheese, washed down by a bottle +of claret and a pint of burgundy, coffee to follow, with a glass of +chartreuse for Madame. To the waiter the party seemed in the best of +spirits. Dinner ended, the two men returned to Chatou by the 7.35 train, +leaving Gabrielle to follow an hour later with Aubert. Fenayrou had +taken three second-class return tickets for his wife, his brother and +himself, and a single for their visitor. It was during the interval +between the departure of her husband and her meeting with Aubert that +Mme. Fenayrou went into the church of St. Louis d'Antin and prayed. + +At half-past eight she met Aubert at the St. Lazare Station, gave +him his ticket and the two set out for Chatou--a strange journey Mme. +Fenayrou was asked what they talked about in the railway carriage. "Mere +nothings," she replied. Aubert abused her mother; for her own part, she +was very agitated--tres emotionnee. It was about half-past nine when +they reached their destination. The sight of the little villa pleased +Aubert. + +"Ah!" he said, "this is good. I should like a house like this and +twenty thousand francs a year!" As he entered the hall, surprised at +the darkness, he exclaimed: "The devil! it's precious dark! 'tu sais, +Gabrielle, que je ne suis pas un heros d'aventure.'" The woman pushed +him into the drawing-room. He struck a match on his trousers. Fenayrou, +who had been lurking in the darkness in his shirt sleeves, made a blow +at him with the hammer, but it was ineffectual. A struggle ensued. The +room was plunged in darkness. Gabrielle waited outside. After a little, +her husband called for a light; she came in and lit a candle on the +mantelpiece. Fenayrou was getting the worst of the encounter. She ran +to his help, and dragged off his opponent. Fenayrou was free. He struck +again with the hammer. Aubert fell, and for some ten minutes Fenayrou +stood over the battered and bleeding man abusing and insulting +him, exulting in his vengeance. Then he stabbed him twice with the +sword-stick, and so ended the business. + +The murderers had to wait till past eleven to get rid of the body, as +the streets were full of holiday-makers. When all was quiet they put it +into the goat chaise, wrapped round with the gas-piping, and wheeled it +on to the Chatou bridge. To prevent noise they let the body down by a +rope into the water. It was heavier than they thought, and fell with a +loud splash into the river. "Hullo!" exclaimed a night-fisherman, who +was mending his tackle not far from the bridge, "there go those butchers +again, chucking their filth into the Seine!" + +As soon as they had taken the chaise back to the villa, the three +assassins hurried to the station to catch the last train. Arriving there +a little before their time, they went into a neighbouring cafe. Fenayrou +had three bocks, Lucien one, and Madame another glass of chartreuse. +So home to Paris. Lucien reached his house about two in the morning. +"Well," asked his wife, "did you have a good day?" "Splendid," was the +reply. + +Eleven days passed. Fenayrou paid a visit to the villa to clean it +and put it in order. Otherwise he went about his business as usual, +attending race meetings, indulging in a picnic and a visit to the Salon. +On May 27 a man named Bailly, who, by a strange coincidence, was +known by the nickname of "the Chemist," walking by the river, had his +attention called by a bargeman to a corpse that was floating on the +water. He fished it out. It was that of Aubert. In spite of a gag tired +over his mouth the water had got into the body, and, notwithstanding the +weight of the lead piping, it had risen to the surface. + +As soon as the police had been informed of the disappearance of Aubert, +their suspicions had fallen on the Fenayrous in consequence of the +request which Marin Fenayrou had made to the commissary of police to +aid him in the recovery from Aubert of his wife's letters. But there +had been nothing further in their conduct to provoke suspicion. When, +however, the body was discovered and at the same time an anonymous +letter received denouncing the Fenayrous as the murderers of Aubert, the +police decided on their arrest. On the morning of June 8 M. Mace, +then head of the Detective Department, called at their house. He found +Fenayrou in a dressing-gown. This righteous avenger of his wife's +seduction denied his guilt, like any common criminal, but M. Mace handed +him over to one of his men, to be taken immediately to Versailles. He +himself took charge of Madame, and, in the first-class carriage full of +people, in which they travelled together to Versailles, she whispered to +the detective a full confession of the crime. + +Mace has left us an account of this singular railway journey. It was two +o'clock in the afternoon. In the carriage were five ladies and a young +man who was reading La Vie Parisienne. Mme. Fenayrou was silent and +thoughtful. "You're thinking of your present position?" asked the +detective. "No, I'm thinking of my mother and my dear children." "They +don't seem to care much about their father," remarked Mace. "Perhaps +not." "Why?" asked M. Mace. "Because of his violent temper," was the +reply. After some further conversation and the departure at Courbevoie +of the young man with La Vie Parisienne, Mme. Fenayrou asked abruptly: +"Do you think my husband guilty?" "I'm sure of it." "So does Aubert's +sister." "Certainly," answered M. Mace; "she looks on the crime as one +of revenge." "But my brother-in-law," urged the woman, "could have had +no motive for vengeance against Aubert." Mace answered coldly that he +would have to explain how he had employed his time on Ascension Day. +"You see criminals everywhere," answered Madame. + +After the train had left St. Cloud, where the other occupants of the +carriage had alighted, the detective and his prisoner were alone, free +of interruption till Versailles should be reached. Hitherto they had +spoken in whispers; now Mace seized the opportunity to urge the woman to +unbosom herself to him, to reveal her part in the crime. She burst into +tears. There was an interval of silence; then she thanked Mace for the +kindness and consideration he had shown her. "You wish me," she asked, +"to betray my husband?" "Without any design or intention on your +part," discreetly answered the detective; "but by the sole force of +circumstances you are placed in such a position that you cannot help +betraying him." + +Whether convinced or not of this tyranny of circumstance, Mme. Fenayrou +obeyed her mentor, and calmly, coldly, without regret or remorse, told +him the story of the assassination. Towards the end of her narration she +softened a little. "I know I am a criminal," she exclaimed. "Since this +morning I have done nothing but lie. I am sick of it; it makes me +suffer too much. Don't tell my husband until this evening that I have +confessed; there's no need, for, after what I have told you, you can +easily expose his falsehoods and so get at the truth." + +That evening the three prisoners--Lucien had been arrested at the +same time as the other two--were brought to Chatou. Identified by +the gardener as the lessee of the villa, Fenayrou abandoned his +protestations of innocence and admitted his guilt. The crime was then +and there reconstituted in the presence of the examining magistrate. +With the help of a gendarme, who impersonated Aubert, Fenayrou repeated +the incidents of the murder. The goat-chaise was wheeled to the bridge, +and there in the presence of an indignant crowd, the murderer showed how +the body had been lowered into the river. + +After a magisterial investigation lasting two months, which failed +to shed any new light on the more mysterious elements in the case, +Fenayrou, his wife and brother were indicted on August 19 before the +Assize Court for the Seine-et-Oise Department, sitting at Versailles. + +The attitude of the three culprits was hardly such as to provoke the +sympathies of even a French jury. Fenayrou seemed to be giving a clumsy +and unconvincing performance of the role of the wronged husband; his +heavy figure clothed in an ill-fitting suit of "blue dittos," his +ill-kempt red beard and bock-stained moustache did not help him in his +impersonation. Mme. Fenayrou, pale, colourless, insignificant, was cold +and impenetrable. She described the murder of her lover "as if she were +giving her cook a household recipe for making apricot Jam." Lucien was +humble and lachrymose. + +In his interrogatory of the husband the President, M. Berard des +Glajeux, showed himself frankly sceptical as to the ingenuousness of +Fenayrou's motives in assassinating Aubert. "Now, what was the motive of +this horrible crime?" he asked. "Revenge," answered Fenayrou. + +President: But consider the care you took to hide the body and destroy +all trace of your guilt; that is not the way in which a husband sets out +to avenge his honour; these are the methods of the assassin! With your +wife's help you could have caught Aubert in flagrante delicto and killed +him on the spot, and the law would have absolved you. Instead of +which you decoy him into a hideous snare. Public opinion suggests that +jealousy of your former assistant's success, and mortification at your +own failure, were the real motives. Or was it not perhaps that you had +been in the habit of rendering somewhat dubious services to some of your +promiscuous clients? + +Fenayrou: Nothing of the kind, I swear it! + +President: Do not protest too much. Remember that among your +acquaintances you were suspected of cheating at cards. As a chemist you +had been convinced of fraud. Perhaps Aubert knew something against you. +Some act of poisoning, or abortion, in which you had been concerned? +Many witnesses have believed this. + +Your mother-in-law is said to have remarked, "My son-in-law will end in +jail." + +Fenayrou (bursting into tears): This is too dreadful. + +President: And Dr. Durand, an old friend of Aubert, remembers the +deceased saying to him, "One has nothing to fear from people one holds +in one's hands." + +Fenayrou: I don't know what he meant. + +President: Or, considering the cruelty, cowardice, the cold calculation +displayed in the commission of the crime, shall we say this was a +woman's not a man's revenge. You have said your wife acted as your +slave--was it not the other way about? + +Fenayrou: No; it was my revenge, mine alone. + +The view that regarded Mme. Fenayrou as a soft, malleable paste was not +the view of the President. + +"Why," he asked the woman, "did you commit this horrible murder, decoy +your lover to his death?" "Because I had repented," was the answer; "I +had wronged my husband, and since he had been condemned for fraud, +I loved him the more for being unfortunate. And then I feared for my +children." + +President: Is that really the case? + +Mme. Fenayrou: Certainly it is. + +President: Then your whole existence has been one of lies and hypocrisy. +Whilst you were deceiving your husband and teaching your children to +despise him you were covering him with caresses. + +You have played false to both husband and lover--to Aubert in decoying +him to his death, to your husband by denouncing him directly you were +arrested. You have betrayed everybody. The only person you have not +betrayed is yourself. What sort of a woman are you? As you and Aubert +went into the drawing-room on the evening of the murder you said loudly, +"This is the way," so that your husband, hearing your voice outside, +should not strike you by mistake in the darkness. If Lucien had not told +us that you attacked Aubert whilst he was struggling with your husband, +we should never have known it, for you would never have admitted it, and +your husband has all along refused to implicate you.... You have said +that you had ceased to care for your lover: he had ceased to care for +you. He was prosperous, happy, about to marry: you hated him, and you +showed your hate when, during the murder, you flung yourself upon him +and cried, "Wretch!" Is that the behaviour of a woman who represents +herself to have been the timid slave of her husband? No. This crime is +the revenge of a cowardly and pitiless woman, who writes down in her +account book the expenses of the trip to Chatou and, after the murder, +picnics merrily in the green fields. It was you who steeled your husband +to the task. + +How far the President was justified in thus inverting the parts played +by the husband and wife in the crime must be a matter of opinion. In his +volume of Souvenirs M. Berard des Glajeux modifies considerably the view +which he perhaps felt it his duty to express in his interrogatory of +Gabrielle Fenayrou. He describes her as soft and flexible by nature, the +repentant slave of her husband, seeking to atone for her wrong to him +by helping him in his revenge. The one feature in the character of +Mme. Fenayrou that seems most clearly demonstrated is its absolute +insensibility under any circumstances whatsoever. + +The submissive Lucien had little to say for himself, nor could any +motive for joining in the murder beyond a readiness to oblige his +brother be suggested. In his Souvenirs M. Berard des Glajeux states that +to-day it would seem to be clearly established that Lucien acted blindly +at the bidding of his sister-in-law, "qu'il avait beaucoup aimee et qui +n'avait pas ete cruelle a son egard." + +The evidence recapitulated for the most part the facts already set +out. The description of Mme. Fenayrou by the gentleman on the sporting +newspaper who had succeeded Aubert in her affections is, under the +circumstances, interesting: "She was sad, melancholy; I questioned +her, and she told me she was married to a coarse man who neglected her, +failed to understand her, and had never loved her. I became her lover +but, except on a few occasions, our relations were those of good +friends. She was a woman with few material wants, affectionate, +expansive, an idealist, one who had suffered much and sought from +without a happiness her marriage had never brought her. I believe her to +have been the blind tool of her husband." + +From motives of delicacy the evidence of this gentleman was read in +his presence; he was not examined orally. His eulogy of his mistress +is loyal. Against it may be set the words of the Procureur de la +Republique, M. Delegorgue: "Never has a more thorough-paced, a more +hideous monster been seated in the dock of an assize court. This woman +is the personification of falsehood, depravity, cowardice and treachery. +She is worthy of the supreme penalty." The jury were not of this +opinion. They preferred to regard Mme. Fenayrou as playing a secondary +part to that of her husband. They accorded in both her case and that +of Lucien extenuating circumstances. The woman was sentenced to penal +servitude for life, Lucien to seven years. Fenayrou, for whose conduct +the jury could find no extenuation, was condemned to death. + +It is the custom in certain assize towns for the President, after +pronouncing sentence, to visit a prisoner who had been ordered for +execution. M. Berard des Glajeux describes his visit to Fenayrou at +Versailles. He was already in prison dress, sobbing. + +His iron nature, which during five days had never flinched, had +broken down; but it was not for himself he wept, but for his wife, his +children, his brother; of his own fate he took no account. At the same +moment his wife was in the lodge of the courthouse waiting for the cab +that was to take her to her prison. Freed from the anxieties of the +trial, knowing her life to be spared, without so much as a thought for +the husband whom she had never loved, she had tidied herself up, and +now, with all the ease of a woman, whose misfortunes have not destroyed +her self-possession, was doing the honours of the jail. It was she who +received her judge. + +But Fenayrou was not to die. The Court of Cassation, to which he had +made the usual appeal after condemnation, decided that the proceedings +at Versailles had been vitiated by the fact that the evidence of +Gabrielle Fenayrou's second lover had not been taken ORALLY, within the +requirements of the criminal code; consequently a new trial was ordered +before the Paris Assize Court. This second trial, which commenced on +October 12, saved Fenayrou's head. The Parisian jury showed themselves +more lenient than their colleagues at Versailles. Not only was Fenayrou +accorded extenuating circumstances, but Lucien was acquitted altogether. +The only person to whom these new proceedings brought no benefit was +Mme. Fenayrou, whose sentence remained unaltered. + +Marin Fenayrou was sent to New Caledonia to serve his punishment. + +There he was allowed to open a dispensary, but, proving dishonest, he +lost his license and became a ferryman--a very Charon for terrestrial +passengers. He died in New Caledonia of cancer of the liver. + +Gabrielle Fenayrou made an exemplary prisoner, so exemplary that, owing +to her good conduct and a certain ascendancy she exercised over her +fellow-prisoners, she was made forewoman of one of the workshops. Whilst +holding this position she had the honour of receiving, among those +entrusted to her charge, another Gabrielle, murderess, Gabrielle +Bompard, the history of whose crime is next to be related. + + + + +Eyraud and Bompard + + +There are accounts of this case in Bataille "Causes Criminelles et +Mondaines," 1890, and in Volume X. of Fouquier "Causes Celebres." +"L'Affaire Gouffe" by Dr. Lacassagne, Lyons, 1891, and Goron "L'Amour +Criminel" may be consulted. + +ON July 27, in the year 1889, the Parisian police were informed of the +disappearance of one Gouffe, a bailiff. He had been last seen by two +friends on the Boulevard Montmartre at about ten minutes past seven on +the evening of the 26th, a Friday. Since then nothing had been heard of +him, either at his office in the Rue Montmartre, or at his private +house in the Rue Rougemont. This was surprising in the case of a man of +regular habits even in his irregularities, robust health, and cheerful +spirits. + +Gouffe was a widower, forty-two years of age. He had three daughters +who lived happily with him in the Rue Rougemont. He did a good trade as +bailiff and process-server, and at times had considerable sums of money +in his possession. These he would never leave behind him at his office, +but carry home at the end of the day's work, except on Fridays. Friday +nights Gouffe always spent away from home. As the society he sought +on these nights was of a promiscuous character, he was in the habit +of leaving at his office any large sum of money that had come into his +hands during the day. + +About nine o'clock on this particular Friday night, July 26, the +hall-porter at Gouffe's office in the Rue Montmartre heard someone, whom +he had taken at first to be the bailiff himself, enter the hall and go +upstairs to the office, where he remained a few minutes. As he descended +the stairs the porter came out of his lodge and, seeing it was a +stranger, accosted him. But the man hurried away without giving the +porter time to see his face. + +When the office was examined the next day everything was found in +perfect order, and a sum of 14,000 francs, hidden away behind some +papers, untouched. The safe had not been tampered with; there was, in +short, nothing unusual about the room except ten long matches that were +lying half burnt on the floor. + +On hearing of the bailiff's disappearance and the mysterious visitor +to his office, the police, who were convinced that Gouffe had been the +victim of some criminal design, inquired closely into his habits, his +friends, his associates, men and women. But the one man who could have +breathed the name that would have set the police on the track of the +real culprits was, for reasons of his own, silent. The police examined +many persons, but without arriving at any useful result. + +However, on August 15, in a thicket at the foot of a slope running down +from the road that passes through the district of Millery, about +ten miles from Lyons, a roadmender, attracted by a peculiar smell, +discovered the remains of what appeared to be a human body. They were +wrapped in a cloth, but so decomposed as to make identification almost +impossible. M. Goron, at that time head of the Parisian detective +police, believed them to be the remains of Gouffe, but a relative of the +missing man, whom he sent to Lyons, failed to identify them. Two days +after the discovery of the corpse, there were found near Millery the +broken fragments of a trunk, the lock of which fitted a key that had +been picked up near the body. A label on the trunk showed that it had +been dispatched from Paris to Lyons on July 27, 188--, but the final +figure of the date was obliterated. Reference to the books of the +railway company showed that on July 27, 1889, the day following the +disappearance of Gouffe, a trunk similar in size and weight to that +found near Millery had been sent from Paris to Lyons. + +The judicial authorities at Lyons scouted the idea that either the +corpse or the trunk found at Millery had any connection with the +disappearance of Gouffe. When M. Goron, bent on following up what he +believed to be important clues, went himself to Lyons he found that +the remains, after being photographed, had been interred in the common +burying-ground. The young doctor who had made the autopsy produced +triumphantly some hair taken from the head of the corpse and showed M. +Goron that whilst Gouffe's hair was admittedly auburn and cut short, +this was black, and had evidently been worn long. M. Goron, after +looking carefully at the hair, asked for some distilled water. He put +the lock of hair into it and, after a few minutes' immersion, cleansed +of the blood, grease and dust that had caked them together, the hairs +appeared clearly to be short and auburn. The doctor admitted his error. + +Fortified by this success, Goron was able to procure the exhumation of +the body. A fresh autopsy was performed by Dr. Lacassagne, the eminent +medical jurist of the Lyons School of Medicine. He was able to pronounce +with certainty that the remains were those of the bailiff, Gouffe. An +injury to the right ankle, a weakness of the right leg, the absence of +a particular tooth and other admitted peculiarities in Gouffe's physical +conformation, were present in the corpse, placing its identity beyond +question. This second post-mortem revealed furthermore an injury to the +thyroid cartilage of the larynx that had been inflicted beyond any doubt +whatever, declared Dr. Lacassagne, before death. + +There was little reason to doubt that Gouffe had been the victim of +murder by strangulation. + +But by whom had the crime been committed? It was now the end of +November. Four months had passed since the bailiff's murder, and the +police had no clue to its perpetrators. At one time a friend of Gouffe's +had been suspected and placed under arrest, but he was released for want +of evidence. + +One day toward the close of November, in the course of a conversation +with M. Goron, a witness who had known Gouffe surprised him by saying +abruptly, "There's another man who disappeared about the same time as +Gouffe." M. Goron pricked up his ears. The witness explained that he +had not mentioned the fact before, as he had not connected it with his +friend's disappearance; the man's name, he said, was Eyraud, Michel +Eyraud, M. Goron made some inquires as to this Michel Eyraud. He learnt +that he was a married man, forty-six years of age, once a distiller at +Sevres, recently commission-agent to a bankrupt firm, that he had left +France suddenly, about the time of the disappearance of Gouffe, and that +he had a mistress, one Gabrielle Bompard, who had disappeared with him. +Instinctively M. Goron connected this fugitive couple with the fate of +the murdered bailiff. + +Confirmation of his suspicions was to come from London. The remains of +the trunk found at Millery had been skilfully put together and exposed +at the Morgue in Paris, whilst the Gouffe family had offered a reward +of 500 francs to anybody who could in any way identify the trunk. Beyond +producing a large crop of anonymous letters, in one of which the crime +was attributed to General Boulanger, then in Jersey, these measures +seemed likely to prove fruitless. But one day in December, from the +keeper of a boarding-house in Gower Street, M. Goron received a letter +informing him that the writer believed that Eyraud and Gabrielle Bompard +had stayed recently at his house, and that on July 14 the woman, whom he +knew only as "Gabrielle," had left for France, crossing by Newhaven and +Dieppe, and taking with her a large and almost empty trunk, which +she had purchased in London. Inquires made by the French detectives +established the correctness of this correspondent's information. An +assistant at a trunk shop in the Euston Road was able to identify the +trunk--brought over from Paris for the purpose--as one purchased in his +shop on July 12 by a Frenchman answering to the description of Michel +Eyraud. The wife of the boarding-house keeper recollected having +expressed to Gabrielle her surprise that she should buy such an enormous +piece of luggage when she had only one dress to put into it. "Oh that's +all right," answered Gabrielle smilingly, "we shall have plenty to fill +it with in Paris!" Gabrielle had gone to Paris with the trunk on July +14, come back to London on the 17th, and on the 20th she and Eyraud +returned together to Paris From these facts it seemed more than probable +that these two were the assassins so eagerly sought for by the police, +and it seemed clear also that the murder had been done in Paris. But +what had become of this couple, in what street, in what house in Paris +had the crime been committed? These were questions the police were +powerless to answer. + +The year 1889 came to an end, the murderers were still at large. But +on January 21, 1890, M. Goron found lying on his table a large letter +bearing the New York postmark. He opened it, and to his astonishment +read at the end the signature "Michel Eyraud." It was a curious letter, +but undoubtedly genuine. In it Eyraud protested against the suspicions +directed against himself; they were, he wrote, merely unfortunate +coincidences. Gouffe had been his friend; he had had no share whatever +in his death; his only misfortune had been his association with "that +serpent, Gabrielle Bompard." He had certainly bought a large trunk for +her, but she told him that she had sold it. They had gone to America +together, he to avoid financial difficulties in which he had been +involved by the dishonesty of the Jews. There Gabrielle had deserted him +for another man. He concluded a very long letter by declaring his belief +in Gabrielle's innocence--"the great trouble with her is that she is +such a liar and also has a dozen lovers after her." He promised that, as +soon as he learnt that Gabrielle had returned to Paris, he would, of his +own free will, place himself in the hands of M. Goron. + +He was to have an early opportunity of redeeming his pledge, for on +the day following the receipt of his letter a short, well-made woman, +dressed neatly in black, with dyed hair, greyish-blue eyes, good teeth, +a disproportionately large head and a lively and intelligent expression +of face, presented herself at the Prefecture of Police and asked for an +interview with the Prefect. + +Requested to give her name, she replied, with a smile, "Gabrielle +Bompard." She was accompanied by a middle-aged gentleman, who appeared +to be devoted to her. Gabrielle Bompard and her friend were taken to the +private room of M. Loze, the Prefect of Police. There, in a half-amused +way, without the least concern, sitting at times on the edge of the +Prefect's writing-table, Gabrielle Bompard told how she had been the +unwilling accomplice of her lover, Eyraud, in the murder of the bailiff, +Gouffe. The crime, she stated, had been committed in No. 3 in the Rue +Tronson-Ducoudray, but she had not been present; she knew nothing of +it but what had been told her by Eyraud. After the murder she had +accompanied him to America; there they had met the middle-aged +gentleman, her companion. Eyraud had proposed that they should murder +and rob him, but she had divulged the plot to the gentleman and asked +him to take her away. It was acting on his advice that she had returned +to France, determined to give her evidence to the judicial authorities +in Paris. The middle-aged gentleman declared himself ready to vouch for +the truth of a great part of this interesting narrative. There they both +imagined apparently that the affair would be ended. They were extremely +surprised when the Prefect, after listening to their statements, sent +for a detective-inspector who showed Gabrielle Bompard a warrant for +her arrest. After an affecting parting, at least on the part of the +middle-aged gentleman, Gabrielle Bompard was taken to prison. There +she soon recovered her spirits, which had at no time been very gravely +depressed by her critical situation. + +According to Eyraud's letters, if anyone knew anything about Gouffe's +murder, it was Gabrielle Bompard; according to the woman's statement, +it was Eyraud, and Eyraud alone, who had committed it. As they were both +liars--the woman perhaps the greater liar of the two--their statements +are not to be taken as other than forlorn attempts to shift the blame on +to each other's shoulders. + +Before extracting from their various avowals, which grew more complete +as time went on, the story of the crime, let us follow Eyraud in his +flight from justice, which terminated in the May of 1890 by his arrest +in Havana. + +Immediately after the arrest of Gabrielle, two French detectives set out +for America to trace and run down if possible her deserted lover. For +more than a month they traversed Canada and the United States in search +of their prey. The track of the fugitive was marked from New York to San +Francisco by acts of thieving and swindling. At the former city he had +made the acquaintance of a wealthy Turk, from whom, under the pretence +of wishing to be photographed in it, he had borrowed a magnificent +oriental robe. The photograph was taken, but Eyraud forgot to return the +costly robe. + +At another time he was lodging in the same house as a young American +actor, called in the French accounts of the incident "Sir Stout." +To "Sir Stout" Eyraud would appear to have given a most convincing +performance of the betrayed husband; his wife, he said, had deserted him +for another man; he raved and stormed audibly in his bedroom, deploring +his fate and vowing vengeance. These noisy representations so impressed +"Sir Stout" that, on the outraged husband declaring himself to be a +Mexican for the moment without funds, the benevolent comedian lent him +eighty dollars, which, it is almost needless to add, he never saw +again. In narrating this incident to the French detectives, "Sir Stout" +describes Eyraud's performance as great, surpassing even those of +Coquelin. + +Similar stories of theft and debauchery met the detectives at every +turn, but, helped in a great measure by the publicity the American +newspapers gave to the movements of his pursuers, Eyraud was able to +elude them, and in March they returned to France to concert further +plans for his capture. + +Eyraud had gone to Mexico. From there he had written a letter to M. +Rochefort's newspaper, L'Intransigeant, in which he declared Gouffe +to have been murdered by Gabrielle and an unknown. But, when official +inquiries were made in Mexico as to his whereabouts, the bird had flown. + +At Havana, in Cuba, there lived a French dressmaker and clothes-merchant +named Puchen. In the month of February a stranger, ragged and unkempt, +but evidently a fellow-countryman, visited her shop and offered to sell +her a superb Turkish costume. The contrast between the wretchedness of +the vendor and the magnificence of his wares struck Madame Puchen at the +time. But her surprise was converted into suspicion when she read in +the American newspapers a description of the Turkish garment stolen by +Michel Eyraud, the reputed assassin of the bailiff Gouffe. It was one +morning in the middle of May that Mme. Puchen read the description of +the robe that had been offered her in February by her strange visitor. +To her astonishment, about two o'clock the same afternoon, she saw the +stranger standing before her door. She beckoned to him, and asked him +if he still had his Turkish robe with him; he seemed confused, and said +that he had sold it. The conversation drifted on to ordinary topics; +the stranger described some of his recent adventures in Mexico. "Oh!" +exclaimed the dressmaker, "they say Eyraud, the murderer, is in Mexico! +Did you come across him? Were you in Paris at the time of the murder?" +The stranger answered in the negative, but his face betrayed his +uneasiness. "Do you know you're rather like him?" said the woman, in +a half-joking way. The stranger laughed, and shortly after went out, +saying he would return. He did return on May 15, bringing with him +a number of the Republique Illustree that contained an almost +unrecognisable portrait of Eyraud. He said he had picked it up in a +cafe. "What a blackguard he looks!" he exclaimed as he threw the paper +on the table. But the dressmaker's suspicions were not allayed by the +stranger's uncomplimentary reference to the murderer. As soon as he had +gone, she went to the French Consul and told him her story. + +By one of those singular coincidences that are inadmissable in fiction +or drama, but occur at times in real life, there happened to be in +Havana, of all places, a man who had been employed by Eyraud at the time +that he had owned a distillery at Sevres. The Consul, on hearing the +statement of Mme. Puchen, sent for this man and told him that a person +believed to be Eyraud was in Havana. As the man left the Consulate, whom +should he meet in the street but Eyraud himself! The fugitive had been +watching the movements of Mme. Puchen; he had suspected, after the +interview, that the woman would denounce him to the authorities. He now +saw that disguise was useless. He greeted his ex-employe, took him into +a cafe, there admitted his identity and begged him not to betray him. +It was midnight when they left the cafe. Eyraud, repenting of his +confidence, and no doubt anxious to rid himself of a dangerous witness, +took his friend into an ill-lighted and deserted street; but the friend, +conscious of his delicate situation, hailed a passing cab and made off +as quickly as he could. + +Next day, the 20th, the search for Eyraud was set about in earnest. The +Spanish authorities, informed of his presence in Havana, directed the +police to spare no effort to lay hands on him. The Hotel Roma, at which +he had been staying, was visited; but Eyraud, scenting danger, had gone +to an hotel opposite the railway station. His things were packed ready +for flight on the following morning. How was he to pass the night? True +to his instincts, a house of ill-fame, at which he had been entertained +already, seemed the safest and most pleasant refuge; but, when, seedy +and shabby, he presented himself at the door, he was sent back into the +street. It was past one in the morning. The lonely murderer wandered +aimlessly in the streets, restless, nervous, a prey to apprehension, +not knowing where to go. Again the man from Sevres met him. "It's all +up with me!" said Eyraud, and disappeared in the darkness. At two in the +morning a police officer, who had been patrolling the town in search of +the criminal, saw, in the distance, a man walking to and fro, seemingly +uncertain which way to turn. Hearing footsteps the man turned round and +walked resolutely past the policeman, saying good-night in Spanish. +"Who are you? What's your address?" the officer asked abruptly. "Gorski, +Hotel Roma!" was the answer. This was enough for the officer. Eyraud was +know{sic} to have passed as "Gorski," the Hotel Roma had already been +searched as one of his hiding-places. To seize and handcuff "Gorski" +was the work of a moment. An examination of the luggage left by the +so-called Gorski at his last hotel and a determined attempt at suicide +made by their prisoner during the night proved conclusively that to the +Spanish police was the credit of having laid by the heels, ten months +after the commission of the crime, Michel Eyraud, one of the assassins +of the bailiff Gouffe. + +On June 16 Eyraud was delivered over to the French police. He reached +France on the 20th, and on July 1 made his first appearance before the +examining magistrate. + +It will be well at this point in the narrative to describe how Eyraud +and Gabrielle Bompard came to be associated together in crime. Gabrielle +Bompard was twenty-two years of age at the time of her arrest, the +fourth child of a merchant of Lille, a strong, hardworking, respectable +man. Her mother, a delicate woman, had died of lung disease when +Gabrielle was thirteen. Even as a child lying and vicious, thinking only +of men and clothes, Gabrielle, after being expelled as incorrigible from +four educational establishments, stayed at a fifth for some three years. +There she astonished those in authority over her by her precocious +propensity for vice, her treacherous and lying disposition, and a +lewdness of tongue rare in one of her age and comparative inexperience. +At eighteen she returned to her father's house, only to quit it for a +lover whom, she alleged, had hypnotised and then seduced her. Gabrielle +was singularly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion. Her father implored +the family doctor to endeavour to persuade her, while in the hypnotic +state, to reform her deplorable conduct. The doctor did his best but +with no success. He declared Gabrielle to be a neuropath, who had not +found in her home such influences as would have tended to overcome her +vicious instincts. Perhaps the doctor was inclined to sympathise rather +too readily with his patient, if we are to accept the report of those +distinguished medical gentlemen who, at a later date, examined carefully +into the mental and physical characteristics of Gabrielle Bompard. + +This girl of twenty had developed into a supreme instance of the +"unmoral" woman, the conscienceless egoist, morally colour-blind, vain, +lewd, the intelligence quick and alert but having no influence whatever +on conduct. One instance will suffice to show the sinister levity, the +utter absence of all moral sense in this strange creature. + +After the murder of Gouffe, Gabrielle spent the night alone with the +trunk containing the bailiff's corpse. Asked by M. Goron what were her +sensations during this ghastly vigil, she replied with a smile, "You'd +never guess what a funny idea come into my head! You see it was not very +pleasant for me being thus tete-a-tete with a corpse, I couldn't sleep. +So I thought what fun it would be to go into the street and pick up some +respectable gentleman from the provinces. I'd bring him up to the room, +and just as he was beginning to enjoy himself say, 'Would you like to +see a bailiff?' open the trunk suddenly and, before he could recover +from his horror, run out into the street and fetch the police. Just +think what a fool the respectable gentleman would have looked when the +officers came!" + +Such callousness is almost unsurpassed in the annals of criminal +insensibility. Nero fiddling over burning Rome, Thurtell fresh from the +murder of Weare, inviting Hunt, the singer and his accomplice, to "tip +them a stave" after supper, Edwards, the Camberwell murderer, reading +with gusto to friends the report of a fashionable divorce case, post +from the murder of a young married couple and their baby--even examples +such as these pale before the levity of the "little demon," as the +French detectives christened Gabrielle. + +Such was Gabrielle Bompard when, on July 26, exactly one year to a day +before the murder of Gouffe, she met in Paris Michel Eyraud. These two +were made for each other. If Gabrielle were unmoral, Eyraud was immoral. +Forty-six at the time of Gouffe's murder, he was sufficiently practised +in vice to appreciate and enjoy the flagrantly vicious propensities +of the young Gabrielle. All his life Eyraud had spent his substance in +debauchery. His passions were violent and at times uncontrollable, +but unlike many remarkable men of a similar temperament, this strong +animalism was not in his case accompanied by a capacity for vigorous +intellectual exertion or a great power of work. "Understand this," said +Eyraud to one of the detectives who brought him back to France, "I have +never done any work, and I never will do any work." To him work was +derogatory; better anything than that. Unfortunately it could not be +avoided altogether, but with Eyraud such work as he was compelled at +different times to endure was only a means for procuring money for +his degraded pleasures, and when honest work became too troublesome, +dishonesty served in its stead. When he met Gabrielle he was almost at +the end of his tether, bankrupt and discredited. At a pinch he might +squeeze a little money out of his wife, with whom he continued to live +in spite of his open infidelities. + +Save for such help as he could get from her small dowry, he was without +resources. A deserter from the army during the Mexican war in 1869, he +had since then engaged in various commercial enterprises, all of +which had failed, chiefly through his own extravagance, violence and +dishonesty. Gabrielle was quick to empty his pockets of what little +remained in them. The proceeds of her own immorality, which Eyraud +was quite ready to share, soon proved insufficient to replenish them. +Confronted with ruin, Eyraud and Gompard hit on a plan by which the +woman should decoy some would-be admirer to a convenient trysting-place. +There, dead or alive, the victim was to be made the means of supplying +their wants. + +On further reflection dead seemed more expedient than alive, extortion +from a living victim too risky an enterprise. Their plans were carefully +prepared. Gabrielle was to hire a ground-floor apartment, so that any +noise, such as footsteps or the fall of a body, would not be heard by +persons living underneath. + +At the beginning of July, 1889, Eyraud and Bompard were in London. There +they bought at a West End draper's a red and white silk girdle, and at +a shop in Gower Street a large travelling trunk. They bought, also in +London, about thirteen feet of cording, a pulley and, on returning to +Paris on July 20, some twenty feet of packing-cloth, which Gabrielle, +sitting at her window on the fine summer evenings, sewed up into a large +bag. + +The necessary ground-floor apartment had been found at No. 3 Rue +Tronson-Ducoudray. Here Gabrielle installed herself on July 24. The +bedroom was convenient for the assassins' purpose, the bed standing in +an alcove separated by curtains from the rest of the room. To the beam +forming the crosspiece at the entrance into the alcove Eyraud fixed a +pulley. Through the pulley ran a rope, having at one end of it a swivel, +so that a man, hiding behind the curtains could, by pulling the rope +strongly, haul up anything that might be attached to the swivel at the +other end. It was with the help of this simple piece of mechanism and a +good long pull from Eyraud that the impecunious couple hoped to refill +their pockets. + +The victim was chosen on the 25th. Eyraud had already known of Gouffe's +existence, but on that day, Thursday, in a conversation with a common +friend, Eyraud learnt that the bailiff Gouffe was rich, that he was in +the habit of having considerable sums of money in his care, and that on +Friday nights Gouffe made it his habit to sleep from home. There was no +time to lose. The next day Gabrielle accosted Gouffe as he was going to +his dejeuner and, after some little conversation agreed to meet him at +eight o'clock that evening. + +The afternoon was spent in preparing for the bailiff's reception in the +Rue Tronson-Ducoudray. A lounge-chair was so arranged that it stood with +its back to the alcove, within which the pulley and rope had been +fixed by Eyraud. Gouffe was to sit on the chair, Gabrielle on his knee. +Gabrielle was then playfully to slip round his neck, in the form of a +noose, the cord of her dressing gown and, unseen by him, attach one end +of it to the swivel of the rope held by Eyraud. Her accomplice had only +to give a strong pull and the bailiff's course was run.(17) + + + (17) One writer on the case has suggested that the story of the murder +by rope and pulley was invented by Eyraud and Bompard to mitigate the +full extent of their guilt, and that the bailiff was strangled while +in bed with the woman. But the purchase of the necessary materials in +London would seem to imply a more practical motive for the use of rope +and pulley. + + +At six o'clock Eyraud and Bompard dined together, after which Eyraud +returned to the apartment, whilst Bompard went to meet Gouffe near the +Madeline Church. What occurred afterwards at No. 3 Rue Tronson-Ducoudray +is best described in the statement made by Eyraud at his trial. + +"At a quarter past eight there was a ring at the bell. I hid myself +behind the curtain. Gouffe came in. 'You've a nice little nest here,' he +said. 'Yes, a fancy of mine,' replied Gabrielle, 'Eyraud knows nothing +about it.' 'Oh, you're tired of him,' asked Gouffe. 'Yes,' she replied, +'that's all over.' Gabrielle drew Gouffe down on to the chair. She +showed him the cord of her dressing-gown and said that a wealthy admirer +had given it to her. 'Very elegant,' said Gouffe, 'but I didn't come +here to see that.' + +"She then sat on his knee and, as if in play, slipped the cord round his +neck; then putting her hand behind him, she fixed the end of the cord +into the swivel, and said to him laughingly, 'What a nice necktie it +makes!' That was the signal. Eyraud pulled the cord vigorously and, in +two minutes, Gouffe had ceased to live." + +Eyraud took from the dead man his watch and ring, 150 francs and his +keys. With these he hurried to Gouffe's office and made a fevered search +for money. It was fruitless. In his trembling haste the murderer missed +a sum of 14,000 francs that was lying behind some papers, and returned, +baffled and despairing, to his mistress and the corpse. The crime had +been a ghastly failure. Fortified by brandy and champagne, and with the +help of the woman, Eyraud stripped the body, put it into the bag that +had been sewn by Gabrielle, and pushed the bag into the trunk. Leaving +his mistress to spend the night with their hateful luggage, Eyraud +returned home and, in his own words, "worn out by the excitement of the +day, slept heavily." + + +The next day Eyraud, after saying good-bye to his wife and daughter, +left with Gabrielle for Lyons. On the 28th they got rid at Millery of +the body of Gouffe and the trunk in which it had travelled; his boots +and clothes they threw into the sea at Marseilles. There Eyraud borrowed +500 francs from his brother. Gabrielle raised 2,000 francs in Paris, +where they spent August 18 and 19, after which they left for England, +and from England sailed for America. During their short stay in +Paris Eyraud had the audacity to call at the apartment in the Rue +Tronson-Ducoudray for his hat, which he had left behind; in the hurry of +the crime he had taken away Gouffe's by mistake. + + +Eyraud had been brought back to Paris from Cuba at the end of June, +1890. Soon after his return, in the room in which Gouffe had been done +to death and in the presence of the examining magistrate, M. Goron, and +some fifteen other persons, Eyraud was confronted with his accomplice. +Each denied vehemently, with hatred and passion, the other's story. +Neither denied the murder, but each tried to represent the other as the +more guilty of the two. Eyraud said that the suggestion and plan of the +crime had come from Gabrielle; that she had placed around Gouffe's neck +the cord that throttled him. Gabrielle attributed the inception of the +murder to Eyraud, and said that he had strangled the bailiff with his +own hands. + +Eyraud, since his return, had seemed indifferent to his own fate; +whatever it might be, he wished that his mistress should share it. He +had no objection to going to the guillotine as long as he was sure that +Gabrielle would accompany him. She sought to escape such a consummation +by representing herself as a mere instrument in Eyraud's hands. It was +even urged in her defence that, in committing the crime, she had +acted under the influence of hypnotic suggestion on the part of her +accomplice. Three doctors appointed by the examining magistrate to +report on her mental state came unanimously to the conclusion that, +though undoubtedly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion, there was no +ground for thinking that she had been acting under such influence when +she participated in the murder of Gouffe. Intellectually the medical +gentlemen found her alert and sane enough, but morally blind. + +The trial of Eyraud and Bompard took place before the Paris Assize Court +on December 16, 1890. It had been delayed owing to the proceedings of an +enterprising journalist. The names of the jurymen who were to be called +on to serve at the assize had been published. The journalist conceived +the brilliant idea of interviewing some of these gentlemen. + +He succeeded in seeing four of them, but in his article which appeared +in the Matin newspaper said that he had seen twenty-one. Nine of them, +he stated, had declared themselves in favour of Gabrielle Bompard, but +in some of these he had discerned a certain "eroticism of the pupil of +the eye" to which he attributed their leniency. A month's imprisonment +was the reward of these flights of journalistic imagination. + +A further scandal in connection with the trial was caused by the lavish +distribution of tickets of admission to all sorts and kinds of persons +by the presiding judge, M. Robert, whose occasional levities in the +course of the proceedings are melancholy reading. As a result of +his indulgence a circular was issued shortly after the trial by M. +Fallieres, then Minister of Justice, limiting the powers of presidents +of assize in admitting visitors into the reserved part of the court. + +The proceedings at the trial added little to the known facts of the +case. Both Eyraud and Bompard continued to endeavour to shift the blame +on to each other's shoulders. A curious feature of the trial was the +appearance for the defence of a M. Liegeois, a professor of law at +Nancy. To the dismay of the Court, he took advantage of a clause in +the Code of Criminal Instruction which permits a witness to give his +evidence without interruption, to deliver an address lasting four hours +on hypnotic suggestion. He undertook to prove that, not only Gabrielle +Bompard, but Troppmann, Madame Weiss, and Gabrielle Fenayrou also, had +committed murder under the influence of suggestion.(18) In replying +to this rather fantastic defence, the Procureur-General, M. Quesnay de +Beaurepaire, quoted a statement of Dr. Brouardel, the eminent medical +jurist who had been called for the prosecution, that "there exists no +instance of a crime, or attempted crime committed under the influence of +hypnotic suggestion." As to the influence of Eyraud over Bompard, M. de +Beaurepaire said: "The one outstanding fact that has been eternally true +for six thousand years is that the stronger will can possess the weaker: +that is no peculiar part of the history of hypnotism; it belongs to the +history of the world. Dr. Liegeois himself, in coming to this court +to-day, has fallen a victim to the suggestion of the young advocate who +has persuaded him to come here to air his theories." The Court wisely +declined to allow an attempt to be made to hypnotise the woman Bompard +in the presence of her judges, and M. Henri Robert, her advocate, in his +appeal to the jury, threw over altogether any idea of hypnotic +suggestion, resting his plea on the moral weakness and irresponsibility +of his client. + + + (18) Moll in his "Hypnotism" (London, 1909) states that, after Gabrielle +Bompard's release M. Liegeois succeeded in putting her into a hypnotic +state, in which she reacted the scene in which the crime was originally +suggested to her. The value of such experiments with a woman as +mischievous and untruthful as Gabrielle Bompard must be very doubtful. +No trustworthy instance seems to be recorded in which a crime has +been committed under, or brought about by, hypnotic or post-hypnotic +suggestion, though, according to Moll, "the possibility of such a crime +cannot be unconditionally denied." + + +In sheer wickedness there seems little enough to choose between Eyraud +and Bompard. But, in asking a verdict without extenuating circumstances +against the woman, the Procureur-General was by no means insistent. He +could not, he said, ask for less, his duty would not permit it: "But I +am ready to confess that my feelings as a man suffer by the duty imposed +on me as a magistrate. On one occasion, at the outset of my career, it +fell to my lot to ask from a jury the head of a woman. I felt then +the same kind of distress of mind I feel to-day. The jury rejected my +demand; they accorded extenuating circumstances; though defeated, I left +the court a happier man. What are you going to do to-day, gentlemen? It +rests with you. What I cannot ask of you, you have the right to accord. +But when the supreme moment comes to return your verdict, remember +that you have sworn to judge firmly and fearlessly." The jury accorded +extenuating circumstances to the woman, but refused them to the man. +After a trial lasting four days Eyraud was sentenced to death, Bompard +to twenty years penal servitude. + +At first Eyraud appeared to accept his fate with resignation. He wrote +to his daughter that he was tired of life, and that his death was the +best thing that could happen for her mother and herself. But, as time +went on and the efforts of his advocate to obtain a commutation of his +sentence held out some hope of reprieve, Eyraud became more reluctant to +quit the world. + +"There are grounds for a successful appeal," he wrote, "I am pretty +certain that my sentence will be commuted.... You ask me what I do? +Nothing much. I can't write; the pens are so bad. I read part of the +time, smoke pipes, and sleep a great deal. Sometimes I play cards, and +talk a little. I have a room as large as yours at Sevres. I walk up and +down it, thinking of you all." + +But his hopes were to be disappointed. The Court of Cassation rejected +his appeal. A petition was addressed to President Carnot, but, with a +firmness that has not characterised some of his successors in office, he +refused to commute the sentence. + +On the morning of February 3, 1891, Eyraud noticed that the warders, who +usually went off duty at six o'clock, remained at their posts. An hour +later the Governor of the Roquette prison entered his cell, and informed +him that the time had come for the execution of the sentence. Eyraud +received the intelligence quietly. The only excitement he betrayed was a +sudden outburst of violent animosity against M. Constans, then Minister +of the Interior. Eyraud had been a Boulangist, and so may have nourished +some resentment against the Minister who, by his adroitness, had helped +to bring about the General's ruin. Whatever his precise motive, he +suddenly exclaimed that M. Constans was his murderer: "It's he who is +having me guillotined; he's got what he wanted; I suppose now he'll +decorate Gabrielle!" He died with the name of the hated Minister on his +lips. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of Remarkable Criminals, by H. B. Irving + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF REMARKABLE CRIMINALS *** + +***** This file should be named 446.txt or 446.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/446/ + +Produced by Mike Lough + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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