The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-02-10
THE CASE OF JACQUES LIE BRUN.

THE CASE OF JACQUES LIZ BRUN.
When a lawyer wishes to impress the
minds of jury with the conviction that
it is extremely dangerous for them to
convict anyone on circumstantial evidence
alone, he rehearses long list of In
stances in which such proof has turned
out to be delusion and a snare, and
prominently among these there figures
garbled account of the trial and convic-
tim of Jacques LIE Brun. This same case
has often been related by lay writers,
who, ignorant of the true principles on
which the rules of evidence are based,
insist that direct testimony only is to be
regarded as of any weight. The true
history, however, of the trial of the un-
fortunate LIE Brun gives support to no
such theory. On the contrary, had his
Judges paid a proper regard to the
weight of circumstantial evidence he
would have been acquitted. Here are
the facts In the case, as set forth by
NJ in his great collection of
Causes Celebres. published years ago.
Madame Mazel, residing in Paris, had
passed the meridian of life, and was
possessed of an ample fortune. She
employed retinue of servants: two
fOotmen, a cOachman, jacques LIE Brun,
who had lived with her twenty years,
and was her butler, and three female SER
wants, composed her household. A man
called the Able Poulard lived with her
on footing of intimacy which did no
honor to her reputation. In the course
of the summer of 1898 she had taken
from LIE Brun master key, which open
ed all the doors In the house, and gave
it to the Able Poulard for his accom-
mediation In coming and going at all
hours. LIE Brun had duplicate key,
which he continued to use. On Nov.
80, 1898, being the first Sunday in Ad-
vent, Madame Mazel, who was very
punctilious In the exercises of religion,
went to vespers. She left her house
attended by LIE Brun, on whose arm she
leaned, and the two footmen followed
her. AS soon as she was in the chapel
LIE Brun quilted her and went to hear
vespers himself at the Jacobins, in the
Rue st. Jacques. Madame Mazel upon
her return, supped, according to her
usual custom tete-a-tete with the Able
Poulard. At IL o'clock she went to her
chamber. The maid, as was her usual
custom, put the key on the chair, after
which they all quilted the room, and lie
Brun, who went last, drew the door after
him and shut it. He then went into the
kitchen and took the key of the street
door to lock it; he took it off the hook,
but finding himself cold, he laid it down
on the table while he warmed himself:
and being fatigued- possibly, too, hav-
ing drank more than he was accustomed
to -he insensibly fell asleep. When
he awoke he heard the clock strike
one. He ran up to lock the street
door, which, to his surprise, he found
wide open, and, when he had done SO.
took the key with him into his room.
So passed the night away.
Madame Mazel usually rose at Z, and
the servants, when s o'clock struck the
next morning, expressed to each other
their wonder that she had not rung her
bell LIE Brun had gone out early In the
morning to see his wife, to whom he
gave seven louis and some other money.
which he bade her lock up. On his re-
turn to the house he asked if Madame
Mazel was yet up. Being told she was
not, he expressed great surprise and I'M
easiness. The whole household, by this
time assembled In the kitchen, deter
mined to awaken her; they went to the
door and raped loudly, but all was 81
lent. Some one suggested that she had
an apoplectic fit, another that a bleeding
of the nose, to which she was subject.
had caused her to faint but LIE Brun
remarked that it must be something
worse. Sc Something" said he. sis
wrong. am very uneasy, because I
found the street door open last night. .
The room door was broken down and
the servants entered. lie Brun went
hastily to his mistress bed. She was |
assassinated and covered with blood.
NJ. De Savonnieres, her eldest son, at |
this moment arrived, MADAME Mazel
lived apart from her family, and at once
sent for the Lieutenant Criminel. In the
name of himself and his two brothers he
laid a formal complaint before that of
fetal, and surgeons were sent for to ex-
anime the body. About fifty small
wounds made with knife were found |
on her hands, face, shoulders, and
throat, and these last, having occasioned I
a great effusion of blood, had been the
cause of her death, for none of the
wounds were of themselves mortal. In
the bed was found piece of lace neck
cloth, and towel twisted up In the form
of night cap, which towel belonged to
the house. and was marked with an
as. The cords of the bells were twist
ed up above the reach of the hand, and
tied to the curtain rod in the ashes was
found a knife, seven or eight inches
long, the handle of which had been of
tortoise shell, but it was nearly all
burned off. The key of the chamber
door was not found on the seat, where
the maid affirmed she had put it. No
door was broken, and the two doors
which opened on the back stairs were
both shut and locked from the inside.
The key of the clothes press was found
IN its usual resting place under the pill