The Democratic Whig. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1842-1843, 1843-04-20


Daubanton ordered The rendarmes 10 leave
them together and even lhe huissior, though
he made him understand By sign the danger
Of being alone with 90 desperate q william. was
begged q retire. A breakfast was ordered for
the Two. II was bronght--but, BY the order
Of he huissier, only one knife was placed on
the table. Daubenlon took il up, and began
eareless'y to break an egg with It.
Dubenton looked a, him fxedy for a mo-
ment and said,
aMonsieur ls Judge, you are afraid =
Afraid" replied he calmly, sand Of whom"
aOf nj" said Durochat.
aFoly y continued the other breaking bis
egg.
aYou are. Youarm yourselfwith a knife"
sand be soFcasticaIy.
"Bah !" replied Danbenion, presenting him
the knife, acut me 9 piece Of bread, and tell
me whal you have 70 communicate 10 me res
pecting the murder oflhe courier Of Lyons"
There is something IN the collected courage
Of a brave man more impressive than am
menace and courage is q thing which acts
upon an natures, however vile. Strongly
moved by the calm audacity Of the magistrate
the rufian who had seized the knife with mem
acing viyaciiy, now set it down upon tie table
and with a lettering voice said, "Voiis etes an
braus cit0yeH !" then after pause,"i am a lost
man--it's all up with me but you shall know
ALL"
BE then detailed the circumstances OF The
crime as we have related them above and
confirmed al Courios declarations naming
COuHo, Rossi Vida, and Dub0sq, as bis ac-
completes Before the tribunal be repeated
he &C count, adding, s'that he had heard an in.
dividua named Lesurques had been condemn.
ed for the crime, but he had neither seen him
al the time 0! the deed, nor subse quently. lie
did not know him."
He added that il was Dubosq whose spur
had been broken. and was mended where
they had dined for he had heard them talk
about i,,and that he had lost It in the scuffle.
He had seen the other spur in his hand and
heard him say that he intended throwing il IN
the river He further gave a description Of
Dubosq's person, and added that on that day
he wore Aaxen peruke.
Toward the end Of the year S-ioui years
after the murder Of the courior Of Lyons
Oubosq was arrested for robbery and was
transferred TO Versailles, there 10 be Judged
by the Tribunal Correctional. The president
ordered that he should wear a faxen peruke,
and be confronted with the witnesses from |
Mongeron and Lieursainte, who now unani- !
mously declared that he was the man that |
they had SEEN This, coupled with the declar- |
alton Of Couriol, Dlrochat ard Madeaine |
Brehaqsuihced to prove the Identity aud he |
did not deny his acquaintance with the other /
cuprits He was therefore condemned, and |
persisted on the scaliOld for the crime.
Vidal was also arrested and executed |
though persislng in his innocence and finally |
Ross was shortely AFTER discovered and con- |
demned.. He exhibited profound repentance |
and demanded the succors of religion To /
his confessor he left this declaration-"l assert
that Lesurques is innocent but this must OIL
y be made public six months after my DEATH"
Thus ends this strange drama thus were |
the proofs Of Lesurqua's innocence furnished |
beyond a shadow of doubt aud thus, we may |
add, were seven men executed for a crime |
committed by five men two therefore were in !
nocent-were victims Of the law.
Vlll.--THE Way IN WHICH FRANCE REcrI-
TIEs AN ERROR.
It is now forty years since the innocence Of |
Lesmqu,s has teen established, and tile I
has been done toward the rehabilitation Of bis |
memory the protection Of bis children, and the I
restitution Of his coniscsted goods Forty 4
years has the government been silent.
NJ. Daubenton, who took so honorable and
active part in the detection Of the real Grim
nails consecrated great part of his life and
fortune 10 the cause Of the unfortunate widow
and her children VIhe declaration be address.
ed 70 the minister Of Justice commenced thus
"The error on which was founded the con.
demnation Of Lesurques arose neither with the
judges nor the jury The jury convinced BY
the dispositions Of the witnesses, manifested
that conviction judcially; and the Judges
after the declaration Of the jury pronounced
according to the law.
"The error Of bis condemnation arose from
the mistake Of the witnesses-from the fatal
resemblance to one Of the culprils net appro
hended Nothing gave reason to suspect, at
that time, the cause Ofthe error in which the
witnesses had fallen."
We beg TO observe that the whole trial was
conducted N a slovenly and shameful manner,
A man lie condemned on the disposition ofwi
nesscs ; witnesses be it observed Of such dull
ness Of pc. ception and such confidence in their
notions that they persisted ia declaring Guesno
10 be one Of the culputs as wei Al Lesurques,
Yet the abb ofGuRDo was proved beyond a
doubt How, then, could the jury, with this
instance Of mistake before their eyes, and
which themselves had condemned asa mistake
by acquiting Guesno-how could they place
such firm reliance on those selfsame testimon.
les when applied to Lesurques But because
one foolish friend pe1ured himself to serve Les
urques the jury hastily set down all his friends
preiurers they had no evidence ofthis; it was
mere indignant reaction Of feeling,and,as such
violation oftheiF Office. The case ought 70 have
been sited ltwas shuflsd over hastily. A !,
verdict passed in anger, was executed though
at he time strong doubt ex sted in the
minds Of the judges as to its propriely
Neither the Directory nor the Consulate
neither The Empire nor The Restoration paid !
attention to the widows supplicatons for a /
revision Of the sentence, that her husbands
name might be cleared, and his property res.
tored. In vain did M. Salgues devote Ten
years 70 The defence Of the injured family; IN /
vain did d. Mer.lhou, in an important process, {
warmly spouse tho cause the different pov,
ernments believed themselves Incapable Of
answering these selections.
Since 1880 the widow again duplicated the
Iribuns dss Cham5rcs. Few sessions have a