Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-10-24
A murpERnR SELF BETRAYED.

to it at 0nce!-lN. Y. IT'D.
A MURDERER SELF BETRAYED.
Innocence yindicated After sixteen Years
The well known opera of Fra Diavolo
is based on tragical events which occur
red in France one hundred and seventy
years ago. These facts are thus con-
densed from the Court records by Paris
paper:
At the beginning of the last century
there was to be seen in the town of Lille
a very quiet house. 1t was a large build
ing, but it contained only a small family
"a husband and wife and one servant
girl. The Curiosites Judiciaries add that
the married couple were advanced in
years, that they lived quietly on their
income, and saw very few visitors, and
admitted no one to the house except the
people who furnished them with pro-
visions or otherwise ministered to their
wants.
One night this couple, man and wife,
were robbed, and murdered in their bed.
The servant girl had heard nothing of
all this, and knew not what was going
on. The night was hot, the air dense,
and oppressively sultry, 80 much 80 that
sat, for the sake Of GOODNESS, Invested of
her garments, before a large mirror
While there, catching sight of herself,
she suddenly cried, "How hateful one
looks when nakedW
Having said this she retired and slept
till morning, and rose as usual, without
suspecting what had happened.
She prepared breakfast as usual for her
master and mistress, but they did not
come down She was amazed and wait
ed for long time.
They did not appear
Tired of waiting, she sought their room.
A horrible sight met her eyes. Blood
was smeared everywhere, and on the bed
lay the poor old couple, cruelty, horribly,
vilely butchered-mangled as only beast
tilate victims after numbering them.
The girl raised an alarm and the null
titude came rushing in. OF course JUS
tice came rushing after in the form of the
police, with judicial investigation
The criminal was sought for, and as none
other could be found suspicion fell0n the
unfortunate servant.
In those days they had horrible way
of trying to get at the truth. They call
ed it questioning. The questions were
put with racks and thumb screws.
The LillOis servant maid was infam-
ously tortured, even to extreme agony.
Yet, notwithstanding her weakness, and
her sex, she endured the internal torture
without confessing anything. This was
| the more remarkable, as she was entirely
innocent, and was in consequence kept
much longer under torment to make hei
confess. AS there were no proofs of hel
having done anything, they finally lei
| her go, as soon as she was healed. Un-
| fortunately the torture had made her a
wretched cripple. She could only hobble
along on her broken limbs, and her arms
were withered.
And being no longer able to sew OF
| work, she dragged her helpless form
through the streets and begged. She
| begged through the streets of Lille fol
sixteen years. This is all historically
| true-nay, more than historically fol
history often lies, while these facts are
drawn from the dry and accurate records
of a court. The worst part of her suf
| fering was that many people believed hel
guilty, and scOrned her accordingly.
1t appears from record that during
these long years, while she went about
with her withered arms and bent back
her whole frame still suffering from the
torture, begging a copper sou to buy hel
bread, that she was always resigned
mild, and exemplary in her conduct.
One day, after sixteen years of misery
she stopped to beg before the door of q
baker. She held out through her rags
her naked and mutilated arm toward the
baker, who stood on his door sill. Al
she did so he exclaimed, in a mockinl
tone, while observing her want of gar
| mentS:
"Well, Marie Anne, how hateful one
looks when naked--ha"
Now it is remarkable that in all the
sixteen years which had passed Marie
Anne had not forgotten those words
which she had spoken when alone or
the night of the murder. 1t flashed up
on her mind that the real murderer nigh
have heard them, and that he stood he
fore her. In brief, we learn that thu
journeyman baker, when arrested, con
fessed the truth. He had regularly sup
piled the old couple, and know the way
of the house. He was hidden there OF
the night of the murder, and had hearC
| the girl when she made the remark OF
her nakedness.
And as the criminal is often by tn,
will of Providence his own accuser, 81
this man, following one Of those eccen
trio and dangerous impulses which mel
often experience, to say the most dan
gerous things, had uttered to the girl th'
| words of the fatal night. He was con
victed of the crime for which Marie Ann,
had been tortured and suffered living
death---and was broken alive on th'
wheel in Lille.