Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-02-24
MISCELLANY.


Marian Douglas in Macmill;an's Magazine
MISCELLANY.
DEATH RATHER THAN DIsH0N0R.
On the l4th of November, 1914, at
o'clock in the evening, passers.by on
the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs, Paris
heard loud cries of ''help!' and 'mur
der - from room on the third floor o.
house No. II. Before the persons so
alarmed could ascend the stairs, or ever
the ne;ghbors nearest the room whence
the cries proceeded could answer the
summons, woman was seen staggering
down the stairs. With both hands she
pressed towel to her throat, essayine
to stop the torrent Of blood which, we'll.
ing from CHASTITY wound in her neck,
streamed through between her fingers
and poured down the front Of her dress.
"Help! help! l am DYING" she
cried, in . choking voice, tottering as
she spoke: and with one hand clutching
vaguely in the air.
"Mon Dieu!" exclaimed a porter, who
was the first to recognize her. ut is the
beautiful Holland girl
"Who has done this to you!' de.
manded dozen voices of her at once.
"Scissors, scissors" she feebly gasped,
signing to those about her to cut her
corsets. the pressure of which seemed to
stiae her. Those were her last words.
Before her request could be complied
with, she fell into the arms ofthose near
est her and was dead. ''Thc beautiful Hol.
land girl was the sobriquet by which
Cornelie Ksersmaker, a very pretty young
cyprian. was popularity known. She had
rooms in the house where her existence
thus tragically ended, and to them her
poor mangled body was carried. There
were counted upon her no less than seven.
teen deep gashes. made apparently by a
sharp knife with rounded point, but
the one fatal wound was that in her
throat, which had severed the jugular
vein.
The police were quickly present to note
every detail which might be OF service in
tracking the assassin, but found little or
nothing in their searching examination
to afford clcw. The knife with which
the deadly assault had been made was
picked up in one corner of the room. 1t
was common pocket knife, the large blade
Of which had q rounded point. Blood
covered it, but there was nothing upon 1t
to indicate to whom it had belonged. The
girls bed was scarcely rumpled, but upon
its surface was the imprint Of bloody
hand, and crimson spots fecked it where
the life.current of the girl had spouted
up against q mirror at the back Of the
bed. and spattercd back upon the spread.
Evidently the attack had been made upon
her while she was lying down. Evidence oil
q struggle were strangely lacking. A lit
tie taple, covered with articles Of porce.
lain and glass. stood near the bed, and
did not seem to have been in the slightest
degree disturbed.
While these investigations were being
made, great excitement was created in
the Cafe de Europe, in the Boulevard
du Temple, long distance from the Rue
Nueve des Petitus Champs, by the ap'
appearance there of . young captain Of
grenadiers. Antoine Series de Saint
Clair. who was frequenter of that place
He came in running, pale, with blood up
on his face and hands, and with his dress
disordered, In answer to the hurried
and excited questions Of those who clus
tered about him, he told strange story
He said that he had yielded to the 70
licitations of one of the women Of gallant
~ who at that time encountered the gal
leries of the Palias Royal, and had &C
companied her to her room, the location
OF which, however he did not note
Upon arriving there, he was surprised tt
find in her chamber two sturdy, villain
ous.looking rufians, whose appearance,
was so sinister ~ to cause him much up
not appear to notice them, and, cody
taking of her hat proceeded to disrobc
While he was endeavoring to invent some
excuse for retreat, tho woman spoke t.
the men some words in German, and ON
of them said to him:
"You arc 4 military man, arc yo'
not!" ......
He replied that he had the honor to b
so, retreating 1T the same time towar'
the door, when suddenly, without furthe
parley, the two rufRans sprang upon him
Believing robbery and murder to be thei
objects, he struggled with them Is vel
as he could. but Intellectually, as one q
them held him by tho elbows from be
hind, while the other despoilcd him Of hi
purse, rings, and oven ola pocket-knifi
with round-pointed blade, which he ha
been in the habit Of carrying. The woma
mixed in the melee, seemingly taking hi
part, 1T which one of the robbers furiou,
" attacked her, knocking her over o
the bed. and there striking her with th
knife again and again. This division {
the enemy's force MAS in so far favorabl
to Captain Saint Clair that he succeede
in telling the robber with whom he VI
still engaged, and then, Getting out I
the door, ran, and did not stop until b
reached the Cafe de Europe. In n
counting these adventure second tim
he represented, the robbers - fleeing b
tore him, after clutching their booty, %
he pursuing them to the street, wher
one ran to tho right and the other to Ii
left, and no one noticed his cries of''Sto]
thief and assassin"
The little vafiation in his narrativ,
was. attributed to his bewilderment IN
excitement in going through such peri
Gus adventure, and the people ofths O.
de Europe -lsyished attentions upon hin
One Of his shirt sleeves wsrs partly to1
of. They tore away still more TO bin
up IN ugly cut which his right hand b
received, and they dressed, his 9TH