Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

| | ’ : . z..a -—~—= = Se \ = —2 —- —— oe ee : ’ ’ ~~ —— _— - —e i, th, Se eo iH ———— = —_—-- —_ ~ = - ee os =_ - | @ pleasure in conversing with him of the wild life he had led, and what most induced me to make so many inquiries of him was that I hoped he would be able to aid mein some means of escape. With the same motive, | associated with many individuals imprisoned Chaffeurs, who in- | fested the adjacent districts, under the command of : were named Chopine | poate the Nantzman), Louis (of Douay), Duhamel | ca as part of a band of forty or fift the famous Sallambier. They lled Lilleman), Auguste Poissard (called the Proven- | ounger, Caron the Humpback, and aring), an appellation which he is seldom heard cal), Caron the Bruxellois (called the deserved for an act of courage whic of even in bulletins. At the moment of entering a farm with six of his comrades, he thrust his left hand through an opening in the shutter to lift the latch, but when he was drawing it back, he found that his wrist had been caught in a skip-knot. Awakened by the noise, the inhabitants of the farm had laid this snare, although too weak to go out against a band of robbers which report had m ed as tonumbers. But the attempt being thus defeated, day was fast approaching, and Bruxellois saw his dis- | mayed comrades looking at each other with doubt, whon the idea occurred to him that to avoid discovery they would knock out his brains. With his right hand he drew out his olasp-knife with a sharp point, which he always had about him, and cutting off wrist at the ape fled with his comrades without being stopped by he excessive pain of his horrid wound. is remark- able deed, which has been attributed to a thousand dif- ferent spots, really occurred in the vicinity of Lille, and is well authenticated in the northern districts, where many persons yet remember to have seen the hero of this tale, who was thence called Manchot (or one-armed), executed. Introduced by so distinguished a worthy as my towns- man Desfosseux, I was received with open arms in the circle of bandits, where from morning to night the means of escape was our only theme. Under these circumstances, as in many others, I remarked that with prisoners, the thirst for liberty becoming the en- grossing idea, produced plots inconceivable by the man who discusses them at his ease. Liberty !—in this word all is centered, this thought pursues the prisoner throughout the tedious day,and during the wintr nights spent in utter darkness, when abandoned to all the tormenting impulses of impatience. Enter any prison, you will hear shouts of noisy mirth, you may al- most imagine yourself at a place of entertainment; ap- proach—mouths grin horribly a ghastly smile, but the re betray no pleasure, they are stern and ard; this assumed gayety iafobced tn its hideous yells, like that of the jackal, which dashes against its cage, striv- ing to burst the bars. ell knowing what men they had to rd, our jail- ers watched us with a care that mar all our plans; the only opportunity which gave a chance of success now ofiered itself, and I seized on it before my com- anions, cunning as they were, had eyen thought of It. e were about eignteen of us in the ante-room of the | examining judge, where we had been conducted for the purpose of being interrogated, which was guarded by sohitard and two gendarmes, one of whom had laid lown ‘iis bat and cloak near me, while he went to the var, whither his companion was summoned by the inging of a ‘bell. I put his hat on my head instantly, and wrapping myself in his cloak, took a prisoner under my arm as if I was taking him out for a press- | ing necessity; [went to the door, which the corporal of the guard immediately opened, and we got out once more. But what could we do without money or papers? My comrade went into the province, and being retaken, returned to Francine, who, overjoyed at seeing me, determined on selling her furniture, and Bying with me to Belgium. This was determined on, when a most unexpected event, attributable only to my incredible carelessness, completely overthrew our plan. The night before our intended departure, I met a woman of Brussels, named Eliza, with whom I had been on friendly terms. She begged me to go and sup with her, and, conquering my weak objections, kept me until the next day. I persuaded ncine, wo had er me everywhere, that, pursued by police officers, I had been compelled to take refuge in a house which I could not quit till daybreak. She was at first satisfied; but ha ng by accident discovered where I had passed the night, her jealousy burst forth in ipreew heim iis aud tearful reproaches against my in gratitude, and in her rage she swore she would have ‘ue arrested. Francine was a woman of her word, and I deemed it prudent to allow her anger to evaporate, .ntending to return after some time, and start with her as we had agreed on. However, as I needed my clothes, and did not wish to ask for them, for fear of a fresh burst of temper, I went alone to our chamber, of which she had the key, and forcing a shutter, I took out what I wanted, and left the house. At the end of five days, clothed like a countryman, I left the place I had inhabited in the suburbs, and going into the city, I went to the house of a seamstress, a friend of Francine’s, on whose mediation I relied for reconciling us. This woman seemed so greatly em- barrassed, that fearing I should implicate her, I only begged her to zo and seek my mistress, ‘* Yes,’’ said she, with a very remarkable air, and without looking at me. She went out, and Iwas left alone to reflect on my strange reception. A knock at the door was heard, which I hastened to open, thinking that I should receive Francine in my arms, when a crowd of gendarmes and police officers appeared, who seizing me, I was carried before the magistrate, who began by asking me where I had been during the last five days. My answer was brief, as I never implicated those who sheltered me. The magis- trate observed, that my obstinacy in ref him any explanation would go much against me, and that my head was in jeopardy, ete., ete. I only laughed, as im- agining this remark to be a trap to force me to confess through fear. I pe yiuanded to the Petit Hotel. Searcely had T set foot in the street, when all eyes were fixed on me. People called to each other and w red, which I thought was caused by my disguise, and I scarcely heeded it. They made me enter a cell, where I was left alone in the straw, heavily ironed. At the end of two hours the jailer came, who, resenting to pity me, and take an interest in me, told me tha my resolution not to confess where I had in my silence, and was re- judges; but I was immovable, and two more hours elapsed, when the jailer returned with the turnkey, who too off my fetters, and desired me to go down to the office, where two judges were in attendanes. I was at the risk | spent the last five days, would injure me in the estimation of the ee — - ——— then strip cell, covered with a shirt of sail-clot black and half gray, in rags which risoners. sent back to m in a surtout ha served at least two generations of fury, Francine would have reflected twice it was rather because I did not wish to irritate her Wh hours I was kept in the strictest solit “What is your name?” ‘* Fugene ncois Vidoeq.”’ : * ay pat is your profession?”’ st a you know the girl Francine Longuet?”’ “ee es.”’ ‘** Do you know where she is at this moment?”’ “She should be at a friend's house, for she sold her | no one on the s own furniture.” “What is the name of this friend?’ ‘* Madame Bourgeois.” ‘* Where does she live?” ‘** Ata baker's in the Rue St. Andre,” “* How long had you left the woman Longuet when you were arrested “Five days.” ‘* Why did you leave her?” “To avoid her anger; in a fit of jealousy she threat- ened to have me arrested,” ‘* Where are the things which you had in the house of the woman oy ee a | In @ place that I can point out if need be,”’ ‘* How could you get them, having quarreled with her, and not wishing to see her?’ | “ After our quake in the Cafe, where she found me, she threatened to call for the ing her perverseness, I ran down the by-streets and _reached the house before her, which I had hoped to do and wanting some clothes, I forced a shutter to effect my entrance, and then took out what I wanted. You _ just now asked me where these things are, and I will _ now tell you; they are in the Rue Saint Sauveur, at the house of Duboc, who will corroborate this,’’ ‘You do not speak truth—before you left Francine at her house, you had a great quarrel; it is said that you struck her,”’ “That ia false; I did not see Francine at her own home after the quatre), and consequently I could not have maltreated her. She can corroborate this.’’ ‘*Do you know this knife.”’ | “Yes; itis the one 1 generally use at my meals.” - “You see the blade and haft are covered with blood, Does not the sight of it make any impression upon you? You are agitated!” ‘* Yes,’’ L replied, with emotion; “ but what has hap- pened Francine? Tell me, and I will give every possible explanation.” “Did nothing particular happen to you when you carried off your clothes?"’ “* Nothing that I can call to mind.” ry — persist in your declarations?”’ +“ es. a “You are imposing on justice; that you may have time for reflection on your tion, and the conse- uences of your obstinacy, I now delay the remain- er of your examination until to-morrow. Gendarmes, _watch this man most carefully—go.”’ It was late when I returned to my cell, where they brought me allowance, which the trouble I expe- rienced from the result of the interrogatory would not allow me to eat; I could not sleep, and the whole night without closing an eye, Some crime had been committed, but on whom? whom? Why was _Linculpated? I had asked my that question a thousand times, without gett at any rational solu- tion, when they came to fetch me on the Mgt ‘morning to renew my examination. After the us questions, a door was opened, and two gendarmes en- tered, supporti pale, and alte so as to be scarcely seeing me she fainted; and when I wished to approach her, I was withheld by the gendarmes. They took her away, and I alone remained with the examining judge, who asked me if the sight of the unfortunate woman did not prone’ me toconfessall? I protestoe pay ADB0- cence, asserting that I did not know till that instant that Francine was ill. I was led back to the prison, but not to solitary confinement, and I could then hope that I might be informed of all the events of which I was so singularly the victim. I questioned the jailer, but he would not answer me; I wrote to Francine, although I was told that the letters would be detained by the judge, and that she was. dismissed. I was on thorns, and at last determined on sending for counsel, who, after ha learned the accusation, told_me that I charged with attempting to assassinate Francine. On | the very day I left her she had been found expiring, stab with a knife in five places, and bathed in blood. My precipitate flight—the secret carrying awa ' clothes, which it was known that I had taken from one | penee to another as if to elude the search of justice— the broken shutter in my room—the footmark which resembled mine—all tended to confirm the suspicions of my guilt, and my disguise still more corroborated it, It was thought that I only disguised myself and re- turned, to learn whether she died without accusing me. One particular, which would have been in my favor under other circumstances, now aggravated the charge nst me: as soon asthe physicians would allow Francine to speak, she declared that she had stabbed herself in despair, at finding that she was abandoned by aman for whom she had sacrificed all. But her attachment to me rendered her testimony sus- pected, and it was believed that she only spoke thus to save me. nizable. On My counsel had terminated this narrative at least, a— quarter of an hour, and I was still opp twenty I was suffering under the weight of tle two-fold accusation of forgery and assassination, without having even dreamt of committing such crimes, I even reflect- ed whether I would not hang myself at the bars of my cell with a straw rope. I was losing my senses, but at lext. aolianwiad mu sutigiently to detail all the facts The New York Library. again questioned, and made a similar reply, and they my clothes entirely off, and stamped on my right shoulder a blow that would have killed an ox, | which was to mark me; my clothes were taken away, after being described in the process-verbal; and Il was All this gave me food for reflection. It was evident that the seamstress had denounced me, but for what? She had no complaint to make of me. In spite of her fore she denounced me; and if I had withdrawn for some days, y presence, than from any fear of consequences. these reiterated inquiries, these mysterious words of the jailor, and this description of my attire? I was lost in a labyrinth of conjecture, and for twenty-five , confinement; I then underwent an examination which informed me oO quand to seize me; know- | | explanation, but I aia a female. lt was Francine—Francine tl of my Lill list eaman | with the nightmare. At the age of | un _ a | -_- = requisite for my exculpation. In the after-examination they insisted strongly on the blood which the porter, who had carried my gage, stated he had seen on my ds. This blood flowed from a cut inflicted by the plage of a window which I had broken to remove the shutter, and I could produce two witnesses of this fact. My counsei, to whom I told all my grounds of defense, assured me, that united with the 6 ed of Francine, which alone had been of no avail, I should be acquitted, which was the Case a few days afterward. Francine, although still Mn weak, came immediately to see me, and confirmed the particulars which the examination had first acquainted me with. I was thus relieved of an enormous weight, without being yet entirely freed from uneasiness: my repeated escapes had delayed the decision of the accusation of forgery, in which I had been implicated, and nothin indicated its termination, for Grouard had also escaped. The result of the charge from which I had just been ered — melee A ing me a none, and I thought nothing of attemp escape, when an o rtunity prenaur6d, which I seized, as e were. b instinet. In he chamber in which I was placed were the temporary | risoners, and on fetching away two of them one morn- | ing the jailer forgot to close the door, which I per- ceived, and descending to the ground floor, found, on looking about me, that I had a nce, It was scarcely daybreak, and the prisoners were all asleep; I had met taircase, and there was no one at the gate, which I cleared; but the jailer, who was d a dram at a public-house opposite the Rg ursul _me, crying loudly, “Stop him! Stop him!” He cried in vain, for the streets were empty, and the desire of ' liberty gave meé wings. In a few minutes I got out of sight of the jailer, and soon ed a house in Rre | Saint Sauveur, where I was very certain they would not come to seek forme, I was now compelled to quit Lille as quickly as possible, as I was too well known there to be long in safety. | At nightfall all were on the lookout, and I learned | that the gates were closed, and no one was let out but through the wicket, where police officers and dis- uised gendarmes were stationed to examine all comers, The gates thus closed on me, I resolved on descending the ramparts, and knowing the spot well, I went at ten o'clock at night to the bastion of Notre-Dame, which I r judged the most propiens place for the execution of my project. Haying tied to a tree a cord, which I had procured for the purpose, I began to slide down, but the weight of my body impelling me more rapidly than’ I anticipated, the friction of the cord made my han so hot that I was compelled to let go about fifteen feet from the ground, and fell so heavily on my right foot | that it sprained it, and in endeavoring to get out of the ditch I thought I should never be able to effect it, Un- heard-of efforts at length extricated me, but on reach- | si, plain I could move no further. | | ere I was, swea most emphatically against all ditches, ropes, and sprains, but this did not relieve my embarrassment, when @ man passed me with one of those cars so common in Flanders. A crown-piece, my only one, prevailed on him to place me on his car, and convey me to the next village. On reaching his house he laid me on a bed, and rubbed my foot with brandy and soap, while his wife assisted bial Saipan although staring with wonder at my clothes, staine with the mud of the ditch. They did not ask for any it expedient to give one; and retended that I was greatly in want of sleep, and my host left me. At the end of two hours I called them, like a man just awaking, and _told them in a few words, that in conveying smuggled | ropaneo up the ramparts, I had fallen, and my com- r es, to prepare myself for puree by the custom-house officers, had been ‘compelled to leave me in the ditch; and I added, that I left Ba! pens in their hands to do = be. peenees with me. ese good creatures, who he custom- | house officers as cordially as the inhabitant of woe fron- tier town ever does, assured me that they would not for the world betray me. To try them, I asked if there was no means of conveyance to my father’s house, who _ lived at the other side, and they said that such a step would expose ine, and that it would be better to wait a few days, until 1 was well. I consented, and to remove all suspicions, it was agreed that I should pass for a relation on a visit. No one, however, made the least observation. Quieted on this head, I began to reflect on my next step, and what I must do. I determined on leaving 1ese , and going into Holland. But to execute watch, whic! Und fered (8 iy hos posses ly watch, w offe o my host, 0 | four shilli and tenpence. I might gv to Francine, | but then, of course, she was closely watched: and to send her any message would infallibly hazard her safety. At least, I must wait until the heat of the first pursuit was over. I did wait, and at the end of a fort- night I determined to write to Francine, which I in- trusted to my telling him that, as this female was the go-betages of the Sanggiors he must usé much Caution in visiting her. He ulfilled his commission with much care, and pout me next day one hun- | dred and twenty francs PU vege The next day I bade | farewell to m ends, whose charges were Pe a | 'moderate, and at the end of six days reached Ostend. | My intention, as at my first visit to this city, was to | alse Amer or India, but I only met with Danish and | Dutch Nee who refused to take me without cre- | dentials. e little cash which I had bro from e diminished ons ges and I was approaching that situation with which w become more or legs familiar- ized, but which is not the less d ble on that ac- count. Money certainly does not produce wit, nor tal- ents, nor understanding; but the quiet of mind which it superinduces, the equanimity which it affords, amply supply the piece of these oe pgen ot while in the ab- Sence of this equanimity these gifts are of no avail with many who possess them. m3 bs a igerbpe eee of the igh es : oasting sm ers, of whom. had boasted with eathuatoaen’ for this often followed through inclination, by r fortune and situation did not compel to adopt so perilous a iife. I confess, for my part, that [was not pga 7 = bates of passing A a ee under | 8, in of rocks, exposed winds, and, above all, to the shots of custom-house officers. Be sink I: ene to the house e whom I was direc aa one deeply engaged in the pursuit and able to intro- " duce me to it. A seagull nailed on his door with ex- tended wings, like the owls and wes that we see on barns, guided me. I found the worthy in a sort of cel- ‘Datiola, Which Aes W wiuebe hae baer toca here mic CSare(o