Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-23
A FRENCH TRAGEDY.
a Highly Dramatic Crime in an OBJ
scure Communicative, Murder and
Suicide.

scure COmmune-LOYe, Murder and
Suicide.
The Paris correspondent of the London
Daily NelcS writes: The French certainly
"Whips" John Bull and his sons in start
ling, highly dramatic, and well-spiced
crimes and criminal records. 1 often
wonder why anyone should 90 to the
theatre when all France is a stage, and all
the men and women OF any pretension to
gentIlity actors and actresses. The very
little children are STACEY, and even noble
GehOys, when they wish the ewes Of
Europe to be fixed upon them, can be
highly dramatic. Indeed, the greatest
attltudlnizers of the assize court trials
are young fellows OF the awkward age
when they are neither men nor boys.
The last thing in the way of a decidedly
strong drama, in which the leading per-
sonage was a youth of II. occurred on
Oct. l6 n l. at the Sens Lyceum, and in
the obscure commune of TOucY in the
Tonne. In the latter place. the locality
II which the tragedy was cOhtrived. there
is a pastry-cOOk and cOnfectiOner's house.
d 0rGnldttS pefSORT were the schOOlbOy
Godeau the youth aforesaid, his father,
his fathers niece, Berthe FOnassin. Fonas-
sin pere, GOdeau's brOther-In-laW and
@AAAN oOAANG%&s " ~ uQL AOD llAUGu ~ UO III
the shop and bakery to know what was
going forwardin the kitchen. The Lyceum
pupil returned home at the end Of July
Tor the autumn vacation, laden with
books and crowns. proud Of his hOnOrs,
a feeling which his relatives.
and most of all his mother, shared.
81 had at the cost of great sacri-
fees placed him in the high school at
sens, and was glad to see that the money
nnT1 Fnw hin hA~l no. 80 A-.
The glory, as he thought that he mad won,
made him regard himself as worthy of the
tOgd ciTtliS. He was nervous and irrita-
bic. Berthe had many kind and cOusinly
things TO say to him. Were he a son of
John Bull l should say he conceived a
calls love for her. But such an express
sion would III lit a %precociOus lad who had
taken hOnOrs in a French Lycee. On
Aug. 8 he acquired suddenly the gertrude
that Berthe was the inamOrata of her
uncle, the pastry cook. GOdeau. Jr., was
at first as if paralyzed by the discovery.
He then went up to his father, angrily
reproached him. and said, making use Of
the familiar stu and ''tOi," ''Since thou
~dishOnOrest thy house and family, l VIII
not partake thy shame, but will kill my
self" He did not tell his mother what
was on his mind when she asked him fire.
Quently why he was so moody. Berthe,
-C AAAb q NAoEC0N h09
ing. The vacation came to an end with
out any tempest. Young Godeau went
back to Sens. But on Thursday last he
made use of his half-hOliday and money
he had been given by Nine. GOdeau to buy
a pistol. He then wrote to this effect to
his father: "Before this letter reaches
you l shall have ceased to live. You
know better than l can tell you how to
eface your shame. All l ask IS TO have a
civil funeral and to be buried at St. Be
moist, my mothers commune, and not at
Toucy."
The pastry cook and c0nfectioner was
away shooting on land belonging to
Berthe's family when the letter arrived.
His wife. seeing her boys handwriting
on the envelope, opened it. She, though
chilled with terror, kept her head, and on
the spot decided what vengeance she
should take. Putting the terrible missiYe
in another envelope, which she closed,
she directed it to Berthe's uncle, and,
calling the girl, told her to take it to him,
and him only, without loss of time.
No reDrOachful word or look escaped
her. Berthe went to the farm where
GOdeau was shooting. She had not left
a quarter of an hour when a tele-
gram arrived ct her uncle's from the
rector Of Sens College. 1t brought this
message: ''Come quickly-yOur son is
dangerously wounded" Nine. GOdeau
opened it. a train was to start in 20 min
utes for Sens. She put up the shutters Of
the shop windows, emptied the till into
her pocket, and started just as she was
for Sens. At the Lyceum she found young
GOdeau lying with his head bandaged in
the infrmary unconscious, and in what
seemed to be a helpless state. He was
wounded in the forehead. The doctor
said: let is hope the best" His verdict
given to the rector was: IF par impOssi-
bic he dragS on for some time he will be a
speeches. idiot"
The second act Of the drama opened at
the farm of Les GIlOtS. Berthe arrived /
there in due time. She found her father
and uncle before the kitchen fire drinking |
wine. They had had a good days sport, |
and were quite jolly. Godeau, ST., think
ing the letter was on some business affair, |
was about to put it in his pocket, when
said: La patrOnne meaning his /
wife told me 1t was urgent, and to give |
it into your own hands and see that you
read it," He went, as the dusk of even
was coming on, to the outer door to
see what news it brought. When he
knew its contents he said: ~ can't stop
for dinner. must go home at once. Do
you come with me, Berthe.' Without
more words he took up his gun and game
bag, which were lying in a corner,
turned his face ~hOmeward, Berthe
DllON Ill., 1lcl MdlkGUI anu !
were out of sight; but home they
never went. Late in the evening the
neighbOrs at TOucy wondered why the
shop shutters had been put up in the
afternoon and remained so. They were
not taken down on Friday morning. The
stiffness of the house excited the popular
Imagination, which jumped to the con-
that it had a sinister cause.
Friends ven to Les GilOts to ask if they
knew there anything about GOdeau, his
wife and Berthe. A search was made for !
the uncle and niece in a wood which it
was thought they might have gone
through as a short cut to TOucy.
There the corpses of both were
found at about the distance of a yard from
each other That of the girl was lying
with the face up. She had been shot in
upward direction, and the muZZle of
the f~Owling-piece was so close to her when
it was fired that her face was burned.
Presumably she did not die at once, as
her arms were clasped on her breast. In
killing himself GOdeau showed some in
genuIty. He tied a piece of Irvine to the
trigger, the end of which (after he had
placed the muZZle of the gun in his mOuth)
he held in one Of his hands, while he press
ed down on the string with his foot. His
death is thought to have been instantane-
GUS. The presumption is hat he told
Berthe the contents OF the letter and pro-
posed to shoot her and himself, to which
she consented. She was only II.