St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-02-24

mistress in confederation of his state-
ments as to the resemblance between
Dubosc and Lesurques.
She affirmed that there was q strong
likeness between them, which was much
heightened by q blond wig worn by
Dubosc on the day of the murder, and
confirmed all the other particulars given
by Courriol, so far as she was acquaint-
ed with them.
These developments melted Lesurques
and his friends to renewed exertions.
and they succeeded in bringing the case
to the notice of the Directory. The
Directory referred it to the Council of
Five Hundred, and the Council referred
it to committee.
But all was in vain. The committee
reported adversely to Lesurques, and
nothing now was left for him to do
but to prepare for death. He took leave
of his wife and children the day before
his execution, and on the evening of the
same day cut off his hair with his own
hands, and inclosed it in a packet for
his wife, which he touchingly addressed:
ga la cheyenne Veuve Lesurques.
At the same time, he again babe her
farewell in the following pathetic
lines:
when you read this letter shall be no
more; the cruel knife will have cut short my
days-days so happily consecrated to you. l
am to be judicially murdered. 1t Is my fate,
my lot with all the constancy and courage of
which human nature is capable. May hope
thatyou will initiate my example! Your re
Is no 1t Fl to ear to
.tThis is all have to ask.
"A little packet of my hair will be handed to
you. Keep it carefully, AM when my chill,
that have to leave them for inheritance.
farewell forever. My last sigh shall be for
you and my unfortunate children.
He wrote, also, to his friends in these
words: vii IS ss,5a
1.-THE truth could not manifest itself, and
am about to perish the victim of a mistake.
wife and children the same friendly feelings
that you have always shown for me, and aid
them under all circumstance? thank NJ
Guinier, my defender, for the pains that he has
taken in my behalf. n
we'll" =
Lastly, he addressed an open letter
to Dubosc, for insertion in the news
papers:
''You in whose stead am about to die, rest
content with the sacrifice Of my life: II ever We
three children, covered with infamy, and Of
their mother. prey to despair, and do not pro-
long the misfortunes caused by the fatal like
ness that bear to you-
Lesurques, Courriol and Bernard
were executed on the 30th of October,
1896:
As soon as Lesurques mounted the
cart that was to carry him to the place
of execution, Courriol pointed him out
to the crowd, and cried in a loud voice:
Il am guilty, but Lesurques is inno
cent? and he continued SO doing I'M
IL tit they reached the foot Of the guillo-
Iesurques, clad all in white. in token
of his innocence, never for moment
lost his self command. When his turn
came, he assembled the scaffold with
firm step. and uttered few words Of
forgiveness for his Judges, then he laid
his head upon the block. and SO passed
into the presence of the neyer-erring
Judge.
Four months after these events. the
police succeeded in arresting Durochat.
He was fully recognized as the pretended
traveller on the LYONS coach, and
eventually made a full confession, sus-
tanning in every particular the account
given by Courriol He declared that
Bernard not only lent the horses, but
had share of the plumber. With ref
erence to Lesurques he said: II have
heard that man named Lesurques was
condemned for completely with us.
Truth compels me to say that never
knew the man, neither when we
planned the Job nor when we did it.
I did not know him and / never saw
him.
Vidal and Dubosc were captured be-
fore Durochat was executed, and he
identified them both but they escaped
from prison before they could be brought
to trial Vidal was soon recaptured,
tried, condemned and executed. Dn-s
bose remained at large for some time,
but at length he was retaken, and con-
fronted with the ten witnesses who had
sworn against Iesurques. One of the
ten maintained and one retracted his
evidence given at the first trial; the re-
manning eight declared that they could
not say whether Dubosc or Lesurques
was the man whom they had seen. Du-
bose, for his part, denied everything, as
Vidal had done before him, and seized
every advantage offered by his resem-
blance to Lesurques, and the latter
conviction and execution; but all in
vain. He was guillotined on the 25th
of December, 1900. 81. ri
Roussy, the last Of the FIVE assassins,
was arrested in Madrid. toward the
close of the year 1903, and executed the
following June. He acknowledged the
Justice Of his sentence with his latest
breath, and left a paper with the priest
who shrived him, enjoining the priest
not to open it until six months had
elapsed.