The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-01-27
XII,
He was subsequently asked why he had SO
,o.,,..,4l,, oroopod and answarnd.

He was subsequently asked why he had SO
frequently escaped and answered:
81 had lost hope. l began to believe that /
was destined to end my days under the lock
and key, and I sought to escape because
every day of liberty was day saved from
inevitable captivity. 1t had been for more
than thirty years my luck 10 be rearrested
and committed. and since it had TO be Sc,
tried when l could to cheat it,"
Yes. 1t was his luck. November 25, 1881,
he was entering the diligence, Rue du Bouloi,
when hand was laid on his shoulder. 1t
was the inevitable police office. For the first
time, gaining strength and eloquence from
his desperation, Dubois resolved to plead his
own case. He told his story, insisted on the
innocence of the original crime laid to his
charge, recounted his honorable service in
three armies of France, showed his scars.
The court heard him partly through, yawned
and sent him back to Bicetre.
XIII.
Small wonder he gave up for while and
abandoned himself to despair. He was al
most sixty, and lrck had run cruelty agains.
him for nearly forty years under the Republic
the Consulate, the Empire, the Hundred
Days, two Reservations and one Revolution.
He was destined to Mont st. Michel, most
horrible of the prisons of the day. The
and inclined to be merciful, and as a last
hope he wrote out the whole story of his life
from the time that he entered the school of
Brienne. He did not omit an incident, his
escapes, the petty theft he committed after
vainly attempting suicide.
You will find it all in the Gazette DIES Trib-
unduI OF the time. 1t concludes thus:
Advanced in age my strength is failing.
There remains to me but one hope and the
of spainp the end evils
Still the soveregn's mercy is great; / have
never committed a crime which should make
me despair of pardon. 1 cannot survive the
hardships of the fearful route from Paris to
position may be ameliorated by sparing me
that terrible and severe treatment, and that
may be sent to a place of detention near er
Paris, as POissey or Meun, where my brother,
who will give security for me, can find me
work at my trade (saddlery), and can await
in patience the moment when your majesty
will deign to take pity on my misfortunes.
This plea he sent to Queen Amelia, most
pious and venerable of sovereigns.
And now with a tender-hearted woman,
and she queen, on his side Dabois's luck
turned. The Queen had the whole story
hunted out.
1t was all true!
The regimental records attested the brav-
cry and scrupulous honesty of Francois
Dubois.
Old Marshal Mortier told how the hussar
had ridden first and headlong into the battery
of Bout-de-Lain.
The Duke de Trevise bore witness before
the Queen of the hussar's repeated gallantry
and of his services to France as despatch
carrier, and interceded warmly for him.
The Prefecture of Police itself could only
report that the worst offense against DUBOIS
was his breaking Jail; it was for this that he
had been so relentlessly pursued and so often
arrested; there was no reason why he should
not be pardoned.
He was, for the next weeks Gazette DIES
TribunduI contained this announcements
We have the satisfaction of announcing that
this unfortunate prisoner has been liberated
and that her majesty the queen has presented
him with sum of money sufficient to prevent
/ him for the rest of his days from again falling
into misery.
We never heard of Dubois after this, and it
is pleasant to think that at last he found rest,
peace and comfort.
That is the story of Francois Dubois, hero
and galley-slave, as it is written in the police
archives, the army records and the Gazette
des Iribunaur, how the blind fury of the law
hunted him for forty years, and to the verge
of the grave, for an offense which he never
committed!