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

As>">~'n0ti"n ~ NOUnS Girl Wy her
Parents Mir"r"I"s,~ Escape OF the
| lntr"tlrd Victim - Discovery Of IL
| Flemish, Plot.
On the night OF the 18th of June
there took place near Brussels, thrcap-
'tal OF Belgium, a tragedy, the shock.
ing particulars of which seem to- have
issued from the fertile brain of Il
French romancist, rather to have oc-
Cured III reality. On the preceding
day Christine Duuursnoy, IL young girl
of twenty three, who, for several years
had been Il servant ut the house Of IL
wealthy widow lady in Brussels, WAS
informed that her aged mother, who
lived at the village Of Quatrr- Bras, had,
III consequence Of an accident, lost her
tyrsiSht. The dMtiful daughter re-
solved ut once to leave her situation
aud return to her native village in order,
/" take care of her poor blind mother.
While grirving greatly over the mislor-
tune which had l"faIlcu the latter,
Christine cungrat ulutru herself ur,i,
having saved from hcr wages the hand
some sum Of 800 francs, which she
had deposited with Il notary public, and
which she Thought would enable her 10
preserve her aud her aged mother from
want. Next morning; she received the
money from the notary, and took the
train for home. Upon rc:,c!ing the last
station, she found that she was unable
to procure Il carriage for uuatrc-Dras,
which was five miles distant. She re-.
solved t" proceed there on foot but,
after walking about three miles, she
l'sltatcd. A feeling of terror seized
her: She had to pass through forest,
and there being a house of an acu',aint,
ahcc OF hers i'll the neiShboihootl, she
resolved to pass the night there. She
reached it i'll a few minutes, and found
the proprietor, an elderly farmer
named Anbusse, AMI his wife, Ellie, at
home. Upon inquiring where thcil
only daughter, Francois, was, Chris
tine WAS t"l,! that she had gone to
%l"atrc- Bras, and would not return be.
lore morning. Christine th.r. told
them that she was afraid to proceed
with the money she had in her pocket
to her native village, and Aubussc and
his wife cordially invited her to slce,
under their roof. As she was very
tired. they told her to retire immc
diatcly, and Ellie conducted her tt
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 sh,
was awakened by voices in the a.lioin.
ing room 1t was Aubusse and lis
wife. Although they were convcrsiny
IL an unlcrtonc, Christine could I'M
dcrs tald every word they uttered. TX
her horror, she discovered tina! the
two had resolved to murder her Tor the
money which she had in her possess
sion.
Franchise" said Aubussc's wicked
wife, will not come home tonight
SO nobody will know that Christine was
IN Qua house. We will bury her corpse
in tue garden, and who will ever iin>
her grave thcre!'
The two wretclles then stepped into
the front room. Christine DuQu,s,loy
aprey to understandable terror sprana
at once from her bed, and, although she
was but scantily dressed, climbed onj
OF the open rear window, and spec
across the large garden into the opc
field. She ran for fifteen minutes q:
fast as her feet would carry her, with
out daring to look back. Then she
stood still, aud, after resting for Il few
minutes, she started anew. In lc]
terror she did not care in what dircc
ton she was going. At last, :;lftef i she
had been running for upwards Of al
honr, she reached the Brussels high
VIVA, and was soon afterwar*l espiet:
ny two gendarlncs. They hailei
her, and ordered her tc
stop, but she sped on, ana
finally sank down in utter exhaustion
behind shrub by the waysidc. Whc,
the genularmes overlook her, one OF
them threw his cloak to her, and then
she told them ali aboilt the Genllisl
plot of Aul,ussc and his wife. They
asked her 10 accompany them to the
house OF the Aubusscs, which they
reached 1T I'LL advanced hour CT The
night. All was dark and silent in the
house, but, on going around to the
rear OF the building, they discovered a
light in Il distant part Of the garden.
They went cautiously towards it, and,
on coming close up to it. saw Aubusse
anu his wife engaged i'll throwing earth
upon i. human body lying ON its face IL,
Il hole that had been dug in the ground,
Suddenly the two gen.larmes rushed
toward tLcm. When Aubussc and his
wife canght 81 ght of the young girl
they uttered piercing cries of terror.
"She is aiivc!" yelled Aubussc,
whose face had turned livid.
The next moment one OF the ccnd-
armes had collared linn and his wife,
while the other drew the corpse iron,
tho hole in the ground. When he held
the lantern, which stood by the side oi
the Lofe, up to the face Of the victim,
Ambusse and his wife uttered still
more heart ren.ling cries.
cit is FRANCHISE !" shriekel Aub,s.
SEES wife.
Aubussc looked !. moment ut the
corpsc: Then he suddenly broke loose
from tho grasp of the gendarmc, and
before the latter was able to seize him,
stabbed himself with desperate energy.
while his wife fell in Il 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
Dulucsn"y, their daughter, Fr,ncolse,
had returned from Nuatrc- Bras, and.
being very TRES, had ut once gone to
bed. When all was ready for the rc-
ccption of the corpse, Aubusse and his
wife E'izc, had stcalthily rc-en-
tcrcd the house, and then ut
terly unaware Of the change which had
meanwhile takon place in the occu-
p'Ets Of Franchises bed, they had
rushed into TIE the small back room,
a'"' snlothcred the person in it t..
death by covering her face tightly with
II heavy pillow. They pcrpotrated this
det't III the dark, and when the victim
i';ut ceased to breathe Anbussc lifted
her from the bed and carried her into
the garden, his wife preceding him
with Il dimly burning lantern, to the
hole i'll which Christine Duqueslloy
was to have been buried. Aubussc
threw the corpse into the hole, and ne
and his wife had thrown only Il few
shoVclfnIs Of earth on it when they
were surprised by tho gcndarmes.
When Ellie Aubnssc awoke it was
'"''n'l that the terrible shock had de-
I'r'vt'i her of her reason. 1t was hor
rible to near the crazy laughter Will,
winch she looked upon the CORPSE of
her young daughter and dying nus
band, who expired soon alt,rward.
Payment Of Land.G,ant Mortgages
The New York Times recently noticed
the interesting fact that two i,pport;1nt
land-graht mortgages, created some