Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-05-16
TIE rles esrrLgp IT.


Iremcm her on one occasion, writes George
Augustus Sala, Guhtnve Dore telling me a
story OF murder In France, the perpetrntor
OF which WINS brought TO justice by means
of what the gifted artist called malice do
gendarmc. Tho wifo Of q peasant farmer,
VIGOROUSLY i'll treated by her husband, was
found one morning strangled in wood.
The husband was suspected, and several
witnesses declared that he had been seen
on the morning OF the assassination hang
ing about the wood and smoking a short
pipe with pewter covering to the bowl
thereof. There was no further evidence
against him, and he was discharged
Some weeks afterwRrd, Mt dead Of night.
and In the midst OF u pelting storm, two
gendarmes knocked at the door OF the lone
ly farmhouse where the suspected man
lived and asked him for temporary shelter,
which, somewhat churlishly, he accorded
them. Ono Of the agents OF the law said he
wanted smoke and asked the farmer to
lend him that well known brierwood pipe
OF his. The man replied that he had LOST
the pipe some years before. "Surely you
must be wrong" replied the Rendarme
''lets look about and see II we can find st."
The man protested that he had searched
every room In his house over and over again.
but Intellectually; but, to crafty the within
of his visitor, he would have another huni
for the missing article.
Suddenly gendArne No. exclaimed,
"why, here's the pipe in u corner behind
some wood.p is this your pipe, mon
amiip he continued, holding up shor;
brlerwood pipe, tho bowl covered with O
disk OF pewter on which were cut the mi.
tlals OF the suspected man. Then" quoth
gendarmo No. Q, Sin the name OF the law
arrest you for the murder Of your wife"
IL appears that after the discovery OF tue
body aud its interment tue gondHrmes had
diligently day after day examined thnt
part OF the underwood in tho forest where
the corpse of the murdered woman had
been discovered lying on her back. One
day tho seRrchers became aware OF some
metallic object shining among the twlgs,
and they found that It was the disk GOV.
ering the bowl OF brierwood pipe, the
stem OF which had been forced into the
ground, evidently by some heavy weight.
1t was here that the malice dc gendarmo
came in. The body was exhumed. and be-
tween the shoulders, which were uncovered
when the woman was murdered, was found
tbs brand or stigma OF disk, the diameter
OF which precisely corresponded with that
of the suspected mans brlerwood pipe.
The theory OF the prosecution was that
during the death struggle the ASSASSIN bad
dropped his pipe, the tobacco In which was
still incandescent, and that the poor woman
had fallen fiat on the pipe. 80 that tho
heated metal had branded her fiesh IS
aforesaid. while the weight OF her body had
forced tho pipe stem into the earth.
Whether this curious clrcumstantial evil
dehce would have led an English jury 70
find the man guilty is questionable, but 10
was found quite adequate in France 10 con-
Wet aud guillotine the bioodthirsty farmer,
The pretense of the gendarines that they
bad found tho pipe in the culprit's cottage
was mere police ruse. They had brough.
The pipe with them and only professed TO
have found ii on the mans premises In
order to induce him 70 acknowledge that 10