The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-03-01
OUR STORY TELLER,
THE GARRET WINDOW.

At nightfall on the evening of August
IL, 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
garrett 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, girl of nineteen, known gen.
orally as Laura Lafeur. This woman
was quite as dissipated in her habits as
her lover, and quarrels between them
were so frequent that commonly they
scarcely excited any comment.
The present one, however, seemed
more serious than usual, and several of
the dodgers set out to investigate it..
They met Consal coming down the
stairs. As he walked he wiped his hands
on handkerchief, as if he had lust
washed them. In response to ques-
ton 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. An 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 Lafeur called to him
from within and cursed him for disturb
ing her. Completely treasured, the man
went away.
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
ignum vitae maulstiek, besmeared with
blood.
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.
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 stupefied
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 within 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 30
early, he had sought shelter in his
trends room. 4MHNM 3MT
His assertions were partially borne
out by several tavern-keeI ers at whose
places he had been. There was, how
ever, blank from two o'clock until
daylight unaccounted for. This he
claimed he had spent on the bridge of
Iournelle, studying some moonlight
effects about Notre Dame which had
caught his eye. Iaa.f 81
The prosecution in opposition ad-
vanced the theory that at this time he
had returned to the house. into which
he could easily gain admission unsb-
served, gone to bis room, committed the
murder, and then hurried to his friends
apartments, hoping in this way to estab-
lish an alibi. If he had done this it
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 stairs
seemed to support this. He wished to
get rid of the woman, and this desperate
means was the only one that suggested
ITSELF
Want of actual confrmatery evidence
saved Consal from the guillotine. He
was sentenced to twenty years seclu-
sion." He received his doom with manly
submission.
My innocence will yet be proved"
he said.
At the time of the assassination of
Laura Lafeur there lived in garrett,
five houses away from that in which the
tragedy occurred, a painter named Mohl-
berg, and his wife. Mohlberg was
clever workman, but drunkard, and
when in his cups brutal, violent man.
His wife was handsome woman of
thirty, who, when he married her, in the
course of spree, was common street
walker.
Among the associates of Madam Mohl-
berg's early days was young pick
pocket named Frebilot. This scamp,
a true type of the Partisan swell mobs.
man, handsome, impudent and cowardly
as a rat, had been her lover before
Mohlberg's bad fortune made her his
wife. The connection between the pair
was only interrupted for little by this
event. A couple of months after the
wedding Grebilot resumed his old posi-
ton. E
He had a wholesome respect for the
reckless fan-painter's wrath, however,
and his visits to his mistress were eau
tiously conducted. Mohlberg was en-
ployed in a factory on the Boulevards,
and was usually absent all day. At