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

before the eth OF April, DuG
had not slept in his lodgings on the
n ght of the murder, or returned to them
since; that from the 28th of April to
the 9th OF May he had lodged with his
in the Rue de la Boucherie. at
the house of one Richard; and, in fine,
that on the 9th of May the two had
taken ont passports for Troy es, and left
the city together in post-chaise. The
fugitives were traced to the house Of a
man named Collier. in Chateau Thierry.
The police found there also citizen OF
Douai. named Guesno, who had arrived
a few hours previously from Paris, where
he too had lodged with Richard. This
Richard, it should be remarked, had for
merly resided in Doua;. Guesno and
Golfer were arrested, as well as Cour-
riol and his mistress, and all four were
taken to the capital
AS about one fifth of the stolen prop
erty was recovered from Courriol, he
was at once committed for trial; but
Guesno and Collier easily convinced the
magistrate, Daubanton, of their inno-
cence, and were discharged from Gus
tody. Guesno was told to call the next
day and get his papers, which had been
seized in his room at Richards.
Now Guesno was well acquainted
with Joseph Lesurque, and happening
to fall in with him the morning after his
release, while on the way to Daubanton S
office, he very naturally RECALLED his
friend with the story of his late unpleas-
ant experience. Fl Lesurgues no less nat
urally evinced great interest in Guesno $
recital. accompanied him to his place OF
destination, and readily consented to go
in with him and see the end of the mat
ter They accordingly passed into the
magistrates office. and seated them
selves in the ante-room, which was full
OF country people, witnesses in Cour-
riol S case. Two of the women present
eyed them curiously and closely and
kept up brisk whispered CONVEX. lion
until summoned to Iaubanton. G&sno
and Lesurques little thought what1was
the tenor of that conversation, alths ,dgh
they perceived that it had refere1 e to
them.
The door of the magistrates private
room had scarcely closed upon tha Aom-
en- when it suddenly opened aga and
an officer appeared on the th Nhold
and called the two friends in. STtheir
entrance, Daubanton babe themY seat
ed, and asked them few trivia ques-
tions in presence of the two hsomen,
who now scrutinized them even more
attentively than before. They were
then requested to withdraw, but had
hardly recovered from their astonish-
ment at this strange proceeding ere
they were again summoned, and IN
formed that they were positively identi-
fed by the women as two OF the four
horsemen who had been seen hang
ing about the neighborhood of Lieur-
saint on the day of the robbery of the
Lyons mail, and must consider them
selves under arrest. They were next
ordered to produce their papers. Lee
surques, unluckily, had never taken the
trouble to provide himself with a carte
de surete, and, more unluckily still he
had in his pocket two cG7tes, one bear
ing the name of his cousin Andre and
the other blank.
The case was set for trial at Melun.
early in July; but just as it was about
to begin. the accused exercised their
right Of removal, and it was referred to
the Criminal Court at Paris, presided
over by Jerome Goher, conspicuous,
three years later, as a member Of the
Directory. The accused were now six
in number; namely, Courriol, Richard,
Guesno, Lesurques, Bernard and Bruer.
Richard had been arrested before the
memorable visit of Lesurques and
Guesno to Daubanton's Office.
The trial began on the I'd of August.
Ten witnesses living on the Lyons road
testified against Lesurques, and swore
that they recognized in him a tall, light
complexioned man. who had been no.
table figure in the little cavalcade of
the 29th of April. Seven OF these ten
positively and unhesitatingly recognized
Lesurques; the other three qualified
their recognition somewhat, and said
that they brLieuea him to be the man
whom they had seen in the party. Two.
an inn-keeper and his wife, swore that
Lesuraues had mended his spur at their
house with piece OF cord, which they
identified as the spur and string found
near the dead bodies of the courier and
position. IA third declared that he had
dined at Montgeron in the same room
with the four highWaymen, and that
Lesurques was one of the four, and
wore long boots. with spurs like the one
shown in court.
The examination Of Lesurques is in
teresting as showing the theory OF the
prosecution. Much abbreviated, it is
In substance as follows:
@. Where did you sleep on the night
of the Sth Noreal?
r. At home; that is to say, at my
cousin s. Andre Lesurques' $.
G. Are you sure? 1t seems to be
pretty well ascertained that you did
not.
r. am sure. I had not slept out
of the house q single night for several
months.
n Whv did Won 90 with Guesno to