Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-24
A BELGIAN TRAGEDY.

Assassination Of ~ Young Girl by her
i"'c",:, ,s. .src d" If '"s
FtcMu ish. Plot.
on tic night of tho 18th Of June
there took place near Brussels, the cap
ital of Belgium, tragedy, the shock.
ing particulars of which seem tc have
issued from the fertile brain Of a
French romancist, rather to have &C.
cnrrcd III reality. On the preceding
day Christine Duqucsnoy, young girl
of twenty three, who, for several years
had been Il servant ut tho house of II
wealthy widow lady in Brussels, was
informed that her aged mother, who
lived ut tho village Of Quatre- Bras, had,
III consequence of an accident, lost her
cycsiSht. Tho dutiful Clau ghtcr r.
| solved ut once to leave her situation
! and return to her native viliagc in order
/" takc care of her poor blind mother.
While grieving greatly over tho misfor-
| tune which had befallen the latter,
Christine congratulated herself upon
having saved from her wages tho hand
some sum of 800 frMncs, which she
had deposited with q notary public, and
which she thought would enable her to
preserve her aud her aged mother from
want. Next morning she received the
money from the notary, and took the
| train for home. Upon reaching the last
/ station, she found that she was, unable
to procure Il carriage for Quutre- Bras,
which was live miles distant. She re.
solved to proceed there on foot; hut,
after walking about three miles, she
hcsitatcd. A feeling Of terror seized
her. She had to pass through forest,
and there being a house of an acquaint-
ance of hers in the neighbolhoo1, she
resolved to pass the night there. She
reached it i'll a few minutes, and found
tho proprietor, an elderly farmer
named Aubusse, anl his wife, Ellie; ut
home: Upon inquiring where their
only daughter, Francois, was, Chris
tine was TOLD that she had gone to
1uatre Bras, and would not return be-
tore morning. Christine then told
them that she was afraid to proceed
with the money she had in her pocket
to her native village, and Aubusse and
his wife cordially invited her to sleep
under their, roof. As she was very
tired. they told hcr. to retire imme.
diately, aud Elize conducted her to
Francois bed in the small back room.
Christine Duquesnoy went to bed with
out delay, but, us is often. the case
with persons who are very tired, she
did not sleep very souudly. She had
not closed her eyes very long when she
was awakened by voices in the adjoin-
ing room 1t was hubusse and his
wife. Although they were conversing
IL all UNDERGONE, Christine could un-
ders tald every word they uttered. TO
her horror, she discovered that the
two had resolved to murder her for the
money which she had in her possess.
sion.
| Franchise" said Aubnsse's wicked
wife, will not come home Tonight !:
so nobody will know that Christine was
in oul house. We will bury her corpse
in the garden, and who will over find
her grave there z"
The two wretches then stepped into
the front room. Christine DuQuesnoy.
a prey to INDISPENSABLE terror. sprang
at once from her bed, and, although she
was but scantily dressed, climbed:sout
Of the open rear: window, and sped
across the large garden into the '@npen
field. She ran for fifteen minutes as
fast as her feet would carry her, with:
out daring to look back. uEhep she
stood still, aud, after resting lfof few
minutes, she started anew. In her
terror she did not care in what direc-
ton she was going. At iasE. A,ftef ! sic
had been running for upwards of ain
hour, she reached the Brussels high,
wya, and was soon afterwartl espiei
by two gendarmes. They hailetl
her, and ordered her to
stop, but she sped on, and
finally sank down in utter exhaustion
behind shrub by the wayside. When
the gendarmes overlook her, one of
them threw his cloak to her, and then
she told them ali, about tile Gendish
plot of Aul,usso and lis wife. They
asked her TO accompany them to the
house OF the .Aubusses, which they
reached at an advanced hour Of the
night. All was dark and silent in the
house, but, on going around to the
rear of the building, thcy discovered a
/ light in a distant part of the garden.
They went cautiously towards it, and,
Oh coming close up to it, saw Aubusse
and his wife engaged in throwing earth
npon human body lying Oh its face i'll
a hole that had been dug in the ground.
Suddenly the two gendarmes rushed
toward them. When Aubusse and his
wife caught sight Of the young girl
they uttered piercing cries of terror.
"She is alive!" yelled Aubusse,
whose face had turned livid.
| The next moment one Of the gend-
armes had collared him and his wife.
while the other drew~the corpse from
the hole in the ground. When he held
the lantern, which stood by the side of
the hofe, up to the face of the victim,
Ambusse and his wife uttered still
more heart rentling cries.
| "1b is Franchise - slrieked Aubus.
SEES wife.
Aubusse looked moment at the
CORPSE. Then he suddenly broke loose
from the grasp of the gendarme, and
before the latter was able to seize him,
stabbed himself with desperate energy.
while his wife fell in u deep swoon.
The greedy couple had murdered their
own daughter, instead of their intended
victim. While they were preparing
the grave i'll the garden for Christine
Duquesnoy, their daughter, Flancolse,
had returned from Quatre- Bras, and.
being very tircj, had ut once gone to
bed. When all was ready for the re-
ception of the corpse, Aubusse and his
wife Elize, had stealthily re-en-
tered the house, and then ut
terly unaware of the change which had
meanwhile takon place iii the. occu-
pants of Franchises bed, they had
rushed into tie the small back room,
aud smotl,cred the person in it t.,
death 10y covering her face tightly with
u heavy pillow. They perpetratcd this
deed in the dark, and when the victim
had ceased to breathe Anbusse lifted
her from the bed anu carried her into
the garden, his wife preceding him
with u dimly burning lantern, to the
hole i'll which Christine Duquesnoy
was to have been buried. Aubusse
threw the corpse into the hole, and he
and his wife had thrown only a few
shovelfuls of earth on it when they
were surprised by the gendarmes.
When EliZe AuEmsse awoke il was
found that the terrible shock had de.
prived her OF her reason. 1t was hor-
rlblo to hear the crazy laughter with
which she looked upon the corpse of
her young daughter and dying hus-
band, who expired soon slitcrward.
Payment VI Land.Grant MOrtgagesf
The New York Times recently noticed
the interesting fact that two important
no rms ,4<>.1