The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-02-16
they perceived that it had reference t

entrance, Daubanton babe them be seat
| ed, and asked them few trivial ques-
tions in presence of the two women,
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 carte
de surete, and, more unluckily still he
| had in his pocket two cGrteS, one bear
| inc 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 a. out
to begin, the accused exercised their
right of removal, and it was referred to
the Criminal Court at Paris, presided
over by Jerome Goh'er, conspicuous,
three years later, as member of the
Directory. The accused were now six
in number; namely, Courriol, Richard,
Guesno, Lesurque@, Bernard and Bruer.
Richard had been arrested before the
me norable visit of Lesurques and
Guesno to Dautanton'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 tall, light
complexioned man. who had been no.
table figure in the little cavalcade of
the 29th of April. Seven OF these tsn
positively and unhesitatinglyrecognized
LeBurques; the other three qualified
their recognition somewhat, and said
that they believed him to be the man
whom they had seen in the party. Two,
an inn-keeper and his wife, swore that
Lesurques 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. A third declared that he had
dined at Montgeron in the same room
with the four highwaymen, and that
Lesurque5 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:
Q. Where did you sleep on the night
of the 8th Floreal?
r. At home; that is to say, at my
cousin s, Andre Lesurques' s.
O. Are you sure? 1t seems to be
pretty well ascertained that you did
not.
Il. l am sure. | had not slept out
of the house single night for several
months.
O. Why did you go with Guesno to
M. Daubanton's office?
r. Simply to accompany my friend,
/ M. Guesno.
@. Did you not 60 in behalf of Rich
ard and Courriol?
r. No, did not go in anybody's be-
half, and l have no acquaintance with
COurriol.
O. How do you account for the fact
that these witnesses identify you as one
of the four horsemen?
Il. Granting their testimony to be
honest can only account for it on the
ground that | ! ear strong resemblance
to one of the four.
G. How does it happen that you have
no carte de S@retc, but carry YOUR
cousin and blank one?
r. | have never provided myself with
4 a carte de Sttrete, because | am a peace
able and aw-abiding citizen, with plenty
of friends, and have not had particular
occasion to use one. ANY man of decent
reputation can get one at any time.
My cousins carte happened to be lying
on my mantel-piece, and when [ wen
out l picked it. up and put it in my
poke, for safe keeping. The blank
carte was one of several odd scraps OF
paper that | happened to have about
me, and asst bears no seal is worthless
for any criminal purpose. Of course, if
I were guilty, l should not lack plaus-
IDLE papers.
q. What kind of spurs are you in the
habit of using?
r. l have not used any spurs for
moro than a year. Those that l own
are old-fashioned ones, and not like the
spurs used nowadays.
Lesurques' defense outside of testi-
mony to hisgood reputation, with which
he was we'll provided. was of course an
abb. He brought fifteen witnesses to
prove his presence in Paris on the Sth
Floreal.
Eight of these were persons with
whom he had dealings on the day in
question; four, Legrand, Aldenhof,
Ledru and Baudard, were personal
friends; and his own wife and his cousin
Andre and wife compl6te the Est. Le-
grand and Aldenhof we're jewelers.; Lee
dru and Baudard artists. All four were
we'll acquainted with each other, as we'll
as with Lesurques. Aldenhof and Lee
dru were both from Douai, and ae-
quainted with Guesno. BY these last
seven witnesses alone Lesurques very
reasonably expected to prove his case to
the court beyond the shadow of doubt.
His doings on the Sth Floreal, as gath
cred from their evidence, were briefly
as follows: :
| He passed part of the morning at
LeSItlu > SuOp, III tn0 IalalS hOyaI,
where he met Aldenhof, and took him
home to dine with him. Arrived at the
house, they found Ledru. All three
dined together, and then went out to
walk. Met Guesno on the Boulevard
DIES Italiens at about half-past six and
returned to the house at about half-past
seven. Soon thereafter Baudard APP
peared. Then they separated, and Lee
suroues passed the evening and the
night at home.
Legrand was the first witness called
for the defense. He testified that Lee
sure ues had passed part of the morning
of the Sth Floreal in his shop. When
asked what made him remember this
fact so distinctly he replied that while
Losurques was there Aldenhof had come
in, and had bought soup ladle and
sold him par of earrings; and that
he was confident that this transaction
took place on the Sth Foreal In proof
of the correctness of this statement he
appealed to his books, and unfortunately
laid great stress urou the entry made
at the time. He was told to produce
the book containing the original entry,
and accordingly passed it to Goher.
~