New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-28
The GhOul of MOntparnasse.

Some time ago there was terrible up
roar in the cemeteries of Paris. Armed
guards patrOled them every night. endeav-
oring in vain to discover a mysterious be-
ing, always unseen, but whose passage left
marks as fearful as they were extraordi-
nary. The sanctity of the grave had been
violated, and the bodies of the dead,
strangely torn and dishgured, had been
dragged some distance and left lying in the
walks. Facts still more hideous, and
which will not bear recital, filled with hor.
ror the keepers of the Cimetiere du Sud, on
the mornings of the fifteenth of November
and twelfth OF December. The most in
credible rumors were circulated in Paris.
The Legend went on magnifying as it was
repeated, until it was shudderingly whis-
pered by knowing ones that the cemeteries
were haunted by vampire, who dug up
the dead at night, and toasted upon their
decaying flesh.
Every means that could be suggested to
increase vigilance and render it effective
was tried. Policemen were added to the
guards. and savars dogs let loose in the
cemeteries every night. The men saw
nothing: the dogs did not bark. Yet, one
morning. eleven bodies were found to have
been exhumed, cut to pieces, and scattered
over a large area of grOund-pieces Of
flesh being even found neutrality-suspicious.
trophies on the limbs Of the trees. These
mODstr0us dOings row seemed confined to
the CIMetlers Montpernasse. An internal
machine was then placed there-a small
mortar loaded with all sort of proiectiles,
and to whose trigger numerous wires were
connected, inverging in all directions. In
the night of the fifteenth of March the
mac hine was heard to explode; and, next
day, it was ascertained that a sergeant
major of infantery named Francis Bertrand,
had sought admittance into the Hospital of
Val de Grace, having received some
strengthening wounds in the back. The
vampire was caught
Bertrand was tried by military court.
He bore good name in his regiment, and
was accounted a man Of gentle disposition
and an excellent soldier. He was ignorant,
having followed course of studies in a
seminary. Far from attempting to deny
the charge brought against him. he con-
fessed everything, with sincere candor and
humility. When seized with his ''frenzy,"
he said, he would escape from the barracks
and run to the cemetery, whose wall he
would clear with one bound. He knew
they had set up an Internal machine: he
would run to it and kick it over without
provoking an explosion. The dogs ran at
him; but he marched upon them, and they
skunk away. cowed and silent. He had
fcdcucu that IltApllCdDic supcEuuiHdu
power. not uncommon in certain nervoso-
mental affections. His strength passed all
shat can be imagined. With nothing but
his hands he would dig the grave open,
break the coffin and tear to pieces the
corpse. which he sometimes also hacked
with his sword. Was this all ? No; but
there arc acts so atrOclous that the pen re-
fuses to portray them.
This denoniac, FOR he seemed more like a
man possessed OF an evil spirit, at certain
hours, than a mad man having rational
spells, after committing these unaccounta-
BILE atrocities would hasten away from the
place he had desecrated, and, seeking shell
ter anywhere, in a ditch, on the margin of
a river, exposed to the rain or the snow.
fall into a cataieptic sleep, during which
he retained the consciousness of what was
going on around him After these fits he
felt worn and bruised for several days"
He was a monomaniac, obeying an lrresisti
BILE impulse, and suffering, very likely,
from larval epilepsy.
The court sentenced him to one years
Imprisonment, the maximum of the penalty
provided by the penal code.
Bertrand, the Ghoul. is still alive; he is
now perfectly cured of his hideous disease,
and is cited as MODEL of gentleness, pro-
priety and behavior.