The Express.
London, England, 1861-03-05 00:00:00

SCANDALOUS CASE OF ABDUCTION BY

A FRENCH PRIAST.

___•___
TWO JEWISH GIRLS SEDUCED UNDER PRE•
TENCE OF CONVERTING THEM.

A case which has excited great interest in the
north of France has for the last four days occupied the
Court of Assizes du Nord, sitting at Doosi—the trial of •
certain Abbe Mallet, 54 years of age, a canon of the
cathedral of Cambrai, on the charge of the abduction of
two girls under age. The indictment set forth these facts
A German Jew, of the name of Bluth, who in 1849 was
schoolmaster at Sarrelonie, in Prussia, and Lad a wife and
nine children, sent his eldest daughter, Anna by name,
to Paris, to get employment as • governess. The
pension to whom she was recommended intro-
duced her to the Abbe Batisbonne, a converted
Jew, chief of • religious establishment called
Notre-Dame de Sion, the principal object of which
is to procure the conversion of Israelites. In a short time
Anna Bluth was converted to Christianity, and baptised by
the name of Marie.Siooa. She summoned her second sister,
whose name was Minch/in, to Paris, and that girl was also
converted, and baptised by the name of Gabriella In
June, 1848, Bluth himself came to Paris to see his two
daughters, and as the terrible insurrection was at that
time raging, he was received into the convent of the Abbe
Ratisbonne. Though he remained there only • week,
he was converted, baptised, confirmed, and bad the
sacrament administered to him. His change of faith
necessitated his resignation of the place of Jewish school-
master at Sarrelonis, and he took up his middies at Paris,
causing his wife sod his other children to join him. In a
short time three other of his daughters were baptised and
admitted into the convent of the Abb6 Ratisboone. The
eldest daughter, Siena, for whom the place of governess in
the family of • gentleman named de Mangoval, in the envi-
rons of Cambrai, had been obtained, had become acquainted
with the Abbe Mallet, of that city, and he, at her
request, sent for her brother Adolphe, then twenty-five
years of age, and placed Lim in the house of the
apostolical missions of Cambrai. Three mouths after the
young man was a Roman catholic. Thus the father and
six children had gone over to the Christian religion ; but
Mdme. Bluth remained firm to the faith of her fathers, mad
was much grieved at the conversion of her children, espe-
cially of Adolphe. Having learned that Siena contemplated
making the three youngest children Christians, she carried
them off to Loudon, and was there iutroduceil to a wealthy
Jewish family named Lewin, sod to the grand rabbi. Those
persons manifested great interest in her, and the Lewin'
undertook to take charge of one of the children, a girl named
Elizabeth. Bluth, on his part, on being abandoned by
his wife, went to Cambnu with his girls, and with
them was received for a time into the house of the Abbe
Mallet. The young man Adolphe was employed as professor
of English and German in an ecclesiastical college at Limed,
and a mercery shoji at Candied was bought for the daughter
Gabrielle. In lso4, at the iustigation of the cacon, Bluth
made a formal demand on his wife at London to give up to
him his daughter Elisabeth, and Adolphe was sent to that
city to present it, the abbe supplying funds for the journey.
Shortly after Mr. Lewin himself brought the girl to France
and gave her up to the father. Some time later, after •
long correspondence with her husband, Mdme. Bluth
thought right to )'in him with the other two children at
Cambrai. This was in 1854, and one of the children, a
boy, was and to an ecclesiastical college at Valenciennes,
whilst Elizabeth was placed in the convent of Bernardines
at Cambrai. About that time unfavourable rumours were
spread as to the einnexion between the eldest daughter
810011 and the Abbe Mallet (she having joined the rest of
the family in his house), and two other daughters, Gabri-
elle and Louise, complained to their mother that he was
too free in his manners with them. In consequence,
Mdme. Bluth left Cambria' for Paris, and was there joined
by her husband. The couple then exideavoural to get
back their children, and after a while Adolphe and Louise
joined them. But according to the indictment the Abbe
Mallet then employed all his efforts to remove this
girl from her parents and eventually succeeded in doing so.
Thus at the beginning of 18:4 Louie', who was not then
21 years of age, suddenly dieeppeared, and for two yens
and a half they could not learn what had become of her,
when all at once she returned home. She then said that
when in the latter part of let i 5 she had joined them, the
Abbe Ratiabonne had recommended her to fly from them
if she beard a word said against the Christian religion;
that having determined to leave them she went to a lady in
the Rue de Bas, to whom she had been told to apply ; that
the abbe there joined her, sod took her to a house in the
Rue Dumuiv-Trouin. There,24 hours after, the Abbe Mallet
came to her ; be was, she said, disguised in a large cloak,
• hat and a wig. He conveyed tier in a vehicle to St.
Denis, where they took the railway to Caml,rsi. On the
way he kissed her several times, told her that she was •
saint and a heroine, and spoke ill of her mother. At Cam-
bial she found her sister Siena, who took her to the con-
vent of the Sainte-Uidon at Douai. From that establish-
ment she was conveyed to a convent at Kaiu, near Touniai,
in Belgium, and there she remained several months. The
Abbe Mallet visited her several times, and repeated at-
tempts were made to induce her to become a nun, but she
refused to take the veil. She, after • while, left the con-
vent, and returned to that of the Abbe Itatisbooneat Paris.
As she again refused to become a nun, a place as ahopwoman
was procured for her at Arms, but afters, while she returned
to her parents. Such was the alleged abduction of one of
the two girls. On her disappearance the parents insisted
on having their son Louis, who was in the ecclesiastical col-
lege at Velenciennes, given up to them. and this was done.
They also demanded that Elizabeth, who, ashes been stated,
was in the convent of the Bernardines at Cambrai, end was
then under sixteen, should likewise be restored to them.
But it was not until 1880 that, in spite of the most
active researches, they could discover where she
was, and thou they found her iu a lunatic my-
lum at Douai ; nor would they have discovered
her then unless the public authorities had assisted them.
It was afterwards ascertained that in May, ISifi, a few days
after the boy Louis was given up, Simla bad removed her
sister from the emend at Cambrai, and had taken her to
Abbe Crombes, Apostolic missionaiy, who gave them his
blessing, then to the Abbe Vallee, N' icanGeneral, and then
to the Canon Mallet. After stopping some little time
with the latter they took leave of him, and he em-
braced Elizabeth, saying: "Obey your eider, and you will
be happy ! Above all, be courageous. If by chance you
meet your parents, do not be afraid. The Jews can do
nothing against you, for we are as cunning as
they are r. From Cambrai Sims took the girl to Douai,
and she was there placed in a convent of the Sainte• Union.
She remained there some time, and the Abbe's Mallet,
Cromber, and Vallee paid for her board. Her parents
having inquired after her in that town, she was, in order to
be kept out of their reach, sent in are of a man to a con-
vent at Ans, near Liege, in Belgium, and her name
was changed to that of Henrietta Legrand. The Abbe
Mallet visited her there several times, as he had done
at Douai, and to prevent her parents from finding her,
he made her write a letter dated from Jerusalem,
saying that she was in that city ; sud to leave no I
doubt that the letter really came from Jenuialem,
had it posted at Alexandria, in Egypt, by the Abbe Bans-