Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1860-08-11
NUMBER %.
A srRANGE STORY.
VnoM TuH VRARelt.

An extraordinary tale, gravely told BY Pou.
chet m his Memories 1iTes des ATehtros Dc "a
Police. has lust been made the subject Of .
drama at one Of the boulevard theatera. under
the title Of "Syrene de Paris" At the time
when NJ. de Ia Revnie was Lieutenant.G GsosSal
Of Police, under Louis XIV, great sensation
was caused at Paris by the mysterious dHsap'
pearance Of not fewer than twenty'six youn8
men, aged from II TO 20. belonging 70 noble
or wealthy families. Among the eowweo
people the report was spread that the young
men had been murdered by foreign prineeae.
in order that she might take baths OF their
blood to cure herself Of the liver complaint
| hc matter at last became 20 serious that
Louis XIV complained of it to NJ. de 10 Rey.
ME, and the latter consulted one Of his ableat
agents, named Lrcoq. This person suspected
that the young men must have fallen into
-So4aS-saarc SIT fer them by female charms,
and he employed a natural son OF his own.
handsome and intelligent young man, to Try
and discover the mystery. This young man,
whose name was Exupcrc, was sent, splsndtdiy
dressed, every day to the TuIrries, the Palace
Royalc, md the Luxembourg, which were then
the places e ia>lio' abe reSUIt At length he
saw IN the 1u,icii:S n young woman OF mar
e Ions b an;v, attended w an aged female.
and his -iovk- rxp pressed his admiration. She
seemed ir from di>plcuSrd, and at length her
attendant, accosting him, said she was Polish
tEil.ccsS VI the name of .iabirouska, immensely
rich, and as she was much struck by him, she
would perhaps allow him to visit her. Tbs
Young man declared that he had conceived n
violent passion for the lady, and after somO
conversation the attendant told him that 1t at
nine O'Clock at night he would present himself
in front Of the church Of st. GermNin.lAux
crrois, she would meet him and take him to
her mistress. The young man OF course told
Lecoq of this, and in the evening the latter
caused several uf his men to be placed in such
b q way as hot to lose sight Of Exupere, and in
the event Of his incurring danger. to be abic
10 render him assistance. At the appointed
hour the Young man was at the rendezvous,
and the woman joined him there. She wanted
to Landage his eyes, but he refused TO let her
do 50. She then led him by various obscure
streets 10 the Rue dcs Orievrls, and there in
troiGc.i him into II small house near tho
Chapc, ST. E:ui. Alter walking along dark
corridor the yonng man was Introduced intoA
sumrtuously furnished room, in which hc found
the foreigner. She received him SO kindly
that he entirely forgot to give Lecoq outside
the signal which had been agreed on. After
a while the lady retired, and the young man.
proceeding TO examine the room. found behind
screen glass case in which were twenty'Sik
mems heads, each placed in n silver dish and
each 80 carefully cmbalmed that it retained
the appearance "f life! lie started back with
horror; hut at the same moment a whistle
outside MAS heard, being the signal Of Lecoq,
and in f.w seconds after the windows were
forced open, and that officer and his men, who
had aSccndcd by ladders, jumped into the
room. The sol diSdnt princess, hearing the
noise rushed into the apartment, followed by
four Notwithstanding bandits, but the police
! were strong enough to arrest all FIVE The
bandits were in due time condemned to death
and executed. AS to tho female, she turned
out to be not Pole, but an Englishwoman,
who is stated in Heuchct's account to have
en,icCd the young men to her house TO satisfy
hri pa si0ns, and had them murdered in order
20 rcb thrm She also was condemned to
death, but escaped in strange way. The
King spoke of the affair to his brother, Mon.
>icur, to the Chevaler de Lorraine, and some
other high perSonageS. The Chevalier sUg-
gcSted 10 the Prince that it would be amusing
% mp with 50 singular criminal. Monsieur
ut first objected, but at last consented. By
means of blank lettre de cdchst the Prince
caused the woman to be given up to some
persons sent by him. On the preteXt that she
WAS TO be conveyed to another prison. He
had her. however, carried to a country. house
some miles across the country, where he. the
/ Chevalicr dc Lorraine, and NJ. d'Effiat werO
! waiting to receive her. The whole four sup.
/ ped together. At length Monsieur, having
seen enough Of her, suggested that she oughe
to be sent back to the Bastile; but his COM
panons proposed instead that she should be
conveyed either to London or Brussels and set
at liberty. The good natured prince consented
and went away. The two MOBILES passed the
night in all oreic with the woman, telling her
that the next day they would convey her out
of the country but instead Of oftrusting to them
she thought best to save herself; so, plying
them well with drink until they were over.
come, She locked them in, and escaping was
seen no more. The governor of the Bastile,
on learning that the woman had been got out
of his custody by trick ofthe Kings brother.
thought the best thing he could do was to
pretend that she was dead, and he accordingly
had lrocts reSbdl drawn up to that effect
.