Shreveport daily news., 1861-05-08
Selected Expressly for the Ne,cs.
Remarkable Trial Of Murders.
(From the Foreign Quarterly Re-
view, No. WHY

table station of life, man named
Peter Claudius Chevallier, whose am
liable qualities and gentlemanly ap-
pearance had obtained for him the
esteem of the citizens. 1t was his
native place, although he had long been
absent and he was married to the
last of four wives, with whom he had
uniformly lived in contentment and
peace. One day a child was stolen
in aneighbouring village by gen
teelly dressed man, who had enticed
the little victim with bon-bons and
caresses, till he caught him up in
his arms, and fed with the prize. A
hot pursuit Immediately commenced,
and after great difficulty. the crimi-
nal was apprehended; when, to the
astonishlnent of all Lyons, he was
discovered to be Peter Claudius
Chevallier, "sous-chef'' in the "be-
reau DIES finances" Of the prefecture of
the Rhone. The sensation which
this circumstance excited was at first
that of simple surprise but the ex-
planation he gave of his motives for
the crime caused the inhabitants of
Lyons to turn their eyes at last in
doubt upon the prisoner. lie said he
had intended to console himself for
the loss of child of his own, by
adopting the one he had stolen. Till
this moment neither his wife nor the
pull lie had ever heard of the loss of
his child, which they supposed to be
living in health with it's nurse at Vii
lieurbannes. How did this bereave-
ment happen, and why was it con-
cealed! He said he had been to
Villeurbannes to bring it home, but
fatigued, intoxicated, unacquainted
with the country, and overtaken by
the night, he had wandered out of his
way among thickcts and precipices,
and lost the child, whom he was
afraid to look for in the dark. These
circumstances of his journey We're
physical impossibilities. He could
not have been fatiSued by so ordinary
Il walk, nor intoxicated after spen-
ding only twelve sous in refreshments,
nor overtaken by the night in so short
Il time, nor lead out Of straight
road bordered by thick hedges, nor
lost among thickets and prccipices in
Il level country, where there was not
Il thickct nor precipice to be seen.
There seemed to be something SO ex-
traortlinary and mysterious in this
affair, that at last people naturally
turned an inGuiring and suspicious
look at the whole conduct of the pris-
oner. Surmises even began to get
ahoat that he had no right to the
name by which he was known at Ly-
ons. 1t was one well known in the
city: and even if.its possessor had
been absent from boyhood, there
surely might have been some person
to recognise and welcome the wan
dcring Ishmeal at his return. In
quiries produced discoveries, and it
was soon known that the name was
i'll reality an assumed one; and the
true Chevallier, an officer III the ar
my, confronted the accused person.
The latter had fallen in at Flushing
with the papers of TIE other, an officer
in the same battalion ola regiment to
which he himself belonged. The
lmposter's name was Lelievre he
had fabricated false leave of alb
sencc and deserted, Tracing his his
tory backward. step by step, it was
inquired under what circumstances
he had entered the service. He had
detrauded the Bank of France of
10000 francs, and through the in
terest of his family, which was re-
spectacle, his punishment had been
commuted to the species of honora-
bic transportation implied by enter
ing colonial regiment, So far all
was satisfactory (; but there was still