The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-05-13
WHO WAS THE MURDERER?
FROM THE GERMAN.


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 2 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 circulating the
words, =" Cursed devil !" 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.
"Who lives here?" inquired pssser,
attracted by the disturbance.
"Oh, no one but Madame rEsparaye
and her daughter" answered the nimble
tongue of Pierre MORGAN, 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, can tell you. Ste must have
saved pretty sum by this time. The
ladies have no acquaintaDces at all, as l
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. We
have had sad experience with tenants,
dear Monsieur MOreau,' said madame to
rae only yesterday, as she was buying
francs worth of my best rappee. The
lower story, and the third and fourth, are
not SO 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
nave never kept a 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 thst 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 GOdi Here comes Monsieur
Muset, the gendarme," cried Henri Duval,
the silver worker; "he will find a way in,
I'll be bound"
The gendarme was ready and prompt.
Thrusting his bayOnet into the crack of
this door, he gave it a 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 CT terror or
agony so strange and unearthly in it's tone
And they still heard, as if in fierce c0nten.
ton with it, the deep and heavy voice,
with it's 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-
ler voice belonged to 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 ST.
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 fesrfully significant.
Everything in the chamber WAS in the
widest disorder. Brdken furniture, shat
tered looking glasses, fragments Of pictures
and torn bed-clothes and wearing apparel
lay scattered over the floor Along with
these evidences of some frishtful struggle,
they found four bright Napoleons-dor, a
blood-stS med ear r-rng set with tOpazes,
several silver spoons and two bags con-
tanning some four thousand francs in gold
The money appeared to have been taken
from small iron cash-bo that stood open
on the bed
On chair lag an open razor covered
with blood, and in the CRATE were found
three long, blood-matted locks of human
hair.
There had evidently been both robbery
and murder. But where were the vic
tims-where the perpetrators of the
double crime? The fasto nings of the
doors and windows were apparently in
tact. Certainly no one could have es-
capped through theses For moment all
were ewildered-confounded But the
hair found in the crate suggested to Mu-
set that perhaps the murderer M ght have
fled by the chimney. Examining the
crate once more, he found on the hearth
plate heap of newly fallen SCOT. He
crawled into the e-place and felt up the
chimney.
ABR he exclaimed, "here is some
thing soft ! It is hair-the long hair of
woman, and my hands are wet with some
thing. Oh, poor woman [ feel her face !;
1t is wet too. My God it must be blood
Her neck and shoulders are still warm !;
but cannot stir her, she is wedged so fast
in the chimn ey."
Some OF the more courageous of the by-
standers hastened to assist him. FINALLY.
by their united efforts, they succeeded In
withdrawing the body from the narrow
fiue-a sad and frIghtful spectacle-the
mangled and dIsfgured corpse of poor
Ludmilla pEsparaye.
Her face and neck were covered with
deep scratches and round purple spots at
regular intervals There was no doubt of
it, she had been strangled, and that by
some one possessed of superhuman
strength. The marks of the ten finger
nails were plainly visible. Yes, it must
have been something more than human
strength that had dragged the poor girl so
tightly into the chimney that it required
the united efforts of four men 10 draw
her body out again.
But what had become Of her mothers
At least, where was her corpse, for no one
expected to fad her alive.
Meanwhile, the police bad been alarmed
and were now fiocking To the scene. In