Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-12-15

sued. Then the servants remembered
small side door, and they rushed TO
it, and so made entrance to the room.
There lay the body of the unfortun.
ate duchess, bathed in blood. She was
clad in her night dress only. On her
head there were thirteen wounds, and
dozen more on the neck and breast.
The room looked as though a tornado
had passed through it, and there were
blood marks everywhere. The serv-
ants. shocked and sickened, ran to the
garden, and, looking up, they saw
dense smoke coming from the CHM
ney of the dukes room. All this time
nothing had been seen of the duke,
but, when the servants, regaining their
courage, returned to the chamber of
death, the duke appeared from his own
room. When he looked upon his slain
wife he seemed greatly affected. my
Godw he cried, "who can have done
this?"
He wrung his hands in his distress,
and one of the servants noticed that
those hands were bloodstained. One
hand was lacerated, and the thumb of
the other had been bitten, and both
were scratched, as though by finger
nails. The doctors and the police ar
rived, and the latter, after examining
the shambles for a little while, were
forced to the belief that the duke must
have guilty knowledge. His explana-
ton of his scratched and bloody hands
was unsatisfactory. He said he got
them stained lifting the body of his
wife, but that didn't account for the
scratches and the bitten thumb.
In his own room there was fatal
testimony. His dressing gown was
stained with blood. He had made an
effort to wash it, and there was q tub
of redeemed water on the floor. In
the CRATE were the ashes of various
papers and garments. and part of a
blood-soaked handkerchief.
The duke was placed under arrest,
after prolonged examination by a
police official, but, owing to his exalted
station, he was not required to 20 to
| Jail. He remained at his own palace,
under the surveillance of police Off
| GERS. A day or two later he fell sick
| and doctor who was called in said
he had cholera. Other physicians being
summoned, they declared that he had
] taken poison. 1t being evident that he
was determined to destroy himself, it
was decided by the authorities to take
him to the Luxembourg, and he was
hauled there in a sumptuous car
rage, escorted by armed guards, for
the people were frantic, and were
clamoring for his blood. 1t was the
unusual Difference shown this red STAY
er, because of his pedigree, that mad
dened the populace, and contributed,
in no small measure, to the reyolu-
| ton.
After the French fashion, the duke
was examined again and again, and
the magistrate, at least, was no syco-
plant. He was merciless in his ques-
'hOAi' anu NOihiiSuto, anu Tic uODlGlldU
found it torture. He persisted in de-
| nying the crime, and told lie after lie,
only to have his falsehoods made ride.
ulous by the keen-witted magistrate.
And all the time he was growing weak
er, and on August "a he was SO low
that priests were summoned to give
him the benefit of religion. His suf-
ferings were terrible, and at the last
he made full confession of his crime
and then went to the reward ordained
for such as he.
This account may we'll close with
the remarks Of the magistrate, when
he had read the letters of the unfor-
tunate duchess: "They are precious
relics of one of the most beautiful
spirits ever created by the Almighty
for the honor of our age-an eternal
memorial of the perversity of one of
the guiltiest of men. At the same time
they suggest the consoling reflection
that Providence has sometimes seen
fit to place beside the vilest natures
their most angelic opposites, so that
eyes, weary and offended with gazing
on such guilt, may find thus close OF
1