The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-02-20
OUR STORY TELLER.
THE GARRET WINDOW.

W IL
At nightfall on the evening of August
13, 1868, the inmates of the upper floors
Of house at the corner of the Rue
.savoie and the Rue Seguier were startled
by the noise of a struggle in one of the
garret rooms, and by loud cries for help.
These ended suddenly in shrill shrek
of Murder"
The alarming sounds proceeded from
the apartments occupied by Eugene
Consal, dissolute art student, and his
mistress, O girl of nineteen, known gen.
orally as Laura Lahenr. This woman
was quite as dissipated in her habits as
her lover, and quarrels between them
were 70 frequent that commonly they
scarcely excited any comment.
The present one, however, seemed
more serious than usual, and several of
the lodgers set out to investigate it.
They met Consal coming down the
stairs. As he walked he wiped his hands
on handkerchief, as il he had just
washed them. In response to ques-
ion he laughed lightly:
"The drunken - is in one of her
tantrums again." he said. Course her,
/ wish the devil had her, any way"
He left the house. Gan hour later one
Of the party whom his GOODNESS had not
quite deprived of suspicion, again went
upstairs and knocked at the door. The
voice of Laura LaHeur called to him
from within and cursed him for disturb
ing her. Completely reassured, the man
went away. .lg.- s-ra. -.-.
Eugene Consal did not return that
night. Next morning laundress,
bringing some linen for Laura Lafeur,
found the door fast barred, and failed
to gain any response to her repeated
knocking. Alarmed, she informed the,
porter and an entrance was forced. -
Laura Lafeur was dead on the floor,
her throat cut and her brains battered
out. She was in her chemise. A trowel-
shaped scraper, used by artists to re-
move paint from their canvases, was
buried in her left breast. Across her
body was the broken half of heavy
lignum Vita maulstiek, besmeared with
blood. -" WV g NJ -
The woman did not seem to have
struggled, for her chemise was neither
rumpled nor torn, nor was the furniture
of the apartment unusually disturbed.
The window going on the roof was open.
The washing basin in the corner was
filed with blood-discolored water, but
the several towels on the rack beside it
were unstained. s I.tlI
Within an hour Consal was appre-
hended, asleep in friends room. He
had come there at daybreak, drunk,
and had at once fallen into a stupeied
slumber. He was apparently paralyzed
by horror and amazement at the news
OF the murder, and protested his inno-
cence vehementlY.
After leaving the house the evening
before, he had, he said, gone to restau-
rant in the Rue Quatre Vents and taken
dinner. At the stroke of nine he had
left the restaurant. He was annoyed
by his quarrel of the afternoon, which
had been caused by drunken whim of
the dead woman's, and which had ended
by his simply knocking her down and
going away. Unable to sleep, he had
walked about till daylight, drinking
brandy occasionally. Then being tired,
and not liking to disturb his mistress so
early, he had sought shelter in his
friends room.
His assertions were partially borne
out by several tavern-keeE ers at whose
places he had been. There was, how
ever, a blank from two o'clock until
daylight unaccounted for. This he
claimed he had spent on the bridge of
Tournelle, studying some moonlight
effects about Notre Dame which had
caught his eye. t.is5sss FL.
The prosecution in opposition ad
vauced the theory that at this time he
had returned to the house. into which
he could easily gain admission 'uneb
served, gone to bis room, committed the
murder, and then hurried to his friend:
] I apartments, hoping in this way to estab
lfsh an abb. If he had done this i
would have proved the crime to be pre-
meditated--an outgrowth of his brood
ing, brandy stimulated, night prowl Of
the city. His remark on the stair
/, Seemed to support this. He wished Il
get rid of the woman, and this desperat
al means was the only one that suggested
itself. ...-.. e.
Want of actual conirmatory evidenc
saved Consal from the guillotine. H
was sentenced to twenty years seclu
sion." He received his doom with mani
submission. q
My innocence will yet be proved,
he said. a'a l.e
IA. At the time Of the assassination c
Laura Laheur there lived in garret
five houses away from that in which th
tragedy occurred, a painter named Mob
berg, and his wife. Mohlberg was
clever workman, but q drunkard, an
80 when in his cups brutal, violent mai
% His wife was handsome woman {
thirty, who, when he married her, in til
course of spree, was common stree
walker.
.f Among the associates of Madam Mob
berg's early days was young pic
pocket named Frebilot. This scam
u true type Of the Partisan swell mob
man, handsome, impudent and coward
as a rat, had been her lover befo
Mohlberg's bad fortune made her b
wife. The connection between the pa
was only interrupted for little by th
event. A couple of months after tt
wedding Grebilot resumed his old POI
tion.
He had wholesome respect for ii
reckless, fan-painter's wrath, howeve
and his visits to his mistress were ca
a. tiously conducted. Mohlberg was el
,,loyed in a factory on the Boulevard
and was usually absent all day. !
these periods Grebilot was ON hand
solace Nine. aMohlberg'x loneliness.
The pitcher which goes too often
the we'll breaks at last through. o
v afternoon Mohlberg concluded to tire
himself 10 holiday, and take his wi
out for n spree in the suburbs. +
pnexpecled return to apprise her
> this intention surprised the lovers
one another's arms. ~.
At the sound of the injured husban.
~ knock, Grebilot crawled under the b
he had already dishonored. Crouchi
there, he heard his mistress open I
~ door and dress to go out. Finally, af
an hour Of suspense, husband and W
went out together, and the thief emerg
!. from this cpncealments ana