The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1897-04-03
JUSTICE
INDICATED
The Last Act in the Awful
Drama - Two Souls
Swung into
Eternity.
Ernest and Alexis Blanc
Hanged by their Necks
Till Dead.
The Last Confession Of the
Young Murderers, Writ
ten and Signed by
Themselves.
-Four Thousand People
Present-Perfect Order
Reigned Through
out the Day.
Foul deods will rise

Foul deods will rise
Though all the earth oerwhcm them to mans eyes,
Ernest and Alexis Blanc, the murderers of
poor Martin Regnaud, were hanged yester
day between the hours of and in the
afternoon. People began to arrive in town
Thursday, when an unusually large number
of strange faces were noticed on the streets
of Lafayette. Since the early hours of
Friday it was clearly apparent that the
crowd attracted by the hanging would be
the largest in the town. The
wall which had been erected around the
scaffold to comply with the law of such
n height that those who were not contented
with looking at the unfortunate young
Frcnchmen before the fatal drop, climbed
trees and roofs Of houses in order to be able
to witness the endsof the awful drama which
was about to be concluded.
1t is estimated that there fully 1000
people present. Every town from New Or
leans to the Texas line represented. SO
many were hanging in the trees on the
courthouse square that Alexis facetiousiy
remarked that .sthose trees were full Of
fruits.' Most of the people impatiently
waited for the hour of the execution while
others applied the sheriff to let them
visit the Hlancs. but that officer had his
hands full with serious duties he
could not always attend to the
visitors. With few exceptions the immense
shrong behaved we'll, occasionally who
had probably imbi,ed too freely of alcohol,
made themselves disagrceable. AT about
IL o'clock Sheriff Broussard went to his
Office where he dcputizcI the following cit
izcns to assist him at The execution: ID. a.
Cochrane, Aurelier Olivier. J. O. Broussard,
Patin, Israel Prejean, Rodolph Roy, Geo.
Melchoir, J. w. Broussard, The following
gentlemen who were present took their
oaths witnesses: d. Doucet, J. T. Null
kern, Simeon Begnaud, Jean Begnaud. Leo
Judice, Jean A. Begnaud. The sheriff
quested the witnesses to be at the Jail at
half past one o'clock, while the presence of
the deputies was required tn :rc an hour
earlier.
TIE night of April 1st the last time
Ernest and Alexis Blanc enjoyed the resto-
rative influences of baln,y sleep. They
were very cheerful; much SO it was
possible for two human beings to be, with
such dreadful fate staring them in the
face. They recognized and cordially
greeted all eomers; even some persons they
scarcely knew, they remembered and ad-
dressed politely. Showing that their men
tai faculties in perfect order, their
pulse beat NORMALLY, and there not a
quiver of the muscles. Nothing indicated
that their animal instincts shrank from the
ordeal they were shortly to undergo, while
the moral part of their beings was not pro-
foundly affected as they INDUCED in some of
the ghastliest jokes that ever fell from hu-
man lips. For instance when questioned
about their early training and the studies
they preferred at school, Alexis expressed a
preference for history and geography, which
was in unison with what he said for
mer occasion that his boyish ambition had
been to be marine and that the works of
fiction which he remembered with peculiar
Eusto were those of Gustave Aymar which
dealt with adventures among the Indian
tribes of North America, while Ernest said
that he had no particular Penchant for any
study at school unless it was that of with a
1augh) gymnastics. but that he would
shortly have an, opportunity to- practice
gymnastics in sort of trapeze performance,
a serio-comedy in which he and Alexis ex-
pected to be the chief actors with bowling
rabble as audience. They kept up a
running fire of badinage.
Ernest drew picture, not a muscle of the
finger twitching, representing highway
saan with a cooked pistol and dirk, holding