The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-11-12
The AGA dian M urder.
From the Chicago Tribune. |

The graphic narrative of the murder
in Acadia and the hanging of the muir
derer, Olivier Gallien, which was printed
in our last issue, dispels the poetical
glamour which has hung over this land
of romance so long, and shows that
these people, whom the poets have
painted as so simple, happy, and inno-
cent in their pastoral lives, have the
same cares, and burdens, and miseries
as other beings whose praises have not
been sung upon poetical Tyres. More
than this, it would appear that these
poetically-hapfy Acadians are prosaic-
ally even more wretched and degraded
than the average of human beings.
The story Of Oliver Gallien has not
only much of misery and degradation,
but much of pathos in it. 1t is difficult
to read the story without a feeling of
sympathy or at least pity for the
poor wretch, dreadful as his crime was.
He was fisherman who barely support
cd life BY his vocation. He was ignor-
ant to the lowest degree. In intelli-
gence he was scarcely above beast of
burden. He lived in his hut with
Xavier Poulin, another fisherman,
equally poor. ignorant. and a loath-
some, degraded leper. and in this hut,
herded together, eating and sleeping
together in the same small apartment,
we're the two fishermen, Gallien sister
and Poulin's wife and children. The
village priest had ordered practical
divorce between Poulin and his wife
when the former was seized with lep-
rosy, and the woman chose Galien for
her affinity. The two lived together in
a criminal intimacy for years with
Poulin's consent, and she bore children
to him. The arrangement, however.
was not satisfactory to Poulin's wife,
and, desiring larger liberty, she worked
upon Gallien's feeble intellect until she
induced him to kill her husband. Many
and many time he attempted to COM
nit the deed, but his heart failed him
when it came to the moment of con-
summation. The fiendish woman even
sharpened the knife for him, and at last
with her persuasions and her reproach-
es SO worked upon him that he did the
fatal deed, and the poor leper was found
out in the clearing most brutally muir
dered. When the body was brought to
the house. the woman made loud and
unnatural display of grief, and garru-
lousy defended Gallien against any sus-
picions oc the murder. The rest of the
neighbors were evidently as ignorant
and degraded as the principal actors in
the tragedy. They saw nothing in the
circumstances, and a burial permit
was granted. which was revoked
however, by the Coroner. During his
investigation, Gallien was present, and
evidently victim of keen mental suf
fering. The struggle with conscience
was brief one. Remorse gained the
advantage, and at last, In the presence
of his paramour and their victim. he
cried out in a fit of anguish: "My
God, am choking; did it, lie was
arrested, but upon his trial he made no
plea and maintained persistent silence.
He was found guilty, and went to the
gallows OF the Goth. He acknowledged
the fitness of his sentence. He asked
for forgiveness and prayed to God for
mercy. He apparently had no fear,
and his last words were the fervent
cry: Mon pere, mon pere, nissri-
corde, and with these sad, despairing
words he was hurried out of existence.
1t was dark spot in the beautiful
Acadian land, a sad and wretched
spectacle. The murdered and the muir
derer have gone, and the guilty woman
waits the birth Of another Of Gallien s
children, and will then follow them. Is
this the home Of Esangeline! Are