Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee 2. as il opening a passage to my dungeon, when we were new plans of escape, which the approach of our trials served similar to my predecessor. The jailer, having | rendered of great importance to us. ‘ got wind of something, changed our dungeons, and| One evening a convoy of prisoners arrived, four of | placed us all three in a dungeon next to the Scarpe, whom, ironed, were placed with us, They were the | where we were chained together: so that the least brothers Duhesme, rich farmers of Bailleul, where movement of one of us was communicated to the they had enjoyed the best reputation, until an unex- | others, a horrid punishment when prolonged, and pected accident unfolded their real characters. These | which ends in a total deprivation of sleep, At the end four persons, men of powerful strength, were at the of two days Desfosseux, seeing us dejected, resolved head of a band of Chauffeurs, who had struck terror | on using a means which he only resorted to on des- into the gir 3 Ah ay any person —- able to. perate occasions, and which he reserved as the prepar- identify them. e prattling of a little girl of one of the | atory steps toward ence Duhesmes at last exposed the affair. This child, chatting Like many of the galley-slaves he carried secretly at a neighbor’s house, said that she had been ve about him ‘a case full of files, with which he set to much frightened the night before. ‘“ And with what?” work, and in less than three hours our fetters fell off; said the curious neighbor. ‘Oh, ape came home | we cast them apes i the grating into the river. The again with the black men.” ‘The black men?” “ Yes, | jailer coming to visit us the moment after to see if we the men who go out with papa evéry night, and come | were quiet, almost fell backward at finding us freed home in the day-time and count out money; my mother | from our irons, and asked us what we had done with lights the candle, and my aunt Genevieve also, | them; to which we only replied with jokes. Thein- because my uncles are among the black men. I asked spector of the prison arriving, together with an attend- | m IY. mother one day what it was all about, and she said, | ant bailiff named Hurtrel, we were compelled to under- ‘Be discreet, my child, your father has a black hen go a fresh examination: and Desfosseux, who was who finds him ‘in money, but itis only at night, and much irritated, said, ‘‘ You ask for our fetters? Well, that he should not scare it, he makes his face as black | the worms have eaten them, and will eat as many as as her feathers. Be silent, for if rw tell anybody what you may load us with.’ The inspector then ea sey | rou have seen, the black hen will never come again, that we had the famous herb which cuts iron, whic divine that it was net to visit the mys- | no botanist had ever yet discovered, ordered us to terious hen that the Duhesmes blackened their faces | strip and be examined from head to foot, and then with smoke. The neighbor, who guessed as much, | again loaded us with irons, which were again cut off communicated her suspicion to her husband, who, in the following night; for the precious case was not dis- his turn, questioned the little girl, and convinced that covered. This time we reserved to ourselves the pleas- the favorites of the black hen were Chauffeurs, he | ure of throwing them on the ground in the presence made a deposition, and on measures being taken, the | of the inspector and Hurtrel the bailiff, who did not band was apprehended, all disguised, as they were not know what to think of it. The report spread about to sally out on an expedition. through the city that there was in the prison a con- The youngest Dehesme had, in the sole of his shoe, a juror who took fetters off by only touching them. To knife-blade, which he had contrived to conceal on the cut short all these accounts, and particularly to avoid road from Bailleul to Douai. Being told that I knew drawing the attention of the other prisoners to means | the way of the prison, he communicated this to me, of getting rid of their chains, the public accuser gave asking meif it were not possible to effect an escape an order to shut us up and watch us with particular with its assistance. I was reflecting about it, when a care—a recommendation which did not prevent us from justice of the peace, attended by gendarmes, came to | quitting Douai sooner than they expected, or than we make a strict search througheut our room, and about ourselves had the least idea of. our persons. No one among us knowing the reason of | Twice a week we had leave to consult our counselin this, I thought it prudent to hide in my mouth a small | the gallery, of which one door led to the court of jus- file which I had always about me, but one of the gen- | tice, and I contrived to get an impression of the lock; darmes having watched me, cried, ‘‘ He is going to | Desfosseux made a key, and one fine day, while my swallow it!” “Swallow what?’ Everybody looked, | counsel was engaged with another client, accused of and we then learnt that they wanted to find the | two murders, we allthree got out without being seen, which had served to stamp the forged order for Boitel’s | Two other gates, which opposed us, were broken open liberation. Suspected, as we have just learnt, of hav- | in a twinkling, and the prison was soon left behind us. ing pe it, | was transferred to the prison of the Town | But yet I was uneasy; six francs was our whole stock, Hall, and thrust in a dungeon so chained that my right | and we.could not get far with such a sum, which I tol hand was confined to my left leg, and my left hand to my companions, who looked at each other with a sinis- my right leg. The dungeon was, moreover, so damp, | ter smile. And, on my repeating my observation, they that in twenty minutes the straw which they had told me that, on the next night, they intended to enter thrown me was as wet as if it had been dipped in h in the neighborhood with which they were water. 6 oti ¥ ht days in this frightful state, and that it was im ble that I could well acquainted. I remained I had no intention of turning housebreaker, anymore when they foun than when I was among the Bohemians, I had profited have got rid of the seal in the way su ted, I was or- by the experience of Desfosseux in escaping but never | dered to the usual prison. On learning this intelligence, contemplated uniting myself with such a villain; and I pretended, as is often done under such circumstances, yet I was not desirous of entering into any explana- to be exceedingly weak and scarcely able to bear the tion. By evening we had reached a village on the light of day. é unwholesome state of the dungeon road to Cambrai; we had not eaten since our escape made this very probable, and the gendarmes fell com- from prison, and were sorely pressed by hunger. It pletely into the snare, and carried their complaisance was abeokute necessary to get provisions in the vil- so far as to cover my eyes with a handkerchief, and then | lage. The half-naked appearance of my companions | deposited me ina hackney-coach. On the road I took | might give rise to suspicion, and it was agreed that I off the handkerchief, and opening the door, with a dex- | should go for the food. I went to a public-house, where, terity never yet surpassed, jumped out into the street, after having taken some bread and brandy, I went out the gendarmes sought to follow, but, impeded by their by a different door from that at which T entered, sabers and jack boots, they had scarcely got out of the dieting my steps in the opposite direction to that in | carriage when I was at a considerable distance. I which Thad left the two men whose cor npany Iwas so quitted the city instantly, and resolved on embarking. greatly desirous of getting rid of. I wa all night, I reached rk wi and only stop at qf The New York Library. ] Ve may easil th some money which my mother reak of day to sleep a few hours had transmitted tome. I there made friends with the on a hay-stack. roy su “4 rgo a a Swedish brig, who promised to get me days afterward I reach om ne, on my a on board. saul to Paris where I trusted. to find tae means of While wa for orders to sail, my new friend pro- existence until my mother could send me some succor, that I should accompany him to Saint Omer, At Louvres, meeting a regiment of black hussars, I where he was going to get a large quantity of biscuit. asked the quarter-master if I could euter; but he told Idid not fear recognition in my sailor's clothes, and me that they did not enlist, and the lieutenant, to whom I , as it was im ble to refuse a man to whom I afterward applied, gave me the same reply, but touch- was under such great obligations. I went with him, ed: by the embarrassment of my situation, he agreed to but my turbulent character would not allow me to re- keep me to clean the extra horses which he was going main quiet in a pot-house row, and I was arrested as a to procure at Paris, A cap of a police officer and an riotous fellow and taken to the watch-house. There old cloak which was given to me, enabled me to clear they asked for my papers, of which I had none, and the barrier unquestioned, and I went.to the military my answers inducing a belief that I might be an es- school with the detachment, which I afterward accom- ca prisoner, they sent me the next day to the central panied to the depot at Guise. On arriving in this city, I p on of Douai, without allowing me to bid adieu to was presented to the colonel, who, although suspecti he supercargo, who was doubtlessly much surprised me to be a deserter, engaged me under the name of at this occurrence. Aft Douai, they put me once more Lannoy, which [ assumed without being able to justify in the prison of the Town Hall, where at first the jailer by any credentials, Concealed by my new uniform, evinced much kindness toward me, which = not how- and mingling with the rank of a numerous ment, I ever last, At the termination of a quarre sabe the thought myself secure, and began to think o making turnkeys, in which I took too active a part, was my way as a soldier, when an unfortusate accident thrown into a dark cell under the tower. There were again befell me. five of us, one of whom, a deserter sentenced to death, On entering the barrack one mornings met agen- was talking of no but suicide, until I ence him | darme, who had left Douai for Guise. He had so fre- not to think of that, but rather devise ae escape | quently seen me, that he knew me at first sight and from this dismal hole, where the rats, whic et | called to me, We were in the midst of the street, and like rabbits in a corn-field, eat our bread an - t our | thoughts of escape were useless, 1 therefore went up faces while we slept. With a bayonet, stolen from one to him and boldly feigned to be glad to see him. He of the soldiers of the national ard who M ertheaee 3 at replied to me, but with an air that seemed to augur me_ the prison, we commenced working a hole : e wall, | no good. While thus together, a hussar of my squad- ina di in which we heard a cobbler hammering | ron, seeing me with the gendarme, approached ana his leather. In ten days, and as many nights, we pene- said to me, “ Well, Lannoy, what are you doing with trated six feet in depth and seemed to get nearer the | the round hats?” ’ Lannoy!"’ said the gendarme, with cobbler’s hammer. On the eleventh day, in the morn- | astonishment. ‘ Yes, it is a nom de guerre.” “Oh, iug,on drawing out a brick, I saw daylight — a galleys we will see about that,” said he, seizing my collar. i dow which looked into the street, and gave light to | was compe being confirmed, in opposition to my statements at_ | the regiment, I was bya cursed chance again sent to the evening visit be coricladed, we took from the | Douai. hole all the loosened bricks, of which there were two This sentenee completely overpowered me, and the courses, ane Feacnd them behind the rie ye door, intelligence that reached me at Douai was not calcu- | which opened inwards, so as to barricade it, and then lated to set me at rest. Iheard that Grouard, Her- set to work with so much ere oe that daylight baux, Stofflet and Boitel had decided by lot that one of surprised us, when the hole, six feet large at the open- them should confess the execution of the forgery; but ing, was only two feet at the end. The jailer came with as this forgery could only be the work of one person, our allowances, and finding some ‘re: Sota opened they determined on accusing me, thus punishing me | the wicket, and saw the high pile of bricks, to his great for what I had said of them at my last examination; astonishment, He desired us to open the door, and on and I learnt besides, that the prisoner who could have our refusal the d came, then the commissary of corroborated my statement was dead, anything the prison, then the public accuser, then the m pal could console me it was that I had escaped in time officers clothed with the tri-colored scarves. We held from Desfosseux and Doyenette, who had beentaken, a parley, and during this time one of us continued | four days after our escape, with their booty about them, bh nia Fy the hole, which the darkness did not dis- | in a mercer’s shop in Ponte-a- . I soon saw them, close. We might perhaps e&cape before the door was | and as they were astonished at my abrupt departure, 1 forced, when an une ed event deprived us of our told them that the arrival of a gendarme at the public- last Oi ; house where } was purchasing provisions, had compel-, The jailer’s wife, in going to feed the rabbits, had ob- led me to fly with speed. Again uni we formed served rubbish scattered on the fleor, In a@ prison, | lied to follow him to prison, and my identity a place yoere the spied us i Pic sib his overy ins | rage, ‘nothing indicated that I had materiall teen nothing is indifferent, and she carefully examined tha | wall, and although the bricks had been so replaced as to conceal the hole, she yet saw that they had been separated; and on calling for the guard, with a blow from the butt end of a musket, our bricks were knocked out and we were discovered. On both sides they called to us to clear the doorway, or they would fire on us. Intrenched behind the materials, we answered that the first who entered should be knocked on the head with bricks and irons. So much determination alarmed the authorities, and they left us for a few hous to calm ourselves. At noon; a municipal officer appesred at the wicket, which as well as the hole had been se:iti- lously guarded, and offered us an amnesty, which ve accepted; but scarcely had we removed our chevav-de- rise, when they attacked us with the butt ends of mus- ets, flat sides of sabers, and bunches of keys; even the jailer’s mastiff joined the party; he jumped at me and bit me most severely all over. ey then led us inte the courtyard, where a body of fifteen men held us. lying on our faces, while they riveted our fetters. This On done, they cast me into a dungeon yet more horri- yle than that I had left, and it was not till the next dav that the surgeon Dutilleul (now keeper at. the hospita: of St. Maude) came to dress the bites and bruises which covered me. I had scarcely recovered from this when the day of trial came, which my repeated escapes, and those of Grouard, who fled just as I was retaken, had deferred for eight months. The trial began, and I saw that i was lost; my companions coined me with an animos ity, explained by my retarded confessions, which were useless to myself, and had not at all injured them Boitel declared that I had asked him how much he would s to get out of prison. Herbaux confessed that he had forged the order, but not added the signa: tures, and said besides that I had persuaded him to forge it, and then taken it from him without his think- ing it of the least importance. The jury age se a the crime; all the charge against me was confined to alle een withoyvt proof, that I had furnished the seal. owever, Boitel, who remembered having be for the este order; Stofflet, who had brought it to the jailer; Grouard, who had at least assisted at the whole operation, were acquitted; while Herbaux and I were condemned to eight years’ imprisonment. This was the termination of the sentence, althongh many false reports were circulated through the malevolence and rity wa of enemies. Some say that I was sentenced to death for numerous murders; others state that ] had long been chief of a band which robbed the dili- yea the most moderate state that I was condemned perpetual labor at the galleys for ging d and Stee gains and it has been asserted that 1 (at later period) incited wretches to crime that I might show my vigilance in pouncing upon them; asif there were not a sufficient number of the really guilty. Cer- false comrades, as are everywhere to be found, even among robbers, sometimes instructed me in the = of their accomplices; certainly to confirm the tent while we prevented the crime, it was sometimes necessary to allow of a partial commission of the decd, for experienced rogues are never caught but in the very act: and I ask, is there oe rg ay this which has, the appearance of an inducement to do ill? This imy 1 _ tation emanated; from the poner among whom i | have some enemies; but the imputation falls before the wine of judicial facts, which would not have failed n revealing the infamies with which I am charged; and it also fails before the operations of the brigade of safety, vhich I directed. Itis not when proctf is given _ that we have recourse to deception, and the confidence of the clever men who have preceded M. Delavau, in the office of chief magistrate, will acquit me of such wretched expedients. ‘‘He is a lucky fellow,’’ said, one day, the police officers who had failed in an enter- prise in which I succeeded, to M. Angles. ‘ Well,”’ said he, turning his back on them, ‘‘do you be lucky fellows too.”’ Parricide is the only crime of which I have not been charged, and yet I declare that I never was sentenced to, nor underwent, but the sentence which I have just mentioned. My pardon will prove this; and when I as- sert that I never sided in this miserable forgery, * should be believed, for it was at last but a prison joke, which, if proved, would at present only subject the offender to a sentence of corporeal punishment. But it was not the suspected accomplice in a foolish forge that was to be punished; it was the disorderly, rebel- lious, and impudent prisoner, the chief of so many plans of escape, of whom an example must be made, and I was sacrificed. Ww t b tiny eel med t of i ORN out by en every species which Iexperienced in the prison of Douai, tormenteu by a watchfulness redoubled after my sentence, I tcok care not to make an appeal, which would keep me there some months. What confirmed me in my resolu- tion was the information that the prisoners were to be sent forthwith to the Bicetre, and there, arng one chain, to be sent on to the Bagne at Brest. It is un necessary to say, that I relied on escaping on our route. As to the appeal, I was told that I could present a pe- tition for pardon from the Bagne, which wouki have the same effect: We remained, however, some months at Douai, which made me t. bitterly that I had ne. made my petition for ennuliog the sentence. At le the order of removal arrived, and, what would scarcely be credited from men doomed to the leys, it was hailed with enthusiasm—so much were we tired of the torments of Marin, the jailer. Our nev situation was not, however, much more satisfactory, the officer, Hurtrel, who accompanied us, I know not why, had ordered irons of a new construction, which fastened to each of our legs a ball of fifteen pounds weight, while we were secured two and two by a mas- sive wrist-cuff of iron. Besides, the wigtonce was xX: treme, and it was impossible to think of doing anything by address. An attack by main force