The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-12-09

live! What were her habits, her NOR
hls, and what sort Of company did she
keep? Was she known to have enc
MES? Was she niser? Did she pass
FOR being rich?" Although the wit
nessRs We're numerous enough, they
possessed but l,tle information No
onc knew anything Of the victim who
was stranger i'll the country \ gar
lener's vile who had been friendly
with the deceased. and miikwoman
with whom she dealt, were alone able
to give few insignificant though
precise details. In word, after three
hours OF laborious Investigation, the
following is what appeared the most
reliable to the cOmmissary.
Twelve years before, the woman
l.erounge had made her appearance
at Boueival with a large wagon piled
with furniture, linen, and her personal
effects. She had alghted at an inn,
declaring her intention OF settling in
tho neigllborhoud and had immedi-
ately gone in quest of house Find
ing this one unoccupied, she had taken
1t, down the terms, at rental OF
three hundred ind twenty francs pay
able half-yearly and in advance, but
had refused to sign lease. The
house taken. she Occupied it, the same
day, and expended about hundred
francs on repairs
She was a woman about fifty-four or
t1fty-tive years of age we}l-preserved,
active, and in the enjoyment of ex-
ccllent health. No one knew her rea-
sons for taking up her abode in a
country where she was an absolute
stranger She was supposed to have
come from Normandy. She ordinarily
wore very handsome dresses, very
SNOWY ribbons in her caps, and COW
cred herself with jewels like saint
in a chapel. Without doubt she had
lived OH the coast for ships and the
sea REQUIRED necessarily in her con-
versation.
She did not like speaking of her
husband who had, she said, persisted
i'll a shipwreck. But she had never
given the slightest detail. On one
particular occasion she had remarked,
in presence Of the milk-woman and
three other persons, sfNo woman was
ever more miserable than | during
my married life And at another she
had said, "All new, all fine! My de-
funct husband only loved me for a
year!'
Widow Lerouge passed for rich Or at
least for being very we'll off; and she
was not nliser. She was fond of
good living, spent a great deal Oh her
food, and bought wine by the half
cask. She took pleasure in treating
her acquaintances, and her dinners
were excellent. Ii complimented on
her easy circumstances, she made no
very strong denial. She had frequent
ly been heard to say, 81 have nothing
in the funds, but 1 have everything
have it,
She was very distrustful, and barri-
caded herself in her cottage as in q
fortress. She never went out in the
evening, and 1t was well-known that
she got tipsy regularly at her din
ner and went to bed very soon after
ward. Rarely had strangers been
seen TO visit her; four or five times a
lady accompanied by young man had
called, pNa upon one occasion two
gentlemen, one young, the other old
and decorated. had come in a mag
niiicent carriage.
In conclusion the deceased was held
in but little esteem by her neighbors.
While questioning the witnesses
the commissary wrote down their de-
positions in a more condensed form
and he had got so far, when the in
vestigating magistrate arrived, at
tended by the chief of the detective
police, and one Of his subordinates.
M. Daburon was the magistrate. The
chief Of detective police was none
other than the celebrated Gevrol. He
is really an able man, but wanting in
perseverance, and liable to be blinded
by an incredible obstinacy.