The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-11 00:00:00

THE LEMAIRE TRIAL.

The Court of Assizes of the Aisne was occupied
on Saturday, part of Sunday, and yesterday, in
receiving evidence in support of the charge of mur-
der brought against H. Villet and Jean Villet, and
also in support of some of the charges of rob-
bery brought against Hugot, Lemaire, Villet,
and others of the prisoners. As to the mur-
der of a mau named Chretien, it was postively
sated by Hugot that the elder Villet had
offered him I,ooofr. to commit it, but that he had
refused ; and it was stated by other witnesses that
the two Villets had been in the house of the de-
ceased just before be was found dead, and that
death had been caused by violent pressure of the
nose and mouth. As to the robberies, they were
alleged to have been committed at Ha,rbonnieres,
Marcelclave, and Dazenescourt, and the details
days,
presented no interest. The most remarkable fea-
ture in the proceedings was, as on previous
the cleverness with which the elder Villet tried to
explain away all the circumstances which told
against him ; the vehemence with which he de-
nounced the witnesses ; and the bitter animosity
be manifested against lugot and Lemaire. Oa
one or two occasions, he solemnly called on the
court to punish the witnesses who deposed against
him, because their evidence was false, and their
manner of giving it improper. On other occasions
he made set speeches, which he evidently consi-
dered very telling. "Ah gentitmen !" said be, in
one of them, " Lemaire has only made what he
calls revelations against me, in order that I may
have to follow him to the scaffold to which he is sure
to go! He does not wish to have the shame and the
sorrow of dying alone ! If, what I cannot be-
lieve, this court of jussice should condemn me on
the word of such a man, I will die with honour
and with glory !" And then turning to Lemaire,
he continued :—" I cannot prevent you from say-
ing what you will, but I know why; you say it,
you that
ti mayyyou
i
it is to prolong the present proceedings in order
that
havewillnaotehatignacine of escape.
the pr
Butisou ldtoeolrl
left half open--that no more cords will be thrown
over the wall to you ! No ! no ! The bird is
caught, and the cage is at
present solid !" On
another occasion he said :—" As to Hugot, he has
Villet
suhtal olf
comea n asstoastshine !
a rage against me which is not that of a simple
sCaliffeo 1 dsaywsittho mehhim-
self, mselafl,ef‘uVt
or,
and not content with that he tries to
drag there
my wife, my son, my daughter, everybody belong-
ing to me. lam astonished that you, gentlemen,
do not understand that ! I murder Chretien !
why should I ? I did Rot want his money, and I
could have made him do for me whatever I liked.
Besides, I placed a cross on his grave, and it cost
me 45f. ! Believe me, gentlemen, it is only the
canaille who accuse me ! The principal witness
against me is Victor Chretien, and if you only knew
what a mass of vice he is I I verily believe that for
a thousand francs he would murder all the village,
and that for twenty s,tus, ay, for a glass of brandy,
he would have murdered poor Chretien, his own
relative !" One of the robberies (many of them
were very petty) in which Villet was alleged to
.have participated was of a waistcoat, and a witness
identified one produced as that stolen from him.
On this Villet jumped up, and exclaimed, " That
waistcoat his ! Why, I can prove that it has a
brother and that they both descend from a frock-
coat whi
ch 1 lai purchased many years ago in the Pa-
s Royal at Paris !" This
strange way of speak-
ing caused a laugh, but Villet t. d "
con trine , For
making such a statement
_.as he has done, the wit-
ness deserves to punish h.m, be punished, and I beg of you to
rtepea. Monsieur le President The waist-
coat,fkat purchased in
with a colleague from a.
peal to my
enemies
in the Palais Royal ! ap-
ies themselves—to Boitel,
enemy ; to the ves my first
garde-champetre, another enemy ;
to all of them •
they did not see that frockcoat