Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-05-14
WHO WAS THE MURDERER ?
FROM THE GERMAN.

ON quiet summer night, some thirty
years ago, the residents of the Rue Nor
que, IN the quarter st. Roche, at Paris,
were reused from their slumbers by a ter
rible cry of distress The whole of the
little street was soon astir. 1t was
three o'clock in the morning as the
startled neighbors hurried together
in front of narrow four -storied house,
from the second floor of which the awful
cries were still issuing. With the shrek
or yell of apparent agony there were
sounds as if from the feet of several per-
sons engaged in desperate struggle.
Two voices could also be now distinguish
ed-one harsh, and yet piercing in its wild
screaming tones the other deeper and
heavier, and occasionally calculating the
words, "Cursed devil p and "My God !"
The excited neighbors vainly endeavor-
ed to force an entrance into the house
The doors and windows were all fast on
the inside The whole lower part of the
building seemed deserted. No one
stirred there; not a gleam of light was
visible. 3ARS
".Who lives here 2' inquired passer,
attracted by the disturbance. Y
"On, no one but Madame PEsparaye
and her daughter" answered the nimble
tongue of Pierre Moreau, the tobacconist.
al have known the ladies this long time.
They get their snuff from me. The moth
er is fortune-teller, and has some fine
customers, Lean tell you. She must have
saved pretty sum by this time The
ladies have no acquaintances at all, as i
know of, except business ones; and they
live in the house entirely alone. They
would rather let their rooms lie empty
than have them ruined by tenants. I'VE
have had sad experience with tenants,
dear Monsieur MoTeau,' said madame to
me only yesterday, as she was buying a
francs worth of my best rappee. The
lower story, and the third and fourth, are
not 80 much as furnished; and all the
window shutters are kept constantly
closed, with the exception of those of the
back room on the second floor there the
ladies have their living apartment. They
have never kept servant, and it is very
seldom any one goes into the house"
Meanwhile, some twenty persons were
trying to force an entrance. But the
doors and window. shutters were shaken
and pounded in vain. Some ten minutes
had already passed, yet still from that up
per room rang out upon the early morn
ing air the same horrible cry that had first
startled the deep repose of the street, and
the heavy sounds of stamping and strug-
Cling had not yet ceased.
"Thank Godl Here comes Monsieur
Muset, the gendarme," cried Henri Duval,
the silver worker; "he will find way in,
I'll be bound"
The gendarme was ready and prompt
Thrusting his bayonet into the crack of
this door, he gave it sudden wrench, and
the lock was sprung. Followed by the
crowd, the brave Muset, his bayonet at
the charge, rushed in and stormed his way
up the staircase
AS yet there was no cessation to that
thrill and piercing shrek of terror or
agony, so strange and unearthly in its toae
And they still heard, as if in fierce conten.
ton with it, the deep and heavy vo 'ce,
with its angry "cursed" and "devil"
There were no French accents in that
shriek-this was certain. Some thought
they could distinguish Italian, others
Spanish and English words But no one
could say with certainty whether the shril-
Ter voice belonged to q man or to woman
This much, however, there could be no
doubt about-neither of the voices had
the slightest resemblance to those OF
Madame pEsparaye and her daughter.
Suddenly, just as the crowd reached the
head of the stairs, the wild outcry ceased.
The hoarse, smothered tones of two voices
were now heard in back chamber-the
bedroom of the two women. Muset rat
tied the door. Immediately all became 81
lent as death. Finding the door locked
and the key inside, the gendarme again
had recourse to his bayonet with the same
result But, to the astonishment of every
one, the room was empty. Not soul to
be seen no mangled corpse on the floor
none on the bed. And yet the sight that
presented itself was fearfully significant.
Everything in the chamber was In the