Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-12-07
rcou,,pued from Arr, page. ,

that has made her send him out of your
way
'.'Ah, likely enough he said: and
do hate him. and let me tell you that when
hate any one it Is bad thing for him.
hated fellow once, aud thought | should
never get chance of doing him an i'll
turn, but that chance came.
How. Monsieur said /, in a stupid
way. as filed my glass.
Never mind; found knife OF his
in the wood
And how could finding his knife hurt
him said /, with drunken laugh.
"But could get no more out OF him
then.
"A few days after this il came somehow
10 bis knowledge that his mother was 60
ing to make her will in his brothers favor.
This made him resolve on a desperate
crime.
80 jean he said to me. YOU are a good
herbalist. Can't you gather me some
thing that would kill a dog?'
Yes, Monsieur answered. i know
where the hemlock and the deadly night
shade grow; and if you made a decoction
from either OF these it would kill man,
much less dog
''lnstead of gathering them, | went to
the Captain OF the gen d'arms, who was
a keen, quiet man. and told him as much
OF the truth as thought safe. did not
confess my identity, but | let him know
that Luc Leroy had confessed TO me the
finding OF knife in the wood which an
enemy of his lost, and he had also avowed
that he had drugged old Pere Martin on
the morning of his daughters death.
This last fact had escaped him when
talking to me of the night shade. He
tried to recall his words Immediately he
had spoken them. but seeing me stupid,
care less, and unheeding. he grew at ease
sgain and dropped the subject.
The captain Of the gen arms was
keen-witted man, silent and cautious. He
hid detective in the farm house, who. by
nv aid, crept about unseen like u cat. and
from a chink In the wall watched Luc L"-
roy ms he brewed his deadly drinks. He
had, of course. gathered the poisonous
herbs himself, and it was easy to see by
the skill with which he distilled them that
he had taught himself something of chem.
istry. He tried the poison on dog and
tame rabbit; both died; and now, APP
parently satisfied, he ceased his work, af-
ter filing a goodly-sized vial with the
deadly water he had distilled.
The detective and both thought that
the wretched man aimed at his mothers
existence; therefore we protected her lie
by every possible precaution. ! feigned
Illness, and never stirred from my seat by
the kitchen fire, where | saw every meal
cooked of which we partook. As for the
policeman. he had his own food, and no
one suspected his presence. hidden care
fully as he was in the lumber-room
ARREST him tonight was the order
given by his chief. we must prevent
the crime he meditates.'
Z .sAlasi we were too late
LAS ! sat that evening at my post by
the fire. messenger came running eager
" from the little Henry's relatives to
Madame Leroy.
1.-the poor little thing is i'll, desperate
" H." cried the woman. Come at once =
'.Sick at heart and faint with fear, fol-
lowed the distracted mother as she rushed
from the house. The cottage where the
child was staying with his grandmother
was half mile off. but we reached il in
few minutes, and the first glance took
at the little sufferers face told me he was
dying-poisoned
".This was how his father died. said
old Madame Coupinne. as she seized the
hand of her daughter-in-law.
THE younger Madame Coupienne-or
Leroy, as have continued to call her
sank down by the bedside, sobbing. AL
her heart was with the little creature,
whose arms now clung around her in ago.
ny.
"Ob. my da,ling my darling what
shall do for thee o. she moaned, piteous.
ly.
"'What have you been drinking, little
oneP' said l.
Only eau-sucre. that brother Luc
gave me-
Il could bear no more. Ny heart re-
preached me. as though | had been guilty.
OF this little sufferers pain; and running
wildly toward the village, called upon
all met to help me to seize Luc Leroy,
the murderer.
1--WE found him at work in the hay field
sullen and quiet. but with a suppressed
excitement in his manner, which told his
guilt.
finland me, sot 2 he cried, as |
clutched him.
"As my fingers gripped him. | lost that
quiet self command that for years had hid
den my rage and despair.
81 am not sot am Pierre. the char
coal-burner, whose affianced wife you
murdered. and whose life you tried to
swear away
II was mad, and they had to tear me
from him. as he lay writhing with terror
on the ground. Nv unexpected words
had pierced his shrinking soul, and in alb
ject cowardice he confessed his crimes.
.His little brothers life was saved,
Monsieur, but Luc Leroy was most Justly
guillotined at Leige, for the murder of
Pere Martin, the charcoal-burner. Elmire
was avenged, but | was a lonely man
henceforth forever.
"At Luc Leroy's trial he confessed every
circumstance OF his guilt. To insure Pere
Martins absence from the hut he had in
formed him the night before of the spot
where he would find liquor in the morning
No sooner was her father gone than he
presented himself before Elmire, who, to
be rid of him, escaped from the hut and
ran. as she thought, unseen to the dell.
But he followed her, and grew so insolen,
that the unhappy girl told him that she
hated and scorned him. He laid his rude
hand on her at this, and then she shreked
aloud my name for help. That aroused
his jealousy to madness, and he struck
her first with his hand alone, then with