The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-26
WOMAVS Love and HATE.
Two Strange Tales From
Paris of Passion and
Revenge.
The Fury Of a Woman Scorned
Italy and Corsica Produce
No More Tragic Tales
Than These.


terrace of the Cafe Meka discussing an
early dinner-early. for o'clock is not
late in Paris-and over our cigars we fell
/ to talking.
One of our trio was retired French Sc
cret service officer, the other an English
man, who, at the end of the Eastern war,
had forsaken the dull life of CORE
spondent for the eventful one of a dairy
farmer in Essex, and the third myself
Our conversation turned upon the points
of agreement between the French char
acter and that of the Spaniard and Italian
speaking of revenge" said the French
man, cit is not all in Italy or Corsica 1t
is instructive in all the Latin nations, and
we French have plenty of it, too Revenge
is particularly feminine trait with us.
and the police records show that 80 per
| cent of crimes whose motive is revenge are
committed by woman,
THE strangest thing of all is that the
| revenge of the Frenchwoman is not always
| inspired by hate and that she sometimes
| loves the man she Furnishes with the most
| unsoftening vengeance. When I was a
young man in the secret service case
! was much talked of which will illustrate
| this"
! He lit fresh cigar, while we drew up
| our chairs, knowing that a good story was
| coming.
After Vidocq," he continued "who was
| perhaps the greatest detectives France
| ever had, his successor, Coco-Lacour,
placed the spy system, which had made
| Frances police the best informed in the
| world in the hands of ex-convicts, and the
| system fell into disrepute. Then came the
great Canler as chief of the secret service,
| who took hold with an iron hand, did away
| entirely with the convict service, which
| had served only through fear, and estab-
| lished entirely new order of things.
"CanIer's plan to work, to a great ex-
| tent, with woman. He believed them SUI
| perior to men as detectives because of
| their inherent love of intrigue. GAMER is
| said to have employed in his spy system
| woman from every class in Paris, from
| the lowest courtesan to the highest nobi-
| ity, and by means of the latter he sue
| ceeded in unmasking some of the plots
which might otherwise have overwhelmed
| the state
| For number of years the most valu-
able aid given to Canler was that of a
woman named Bourtin. He himself in his
| celebra ted memoirs attributes much of his
| success to this woman, but when he wrote
| all of her story not told.
| "She was said to have been born of a
| good French family and to have run away
| when a mere girl to become the mistress
| of a criminal living in the Quarter St.
! Denis. She was a woman of great beauty,
| and it by her management that her
| lover became the leader of of the
| most finely organized and most dreaded
| bands of criminals in Paris. Three diff
! ferent times it was thought to have been
| rooted out and the leader was sent to
| prison, and each time his release was the
| signal for series of most daring and mys-
| FERROUS crimes. The woman we'll
| known in Paris, but she laid her plans
| with such extraordinary skill that the po-
| lice could not find proof against her, and
1 she had such a hold upon the members of
| the band that not of them was ever
| known to have involved her in a confess
| sion. on one occasion, it is said, on the
| eve of a daring robbery, she contrived to
| weave a mesh of suspicious circumstances
| about a secret service officer who had
| been detailed especially to watch her move
/ ments, and. incredible it may seem,
| forced him to be a silent party to the
| crime by the threat that if he exposed her
| she would declare him to be in league with
| the band. This shows the tremendous au-
| dacty of the woman and also her in
| genuity
| "At length, however, the police secured a
| hold upon both man and woman, and they
| were sentenced at the same time to five
| years imprisonment at hard labor. The
woman Immediately communicated with
| Caner, promising important revelations as
| the price Of her pardon. Canler accepted
| the agreement and she was set at liberty,
| but the willy chief refused to pardon the
man, Judging that through him he might
| retain a hold upon her. She loved this
! man with a love that would have made
| her sacrifice her companions and her soul
| for him, and Canler knew it He, therefore
| made an agreement with her that if she
! would serve a year under his orders as a
! secret service spy he would see that the
| man was rn.'doned
"She agreed to this, and went to Toulon,
where she visited every evening the bureau
| of the chief of police and MADE her revela-
| tons The extreme beauty of the woman
| and her powers of fascination had brought
| into her some Of the foremost
| statesmen of France, and she had lived as
| complete double life be imagined.
| With her only desire to obtain the man $
freedom she kept nothing back, concealed
nothing. She betrayed her old comrades
in crime. and disclosed ripening state plots.
| She pointed out who were dangerous,
| and they were put under surveillance. She
| enabled the police to put their hands upon
the authors and to clear up the mystery
| shrouding crimes of the past. In all of
| this duplicity the woman ran a terrible
| risk for if it had been known all the
| beauty in the world would not have spared
| her awful vengeance. Canler did not
| repent of his bargain, and at the end of
| the year the man was pardoned, and her
connection with the police then ceased.
| This, if anything could, shows the SUI
preme love of the woman for her criminal
| lover, and yet hear the sequel.
| THE man became infatuated with anoth-
| er woman. and the woman Bourtin dscov-
cred it. 1t was without doubt only pass
| ing fancy, but the fact had no palla ton
in her eyes. She covered him with scorn
| and drove him from her, and went to live
| in another part of the city.
| An old crime was finally raked up
| against him. and, though it was said that
| she could have cleared him, she did not
open her lips. He was condemned to the
| gaIleys for life, and though she went to
live where she could see the walls of the
| prison which held him, she made no effort
| to gain him pardon, as she had done be-
| fore. During the years thatfolowed she
| never attempted to communicate with him
| in any way, and was never known to men,
| ton his name but in spite of the fact that
she never forgave him she loved him. The
proof of this is that when he killed in
a quarrel with another prisoner she secured
his body buried it, and lived beside it till
she died"
When he finished there was a rather long
pause | was content to remain in the
| audience. and my English friend, the one
| time Journalist, was stretched out medita-
| lively blowing smoke rings. Finally the
| latter spoke.
.The worst of it is he said, that one
| cannot lay this appetite for revenge to the
| criminal instinct or lack of morals, which
/ evidently the most noticeable thing in
| the character of the woman Bourtin. Such
| things are being worked out around us here
! in Paris every day, / imagine, If we could
| only see them. l know of one case of the
| kind in Partisan high life-and so would
| YOU ii | mentioned the names-which don't
4 intend to do. for they are very well known
| here. The story is this:
| When | was writing from Paris here
and incidentally doing occasional bits for