The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-15 00:00:00

LO V.?, URI? kl?. AND 2:TEMPTED

SUICIDE.

-_____v_

The following' is a condensed report of one of the most
romantic an extraordinary cases of murder and attempted
suicide thatilas ever happened in Paris. It is oiler all
simply an affair of two lovers agreeing to the together—a
catastrophe so common in France as to be in itself scarcely
worth recording. But the circumstances of this case are
so remarkable, so " thoroughly French," and afford so
much food for the moralist, the student of comparative
jurisprudence, and above all for the student of the problem
of death and its terrors, as to stand forth distinguished
from other causes celebres in the like category. The lever
who killed his mistress, and beyond all doubt intended
to kill himself, is Corporal Rouard, of the Gth Regiment
of the line. He was a well-conducted and intelligent
soldier, and his education was so far above the common
level, that he had filled the office of librarian to his reg,-
ment. his age is 27. At the end of last year, his seven
years' term of service having expired, he voluntarily deter-
mined to serve for another term, and received the re-enli::-
mout of 1,000 f., \Thieh in his case, as in that of many
others, has teen in point of fact a curse instead of a Lenelit
t) the rrci,:,irnt„r'ufflce it to say that Rouard, like tco
many others, finding himself in possession of a sum of money
such as he never saw before, and never could hope to see
again, determined, as an English soldier in like case would
be apt to do, to " knock out life" with it as long as it lasted,
and to enjoy a sumintom bonum of sensuality beyond his
wildest dreams. The story, of his saturnalia is told by the
summary of the report of the advocate-general to the Paris
court-martial, before which he was brought on April 11,
and of which Colonel Pinard, of the 34th Regiment, was
president. The statement of this report was in every es-
sential particular borne out by Rouard's statement on his
examination, and by the dying declaration of his mistress,
Denise Herbin.

On Dec. 2 last Corporal Rouard made the acquaintance
of Denise Herbin, an artificial flower maker, of the Rue
St. Denis—a pretty girl, only seventeen years old—at the
dancing rooms called the " Grand Salon," in the Faubourg
Poissonniere. They took a fancy to each other. Rouard
had a lodging in Paris, in which he installed Denise, and
he gave up to' her every moment that he could spare
from his military duties. As long as his re-enlistment
money lasted, which was only a few weeks, they led a joy-
ous life, and troubled their heads little about the future ;
but when the purse was nearly exhausted the soldier per-
ceived that he was seriously in love with the girl whom he
had only thought to make his temporary mistress. He had
been guilty of deceiving her as to his position in life; for,
instead of admitting that all the wealth he had in the world
consisted of his re-enlistment money, he had represented,
himself as having some private income, and had promised
to allow her permanently 50f. a month—a large supplemen-
tary revenue to an ouvriere of the Rue St. Denis. This mis-
representation made it the more painful for him to break
with Denise, which he felt it absolutely necessary to do
It was not till the very last day of a leave of absence which
he had spent in her company, that he summoned cour-
age to broach the subject. He began by asking her the
question, "In what way do you love me ?" She gave a
true woman's answer—" I love you because I do love you;
if you abandon me I shall be found at the Morgue" (mean-
ing that she would commit suicide.) The idea of suicide
then rose in his mind. He afterwards repeatedly told her
that she must leave him ; but her unvarying answer was,
" Where you go, I will go; and if you die, I will die
with you." The lovers at length agreed to die together,
They made up their clothes into separate bundles,
which they ticketed with the names of the re-
lations whom they intended to have them, and then
Rouard wrote three letters; one to his father, another to
his sergeant-major, and a third to a sister of Denise, an-
nouncing their intentions. While the above preparations
were going on Denise asked Rouard what sort of death they
should die? "We will die," he replied, "as we began.
We will die in a moment of happiness. We were first in-
timate at the Cadran Bleu, there let us finish our career.
In order that death may be prompt, and that no one may
come to rescue us, I will plunge the poniard into your
bosom, and I will then draw it out all bloody and stab
myself." Rouard says that by drawing this bloody picture
of death he hoped to frighten her and divert her from her
purpose, but that she, far from being daunted by his
words, flung herself into his arms in eestacy, exclaiming,
" I could never have hoped for such an honour." At six
in the evening of Jan. 9 Rouard accompanied Denise to the
shoe where she worked, that of' Madame Vielle, artificial
flower manufacturer, Rue St. Denis, and there she distri-
buted her working tools among the shop girls, kissed them
all round, took a solemn leave of them, and, raising her
hand in the way which French people do when they take
an oath, said, " I swear before God, and by the ashes of my
mother, that I am going to kill myself." The people in the
shop, who had 'always looked upon Denise as rather flighty
and eccentric, did net for a moment suppose that there was
anything serious in this oath. On leaving the flower ship
Rouard and Denise went to the Bal Robert, where they
danced till 9 o'clock, and then went to the Cadran Bleu, but
finding that establishmentelosed, they proceeded.to Michel's
Restaurant, nearly opposite, and asked for a private room,
pens, ink, and paper, and supper. On the threshold of the
house Rouard said to Denise, " Let me die alone ; I will tear
up the letter." She firmly persisted in the resolution to
die with him, ran to a post-office near, and threw the
three letters into the box, and then said, " Now you can
make no more objections ; the persons to whom we have
written will know that I wished to die with you.. " On
entering the private room in the restaurant the poinard was
placed on the table, and Rouard said to Denise, " The

truth must be known after us—l should not like to be
thought an assassin." Thereupon Denise wrob, " I die
struck by the hand of my lover; I have ordered him to do

name. Rouards
inwyrowtbeiell7
,udseer underneath After
wsiust
wishes
epe
se
rif,to:l laonlwdidniwge
hwweiontrhd
thsh—e
er
it because I wish to die with him ;" and she signed her
b" e a sut sieb m
suchy mistress
i
minute•hand of the clock pointed to eight minutes to 11,
which was the exact hour they had fixed upon for the com-
pletion of the drama, Rouard said, " The hour has come."
Denise then laid down upon a sofa, undid the upper part
of her dress, and bared her bosom. Rouard took the
poniard, advanced towards her, and said, "It is yet time"
—meaning to ask if she would change her mind. She
replied, " Go on ; and, above all things, don't make me
suffer." He then placed one knee between her legs, pushed
up with his left hand her left breast, so as:to • leave clear
the region in which he supposed the heart was beating,
and :plunged the weapon into her body up to the hilt.
She heaved one sigh, closed her eyes, and remained
motionless. Rouard drew out the poniard, and, while
warm and bloody, as he had said, inserted the point into
his own bosom; he then placed the handle against
the body of Denise, and, folding his arms around her.
pressed her against it with all his strength. It is deposed
by witnesses (for Denise did not die on the spot) that she
subsequently affirmed, when in the hospital, that, "feeling
her lover tremble, she pressed herself against the handle of
the poniard as hard as she could, in order to help to drive
it home. After this Rouard fainted and fell oft the sofa.
When he came to himself, and sought to collect his ideas,.
he felt an acute pain in his breast, and found the poniard
sticking in it. Ire drew it out, laid it on the table, and
then sat down on the sofa where Denise was lying,. It being
now late, the waiter knocked at the door of the room, and
Denise had strength enough to stretch out her hand from
the sofa and draw the ,_bolt. Both Renard and Denise,
severely wounded in the lungs, were removed to the Hos-
pital Saint Louis, where Denise lingered 20 days, and died
on Jan. 23, Rouard has sufficiently recovered to take his

alai, but he is still very weak, and speaks with difficulty.

A case of the above kind invariably results in a trium-
phant acquittal before a French jury. A court martial,
however, might be supposed to be made of " sterner stuff."
In this case, however, the majority of the military tribunal
showed itself susceptible of those feelings which, though
admitted by no civilised code, generally give impunity to
crimes of this nature in France. Rouard was acquitted by
five votes against tio. His mother, who was in court,
loudly thanked the judges, and there was a general shout
of applause.

THE FRENCH FISHERIES.—The Moniteur con-
tains a long report to the Emperor from M. Coste, of the
Institute, "On the Organisation of Fisheries, as regards
the increas3 of the naval force of France." Ile begins by
stating That the production of oysters on the plan recom-
mended by him has taken such a prodigious development
that in the Ile de Re alone more than 3,000 men, who have
come from the interior, have already established 1,500
parka, which produce annually about 378,000,000 oysters,
of the value of from 6,000,000 f. to 8,000,000 f. These men
have also formed themselves into associations for the de-
fence of their common interests. Those associations and
others like them which could be formed on different parts
•ofoysters, establish parks for the production. of
of the coast might,
production
instead of confining themselves
soles, rays, turbot, lobsters, crabs, &c.
.But the formation
would necessitate the employment of vessels in which the
of the parks would not only cost oonsiderable sums, but
men could go out to sea to fish ; and that course again would
necessitate further outlay. As th men have hot the funds
to do all this, M. Coste suggests that advances shall be
made to them by what are called the Maritime Caisses de
Retraites, subject to the condition of their paying back 3
per cent. per month of the produce of their fishing, in
addition to the 3 per cent. which they are already bound to
pay to the said Caisses, in order to obtain relief in sick-
ezcid B;c., paid
sick-
ness or old age. He adds, that such a payment would not
btiemieumanae
ykwtahyombuprdroepnrsioemtherstoolththeme ;easnsedisNyv
pouarlkds b,
for by means of the advances. As several millions are
granted annually for tho encouragement of the Newfound-
laud fishery, M. Coste submits that there is nothing un-
reasonable in what he proposes,
and he affirms that, if his
suggestion be acted on, a vast increase would be made to the
maritime population,
which augmentation would naturally
strengthen the Imperial navy. He likewise observes that
the fishing associations which he wishes to see established
would not only provide a large and constant supply of fish
for the inland towns, and thereby create an
im
branch of trade, but might lead to obtaining fish'b, insec s,
and plants in great quantities for manure. Forta:at
Prince Christian of Denmark, the heir presump4
ti" to tin Wm' has jwit pored 4io WI; year,