The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-18 00:00:00

THE GUILLOTINE AT BAYONNE.

An " OCCAtliOnt4l Correspondent " of The Times at Bayonne,
under date April 9, gives the following account of a dreadful
tragedy :
• • ..

The AlleesMadines. just outside the wails of Bayonne,
form perhaps one of the most agreeable and picturesque
promenades to be found in the suburbs of any town of
the same extent. . . . The Allees Marines, which
begin at the corner of the glacis close to the casemate
of the town, are the favourite resort of the Bayonne
people on Sundays and holydays, and the last place
one would suppose to be chosen as the scene of an

atrocious crime:

About two o'clock on the 21st of October of the year
before last the discovery of a horrible crime, perpe-
trated under circumstances of extraordinary audacity
and cruelty, produced the most intense excitement, and
spread terror among the population of Bayonne. A
person of inoffensive and regular habits, wealthy and
generous, residing at a quarter of an hour's distance
outside the town, was found y murdered at the
entrance of the All6es Marineli far from his own

residence, hardly a hundred yards from the guardhouse
of the casemate, and the posts of the Custom-house
and Octroi. A pool of blood at the foot of the
palisade which forms the enelosure of the garden of a
gentleman, a well-known resident, marked the precise
spot where the unfortunate gentleman, whose name
was Bausch, was struck down. The palisade was
splashed all over with blood, and in the garden, under
a clump of evergreens, the body was soon discovered.
It was horribly mutilated; the head was all but
severed from the trunk; and it was evident that the
horrible wound had been made with a long broad knife,
sharpened like a razor, after the victim had been
thrown on the ground, the head forced back, and the
cries at once stifled by the pressure of two handker-
chiefs tightly knotted round the throat. There were
several wounds on the top of the head and on the
back; and the hands, covered with clay and blood,
and torn in several places, showed that the resist-
ance of the victim, though he could not cry out,
must have been desperate for the short time Blasted. The
only clothing the body had on when discovered con-
sisted of a shirt and pantaloons. The overcoat and
vest hash been torn off it, and were found some paces
distant under the trees ; the waiscoat was still hang-
ing in shreds on the right arm; the hat WM nowhere
to be found. The pockets of the pantaloons were
turned inside out, and empty. A gold chronometer,
with its chain and seals of the same metal, which
Bausch used to wear, a small lucifer-match case also
of gold, two purses of silver filigree the bunch of keys
of his press, his latchkey, and the key of his apart-
ment, had disappeared. Robbery was the motive for
the crime, and the murderers evidently intended
to let themselves into his apartment, which he
occupied alone and possess themselves of articles
of considerable value which they must have
known to be there. Bausch was unmarried, and
the apartment which he occupied at a short distance
from the spot of the murder was on the ground floor;
but it is supposed that a light in the window of a
lodger on the first floor deterred them from carrying
their object into effect. His habits must have been
well known. He almost invariably spent an hour or
two belore bedtime in a cafe in Bayonne, playing
dornitn.es or cards with an acquaintance, and as regu-
larly returned home at ten or half-past ten o'clock.
Bausch had lived many years in Havannah, where he
carried on the business of a jeweller, and it was sup-
posed he had acquired a considerable fortune; he had
been settled for some time in Bayonne, and his purse
was ever open for the relief of the Spanish refugees
who from time to time are very numerous in these
parts.
_ - • -

The first step taken by the police was to send infor-
mation of the crime to the authorities of San Sebastin,
with the request to make careful inquiries among the
jewellers of that place. It was soon ascertained that
two Spaniards had in effect offered for sale to two
watchmakers of that town a gold chronometer of
English snake, a chain, and two silver purses. The
watchmakers, suspecting that these articles had not
been honestly come by, declined purchasing. They
were then offered to a third, who accepted them at the
price of 120 dollars, or about £2l, but insisted, before
paying the money, on. getting a receipt, which was
given after same hesitation. As this was done on the
22nd, it was evident that the murderers had lost not a
moment after the crime in setting out for the frontier.
They were actually in San Sebastin before the body of
their victim was discovered iu Bayonne.
For some time the researches of the Bayonne police
were fruitless. Several persons were suspected, but,
it soon appeared: witikout any just ground. One man
who had been intimate for years with Raush, and
who bad left for Paris some time before the muAder,
was arrested in that capital and brought dovds to
Bayonne under safe escort. After close examination
it was shown beyond all doubt that he had not ceased
to live in Paris or its neighbourhood from the moment
of his leaving Bayonne, and, after a short detention,
he too was set at liberty. It was owing to accident
that the real criminals were detected.
A Spaniard named Lahoz, who had resided with his
wife for some years in this town, was on friendly rela-
tions with another Spanish family named Bailuerfis,
consisting of the father, Balbino Balluelos, and his two
sons, Pedro and Agostino who carried on the business
of shoemakers, assisted Agostino,
another Spaniard named
Cosmo Correas, who bearded and lodged with them.
On the evening of the 21st October Lahoz was invited
to sup with the Bafinelos family, and to his surprise
Correaa was not present at the meal. He asked where
he was; Bafinelos, the father, replied, with visible
embarrassment, that he had left the night before, and
that he did not know where he had gone. Lahoz
made no remark, but he was struck by the coinci-
dence of the departure of the workman with the
crime committed in the Allees Marines. He men-
tioned his fillAl,iCiolll/ to his mother the same night, and
some days afterwards to Pedro am! Agostino, the
former of whom became livid, and said, "Don't talk
so; you are crazy." The father, to whom the sons re-
peated what Lahoz said, went at once to the house of
the latter, but did not find him. The mother of Lahoz
observed that he was in a state of great excitement.
Information was given to the police, and the father, Bal.
bins Bafiuelos, and his two sons were arrested. They at
first denied their guilt, but the evidence was too strong
against them, and, after long and patient inquiry, and
a variety of circumstances too numerous to mention,
Bafiuelos and his two sons, and their journeyman,
Correas, were transferred to Pau, the chief town ot
the Department, to await their trial at the Assizes
for the murder of Bausch. The trial began on the
6th and concluded on the Bth of February last. The
jury, after a careful surnming-up by the presiding
Juage, retired to consider their verdict at half-past
eleven, and remained for three hours in deliberation.
They returned into court at half-past two in the morn-
ing, and delivered their verdict. A Spanish woman
named Dolores, who had been charged as an accomplice
in the crime was acquitted and immediately discharged.
Correas, the principal actor in the crime, was declared
guilty without any mitigating circumstances ; the jury
brought in the same verdict on certain counts, but
not on all, against Bailuelos, the father; and the
two sons of Bafiuelos, Who had acted under his in-
fluence, were found guilty, with extenuating circum-
stances. Cosmo Correas addressed a few words to the
Court. He said "lie knew that he was about to be
sentenced to death, but he had no fear; It little mat-
tered to him whether he died a day sooner or a day
later—his life had been a sad one; but he persisted
that he was innocent. Balbino Bafiuelos, the father,
stood up with his hands clasped together and his lips
trembling, but said not a word.
The Judges retired for half an hour, and on their re-
tarn sentences! to death Cosmo Cerreas and Balbino
Baimelos, and fixed a public place at Bayonne as the
place of execution. Extenuating circumstances were,
as I have said, found for Pedro Bafiuelos, who was
sentenced to 20 years' hard labour, and for his brother
Agostino, who has 10 years' imprisonment. Correas
made the sign of the Cross as a mark of astonishment,
, and only said, " Gracios " Balbino Bafiuelos was
utterly prostrated. His son Pedro was furious. He
asked why he was not 'sentenced to 40 years' instead of
20, and cried out that the French laws were only severe
against Spaniards. The Court informed them all that
the law allowed them three days to appeal. They were
then handcuffed and led away by the gendarmes.
The appeal on behalf of the whole party was is due
course transmitted to the Superior Court, and, after
careful deliberation, rejected, with the only change
that the sentence of death against old Bafmelos was
commuted into hard labour for life. The rest of the
sentence was confirmed, and the execution of Correas
was ordered as prenounced by the Court of Assize.
The guillotine sent down from Paris reached here on
Monday evening, and was delivered over to the execu-
tioner Rush, known in Paris as "Monsieur de Paris,"
who arrived with his three assistants from Bordeaux
at half-past six on Wednesday, morning. The impres-
sion produced among the population by this announce-
ment was deep and painful. Bayonne is proud of its
device, " Nunquam Polinta ;" and it certainly has
been singularly free from the sort of pollution implied
in the presence among them of the hideous instru-
ment, which has not been seen here since the Reign
of Terror which began in October, 1793, and ended
in April the following yea:, when sixty persons were
put to death. I myself witnessed one execution,
now near thirty years ago, on the glade of the town,
but it was the military execution of a soldier,
who, pursuant to sentence of Court-Martial, was
shot for the murder of the tailor of his regiment.
The execution of a civilian dates back to 1748, and
Ile, also, was a Spaniard, by name Morante. He
was hanged in the public square, Place Notre Dame,
for murdering one of his countrymen. Comas ar-
rived from Paris on Tuesday night, under proper
escort. He seemed to have 'had strong hopes—why,
it is mot easy to understand—of having his sentence
commuted, though his appeal against it had been
rejected, and he seemed confident and elated. When
, the fatal news came that there was no chance of
, escape, and that the law must take its course, he
• became quite prostrated •, he refused all food, of the
, very sight of which he had a horror, and when he
3 arrived here he appeared more dead than alive. He
• did not, however, refuse spiritual consolation, and

the chaplain of the prison passed the night near
him, and hardly quitted him until all was over.
It was half-past two when the executioner Bach and
his assistants appeared on the spot chosen as the place
of execution. The instrument now in use is, it appears,
much less clumsy than the one which was burnt in
Paris in the revolution of 1870 by the same men who
had clamoured for the abolition of the penalty of death,
and who not long after proved their love of humanity
by shooting the " hostages." The platform is but very
slightly raised from the ground, and the whole ma-
, chine occupies but a small space. In a short time
all was completed. Though the belief was general
that the execution would be carried out within the
walla, yet the change of purpose soon got abroad, and so
early as four o'clock in the morning groups began to
assemble: and before six there could hardly have been
fewer than 8,000 people on the spot. The glacis is
quite close to the fortifications, and every one and
everything that passes may be distinctly seen from the
houses which line that part of the ramparts. The
crowd was swelled by people from Little Bayonne on
the other side of the river ; from St. Esprit on the
other side of the Adour ; and even the more distant
heights of St. Etienne contributed their quota to wit-
ness a ;spectacle at once terrible and novel to them.
At an early hour the ground was ovmpied by a
battalion of a 'regiment of the Line ; a troop of
mounted chasseurs, and a detachment of artillery
from the Camp, which is close at hand. As the
Cathedral clock was striking seven, the carriage in
which were the condemned man, his guard, and the
chaplain, issued from the gate called the Porte
d'Espagne, and in a few minutes reached the glacis.
The unhappy man, who seemed hardly able to move,
was attended by two priests, and one of the Ca-
puchin Fathers from the Spanish Convent in the
Quartier Lachepaillet. He knel down, signified con-
trition, and received the absolution of the priest, em-
braced him and other spiritual attendants, • kissed
repeatedly the crucifix, which was constantly held up
before him, and proceeded to the fatal spot. On catch-
ing sight of the guillotine he recoiled a few steps and
tottered. He was helped forward, and without any
show of resistance was placed in the hands of the exe-
cutioner and his assistants. In a few minutes all was
over. The troops marched back to their respective
quarters, the spectators retired from the ramparts, and
the crowd gradually dispersed, though many lingered
for more than an hour on the spot where the guillotine
had been so speedily set up and from which it had still
more speedily disapueared. . . .