The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-05-30

IPxis Correspoadsncs u the \. r. rinss.l
The legal world waFs sinGn2arly novsd
hsvs already MENTIONED ~ having coGbmsoc-l
army, men Of courage and fespseeAbility,
Who had made the Crimean campaign and
bore the decoration ON their breasts, were ar
OF young woman OF the eastern part OF Pa.
ris, known for her great beasty ~ IL bale
Bouchsrs. The woman went to the barracks
one day to receive her pay for beef furnished
the regiment, in the company OF one OF the
hired men Of the establishment. The man
stayed below while his mistress entered to
receive her pay. When she came out, this
man noticed no change in her personal APP
pearance, nor did she say to him or to any
one at the time that anything unusual had oc-
CURED. Two days later, after having been
more or less exposed to cold, she WAS seised
with fever. CA few weeks before this event
she had had an aborition.) During the TO-
yer she was delirious and while in this state
she declared that she had been brutally vio-
lated ON the day in question BY three officers.
Az the fever subsidized in intensity, though
not in gravity, and her reason had apparent
ly returned, she requested that she might be
left alone with her husband, in order to make
confession.
She then reported to him the details Of the
horrible outrage, and urged ~ reason why
she had not sooner made the avowal, that she
feared IL her husband knew what had hap
pensd, be would NO longer love her, and that
she would have the shame Of appearing be-
fore court Of jnstice. She feared also that
her husband might challenge one Of the on
csrs, and ~ they were better swordsmen than
he, his death would be almost certain. She
vas woman Of great energy Of character,
and she preferred to keep her secret, and
avoid such snares for the future.
A day or two after making the ayowal,
which was repeated and recorded before =
magistrate,) Ia belle Bouchers died. The
three officers were arrested, and have just
baen tried before court-martial sitting ct
the military prison Of the rue du cherche
Midi.
In reading the details of this supposed
crime, one would suppose himself reading
the accumulated horrors OF . romancer i'm
spired BY the most frightful Of nightmare.
Two French officers, brothers, assisted by 4
Sergeant, concert together to entrap an hon.
est woman and q mother into scheme of in
fanny which the softened manners Of our pres
emit civilization has difficulty in comprehend
ing. And what is worse, 10 the fraternity in
the crime! The victim, energetic a. Lucre-
tis, but understanding her honor and her du.
ty in her own way, tries at first to hide her
shame, but il undermines her heal Ii, !devoury
and at last kills her. Only whom she sees
the tomb opening before her, does she decide
to make, to the one who is TO avenge her, the
svowal Of her dishonor.
The trial opened with public opinion strong
ly against the prisoners. Every day the
neighborhood Of the prison was the rendes-
vous Of an excited mob, which, in the United
States, would have taken the law in its own
hands. But it was soon evident that public
opinion WINS wrong. Prominent members of
the Faculty Of Medicine were called on the
stand to give their opinion. NJ. Trosssau,
the distinguished physician OF the hospital
Hotel Dieu, gave the following theory and
declared it on the stand as his opinion Of the
case. The woman had had an abortion; af-
forwards she had been exposed to the effects
of cold in the open butchers cart in which
she rode she had taken cold, fever ensusd
attended with delirium, and in this delirium
she had made declarations peculiar to this
kind Of malady, but which were Of no value
at all, since we often hear such declarations
under similar circumstances. just ut that
moment puerperal fever was epidemic, and
NJ. Trosseau did not believe that the fever
and the death Of the woman had any other
than natural cause. These declarations
produced great effect upon the court, and
seemed to change the whole face of the case.
NJ. Trosseau's opinion gained more credence
from the fact that he had seen la belle bou-
chers in consultation beYore her death, and
that he was sustained by all the other medi-
cal witnesses called, with one exception
The prisoners, who were defended by Messrs.
Chalk -d'est Ange, father and son, were ac-
Quilted BY unanimous vote Of the Council,
and sent back 10 their regiment. The Court
were Of opinion that the whole accusation
was but the dream Of delirious brain, in
spircd perhaps by some gallantries on the
part Of the accused.