The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1880-07-23
a PLOT FOR n PLAYWRIGHT
FrencHay incidents i1a tEac Lives
OF "a Fair Of French H4oYe1s.

In 1869 Il young man named Alfred Gil
: bert fell in love with Il young girl of til,
= name of Gabrielle Coran. They beth be
! longed to poor families, and both lived il
q the neighborhood of the Palais Royal Al:
ter counting IN secret for some months
the young man demanded the hand Of hi:
sweetheart, but her father, who was an ar.
dent Bonaparist and occupied !. stall il
one of the public offices, refused his con
sent on the ground of the Republican priIl-
ciples held BY Gilbert. The young couple
then resolved to run away together, and
one night the girl disappeared from home.
Aftera weeks search the father found
them living together in Il suburban retreat.
On the promise of forgiveness and consent
to their marriage, the girl returned home
/ to her parents, but the father declined to
keep his word and began to look out for
another son-in-aw.
i Driven to despair, Gabrielle Coran again
/ cloped with her lover, and the two deter
mined to commit Suicide.For this pur-
i pose they hired a room in u small inn ut
Plessis Piquet. The young man bought Il
revolver and the young woman a packet Of
/ lueifer matches. Gabrielle Coran first of
all tried to poison herself with decoction
OF the matches. This falling. she told her
lover to fire Il bullet into her heart Alf-
red Gilbert fired, and without waiting to
isee the effects of the shot discharged a Sec
ond bullet into his own head. Neither
taken to the hospital, where they remained
two months. The bullet in the girls body
was exit acted, but the other bullet still re-
mained in the skull of the young man,
where it has ever since been. Gilbert was
about to be tried for attempting to shoot
/ his mistress, when the war broke ent and
put stop to the sittings Of the Assizes.
rs the Germans marched into Paris and
| the seigG became imminent, the authori-
! tics wanting all the able, bodied men pos
siblc to defend the city, consented to let
him out Of prison for tile moment, on the
condition Of his enrolling himself with
some active corps, and promising not to
seek after Gabrielle t.oran. EJe joined the
sharptiIootcrs of the Ternes Quarter, and
distinguished himself 81 mitch in the Buz-
IenyA sortit that he was mentioned on the
military order of the day
The war over and peacc procainicd he
returned to the hands Of justice 10 undergo
!, fair RI
postponed il. The Commune arose, and
all the public powers having withdrawn to
Versailles, the cit3' war left In the hands of
| the in,nrrrrtioltists, who ortited the prison
them Alfred Gilbert. The young man
does not appear 10 have taken III active
part in the iliet.rrection. However, he was
tried by rnltrt-ialartial in 1871, and seitcn-
tGd to transportation to New Caledonia,
where he remained till :; itts. months ago,
when he was amnestied. He has Just ar-
rived in Paris and given himself up to the
! legal authorities to 90 through his trial tor
/ the deed he committed at Plessi5 Piquet
ten years ago,
But the painful part oftlle story remains
to be told. Gabrielle Goran IL now the
wife of wcll-to-do merchalit, viti1 neycr-
! al children, highly respected and of irrez
proachablc character. Forgetting the fol-
ly of her tender years, and believing Gil
bert dead and buried, she married. but
| kept the tlagc love drama of 1870 i secret
| from her husband London stuudu1a.