Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-08-12

fe1gned astonishment and reassured his
prisoner, so that he had quite recover.
ed his calmness when brought before
che lieutenant. The latter, however,
soon put an end to his doubts by thus
addressing him: "This bond is in.
deed false, but as you have betrayed
fear l must tell you that there are
other things against you. A citizen of
Lucca, named Zambelli, is dead, and
you are his murderer. Do not deny 1t,
tor have certain proofs. You need
not feel any alarm, however, on this
account; he was stranger here no
one cares what has become of him; a
few sacrifices on your part and the
whole affair can be hushed up only
you must make full and sincere con-
fession-your life depends on it,
Martel at first fell into the snare.
Glad to purchase his life with the sac
rifce of part of his plunder, he ex-
claimed that the discovery of his guilt
must have been by the direct interposi-
tion of Heaven, for no eye had seen his
crime. He was ready, he said, to con-
tess all, but when the notary came to
take down his deposition, he recovered
his self-possession and refused to say
anything, protesting his entire inno-
cence of the crime laid to his charge.
All efforts to extort a confession were
in vain, and he was remanded to pris-
! on. He loudly protested against his
incarceration, declared the falseness of
the bond on which he was arrested,
publicly accused the lieutenant and
sergeant of forgery, and commenced a
suit against them for damages. The
courts, however, were on the side
of the police, and Martel's proceedings
were stayed for three months; the
suit relative to the murder of Zambelli
was brought before the Norman Parli-
ament, and Martel himself transferred
to the Conciergerie, while diligent
search was made for the body of the
missing man.
Eleven miles northeast of Versailles.
in what is now the Departme 1t or
Seine-et-Oise, stands the little town of
Argenteuil. One day in the summer
of 1850 it was the scene Of unwonted
excitement. The inhabitants had with
one accord, suspended their labors,
quilted their houses, and gathered to-
gether about the door of the Hotel du
Heaume. By their earnest conversa-
tion among themselves, and the eager
questioning to which they subjected
all who came out of the hotel, it was
evident that something unusual was
there going on. In fact, it was the
scene Of an inquest held by NJ. Lau-
renee Bigot, kings advocate, on the
body of the long-missing Zambelli.
This Jealous officer, in his search for
traces Of the crime, had visited every
village and hamlet on the road from
Rouen to Paris, and had questioned
every officer of police he encountered,
but all in vain. In despair of accom-
| plishing his object, he was about to
return to Rouen, when he was inform
ed that some months before a corpse
had been discovered in vineyard near
Argenteuil. Bigot fastened thither,
and the state of preservation of the
remains enabled him, on viewing the
body, to perceive that it tailed exact
ly with the description given by his
brother of the missing Zambelli.
The magistrate, having taken down
the evidence, proceeded, in accordance
with custom to read it aloud, when he
was interrupted by piercing cry, and
a blind man, whose presence in the
room no one had before perceived, pre-
sented himself. His name was Ger
vais: and himself professional beggar,
born in the neighborhoSd, we'll known
and much liked. It was his custom
to wander from place to place, begging
his way, but he always returned three
or four times a year to Argenteuil.
There he met a kind reception, and
was invariably allowed lodging at the
hotel. Having arrived that day from
tramp OF several months, he had en-
tered the house and seated himself un-
noticed IN corner. When, however,
in listening to the magistrate he heard
that a corpse had been discovered
among the vines, he sprang up with
loud exclamation, and was quickly in
terrogated. Several months before,
he said, ne started from Argenteuil on
one OF his tramps, and had just gained
the high ground beyond the village
when he heard the violent baying of
dog. He stopped and listened, and
soon distinguished mans voice, fee
Bile and suppliant, exclaiming, "Mon-
ster thy master, thy benefactor
mercy. Must l die so far from nv
country, my brother; mercy, mercy :"
Then the blind man heard a fearful
cry, like that of a dying man in his
last agony. and all was silence.
After time he distinguished the
steps OF one who seemed to stagger
under a, heavy burden. Gervais ad-
vanced asking what was the matter