The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-02-14
AN HISTORICAL JEAN VALJEAN.
The Ill Luck that Pursued FRANCOIS
Dubois, Hero and Convict, for
Forty Years.

tOrIy 1earS.
This 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 TriJundur:
Toward the close of 1913 he presented
himself to the commandant of Wesel,
Prussia, haggard and in rags, saying
that he belonged to the chasseurs, and
had been dismounted during the retreat
and compelled to skulk slowly after the
army, and asked to be forwarded to his
regiment, In those terrible days men
were precious, and officers were not sur
prised to discover veterans in rag-clad
skeletons. Dubois was sent to the hus-
sar regiment attached to the Marshal
Martier's army, where he soon became
the talk OF the corps. He never was
known to laugh, spoke but rarely, and
fought with a reckless daring uncommon
even in those times. At Bar-sur-Aube,
when the hussars charged the battery at
the bridge of Bout-de-Lain, he was the
first to reach the guns, and, falling with
.Berserkir rage on the cannoneers of one
piece, killed, wounded and dispersed
them, and had taken the gun single
handed before the squadron could seize
the others. The marshal had seen The
battery carried, and sending for Dubois
praised him highly and promised him
the cross.
Not long after, the marshal had occa.
r sion to send n dispatch from Troyes to
: the emperor, then at Pine, on the
Brienne road, and selected the hussar as
his messenger The country was thick
with hostile pckets anl scouts; he was
fired upon several times, but by good
luck and good management, now fight
ing, now running, now hiding, he made
his way in safety to Marmonts outposts,
and was conducted to the emperor.
Napoleon gave him a brief written re-
ply, instructjng him, in the presence OF
his staff, to conceal it in his bootleg.
Dubois had made his way back as far as
j. the mill of Sanciere, near 10 Belle
Epine, when he fon'!d himself hemmed
in Oh all sides by squad of Cossacks.
He rode resolutely at the thinnest part
of the line and tried to cut his way
through, but, after desperate fight, was
mhorsed, disarmed and led to the head
quarters of the Russian emperor.
"What orders were you carrying o.
asked the chief of staff.
"Verbal orders"
"That's lie. Search the lining of
his left boot" replied the Russian. The
guard did so--wbp had betrayed the EN-
peror FROM his owN headquarters ?-and
the paper was found. Dubois was lock
ed up, Il prisoner, with Lieutenant Au-
ger, of the lancers of the guard, and
Auguste Bernard, one of the emperor's
eonriers. Two days later, at st. Marc,
he and Anger escaped and rejoined the
French army. The Duke de Trevise
welcomed him warmly and rewarded
him for his services. At Berger Dubois
was severely wounded while fighting
with bis headlong bravery. Napoleon
, was forced back on Paris, stubbornly
though he resisted. March q, 1914, at
Rsndy, Dubois, his wounds not yet heal
| ed, but attached to the commissariat
staff, was Just about to enter the head
quarters of Count Millot, who had pro-
posed his name for the cross, when three
of Vidocq's agents arrested him as a fu-
gitive galley slave!
- ,Atthe police Office he was identified and
ordered aside to be returned to the gal
leys,, He gave up to the police a sum
of 1000 francs belonging to the regi-
mental chest, with which he had been
1ntrusted to make some purchases at
Bondy. Brincart, the colonel of his
regiment, made the most earnest attempts
= to secure his release, but all in vain.
The mighty fabric Of the first empire was
falling to pieces, and officials had some
thing more important to think about than
the case of private soldier-an escaped
convict.
~ - r
Dubois was born at Prauthoy, in
Upper Marne; he was sent to the school
of Brienne at the age of twelve; in 1870
his. father placed him among the students
of Mars. After Robespierre's downfall,
Dubois was returning homeward when,
at Bar-sur-Seine, he fell in with soldier
of the Fourteenth dragons. They be-
came friends. visited the different places
of the town together, and dined with
much jollity at the Grown, a public
house kept by one Chevrelat. At dinner
the dragoon stole three silver spoons
which, couple of days later, as they
were about to separate, he sold to Dubois
at low price, saying they were lis own
Meanwhile, the landlord, missing Mt
alverware, suspected them and followed
them to st. Marc, where they were ar
rested. The dragoon escaped from the
: gendarmes; the spoons were found or
Dubois, and he, then being only twenty
years Of age, was sentenced to eight
, years hard labor as an accessory to the
@heft.
He was first sent to the galleys Of
Teulon, whence January 81, 1896, he es.
capped, enisting in the Seventh chas.
seurs. He was sent to the army of Italy,
where he served with marked courage,
receiving several wounds, notably one in
the face from an Austrian saber at Maren.
80. Being honoraby discharged he
went to work at Ancerville; one of his
men identified him as a convict and he
had to'fy to Troyes. Here, too, after 6
considerable interval spent in labor, he
was recognized, betrayed to the police