The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-14 00:00:00

HORRIBLE CASE OF RAPE AND

MURDER IN FRANCE.

On Monday last the Court of As,izes at Toulouse
entered upon the trial of a case n hich has excited
the most painful sensation in that city and the
adjacent districts for miles round, and which pro-
mises to be one of the most extraordinary ever taken
cognizance of by any tribunal. This interest, painful
and appalling though it be, exists not only in the
circumstances of the crime itself, but also in the
manner in which it was brought home to the indi-
vidual charged with its perpetration. For, although
we have not received the result of this judicial in-
quiry, there can be no doubt that the person accused
of the deed will be found guilty by the jury ; and it
is most probable that their verdict will have been
delivered before this narrative appears in print. The
victim of the double crime of rape and murder was a
young female of fifteen, named Cecile Combettes ;
and the accused is a priest, named Leotade (otherwise
Louis Bonafons), belonging to the brotherhood of the
Christian Doctrine at Toulouse.
We must preface our recital by stating that the
establishment occupied by the brotherhood is called
the Community, and consists of two large houses and
several 'smaller buildings, having vast court-yards
and gardens attached to them, and overlooking the
Rue Rignet (Rignet-street). Separated by a wall
from the principal garden, is the Cemetery of Saint
Aubyn ; and forming the boundary of another side
of the garden, is a row of out-houses, consisting of
stables, cow-sheds, granaries, and a sort of barn,
where provender for the cattle is kept. These few
particulars must be kept in view in order to render
the ensuing narrative completely intelligible.
Cecile Combettes was the daughter of humble but
honest and industrious parents, dwelling in the city
of Toulouse. She was apprenticed in April, 1846,
to M. Conte, a bookbinder, and would have finished
her period of service in the same month of the year
1647—that is to say a few days after the one on
which the deplorable catastrophe occurred that de-
prived her of life. As stated above, she was only
fifteen years old ; and we may add that she was short
for her age, but well formed, and graceful in her de-
portment. Her countenance, if not positively beau-
tiful, was pleasing ; her hair of Chesnut colour and
luxuriant ; her eyes of dark brown, and modest in
expression ; her lips of a rich red ; and her teeth
exquisitely white and even. The feet and hands were
small even to a fault ; and on Sundays or holidays she
was always remarkable for the neatness of her attire,
which was in the best possible taste for her social posi-
tion. Her disposition was amiable, her principles
virtuous ; and she was beloved by all who knew her.
We now come to the history of the crime itself.
On the 16th of April, 1847, at half-past six o'clock
in the morning, a person named Raspand entered the
Cemetery of Saint Aubyn, accompanied by Leveque
(the porter of the burial-ground), and a M. Laroque
(a carpenter of Toulouse). They were proceeding
towards the chapel, the door of which faces the wall
separating the cemetery from the garden of the Com-
munity of the Christian Doctrine, when they beheld
the body of a female at a little distance ; indeed,
within a few paces of the wall itself. The body was
lying with its face downward, and in a position which
seemed as if the female had knelt down first, and then
fallen forward until the elbows touched the ground.
Raspand moved the corpse in the least degree so as to
obtain a view of the countenance! when the features
of Cecile Combettes were instantly recognised by
himself and his companions. An alarm was raised;
and in due time the Judge of Instruction, the Com-
missary of Police, and other authorities were upon
the spot.
A strict, laborious, and skilfully conducted investi-
gation now commenced. The first question that
arose was—had the body been brought thither, and
there deposited in the position in which it was found ?
A variety of circumstances, fully detailed in the vo-
luminous indictment from which this narrative is
abridged, forbade that hypothesis ; and other circum-
stances, each infinitesimally minute in itself, but
admirably combined by the keenness and shrewdness
of the authorities, established the fact that the body
had been thrown over the wall from the garden of the
Community. The authorities accordingly entered
the grounds belonging to that monastic establish-
ment ' • and, on examining that portion of the garden
which was just behind the part of the wall where the
body was supposed to have been thrown over into the
cemetery, they found two distinct marks, or rather
holes, formed by the lower extremities of a ladder.
There were several ladders in the Community ; and
all were immediately examined; but only one out of
the number fitted the exact position of the holes. All
these circumstances proved that the corpse of Cecile
Combettes had been thrown from the Community
garden into the cemetery; and as, in the meantime,
the medical man had discovered that the victim had
been murdered by repeated blows on the head, after
being previously violated, it now remained to detect
and mark out the criminal from amidst the numerous
ecclesiastics, novices, and their retainers, dwelling in
the Community.
About the garments of the murdered girl, had
been discovered two or three pieces of hay or straw :
this fact led to an examination of the barn where the
provender for the cattle was kept ; and there the au-
thorities found ample proofs to convince them that
this out-house had been the theatre alike of the rape
and the murder. The medical inquest had shown
that there were some stains on the linen of the de-
ceased, corresponding in appearance with some found
on other linen in the laundry of the Brotherhood. Now
the authorities fancied that they had found a clue to
the murderer; and, indeed, after a great deal of
trouble, they succeeded in ascertaining that the shirt
just alluded to had been worn by Brother Leotade, a
member of the Community, and aged 35. The ma-
gistrates next visited the:dormitories ; and they dis-
covered that the only one from which the occupant
might let himself out into the gardens by night, was
that tenanted by Brother Leotade. Other circum-
stances, trivial when viewed separately, but important
when taken as a whole, increased the weight of sns-
picion already attached to that ecclesiastic; and the
authorities pursuing their investigation, learnt
that he had been seen in the corridor of the
establishment, on the evening of the 15th of
April, 184 T, in company with Cecile Combettes.
It then appeared that M. Conte, the girl's master,
was in the habit of binding books for the brethren,
and that Cecile had been sent for, on the evening in
question, to receive an order from Brother Leotade.
The magistrate next proceeded to inquire into the
pursuits of the accused on the same day when the
murder was discovered ; and it appeared that he went
out at an early hour, immediately after a rumour had
been circulated in the community that the body of a
female had just been found in the cemetery, and be-
fore it was known in that establishment who the
victim was. Nevertheless, Leotade is proved to have
visited M. Conte, and to have said to Madame Conte,
her husband being absent, " Who is this girl of whose
murder they are talking ? Did she belong to your
workshop ?' From Conte's dwelling, Leotade pro-
ceeded direct to a confectioner named Lajus, and to
him he said, " This Conte is a bad man ? If I had
known the history of his former life, he never should
have bound any books for us ;" and the ecclesiastic
then threw out certain inuendoes to the effect that
Conte himself had murdered the girl,—adding, " Of
course, no one can say positively that it was he;
but --"

Now, it was proved that, so far from brother Leo.
tade having, as he would have had M. Laj us infer,
discovered certain scandalous particulars regarding
Conte's early life, the fact was, that the priest had
always known them, and had forgiven him for those
transgressions. The matters referred to were the
seduction by Conte of his own sister- in-law, and his
cruel treatment towards her father; but the man had
repented of his misdeeds, had been pardoned by the
Community, and for some years past had led a moral,
upright, and honest life. Thus the affected ignorance
of Leotade respecting those affairs, and his pretence
to have learnt them for the first time on that memo-
rable morning, together with his anxiety to make
them a ground for throwing upon Conte the suspicion
of the murder—and all this, when, had he been really
innocent, he could not have known thatthe victim Was
one of Conte's apprentices at all—only tended to
make the case look darker against him. He was ac-
cordingly arrested; and when questioned relative to
the shirt, his remarks to Madame Conte, his conversa-
tion with M. Lajus, and other suspicious matters, he
gave such contradictory answers, and uttered so many
falsehoods, that
.the Judge of Instruction eventually
committed him for trial.

Such is the brief narrative of this romantic, but
dreadful affair. The general belief has been hitherto,
that Leotade must have enticed the girl to accompany
him from the corridor, where they were seen to-
gether, into the gardens, in order to Visit the rabbits
in one of the stables—that he allured her into the barn,
and there perpetrated the double crime of violation.
and murder—and that, leaving the corpse in the ore
house until the middle of the night, he stole out 4"nis
room, and by means of the ladder, threw tlre body
into the cemetery,,,where it was discovered.

In consequencelof the delays which Lo otade has
himself aided to interpose, by putting in
9.orce all the
forms of the criminal tribunal for the purpose, the
trial has stood over until Mondry last,
t on which day,
as above stated, it commenced at TrJu'iouse. The in-
dictment, from which NVQt have taken 'this narrative, is
most voluminous, and forms a iarrse octavo volume ;
it is moreover illustrated with (Vag' cams descriptive of
all the localities mentioned in the 'amentable history,
The court has been greatlycowded during the
trial, and thousands have been unable to catch a
glimpse of the cribllnal.—Dispatei C.

A n
ut fa a
cgt uerneerrs.boners'earnadrdi:sapilarli
osfoct
Society, la
on Tuesday evening, Mr. John Die kinson, the eminent
paper-manufacturer, was unanimou a ly elected president
m aa) Provident meeting
of the society, in the ruom of Sir amen Williams, the
late president, deceased.