The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1869-05-15
9rIrrte0 A1istrIIunp.
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 ter.
rible cry of distress. The whole of the
little street was soon astir. 4 was
three o'clock in the morning as the
startled neighbors hurried together
In front Of narrow f0ur.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 a 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 Ny 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 CLEAN of light was
visible.
Who lives here?" inquired passer,
attracted by the disturbance.
"Oh, no one but Madame lEsparaye
and her daughter" answered the nimble
tongue of Pierre Moreau, the tobacconist.
II have known the ladies this long time.
They get their snuff from me. The moth.
er is a fOrtune.teller, and has some fine
customers, l can tell you. she must have
saved pretty sum by this time The
ladies have no scquaintaHces at all, as
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
me only yesterday as she was buying a
francs worth Of my best rsppee. 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 a servant, and 1t 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 we're 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 God 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 bayenet at
the charge, rushed in and stermed his way
up the staircase |'E
AS yet there was no cessation to that
thrill and piercing shrek Of terror or
agony, so strange and unearthly in Its tone
And they still heard, as If in fierce conten.
ton with 1t, the deep and heavy voice,
with its angry "cursed" and "devilp
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 manor to woman
This much, however, there could be nc
doubt about-neither Of the voices had
the slightest resemblance to those oil
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 a 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 gendsrme again
had recourse to his bayonet with the same
result. But, to the astonIshment Of every
one, the room was empty. Nota soul "a
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
widest disorder. Broken furniture shat
tered looking-glasses, fragments Of pictures
and torn bed-clothes and wearing appaTe
lay scattered over the floor. Along with
these evidences Of some frightful struggle
they found four bright Napoleons-d'or, Q
blood-stained earring set with topazes
several silver spoons and two bags con
taining some four thousand francs in gold
The money appeared to have been taken
from small iron cash-box that stood oper
on the bed.
On chair lay 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
donble crime2 The fastenings OF The
doors and windows were apparently In
tact. Certainly no one could have es
eaped through these For moment ali
we're bewildered d-confounded But The
bair found ii the CRATE suggested to Mu
aet mat perhaps the murderer might have
ded 81 the chimney. Examining th'
orate once more, he found on the hearth
5late 3 heap Of newly-fallen aoot III
crawled into the fireplace and telt up th'
chimney. 44.a
aAhfp ha exclaimed, here is some
thing SOFT Il Is hair-the long hair q
woman, and my hands are vet with some
thing. Oh, poor woman ! ieel ne! lacs
Itig Net to-. My God II must be blood
fleY neck ard sliould9Fe aFe aull Fqg0l