Rock Island Argus., 1896-10-10
HISTORIC TRAGEDY.
coNWcIioN Or JosESs- LEsU9oues
AND THE SAD SEQUEL
Al UsSsrtasafe Ees<mbisne- and . Yasas
Ceobissssss % Circumstances cssssd
the Ezeeuficn OF y Man Whose Isse-
es.es Wss Afseru.ra Essasissised-

Coobissssss % Circumstances CsssesI
the Ezseuiien Of Man whose Isse.
esses Was Anervard Established
Although Lcsurques was o=ccuted ne
far hack as 1896, though his innocence
was established in 1901. tho3gh his
property was restored to Tic family in
1924, the corps legislaiif, after the fam.
lily had tried for over half. n century 20
have his memory judicially rchabilita;-
cd, definitely refused in 1869 60 pr.
form this last remaining sct of justice.
The redantry cf French Law forbade the
questioning Of n jury's verdict by any
ono save tire person directly interested
But though the law has failed to re.
| move the stigma ou the paine of an in
nocent mm. literature and the drama
have made hin n popular hero. The
| Lyons Mail" in which his honor is
thoroughly vindira,c,i. Las hCcn ono of
the most popular Of all French melo-
dramas, and tho combined genius cf
Charles Readc and Of Henry Irving have
made il one of the great successes cf the
modern English stage.
Peer LesuTques, who. when he perish
cd ON the scuffold. was lut 30 years cf
| age, was good husband. a good father
and good citizcn. H. married. in
| 1890, Milo. Campicn. lady of respect
sblc family in Duuai api possessed of n
handsome dowry. ThcirchildYcn there
fore were very young ard it was in or
der .n give them the benefit uf n supc-
| rior education that he rliuquishcd n
| public aIpcintmcnt a; Douai and came
To Paris, there 20 live un his own private
torture. which amounted tn about .. 500
francs year liz had hut just arrived
| in tho capital and was sup-rinfcnding
the furnishing cf his row home when
the tl;EIdcrbolt fell.
On April "a. 1896. tho mail coach b.
tween Lyons aud Paris was attacked
and plundcrcd and the position and
courier werc murdered. There wcrc no
| witnesses to the crime. but IL was rc-
ported that party IF hurscmcn had
pccn seen in the vicinity at about the
| time it was committed. These borsemcn
had taken dinucr at an inn at Mont
| gcron. Ono Of Lrslrlrcs' friends nam
ed Gucnot was arrested ci, suspicion and
his private papers wcrc ssizcd- Thcrr
was TO evidence tn hold him on except
that he answered the description Of one
of the supposed inurfcrrs. and he was
dismissed Next day lic was told tn call
for his papers at the central bureau. lie
was accompanied thithcr by Lesurqu.s,
an act Of madness on tho part Of tho
latter had he been guilty.
Ii happened that Just at that time tho
judge was taking the dcpositions of wit
ncsses who lived in the ncighborhocd of
the scene cf the murder. Among these
were two mai,lservants of Montgcron,
who uttered simultaneous screams at
the appearance of the two friends They
| were put into the witness box and swore
positively that two cf the horscfncn
were present in the audience. whrn
confronted with L.surqucs and Gucnot.
they positively identified them. Both
| werc arrested AMI thrown into prison.
At the trial four other witnesses cor
roborated their testimony with equal
emphasis as regarded Lesurques. but
were doubtful about Guenot. The latter
succeeded in establishing n satisfactory
alibi and was released. The formers at
tempted alibi seemed to break down
badly when the daybook Of the jcwelcr.
Lagrund-,o whom hc swore he hal sold
n bill OF goods ON the very day Of the
murder-was produced in court and the
date of the charge was found to have
been altered. In vain the jewelcr pro-
tested that the first date was mistake.
which Inc had Immediately corrected.
and he ard all the ether witnesses fur
Lcsurqucs were looked upon as self con-
victcd rcrjurcrs Lesurqucs was found
guilty and executed. together with oi,.
of the real murdcreis. named Courriol.
who. ON mounting ih" scaffold. confess
cd his own guilt. but declared the in
nocencc OF Lesurqucs. Doubts bcgan to
arise as TO the Justice cf Lcsurqucs' sen
tcncc and finally IL was discovered that
Inc had suffered through an cxtraordi.
nary resemblance ioune Dutosr. tho rial
criminal. who was Hnught to Justice In
1901, convicted and executed.
This deplorablc case had mo-, doplor-
able sequels. Tho unhappy Mime. Ie-
surques went mad on hearing fh. news
cf her husbands condemnation. The
children Were ~ yet too young Co ur.lsr-
stand their 'rUuhi.. hut as tl,.r r.r.-,s
up one thought alone pnsS-~s..,l srsrp-
that of vindirafing their dead fa,hrr. n
iscasy Co understand how brrnsiing Over
this purpose drove oDc daughter 3. tho
iuadhcusc IN which h-r moihcr had bern
confined
II Is curious tha, onc of The wi,n~s.,s
against iSsurTu-s-ihe wuman Alfry
also went insane from gri-f and 70.
morse Mt her crrur. still another victim
WAS another daughter 20 Lc~uuu-.. who.
worn gu, by the frui'less struggle with
the pcdantry II the French laws. drown.
cd herself in the Seine. His son lef,
France. took service in the Russian
army and courted and found death
there. AZ regards Lcsurqucs' fortune.
which had been confi-cafed. his unb.p-
~ family vcr. more sz,crcxsful. In
1924, jus: 2s years after their fathers
death. they obtained n grant - sii. ooa
francs. supplemented IN Is35 iv aro,b.r
! grant cf css. 600 fran-s -l,p.,,, p,,.