The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-14

in evidence. that when this weapon was
! found NJ Caudret was observed to turn
| deadly pale, and almost to faint. Further in
yestigation brought to light that from his
| study window, which was on the ground floor,
! TO the hospice, marks of mans foot could
distinctly be seen coming and going These
marks agreed exactly with pair of shoes
which were found dirty in the study, and
whichbelonged to the priest. handker-
! chief of his was moreover, found in the un-
! fortunate woman's bed, and it had evidently
been used as gag to stop her cries. In a
word circumstances were such, and the evil
dence against M. Caudret was so strong, that
the Marie considered it his duty to arrest
him. The people did not know what to be-
lieve Until now his character had been
almost that of q saint; now he was discovered
as having been guilty of the acts of a demon.
He was taken to Lyons and there, after
numerous tedious interrogations before this
and that authority, put upon trial for his life.
All he could urge in his defense was, that,
during the night when the crime had been
committed, he had been awoke by hearing, as
he thought, some one in his bedroom. He
had called out, and asked who was there, but,
receiving no answer, had dozed off again.
Subsequently, but he could not say how long
after, he had been again awoke by the noise,
as he thought, of his study-window being
opened He had got up, gone into the study,
but, seeing nothing to justify his alarm, had
imagined he must have been dreaming, and
had gone to bed again. In the morning he
had awoke rather later than usual, and missed
both his pocket-handkerchief and pair of
shoes that had been the night before in his
bedroom. The former he thought he must
have dropped somewhere during the day: and
he was just going to inquire for the latter,
when the alarm of the murder was given, and
he had rushed out to see what was the mat
ter. This much, and his antecedents, were
all he could urge in his defense. In fact, the
accusation seemed to come upon him like
blow, and to deprive him of all energy.
With us in England every accused man is
supposed to be innocent until he is proved
guilty. l don't say that this is always lite
rally the case, but such is the theory of our
criminal law, and very just theory it is In
France it is exactly the contrary. The prac-
tice of criminal proceedings in that country
is that every accused person is believed to be
guilty until he is proved to be innocent. And
such was the case with NJ. Caudret. He was
questioned by this authority, badgered by
that, bullied by third, made to contradict
himself by fourth, and sneered at by fifth,
until he almost believed he was guilty; and
yet the very consciousness of his innocence
made him desperate. And certainly if ever
circumstantial evidence was strong, it was on
this occasion. That he was the most unlikely
man in the world to commit any crime-and
particularly such crime-every one ad-
m;tted; and yet they could not help declaring
that the evidence against him was terribly
clear and distinct. Even some of his brother
clergy, most of whom had known him as a
boy and man for thirty and more years, kept
aloof from him, and declared, much as it
grieved them to say so, that he was guilty.
The unfortunate priest underwenta long and
most heart-breaking trial-a prolonged men,
fn1H HN1-k,.
French criminal trial. AS a matter of course
the press was against him. In those days the
fact of priest being guilty of any crime was
subject of JOY to the more than half infdel,
and always bitterly anti-Catholic, newspaper
writers of the period. These writings may or
may not have influenced the jury. But, be
that as it may, NJ CSudret was found guilty
and sentenced to death. He met his fate with
fortitude, merely declaring his innocence,
and saying that it would be some day or other
| fully proved that he was innocent. con-
fessor attended him in his prison, and the
| authorities of that establishment could not
but help noticing that after the first inter-
| view of that priest with the convicted man,
he at any rate did not believe him to be guilty.
although, of course, not word was divulged
of what had passed between the prisoner and
himself.
In the days I write of, Charles the Tenth
was King of France, and had very great dis
like to see any one, particularly priest, exc
cuted. Although urged by the Minister of
the Interior to sanction the capital punish
ment of M. Caudret his Majesty obstinately-
and, as it turned out, very fortunately
clined to do SO, and commuted the sentence
to one far worse for any man not a ''habitual
/ criminal" to bear, that of tTd0daG forces at
the galleys, what we should call penal servi-
| tude for life. The prisoner accepted the re-
spite without a murmur, but without re.
joicing. He was removed to Brest, and in q
very short time he and his crime were forgot
ten by the outer world.
What man of education, man refined in
| his tastes, religious in his ideas, and knowing
himself to be innocent, must have undergone
at the bans, those only who have seen these
establishments, and who knows what goes on
at these places, can form an idea. Our own
penal prisons must be bad enough, but they
are havens of rest and peace when compared
with those of France. The only good descrip.
ton of these hells upon earth published il
the English language was written some years
ago by Mr. Sala, in a novel called ''ThC
Seven Sons of Mammon." Those who recol
lect that writer's account of the balm at Bres
may imagine what NJ. Caudret had to endure
for twenty-five long years of his life and from
which he only escaped at last by almost /
miracle.
Charles had been dethroned; the Orlean.
dynasty had ruled over France, and had like
wise vanished; the republic had passed away
like dream; Louis Napoleon had been de
clared President, and then Emperor OF
France; and yet M. Caudret fingered in Jail
He still wore the hideous yellow garments of
''lifer;" was sneered and jeered at as hav-
ing been a priest; had to listen daily anC
| hOurlU IN laOOuaOa and tales of which Al.