New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-09
a Singular Incident.

There is, or was, curl ous belief in the Arden
mes, respecting strange being, invested with
mysterious powers, named LIE Toucoeur, which
the following narrative well illustrates:
Marie Henrard, the wife of substantial bour
geos in the village of Basse Bodeux, not far dis
tant from the little aniet hamlet of Tros-ponts on
entering her room one morning in the year 1874,
was beyond measure surprised to find it occupied
by an individual, anything like whose dress she
had never yet seen. When she first saw the figure
its back was turned towards her. and it seemed to
be examining infinitely the various objects that
hung on the wall. twas clothed in a long tunic
of sheepskin, resembling in shape the chasubie
worn by Roman Colholic priests yellow hose, and
shoes Of rough leather were seen below, and on
its head was placed a hat with widely.extended
brm; its hair was long and tangled, and its
apparel was worn with age, and despatched with
mud. On seeing this strange intruder Marie
Henrard uttered an involuntary exclamation of
surprise which Immediately caused the figure to
turn round, thereby revealing the bearded visage
of a man seemingly of five sly or twenty years
of age. His surprise at seeing the mistress Of the
house was apparently no less than hers at seeing
him.
Pray, madam he said, what may you want
here?n
WANT here !! strange question to ask me in
my own house"
'iYour house ! it is nv mothers madam and
this is my chamber though parbleu it is changed
wonderfully since yesterday evening""
Thinking that she had to do with fool or
knave, Madam Henrard babe him quit the house,
otherwise she would be under necessity of calling
for assistance.
Pardon, me madam" answered the stranger,
% you seem to labor under some delusion. This
house belongs to my mother, Annette Grisart,
widow of Henry Grsart the late censor of the
Baron of Raber."
Madam Henrard vouchsafed no answer to what
seemed to her the words of a real or pretended
mailman, but going without, shouted Justify for
help. Her husband and two or three other men
uda1 In ha apDe3l. nf
Henri Grisart, shouting for his mother, and de-
nouncing his captors as brigands and assassins,
was carried off to the awful presence of NJ. lie
B0urgmestre. Here. in the presence of crowd
of villagers, he was closely Intercepted, and all
that could be gathered from his statements, con-
fused and bewildering in the extreme, may be
summed up in few words. The evening before,
he said, he had gone short distance to pay visit
to Clotilde Lemaire, whom he was about to marry.
While returning home he was met by sturdy
mendicant, who begged for an aims, and who, on
being refused, raised his staff and struck him on
the back. He felt himself suddenly oyerpowcred
by a feeling of faintness, and was sensible of roll
ing down ravine which was bordered by the path
| along which he had been walking.
| He had remained, he supposed, all night in a
state of nsensibility, for when he awoke he found
himself lying at the bottom of the ravinc, deeply
imbedded in the long heritage, and the morning
sun shining upon him; if any doubted the truth Of
what he said, let them GO to spot which he de-
| scribed, and they would see the form of a man
distinctly visible on the SOFT spongy ground where
he had lain. A deputation Immediately set off for
| this purpose, and those who remained laid their
heads together-the c0nSea communal officially
| the rest ofiiciousy-to determine whether the
| sacred prisoner before them were rogue or fool
| Whatspuzzled these wise heads, and would has Q
| puzzled the wsest was that he spoke of persons
and of state of things long since past away as if
! they were present realities. He demanded to be
brought before the Baron of Rather, he threatened
| to appeal to the Abbot of Staveot, and even to
| the Prince Bishop of Liege-dignitaries unknown
| for the last sixty years. He was unacquainted,
| too. with any one familiar to those around him
While their plexity was at its utmost height one
of the oldest villagers present asserted that during
| his youth he had heard of the sudden disappear
| ance of the intended husband of a girl named Le-
marie, who, after making another marriage, had
| lately dieda widow at an advanced age. He had
scarcely made this statement, when the assembled
villagers were startled by hearing the prisonerex.
| claim 6 LIE VOLTA, lie VOLTA !" there is the man who
| struck me!
Having uttered these words, he fell down in vic.
| lent commissions, his face suddenly assumed the
aspect of an old mans, and he expired. The per-
son to whom he directed their attention was, appa
renty, sturdy beggar, who, on being interro
gated, denied having ever seen the unfortunate
man who now lay corpse on the floor. He had
| just entered the village, he said, on his way tC
Stavelot; he was licensed ,mendicant, as his pa
| pers testified, and he was therefore allowed to
proceed on his way without molestation. To com
plete the mystery, the party which had set out te
discover the place where the dead man had spen
the night-or about seventy years-returned fully
confirming what he had related. At the eSac,
spot described by him they had found the form o.
a man distinctly traced out on the ground.
The aged villager before mentioned now gave
out as his decided opinion that Grisart had beer
| struck by LIE Toucheur, who, according to tradi
| tion was deatless wanderer on the earth--aI
instrument in the hand of Providence for recon-
pensing the charitable, and for taking vengeance
on the cold-hearted, and that under the influence
OF spell, he had lain in lethargy for more THAI
seventy years.