The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-18 00:00:00

THE MURDER BY A PRIEST IN

FRANCE.
ASSIZES OF THE HAUTE GARONNE.

1 After the opening of the case by the Procureur.
General, in which he brought forward the leading
points of the act of accusation, and enlarged upon
those which apperei to him to bear hard upon the
prisoner (Brother Leotade), the President proceeded
to the interrogation of Leotade. He was first asked
if he had been acquainted with Cecile Combettes.
the deceased. lie replied in the negative. The President
then asked how it was that, if he was not acquainted
with Cecile Combettes as being the apprentice girl of
Conte. the bookbinder, he had on one occasion, when
he took a memorandum-book to Coate to be bound, de
sired that it might, when finished, be sent home by to
petite? The prisoner replied that he had no recollection ol
having said anything of the kind. He was next interro
gated as to the way in which he had employed his
time on the 15th of April, the day when Cecile Corn
bettes was last aeon alive. He entered into a detailed
account of his proceedings, which was in some parts
in contradiction with what he had stated on his ex-
amination by the examining magistrate, and when
these were pointed out to him by the President, he
replied that he bad been so tortured by the examinations
in question, and by being kept in solitary confinement,
that it was not extraordinary that he should have been
so confused as hardly to know on some points what he
said. The President took occasion to remark to him
when he talked of solitary confinement, that there was
reason to believe that he was in communication with his
Director, and enjoyed many facilities and advantages
which tended to show that he was not in so solitary
and abandoned a position as he wished to make the
Court believe. Leotade declared that he had held
no communication with his Director, except to ask for
some little necessaries, and to know .' he might be
permitted to receive the sacrament. The President
asked him whether ho had not teat se eta to the Direc-
tor that he was very uneasy at the id, » of the injury
which might be caused to the community by what tee
occurred to himself, lie replied that he had no re-
collection of having done anything of the kind. Some
questions were then put to Leotade respecting a letter
of conscience which he had sent to the, superior or
director-general of his order. The object'of this ques-
tion seemed to be to convey a belief that Leotade had
been making efforts to induce the heads of the commu-
nity to use their influence to screen him from justice.
The prisoner replied that the letter of conscience was
expected from every brother, and Ives part of their
regular duty. Some contradictions in the answers of
the prisoner to the questions put to him by the examin-
ing magistrate respecting the clothes which he wore
on the day when Cecile Combettes was murdered were
next pointed out. The important fact developed by this
part of the proceedings, however, was that the velveteen
breeches of the prisoner were stained with blood, which
he explained by stating that he had a discharge of
blood from hemorrhoids, with which he said he was
affected; but it did not appear that he had made
any communication of this fact to the surgeon
of the establishment, although l;e pretended that
he had done so. He was next questioned as to the rab-
bits kept in the establishment, and which he was in the
habit of attending to. He was asked whether he had
not given some of these rabbits to Canto, although
they belonged to the community. He admitted that
he had, but stated that it was understood that they
were to be paid for, and that ho would account to
the community for the rabbits. He was asked
whether ho had told Cecile Combettes that he would
give her some rabbits, to which he replied in the nega-
tive. The object of this interrogation was evidently to
lend to a part of the system of the accusation which
would show that whilst Cecile Combettes was waitingin
the corridor for her she was invited by Leotade
to go and see his rabbits, which would easily account for
the readiness with whieh she must hate accompanied
him from the corridor to the part of the building where
she was violated and killed. Some questions were
next put to Leotado respecting the shirt alluded to in
the act of accusation. He persisted in declaring posi-
tively that ho had not changed his shirt, and there
fore that it was impossible for the soiled shirt found
in the room where the foul linen was kept to have
belonged to him. The rest of the interrogatories in
the sitting of the Bth turned chiefly upon the proceed-
ings and conversatiens of the prisoner after the body
had beers discovered. His visit to Mine. Conte and his
conversation with her, his conversation with a person
named Lajus, in which he alluded to Conte as likely to
have committed the crime, and other circumstances,
were brought before him. His answers were nearly the
same as those which ho had given to the examining
magistrates. lie denied everything which could
appear to establish a ground of euspicion of his
own guilt. On the 3.h, the first witness called was
Respand, the grave digger of the burial-ground, nhu
discovered the body of Cecile Combettes lying against
the wall. This witness, and some other persons who
carne to his assistance after the. discovery was made,
deposed as to the condition of the body. Some hilarity
was produced in court. notwithstanding the solemnity
of the affair, by ono of the witnesses, named Leveque,
having claimed the priority of the discovery. He
declared that ho, and not Raspand, was the first to see
the body, and he appeared quite indignant that Ras-
pand should assume the priority. M. Lamarle, the
commissary of police, who went to the spot as soon us
he was apprised of the discovery of the body, gave a
minute account of the circumstances connected with the
first proceedings. The hilarity produced by the wit-
ness Leveque was much increased by M. Lamarle. The
President having desired him to give an account to the
court of what ho had remarked, and what he had not
remarked, he replied that it would be a difficult thing
to tell the court what he had not remarked. The
counsel for the defence put several questions to M. La-
marle, with a view to obtain from him an admission that
the body of Cecile Combettes might have been brought
to the place where it was found, from the outside of the
burial-ground, tied not not from tho establishment of
the Freres. The evidence of M. Lamarle, however,
clearly tended to show that the body had been
thrown over the wall by some person of the es-
tablishment. M. Auinont, another commissary of
police, stated that he had been ordered by the Juge d'ln-
struction to investigate the circumstances connected with
the murder. He had begun by inquiring diligently as to
whether Cecile Combettes heel been seen in Toulouse
after the hour when she went to the establishment of
the Freres with her master to deliver books. Nobody
had seen her. He had also examined tho ladders and the
walls of the establishment. One of them filled the marks
which had been found on the earth at the spot where the
murderer was supposed to place it to enable him to
reach the top of the wall. He had searched for the
breeches and the drawers worn by Leotade at the time
when the catastrophe occurred. flo found the former,
but could obtain no trace of the latter. M. Lafont, an
architect, leid before the court a ground plan of the
premises, and M. Lexard produced a plan in relief. The
next witness examined was M. Estevenet, a physician
and surgeon. He gave a description of the dead
body from which it appeared that the head had been
as if with a stone, or wooden
fractured in several places,
shoe, or some other blunt instrument. In the hair were
fragments of stone, earth, see., which appeared to have
been detached from the wall, and upon the wall itself
above the body there were marks indicating that some-
thing had passed over it, and torn a portion away. It
was quite evident to the witness that the body had not
been brought from the Rue Riquet which adjoins the
burial ground, for there were obstacles in the way which
must have been deranged if such had been the case, but
which had not been touched. Near the wall in the in-
terior of the establishment of the Freres there were
marks, which indicated that somebody had been passing;
there were plants which had been trodden upon, and one
had been quite torn up. In the hair of the deceased was
a fragment of a geranium, and near the wall, over which
the body must have been thrown, there were geraniums
growing. There was also on the body portions of an-
other plant, which was growing in the garden of the
establishment, and over which probably the body had
been dragged. This witness deposed to the traces of
violation alluded to in the act of accusation, and to the
fact of the faecal discharge. He stated that the contents
of the stomach had been examined in order to arrive at
a knowledge of the time when the murder Wag Committed.
His opinion, and that of the persons who assisted him in
the examination was, from the state of the
undigested
aliments, that life had ceased about three hours after
the victim had last eaten. It will be remembered
that Cecil Combettes arrived at the establishment of the
Freres at about nine in the morning, and that she break-
fasted a short time before she left her master's house.
Dr. Estevenet then gave an account of a visit which he
paid to the garden of the establishment of the Freres on
the 16th of April, after the murder. He had with him
one of the Freres on one side, and Leotade on the other.
On seeing foot-marks, Leotade said that it was probably
noes autres fares who had made the marks on going
near the wall with the gardener.
Leotade, on being asked what ho had to say to this
part of the deposition, denied that he had been in the
garden on the 16th—on the 17th he might have been
there.
Dr. Estevenet said he would not speak positively as
to the day.
Leotade said he bad no recollection of having made the
remark mentioned by the witness, but it might be true.
Dr. Estevenet was then asked if Leotade had made
any remark to him about his shirt, as he pretended to
have done?
The witness replied that be had no recollection of his
having done so.
The President asked Leotade if he persisted in saying
to the doctor that he had not changed his shirt?
He replied, aes; my breeches were torn, and M. FAO_
vent said to me, " fou are very poor," on whieh I re-
plied, I have not even changed my flirt.
M. Gaussail, another medical man, gave evidence as
to the violation and murder similar to that of M. Este-
venet. The previous virginity of the deceased was
paired by the statement of this as well as the other
medical examiner.
M. Ressaire, another physician and surgeon, who
ex-
amined the body of Cecile eimbettes, corroborated the
evidence of Messrs. Estevenet and Gaussail, as to the
state of the body and the cause of death.
This closed the proceedings of the third day.
At the sitting of the 10th, medical evidence was
adduced to show that the excremental matter found on
the body of deceased, was of a nature similar to that