Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-12-29
VOL. XIX. NEW SERIES. VOL. xxi.
Horrible Story.
NANuFAcroRf OF GRIZZLIES

nero OF the Man Who Laughs" was de-
scrloeu as miserable child stolen from his
parents, who had in earliest youth been
aisngured most awiully in order to render
MIN an object OF charity, and who had been
forced to prosecute the trade of mendicancy
until he had effected his escape from bis
masters. Apocryphal as the story read it
was true.
The great French novelist barely exceeded
the facts OF the case when he created the
character oft horribly disfgurcd hero OF the
story, and the trade which fourished at the
period at which he laid the scene of his ro-
nance Is by no means dead to-day.
Some months ago Prof Ember. of the
MEDICAL College at Prague, applied to the
Austrian Chief of Police at Vienna for assist
ance IN ierreting out and bringing to JUS
tice the most monstrous society of criminals
that ever existed. The required support
was extended him and the patient work of
an experienced detective, added to that of
the Professor himself, eventually achieved
the desired end. A month ago a body of
police made descent upon the headquarters
oil the criminals. and their trial is at pres
ent pending in the Imperial courts.
The story which ths facts elected by this
trial tells US is worthy OF place in Dantes
Inferno. The widest dream Of a distem-
pered nightmare never PAINTED picture so
traught with horror.
On the first day of the trial bowling mob
endeayored TO tear the maletactors piece
msal, and it was only found possible to con-
tInue the investigation by garrisoning the
courtroom with soldiers and calling out
two regiments of horse to protect the Grim
lnals on their way from the court to their
prison.
Radna, the chief city Of Central Hungary,
Is the scene of a continuous pilgrimage. The
cathedral OF the city possesses as relics the
bones Of st. Neponuck, and the yearly sum
of pious visitors to their shrine numbers
hundreds of thousands. As a natural con-
sequence of this heavy foreign visit, the
town swarms with beggars, who are reported
to be the most miserable and hideously de-
formed in the world. Men, women, and
children, in all degrees of terrible mutila-
ton, exhibit their crippled forms and appeal
for charity, and the pilgrims, who believe
that by honoring their claims they will COM
mand the prayers of the unfortunate mend-
cants, rarely refuse to crafty them.
Prof. Ember, on his return from geologi-
cal tour in the Interior of the Empire, spent
two days in Radna during the early part of
last summer. \ daily visitor at his inn was
young girl Of l6 of remarkable beauty,
who had lost her right leg, and who usually
took her stand in the courtyard at carly
morning and remained there until late in the
afternoon soliciting charity. The beauty
and misfortune OF the poor creature excited
the Professors sympathy land he summoned
her to his room. She came and was present.
ed by him with liberal gratuity. She had,
/ anaardivrr 70 bor ~,
| pie from earliest childhood, and from her
remarkable de1terity in the use of her single
limb, this assertion seemed likely one.
During the recital OF her own history she
mentioned number of other unfortunates
like herself, and told the Professor that they
had lived together in an open in the suburbs,
| kept by blind man named Clopin Trouile-
son.
This pauper bostelry the Professor visited
that night, under the guidance Of his mutil-
ated protege, and the discoveries he made
there led TO his application to the Imperial
| police, and the consequent trial to which We
have alluded.
The tavern of the " Golden Omelette" is
situated close under the fortfcaton walls OF
the City Of Radna Its proprietor, Trouile-
son, Is a man Of gigantic stature, an old sol
I NANA Va tAO n aLotAA Aau al VIM was bAlilANA
| by the explosion OF cannon while firing q
salute from the forts at Trieste.
Returning to bis native city with his mis-
tress, a fne-looking Russian woman Of the
Yolga, be started the house of call for beg
gars. which he, ur to few weeks ago, di-
rected and made money out Of The house
Is a long, low. rambling structure non
descript Of brick, stone, and wood. and |
| when descended on by the police served a.
shelter for nearly 200 men, women and |
\ children, all Of whom, with the exception OF |
| perhaps dozen, were professional beggars. |
| Upon the arrest Of its host, be was discover |
ed TO be worth, in money deposited in the |
| Imperial Bank, over 500, ,000,-an eror- |
nous fortune for the country in which he |
| lived. How this money was obtained is the |
crowning horror of the entire affair.
Antoine Cherguille, nicknamed - The |
| Player" is the brother Of Trouillesons mis-
tress. Among the irequenters Of the " Gold |
en- Omelette" he Is called the - Operateur.
He is a man Of over 50. and for the last thir- |
ty years Of his life has been engaged in the |
business of manufacturing erpples. From |
the evidence given at the trial, which Is |
| likely to send him to the guillotine, his |
method of procedure is ss follows
The members of gang of kidnappers, |
Organized by his sister and her sightless par
amour, have for the last twenty years been |
engaged in stealing children from the various |
cities OF the Empire. These unfortunate |
little ones were brought to the headquarters
at Radna, where they passed into the merci |
less hands of the " operateur."
He took charge of them in a separate sec
tion of the inn, where, assisted by couple |
of surgeons. whose vices had reduced them |
TO his own level, and by his own knowledge |
Of anatomy,-fo he had studied the art IL
self in his youth he evolved the terribly |
crippled spectres who have so long pestered |
the pilgrims of st. Nepomuck. At the time |
Of his arrest three children, in various
stages of cOnyalescence from mutilatlon, were
found on the filthy cots of this demoniac hos |
pital. One of them, pretty girl OF i've, |
had had her right hand amputated. The |
other two, both boys, had lost their hands |
and feet respectively. In a pit under the |
| floor, in one corner Of the torture-chamber, |
were found the putreiylDg remnants OF a |
dozen human members, buried IN compost |
| of chloride Of lime and quick-lipe. Cher |
| guile manifested no emotion upon his arrest,
/ but utterly refused to render any lniorma-
tion, and has been obstinately silent since. |
! At the time the arrest was made the busl-
ness of the infamous den was in full blast. |
| In the long common room a hundred mlsera- |
| Bile wrecks Of humanity, armless, legless, |
handless, footless, blind and awfully disfg- |
ured, congregated about long tables. The |
smoke of their pipes vailed the scene, the |
reek of their foul meal tainted the air, and
the Gathering Of their crutches, :he curses, !
! shrieks, and loud conversation all about
deafened the ordinary ear. Upon the en-
trance of the detectives they merely looked
up, and noting the artfully disguised figures,
took them for strange beggars, and continued
their orgies without honoring them with any
further attention. The house had been sur
rounded with a double Gordon of police, and
at an appointed signal the descent was made.
| The result was that all the irequenters Of
the place were seized, with one exception
This, singularly enough, was man without
legs, who managed TO conceal himself IN the
cellar, and eventually made his escape.
The prisoners were at once loaded into
special train and conveyed to Vienna. There
the promise Of pardon induced number OF
them to a series Of confessions. The art Of
Gripping children was, it seems. not the
only one practised by the - operateur.
| More than one poor innocent hac been will
fully blinded by the atrocious torturer, and
at toe trial three such victims Of his lnia-
nous business were produced. The money
gained by these children was divided be
tween Cherguille and his sister and her
paramount The unfortunate little ones were
closely watched. and no avenue of escape
left open to them.
That the circumstances of the case were
not altogether unknown to the authorities
at Radna is patent from the fact that the
Mayor and two other officials have been ar
rested for accepting bribes to hush the mat
ter up.