The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-03-18
A SATANIC REVENGE.
The Skeleton in the Closet.

The Skeleton in the Closet.
The inventive ;nalignity and satanic
cunning of husband in wreaking ven-
geance upon faithless wife and her
paramount vengeance that was as
diabolical in its purpose as it was pitt.
less in its consummation-has rarely
had more thrilling and dramatic il
lustration, than that afforded by the
case of M. Achille Dumoulin, in Paris.
On the 29th of May, 1868, according
to the official record, M. Achille Du.
moulin was married to Mile. Elise
Florac, in the church of Notre Dame.
After brief wedding trip to Lyons he
returned with his bride and they took
up their residence in suit of apart
ments in the Rue du Marais.
Dumoulin's age was As; that of his
wife barely % years. Dumoulin had
acquired q competency by shrewd
management of his position, while it
lasted, as a government official under
the last empire. Mile. Elise Florac,
one day when he met her, in the Boule-
ward St. Martin, in stationer's store,
struck his fancy. She was pretty, viva
cious, with dark eyes. voluptuous lips
and manner we'll calculated to arouse
the passion if not the love of blase
man of the world like Dumoulin. He
followed her, at distance, to her abode
in the Rue Cirque. He made inquiry
as to her condition in life. He found
that she was a painter Of photographs,
lived alone, and so far as be could dis
cover, without lover. The stationer
who knew her, spoke we'll of her, intro
duced her to Dumoulin, and in six
weeks, finding he could possess her in
no other way. marriage was the result.
For two years they lived happily.
She seemed to reciprocate his ardor
with passionate fondness; never before
had Dumoulin known SO much happi-
ness. Elise-now Madame DumouIin
still painted, but for her own
amusemant Next to her boudoir
she had small room which she
used as a studio. She had fancy for
painting the heroes of romance,
Abelard, Armaud, Djalma, in the
"Wandering Jew," Victor Hugo's Cap.
tain Pbebus Singularly enough the
faces of these bore remarkable similarity
one to the other, as if they we're all
portraits of the same iudivual. She
seemed to have but the one face in her
mind. .Dumoulin noticed this, but said
nothing.
"After all, what is art to wife except
as means to keep her out of mis-
chief"
Twice a week she visited, as he sup
posed, the galleries of the Louvre and
of the more noted picture dealers.
- -
she, as she led him to believe, visited
her friends in Montfermeil remaining
over night.
On the morning of the 29th of May,
1871, the third anniversary of his mar
riage, Dumoulin's valet handed him
post letter. Its contents, written in
coarse uneven hand, were brief, but
their import appalled, him:
Monsieur: Montfermiel is No. So
Rue de Petit Champs. Art is pre-
tense, the husband a convenience, and
the wife frailty.
FRANCIS"
Enclosed with this note was q small
photograph of a man, young and hand
some. Upon the margin was written:
''Do you recognize this face?'
The face was the counterpart in form
and feauture of every face his wife had
painted in the past half year.
This note, this picture, and the awful
certainty itrevealed that his wife was
false, and had thrown herself sway up
on q lover, aroused in him all the evil
passions of his nature.
"The lover first, then her For him,
death; for her, all the tortures of hell
that WON an can endure life. For him,
the ferocity of the tiger; for her, accurs-
ed wretch that she is, cruelty of the cat
playing with its victim."
And with this thought of malediction
he set about his work of vigil and ven-
geance. By no sign or token did he be-
tray to her his knowledge of her guilt.
But from that moment he watched her
every movement. He shadowed her
like an avenging Nemesis, and not in
vain. Within five days he tracked her
to the house No. So Rue de Petit
Champs. With her was the original of
the photograph, with the face of her
Abeland, Armand, Bjalma and Capt.
Phoebus. They entered the house.
Haggard, pale and wearied with watch
ing, sustained only by an
implacable spirit of vepgence
he. waited until morning for their
coming forth. The lover came first. =
ut is he I want; she will go home"
Dumoulin followed him to his lodg.
ing, in the Rue Morlot.
When Madame Dumoulin returned
home it was nearly noon. She found a