The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-30
MURDEREss MADE HEROINE.
Two Crimes Analogous with
Worlds Most Celebrated Tragedies.

rano Prison, and the trial Of Professor
Charles H. Eastman, in Cambridge, Mass,
which cleared him OF the charge of the
murder of his brother-in-law, Richard
Grogan, recall the two most celebrated
crimes OF modern times.
France furnished the one replete with
poetry. sentiment, fanatical patriotism
ano-n such thing is possibly-beauty;
america the one that was looked upon
as the greatest mystery of the era, the
most difhcult of solution, when solved
at last by the murderer's confession. was
still disbelieved by many people. Both
crimes have long been a subject of study
on the part of jurists. psychologists and
criminologists.
The one was the assassination of Marat.
Dictator Of the French Revolution, by
Charlotte Corday, on July Is, 1872; the
other was the murder of DR.. George
Parkman. Of Boston. by Professor John
w. Webster, of the chair of chemistry
ana mineralogy, Harvard University, on
November %, 1S49.
The history, trial and execution of
Charlotte Conday has placed that once
beautiful enthusiast upon a pedestal of
fame, and forever enthroned her memory
in the minds of her fellow-countrymen
Her early, secluded life, her devotion
~ -AR~A ~ uNh at
what she believed to be the sufferings of
France-the carrying out of her project
unaided by single human being-her
arrest and trial, her remarkable beauty
and lofty bearing on the way to the gull
lotine-her execution-group together a
character the most remarkable which
figured in that small party who, cast
by Providence into the very center OF
the greatest drama of modern times, COM
prsed in themselves the ideas, the faults
the virtues of their epoch; and whose
life and political acts formed, as has
been said, the nucleus of the French Re-
volution. and who persisted by the same
blood which crushed the destinles of their
country
This young French murderess and
''herione" was born in the village of St.
saturnin. July %. 1868; she assassinated
Marat July Is, 1892, and was guillouned
at Paris. July II, 1898.
Her bearing on the scaffold sent a
thrill even through the heart of her exc
cutioners. A young German Deputy Adam
Lux, on witnessing the execution, con-
ceived a romantic passion for her, and
when her head fell, he cried-his voice
hoarse with emotion. She is greater than
Brutus.' He wrote phamphlet, suggest
ing that statue be erected to her mem
DRY. He was arrested and guillotined
Andre Chenier, who paid a glowing peot-
ical tribute to her 1eroism. shared the
same fate"
When Vergniaud was told the circum-
stances of her execution-her demeanor
and bearing upon the gullotne-he ex-
claimed, "She teaches us how to die"
The Woods of Normandy.
Charlotte Corday was of noble blood,
but her parents were poor-in fact, they
We're, in fortune, but a degree above the
peasantry. Her mother died when the
girl was of tender years, and she grew
up as a child Of nature, running bare
headed through the woods and spending
her time out of doors, as was customary
with the girls of Normandy. At 10 years
of age she was sent to a convent at Caen
"a famous institution, founded by the
wife of William the Conqueror. She was
captivated by the convent life. "Her ar
dent soul and imprisoned fancy threw
her into that state of dreamy contem-
plation converse with the Deity" She
became a model of piety, was loved by
her preeeptors and honored by her COM
panions.
When she was 10 years old the con-
vent was suppressed. She returned to her
village home and plunged into the study
of metaphysics and philosophy. Rousseau
ing to love poetry and politics She read
RaynaPs fanatic treatise on humanity,
and Heloise was her heroine. The native
purity of her mind. however, was not
lost in contemplation of these imposition
ed themes. In fact, she entertained no
passion for an individual but her natural
and acquired enthusiasm found express
sion in an ardent love Of country.
Her Beauty a Passport.
At this period the tragic drama of the
French Revolution was being enacted.
Leader after leader-the great, the good,
the able and the sublime-had arisen
played a brief part, and passed from the
stage. At last Marat appeared. Marat-
the dregs and leprosy of the people at
tanning the dictatorship crowned with
impunity, the apostle of spoilation an
archy and assassina ton, shreat ening every
species of crime, excess and horror-all
this played upon the sensitive mind of
the young girl until she became inspired
with the conviction that she was a
chosen servant of France to sacrifice her
life for the preservation of the liberty
and institutions which she believed were
being destroyed"
In brief she left her village home and,
equipped with few letters of introduce
ton, fastened to Paris. Her beauty was
passport 10 Whatever dcQualnLdnEeS Sne
chose to make. But her earnestness and
steadfast adherence to the teachings of
convent life were not in accord with the
morality and customs of the period. She
soon lost the prestige, which her beauty
so instantly gained with a certain clique
of influential men, and was. at last,
obliged to rely upon her own resources
for accomplishing the deed which she had
resolved upon.
On July r. 1882, she purchased dag
ger IN small cutlery shop. The next
day she sent a note TO Marat asking for
an interview. 1t was denied
On the following day she sent another
note. Receiving no reply, she went the
next morning In person to Marats home
Ia diapidated and miserable abode-and
demanded entrance to the Dictator's
apartments. The servant-a woman-who
answered her knock refused admission.
Charlotte insisted. Marat heard the ar
gument at the door Attracted partly by
the youthful voice, partly by few words
which he caught, relative to certain fugi-
tive deputies, he loudly ordered that the
young woman be permitted to enter. The
man was reclining at the moment she
enkeredl Suspended above sheet of
parchment he held pen with which, a
few moments before, he had been writing
a letter to the Convention. demanding
the lives OF the few Burbons who still
remained in France. Charlotte approach
ed the couch on which he rested He
ordered the servant from the room. His
visitor told him that she had certain
information concerning fugitive deputies