Star. — London, England, 1816-04-24 00:00:00

~..:~ ESCAPE OF I,3IIdLETTE. [CONTI:MD FROM 1 NR STAR Of 'MEMORY.] INtERROCATORILS OF HUTCHINSC.N. FIRST INTERROGATORY, JANUARY IS. After some matters of form— Q Who are the persons that you visit most fre quently at Paris ?—I am particularly acqoainted with Lieutenant Bruce of my regiment; with Major Elli son, and Colonel Reeve. Q. Within fifteen days has your'service called you from Paris ?—My service has net required me to leave Paris within fifteen days and more. Q. Have you left Paris in less than fifteen days ? For what motive ? How many days were you ab sent ?—I 'went on Tuesday last to the Horse at Go. nesse, where several English Officers agreed to meet for a hunting party. I did not find any one there, tf , e time was not favourable; and I returned imme diately to Paris. Q. Name to me some of the Officers who formed the project of that party, and who were to have met there ?—Colonel Smith of the 95th Regiment; the son of the Duke of Richmond. . Q. Have you slept constantly at Paris for the last eight days ?--Yes. SECOND INTERROGATORY, JANUARY 14. Q. Have you not taken a very great interest in the fate of Marshal Ney ? Have not you endeavoured to withdraw him from the execution of his sentence ? Have you no knowledge of the projects formed for that purpose ?--I never knew Marshal Ney or his wife. I feel interested for him like many others who think with me that he could not be tried or con demned os account of the capitulation of Padi, Q. Has not General Wilson communicated to you some project to effect the escape of Marshal Nay l—Never. Q. What means the note which I present to you. addressed to you by General Wilson, under the date of the 13th of December, commencing in these words When these expt. are attempted. ;was must be ensured," and where inquiry is made as to proceedings with the Ambassador Stuart to save Linois and others ?—I do not consider myself ob liged to furnish the explanation of what you ask ; address yourself to the person who wrote that letter. Q. You left Paris on Monday the Bth of this month, before day : you were not alone ? What was the object of your journey ? Where did you go? Who were the persons that accompanied yon ?—I told you yesterday, that on Tuesday last, I left Paris on horseback to go to Gonesse on a kunting excursion: it is possible that I may have mistaken the day, and that it was Monday. Q. But you told me yesterday, that you left Paris alone to go to Gonesse; whilst it is certain that on Monday last, before day, or at break of day, you left Paris on horseback, in the company of other persons ?—1 shall give no explanation on that point. Q. Are you very intimate with Mr. Michel Bruce and General Wilson ?—I have known Mr. Bruce and his family for seven or eight years. General Wilson was Aide-dc-Camp to my uncle : I have known him for the same space of time. Q. What was the object of the meeting which was held at your apartments on Sunday last, about tight o'clock in the evening, where those Gentlemen at tended ?—We drank a bowl of punch. Q. Was these no other individual at that meet ing ?—No. Q. Did not an individual come to you that night, wearing the uniform of an English Oftcer....No. Q. That individual, wearing the English uniform, did l►epot remain with you, and pass the night with you ?--No. Q. By what barrier did you leave Paris to go to the pretended hunting party at Gonesse ?—By the barrier of Clichy. Q. Did you not take the road to Chapelle-en- Cereal, instead of going to Gonesse ?—I will not say where I went. Q. Was not one of the persons who accompa nied you in the uniform of an English General Officer ? Did not you meet, in going through the barrier Clichy, several English Officers who ap peared surprised to see a General Officer of their nation who was unknown to them ?-1. remember nottling of the kind. Q. Did not you go as far as CoMpeigne ?—I will not reply to that question. Q. How often were you absent from Paris ?—I do not consider myself obliged to tell you. If there be any charges against me, let the proofs be pro duced before a tribunal, and I will defend myself. Q. The charges which exist against yoti are— that, on the 7th instant, about eight o'clock in the evening, the condemned Lavalette, dressed as an English Officer, was brought to you : that on the following morning he left your house at the break of day in an open carriage, having General Wilson by his side : that you were on horseback by the side of the caniage : that you all went out by the barrier of Clichy : that you passed on to Chapelle-en•Cerval, and went to Compeigne, when General Wilson and the condemned Lavalette took another carriage. You are in consequence accused of having favoured the escape of the person condemned to death.— What have you to say in justification ?—Whea I am placed in judgment, I shall produce MI means of defence. THIRD INTERROGATORY - JAN. 15. Several questions which he refused to answer. Q. Was it not you who carried to a tailor the measure which was sent to you by Mr. Bruce, and which served to make the habits of an English uni form in which Lavalette was dressed when he left Paris ?—Mr. Bruce never gave me a measure. Q. What is the name of the tailor who works for you at Paris !—I shall not tell it. FOURTH IN TERROGATORYJAN. 19. Q. How long is it since you were informed that Lavatette was concealed in Paris 1-4 did not know it before the Sd or 4th of this mouth. Q. bid you know him before his arrest aad trial ? —No, I was not acquainted with him or any mem ber of his family._ Q. From what sentiment then, or by whose sug gestions, did you resolve to take apart in the mea sures concerted to withdraw him from justice ?—From, a sentiment of humanity and generosity. Q. Was it an Englishman or a Frenchman who first sounded your disposition on this point i—lt was an Englishman. Q. What is his name cannot answer that Ties dap. I will speak 'tto truth in whatever contents myself ; but honour forbids me to compromise others: Q. On Sunday, the 7th of this month, in the day, did not you give orders to your servants to set out before you, and wait for you with relay horses on one of the points of the road from Paris to Compiegne? —Yes, sir. Q. Did not your domestics execute your orders ? My orders.were executed, not by my domestics, but by the two persons whom I sent: only 'me of them was in my service, his name is 'llomas Hooges. Q. How many days had you agreed thus to con trive the departure of Lavalette, and to receive him at your house when he should present himselt there? —From the same day of which I signified my con sent, that is, from the 3d or 4th of the month. Q. Do you know the place front which he escaped on Sunday the 7th, in order to come to your lodging ? —No, sir. Q. But since you attended him at an appointed hour' you knew at least the person who was charged to 61:c1 his retreat and to conduct him to you r—No, Sir. This is what took place; I was apprised that Lavalette would come to my house at half-past nine o'clock, and I waited for him there with Mr. Brace., Two or three minutes after the appointed time, Mr. Bruce left me, went down, and returned presently, leading in Lavalette, who had been conducted to him by a person whom I do not know, and who did not enter the house. Q. Did not this person, or some other on his part, observe that Laval.ftte had forgotten his pistols, and return to your door in order to bring them N—Yes, Sir, my servant, John Bald wick, informed me that some person desired to speak to sne in the anti.nbanr. ber. I went oat ro•prevent his cored's s k sot ak Frenchman dressed in a riding coat, *bid s partly open, so as to let me perceive a doable relied pistol in the side pocket. The first idea presented itself to my mud was, that all was vered, and I confess that I prepart4 to nuke ante. I demanded the pistol, and advanced my hand to seize it before he should have time to make any movement. He made no opposition, and only said, " you are then among my friends." I replied in the affirmative, but would not permit him to enter my room ; and required that be should instantly absent himself. This was the first time I ever, saw this Frenchman ; and it was for so short a period that it would be impossible for me to recognize him. The pistol was the nest day forgotten, and left with me by M. de Lavalette. On my return I gave my ser vant orders to discharge it, and I had the precaution myself to take out the flint. The pistol is now at my lodgings, and my valet can produce it. Q. Had Monsieur or Madame &meage r whose' apartments you occupy, or any of their servants, or the portress of the house, any knowledge of M. de' Lavalette's introduction to your lodgings, ird of the' stay which he made there during the nigit ?—No. 6ir, Monsieur and Madame Sauvage had dined out, at least so I presume; for I remarked that the key was not in the door; the servants live generally in the kitchen, which is one story lower. When M. de Lava. lette entered, there was coaody in my rnti-rnom but Baldwick, and a servant whom I dismissed the fol- lowing Tuesday. With respect to the portress, I have never spoken to her, nor do I believe that the persons wbo called on me ever addressed themselves to her. 11 disc resist. Q. Who is the person who on the next day, be. tween seven and eight o'clock in the morning, came to your door in a chaise, into which Lavalette air tended in order to quit Paris ?—t have alrruidy said that I am not compelled to speak the truth except in what relates to myself, nor can I honourably satisfy this question. Q. When you arrived at Compiegne, was it by a Frenchman or an Englishman that you were received and entertained during the time that you remained there ?—The same reason forbids me to reply upon this point. Q. When Lavalette came to you on Sunday, at seven in the evening, was he dressed in the uniform of an English Officer ?—No, Sir ; and I seize this occasion to explain the answer which I made to the Prefecture of Police, and which I wish should not be considered as a falsehood. I was asked whether a person dressed in an English uniform did not call on me, and I replied in the negative; this does not form a contradiction of what I state to-day in point of fact : M. de Lavalette had on his French dress, and it was myself alone who wore an English uniform. Q. Who are the persons who addressed you, or who brought the unitorm ?—The uniform was lent i me by an o ffi cer of my regiment, who was not in the' secret, and whom I convinced that Mr. Bruce and I wished to carry off a lady from Paris. This offi cer was called Bruce; he js a Lieutenant of the first Company of Grenadiers of the Royal Guard bf l England. Q. It appears, nevertheless, according to the note that you have signed, and which I now present to you, that this uniform was furnished to you by a tai lor. By the first paragraph of this note it appeared to have cost 152 francs ?—That article has nothing to do with the uniform. The tailor had no other orders but to make a great coat, a Übe waistcoat, and grey pantaloons. I had given him the measure without informing him of the object; and I took care to remove from hem every suspicion on his part, by. telling him that these clothes were to be seat to Abbe. vile to a Quarter-Master; and to fix greater proba bility on this story, I gave orders to wrap the whole in paper, adding, that I would deliver them to the servant of the Quarter-Master, vho was then in Paris. The tailor lives in the rue Pinon, he is a German, and has a small shop. I have forgot en his family name, and know only that his Cbristiaa name is Frederic. 'T I ~ " I° I • FIFTH INTERROGATORY-PER. 9. Q. Do you acknowledge papers produced, first, thirty-four pieces, composed of notes and &Tars exer cises in French and hail in I—Thirty-one pieces, com posed of divers letters, two or ttwee of which he , de monstrated to us wete not addressed to him. The rest relating only to family affairs. Likewise a small register, containing the accounts "of Mr. Hut chinson. SIXTH IVTIIRROGIATORY-7111. 14. Q. Was not the participation which you bad in the escApe of Lavalette the commencement of the execu tion of a digested plot to which you were privy, and which had for its chief object to destroy or change the Government i—Nos I had no other thought but that of saving an uatertuaate titan. you not write a letter to Mr. Bruce on Fri- i W•::: 61 0; f1 , the arrival of Lavalette at your locig day 7;i-which was Gated from the Helder Hotel ? hip. nev er resided at that hotel; it was my u :cle who" lodged 42 ,,Did you not receive on the 13th of last Decem ber * letter from General Wilson, in which he slid to *oth ei if these expedients are tried, success cer isto-r, What do thew expressions allude to c acti perfectly well having received this letter ; hut there. I declare on my honour that it had no reference to M. Lavalette—it related to priv,ite affairs, on which I c annot enter into any explAnation. SEVENTH INTERRIGATORV....FER. 23. Q. Do you recognize the letter which I present to you, and which was found among Lavalettc's pa pers, to have been written with your hand, or dictated . by you ?—I know nothing of this letter ; it is not of my writing. From the first lines, I perceive that the person who wrote it speaks of a conversation which he beard at Lord Castlereagh's, and I declare that 1 never was at his Lordship's house in Paris BILL OF INDICTMENT. Marie Chamons Lavalette had been, on the 22d of November last, capitally convicted of the crime of High Treason, by decree of the Court of Assize for the Department of the Seine. Against this decree he bas appealed ; but his appeal being rejected by the Court, the sentence pronounced upon him was to have been carried into execution on Thursday, the 21st of December. The strictest orders had been given by the Police, that the condemned man should be guarded in the prison wherein he was confined, called the Concier garie, with all the usual predations ; and. since the rejection of the appeal, the Prefect of the Police had ordered Jein Baptiste de Kerguisec. the registering keeper of the prison, to redouble his vigilance, wad ing, that if any one should ask to communicate with Lataktte, and should even bring an order for that lurpese signed with his (the Prefect's) hand, still the eeper should pay no attention to it, as no person was to see the prisoner without the order of the At torneylGeneral. Lavalette being informed by the keeper of these new orders, immediately wrote to the Attorney-Ge neral, begging that he might be permitted to see his wife, and a few other persons whose names he men tioned. The Attorney-General felt unwilling to re fuse this request; but in giving his assent, he parti cularly directed that the persons indicated should only see Lavalette in succession, one after the other. Nevertheless, on the 20th of December, the eve of the day fixed for carrying the sentence into effect, about half past three in the afternoon, Lavalette's wife and daughter, accompanied by the widow Du toit, who is seventy years old, and attached to the service of Mademoiselle Lavalette, were introduced at the same time by the gaoler, Roquette., into Lava lette's chamber, though the name of neither Made moiselle Lavalette, nor that of the widow Dutoit, was inserted in the list approved by the Attorney- General. Madame Laralette was carried to the Conciergerie in a chair, borne by one Guerin, called Marengo, her ordinary chairman, and by one Brigaut, a man sc lected for that day's service by Guerin, in the room of one Laporte, who usaally performed this service with him, but who happened at this time to be ill.— The chairmen generally had conveyed Madame La valette into the Court-yard of the Conciergerie, but on the 20th of Decenwer she got out in the Court yard of the Palace, and walked on foot towards the grate of the Conciergerie ; Benoit Bonneville, her valet, having told the chairman to stop, and that Madame fount herself sufficiently strong to walk the rest of the way. They accordingly turned the chair towards the Palace of Justice, but out of it was taken a cushion, coveted with green taffety, and a pretty large package of an irregular form, which seemed to contain bottles of vine. This package, as well as the cushion, and a wok bag which Ma dame Lavalette carried, were received into the prison, and taken into Lavalette's chamber, without undergoing the previous examination which the regulations of the Police re specting prisons always require in sitzril.r cases. Madame Lavalette, on arriving at the Coneier: genie, was clothed in a furred riding coat, of red Merino, and had upon her head a black hat, with various coloured feathers. She entered her husband's apartment, with her daughter and the widow Dutoit. The valet.de.chambre, Benoit, remained in the first apartment called the avant-greffe--he was seen near the fire-place during more than two hours. The chairmen had been received into the guard-room of the gendarmerie. At five o'clock Jacques Eberle, one of the wicket keepers of the Conciergerie, who had been specially appointed by the keeper of the prison, to the guard and service of Lavalette, took his dinner tohiin, of which Madame and Mademoiselle Lavalette and the widow Dutoit partook. After dinner, which lasted an hour, Eberle served up coffee, which he fetched from the coffee-house of the Palace, and left Lavalette's apartment with orders not to return till he was rung for. Roquette, the son, maintains, on the contrary, that, on quitting the chamber of Lavalette, he said that he had received orders not to wait till he was summoned into the apartment. , However. Benoit, who was in the seems of what was intended, and who saw the hour of execution ap.' proach, had left the avant-greffe to assure himself of the; chairmen. He found them at die guard-ro a n and invited them to come and drink with him. Guerin unnadiately acceded, but Brigaut would not Elf.— " Come along, comrade," said Benoit to him ; you need not take too much." Brigaut suffers himself to be persuaded. Benoit, by way of trying them, says, " Comrade, there are five and twenty Louis to be gained : you will be a little heavily loaded, and it will be necessary to go a little quick ; but you have only ten steps to make." " It is Monsieur Lavalette himself then that we aregoing to take," replies Brigaut. " You have nothing to do with that; only do what you are asked." Brigaut rejects the proposition, which Benoit urges, and repeats to him several times, " You are but half a man." Guerin, the other chair man, joined his entreaties, and said to Brigaut," What does it signify to you, since Monsieur assures you that there is nothing to fear ?" Brigaut wished to know exactly whom he had to carry. Benoit and Guerin constantly repeat' that it was indifferent to him, since be had nothing to fear, and that one ought to make a little money whew one could. At length, Brigaut wing hard pressed, and beginning to this* of whatl advantage it cedilla be to hi threw down the chair-staff, into'his hand, and, willow ran home as fast as he conk happened. Guerin, v.•ithont losing npon a coal•heaver, who with two of his comrades proposed to him to take the seconded him, and cif they now seven o'clock. Being ; palace, at the foot of the the Conciergerie, they foam open towards the gate of WAS the name of tiie coal-hi. gaut's place) saw no one enter, the b ac k part beirn,. assigned to aim ; and Guerin, taking the lead, tavei towards the grate of the paisce, and, after passed it, took to the right, and tolloTed the v:e i t of la Barillcrie. While Benoit and Gncrin were emtpilloeykeeiearseh4ats been stated, without, a scene of a different kind toes place within the Concierge: A short time aft er coffee, and towards seven o'clock, the bell rang fro=. Lavalette's chamber, intimating to his prisoner wanted s.-mebody. Roquette, the father, was at that moment near the fireplace wi t h El s e ; to whom he immediately gave orders to go i nto valette's chamber. He hears the keeper of the tvicl4: open the door which }cads to that chamber, and, a s he advanced to know what Laval.tte wanted, hese ts three persons dressed in female attire, who wefe lowed by Eberle, and who came in front of him i n the front lodge. The person whom he tout y et Madame Lawaletto was sitessed in a bleak imam, with a furred gown of red Merino : the had *i te gloves and a woman's neckhandkerchief on, a black hat with feather of different colours : in a word, she was in exactly the same dress as that in whirls M. dame Lavalette was first introduced to the apart!** of her husband. A white handkerchief covered ;b e face of this person, who bad the appearance of sob. bing ; and Mademoiselle Lavalette, who walked by the side, uttered the most lamentable cries. Ev e ry thing in that romantic scene presented the spectacle of a family given up to the feelings of a last adieu. The keeper melted, and deceived by the disguise, and scanty light of two lamps, had not the puwer, as he says, to take away the handkerchief, which concealed the features ut the disguised person; and, having neglected to perform this painful but nece,. nary duty, he presented his hand to the person, (as he had been used to do to Madame Lavalette),wl.em he conducted along with the two persons to the last wicket. Eberle then stepped forward, and ran to call Benoit, who arrived with the chairmen. Lava kite, under the habit of his wile, was already in the chair, which was immediately carried forward, fol lowed by Benoit, by Mademoiselle Lavalette, and the wilow Dutoit. Eberle, having at this moment per ceived a .other wicket-keeper, took him away . to drink, saying, at the same time, u It is sensetbing singular that those three persons never spoke a word to me." The chair and its suite went, according to the or. der of Benoit, of C'T•rerin, and Mademotsclle Lava- tette, to the middle of street la Barillerie, and, according to Chapy's account, whose evidence is net to be suspected, as far as the Quay des Orlevres, three or four homes beyond the street of St. Anne, where the chairmen were stepped by order of Benoit. The chair was opened, Lavalette tame out, and Cis. appeared, and was immediately streceeLled to his placs• by Mademoiselle Lavalette. Beafolt told the ctair man to turn towards the Abbaye a , .rc Bois. In the mean time, the keeper, Roquette, enters for the first time the chamber of Lavalette, where he sees no one, but hears somebody stirring behind the screen. He returns a second time, and calls: no one answers. He begins to fear some mischief, advances beyond the screen, and there recognizing Madame Lavalette, cries our, Ah ! Madame, you have deceived me." He wishes to run out, in order to give the alarm. Madame Lavalette catches hold of him, and holds • him by his coat sleeve—" Stay, Monsieur Roquette, stay." " No, Madame, this is not to be borne." A struggle ensues; the coat is torn ; Roquette rushes ou', calling for help, and informs his son of the escaie of the prisoner. Roquette,, the son, darts from the Conciergerie, where he meets, at the grate of the palace, Ebe.rl4 returning from drinking with Beaudiscar. He B ite: him orders to follow the chair by the street of la Bk. rillerie, himself announcing that he will take that of Jerusalem, in order to get ahead of the chairmen and stop their advance, and that they should meet again at the street of Jerusalem. Roquette does in effect take the street of Jerusalem ; at the bottom of which he overtakes the chair, and stops it; but on only findin7, Mademoiselle Lavalette in it, he returns with al speed to the Conciergerie. Scarcely had he quitted the chair, when Benoit, who continued to follow the chairmen, said, " It is very lucky that this has turned out so." As ft:: Ehes le, instead of executing the order which he had received from the younger Rognette, of pursnitig the chair by the street Barillerie, l; returned to the prison, and went to the chamber of Lavaktie, under the pretence of asiuring himself whether the laris,ntr really had escaped. In coming out, he sad to his comrades, with an affectation at zeal truly law -able, " There is still somebody shut up in the cell , and I'll take care that they. shan't cony.: out without proper orders." On saying, afterwards, that it was very easy to have distinguished Lavalette nom Lis wife, the latter being taller by half a heady and being asked why he had not made that observation sooner, he replied, It did not belong I make any observati•ins when the head et the depart ment was there." t o me to The charge states, thlt Eberle, being attached to Lavalette's service, as tee had b-21cre been to that of Ney, had received from Ipith pi isoners dive's sows of mosey under the head of gratuity. Eberle pre tends that what he had received of Lavalette oniy amounted to 100 francs ; but on the day of the escape, a search having taken place in his house l there was found the sum of 1,7 00 francs, which his wife had at first endeavoured to get away from the Commissioner of Police. It cannot be doubted but that the greater • part of that sum came from the bounty of Lavalette. [The accusation then proceeds to attach various other circumstantial proofs of the guilt of these par ties. Roquette, the father, a appears. endeavoured to 4a' qi Lhe guilt from biarica to Eberle; and the im and his family to yield, F, which Giturin ti•td po t t In entering the wire sho p , id to tell his wife what had ii a moment, cast hi, eyes happened to be drinki ng at the same place. Il e e staff of the chair. Benoit tt y immediately go. It Wa g arrived at the court of tko stair-case which leads to nd the chair, wi t h the dot," aIP the pris. n. Chapy (that heaver who had taker, F:7i. • 6$ •