The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer., 1863-10-02

ueIuSj tiii dt laSG Iuey came 10 u plece OI
moorland overgrown with low brushwood.
Here Louise Rousseau sat down to rest,
with the bonnet in her lap, entirely lost
in the pleasure of looking at it, Sudden
ly rope flew around her neck, skillfully
thrown by the girl Francoise, and after "a
few convulsive struggles Louise Rousseau
ceased to breathe. The dead body re-
mained for days in the low lagoon, attack
ed by vultures lowering in the air. Two
days after this event, on the 7th of June,
1860, Franchise appeared at the village
fete in new bonnet, radiant with de-
Flight, and full of smiles for the admirers
who thronged around her. Among the
latter was the dwarf Denis, who saw at q
glance that the bonnet of his lost sister,
believed to have been drowned in one of
the ponds, was on the head of the mur,
deress. He trembled, he said in his evil
dence, within himself, diyiuing foul
crime, but had not the courage to con6de
his thoughts to any one. The next morn
ing he, with another lad, went to the
moors to cut wood, when all at once they
came to and almost stumbled over the
corpse of Louise Rousseau. =. a.7". { q
The dwarf fell to the ground senseless,
while the other lad ran back to the village
to apprise the people of what he had seen.
Soon a number of men arrived, who car
ried the body Of the poor shepherdess to
the hut of her parents; and before many
hours were over the judge d'imstructioaa,
with gendarmes from Blois, made his ap-
pearance on the spot. A carsory medical
examination left no doubt that cruel
murder had been committed, the rope
with which she had been strangled being
still found on the neck of Louise Rous-
seau. Whose rope was it? The ques-
tion was solved at once, for villager de-
clared positively that he had seen it on
the very morning on which Louise disap-
peared in the: hands of her brother Denis.
He knew it by line of black on the one
end, caused by it having fallen into tar,
as also by a peculiar knot toward the cen
tre. There seemed no doubt the dwarf
had murdered his sister, and he was hor.
ribly ugly. He was forthwith taken up
and put into prison, amid the yells of alb
horrepce of the whole population. Only
one young man, a worker in an iron forge,
walked thougbtfully behind the throng
which followed the dwarf to the door Of
the gaol, neither shouting nor speaking
to any one. qlqsd T.. .ami ata sj3n Z
| 1t was he who had given new bonnet
to- Louise Rousseau at the beginning oi
June, and he, with his own eyes. had seen
the same bonnet on the head of FRANCHISE
Laurier on, the day Of the. village fete. ~
The crowd having dispersed, he went qai.
city to the Office of the Judge and told his
short tale. An hour after Louise Rous.
seau found herself in the hands of the
gcpdarmes and was carried off to the pris-
on Blois. The assizes of the department
of Loir-et.C Cher opened on the 4th'August,
amid an immense concourse of spectators.
For weeks the whole province had talked
of nothing but the murder of Louise Rous-
seau, and many were the speculations set
afoat upon the subject 'Ehe majority
iucliped to think Denis guilty of murder
---he was, an ugly little dwarf, always
hiding on moors and out of the way pla'
ces, and evidently in secret communion
with demons and hobgoblins. Francoise
Laurier, ON the other hand, was known to
be most sweet tempered girl, always
laughing and playing, and evidently quite
unfit to commit foul deed of assassina.
ting friend and companion. So the as
sizes opened, and examination aud cross
examination of accused and witnesses
commenced. AT first all iu favor of Fran.
eoise she confessed having received the
fatal bonnet as gift fronlthe dwarf, but
utterly denied all complicity in the assas-
sination. diia zIgmaa lon oh .s'snssjiaiaa
% The evidently favorable impression
whichithis statement made uponjudge and
Jury induced Frdncpise to- goa step fur
ther she said oshe had seeulDenis muir.
der his sister, -.ssenis from sldistance!-r
1 Pressed very hard now she acknowledged
having helped the dwarf to tieithe hands
Of his sister but only after be had CONT
mitted the fatal act, life being theni near
| ly extinct. So she lost herself in mage
| of assertions and counter assertions, in
WHICH before long she was hopelessfy enA
tan gled .iaS She all but confessed having
committed the murder, repeating howev-
er, with great vehemence, that the crime
had ptaken place underl the influence and
instigation Of Denis. Then the olittle
dwarf was interrogated, and IN simple,
uuafscsed language he told the whole
story of the last few months; how be had
been made ito bring the fatal rope how
H., had saen Ills lsistcr's s bonnet on the head