Year: 1876

inquiry, and he was conscious that the,


suspected him of the crime, his indigna


ton was deep, and his denial of any par


ticipation in the dreadful deed almos
contemptuous.


Suspicion next fixed itself on the but


ler, who had had the keys of Charles


room in his keeping, but Charles point
ed out to the police the utter absurdity


of supposing that the bedroom had beer
entered from the study, as the dus


around the door was undisturbed, anC
the lock had not been used since his
father had purchased the property. In
addition to this, it was shown that the
butler was nearly eighty years of age,
and had been in the employ of Mons
D'Eimer and his father before him fol-
over sixty years.


The authorities were greatly puzzled
to fix the crime on any one, or to dis
cover clue to the perpetrator. The
prevailing suspicion was against Charles
D'Eimer, and the fact of his having been
on bad terms with his father for q long
time, and the probability of there being
O new family of children to share.the
patrimony with him, were considered as
presumptive evidence against him. He
was not arrested, however, but the
neighbors, who had before been on
friendly terms, began to shun him, and
even the domestics quilted his service.
Within reasonable time after the MUIR
der, Charles brought Jeannette to the
chateau and installed her as mistress,
giving out that they we're man and wife,
which turned out to be actually the case.
At the same time the charcoal burner
disappeared from the neighborhood.


After residing for about six months
at Chateau Vert, Charles D'Eimer and
his wife discharged their domestics and
removed to Neufchatel, in Switzerland.
The chateau was left in charge of stew
ard, and was only once visited by its
owner in twenty years.


AS before stated, the sequel to this al
most unprecedented tragedy has just
been disclosed, and in order to complete
the story it is necessary to give the par
ticulars of crime of later date.


On February "a, 1875, one Monsieur
Lecoq, wealthy bachelor of Avignon,
disappeared under singular circum-
stances. He resided in small detached
house in the suburbs, and kept two do
mestics-an old woman and her daugh-
ter. He had been resident of Avignon
about seven years, and had come there,
it was generally supposed, from Paris,
where he had been in business and
amassed q fortune. On the day named,
two men called at his house and were
closeted with him for an hour. He di-
rected his housekeeper to prepare va
lise, and then quilted the house with the
strangers, saying he might be absent a
week. Half an hour after he had left,
one of the two men returned and in
formed the housekeeper that he was a
detective, that Monsieur Lecoq had been
arrested for crime committed in Paris
many years before, and that he had
come for certain documents in Monsieur
Lecoq's possession which would tend to
establish his innocence.


He showed the keys which Monsieur
Lecoq, he said, had given him, and said
his directions were TO place the house
keeper and her daughter in secure
place until the next morning. He con-
conducted them to an upper room in the
rear of the dwelling, and fastened them
in. There they passed a miserable night,
and waited disconsolately until noon the
next day for deliverance. Weary and
hungry, they then managed to- burst
open the door, and on descending dis
covered that their masters bureaus and
safe had been rifed of everything of
value. Their suspicion of foul play was
for the first time aroused, and they gave
the alarm. 1t was soon clear enough
that the arrest of Monsieur Lecoq and
the pretended search for documents was
the scheme of expert and audacious
thieves, and measures were taken to Sc
cure their capture. They had nearly
twenty-four hours, however, in which to
make good their escape, and there was
little hope of their immediate arrest. 1t
was likewise difficult to get any accurate
description of the men, and the police
had to work on the most meager informa-
ton. There was little doubt, however,
that the men would seek refuge in Paris,
and the police of that city were soon
in possession of all the facts, and occu-
pied in seeking for clue to the perpe-
traitor of the crime. Nothing, however,
was heard of them or Monsieur Lecoq
for over three months, when the old
gentleman unexpectedly made his ap-
pearance, and learned for the first time
that he was the victim of conspiracy.


1t seems that in 1840 he had in his
employ, as clerk, man named Dunesme.
This man had very beautiful wife, of
whom Lecoq became enamoued. He
dispatched Dunesme to Russia, as his
agent, and in his absence endeavored to
seduce his wife. He represented to her
that Dunesme had robbed him of large
sum, and that unless she acceded to his
desires he would send her husband to
the galleys. She yielded to save the
man whom she loved, but overcome by
remorse she lost her reason, and Lecoq
awoke, one morning, to lind the woman
by his side corpse, with stiletto in
her breast. He paid the woman who
acted as Madame Dunesme's servant O
heavy bribe to keep his presence in the
house q secret, and returned unobserved
to his own residence. The evidence
showed that Madame Dunesme had taken
her own life, and the terrible news was
sent to her husband. Immediately on
his arrival in Paris he was arrested for
embezzling his employers funds, and
after a speedy trial sent to the galleys.


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