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jjeooq, a 'wealthy b disappeared nmdej* •staaoee. Ho; reeided i house in the snbnrbe, ■mestios—on did wd ter.. He had beena relor of Avignon, ngular ! cdrcum-a .small detached _d kept two do-: „ and her daugh-ident of Avignon come there,it was centrally wjppoaed, from Pans; where lie M beeh tin business add amassed afortnne.- On the day named, two men called at ihis house and were closeted with faim for (an hour. He di-ight ..[tor he had Jeft, (turned and in-that he was a jltf ooq had been .mmitted an Paris _d that he had ients in Monsieur ch would tend toA Mtrmng* ptovj frt to a vran*.; U^o.polioeof jParis havo recently rt^bled alt;h^lhe %equel to a very xe-which ooourred over twenty years ago, and has remained Inn-til tee present cm ^impenetrable mystery.which Monsieur (ven him, and said place the house-Tabling all tbeiacte of the case^ thereader, lit^l'be neoeasary to -- Wp*o back to a comparatively remote ipe-AOCU : •; At the beginning of the year 1852, a fiudilymamed ©SElimer became the. owq-a»oi4he^Vejtoeute-iwlUrte^on the |Sa-one, between Chalon and Dijon.' Oha-teau Vert, the residence, wasa verylarge old mansion, situated on a rising groundBUBOgtVV. D •week. Half an hour one of the two men formed the bousekee detective, that Manarrested for n crime mimy years before, come for certain doer Leooq'e possession w establish liis innoawr•• He showedi the LCooq, he said, his directions were . keeper and her- daughter in a secure place until thfe next morning. He con-conducted them to1 ah upper room in the rear of the dwelling, (and fastened them in/ There they passedla miserablenight, And waited disconsolately until noon the next day for; deliverance. 'WearyW hungry, they., then managed to burst open the door, and on descending discovered that their imakter’s bureaus and safe had been rifled of everything of value. Their .suspicion of. foul jilay was for the firetlimC aroosed, and they gave tl#e alarm. It was soon dear enough that the arrest of Mdnsienr Lqpoq and thfe pretended Bearish ifor documents was the scheme of expert and andaoions thiovefl, and measures wore taken to se-poured in. He was somewhat startled, and drew the door toward him. Hearing no indioation of any one’s being on the other side, he opened the door, and saw that he was on the threshold of what be knew at a glance muBt he Monsieur D’Eimer’s bedroom. ■ The door was a panel of thewainsoot extending from almost the top of the room to within a foot of the floor. He retired and closed the door, and thought little of the dis-oovery until the dread of his daughter’s children being robbed of .a splendid in-inheritance dwelt on liis mind like a horrible nightmare.To shorten a horrible confession,Foille resolved to murder the elderD'Eimer and his young wife, and entering toe room by the secret stairway, accomplished his design only too effect-ualiy. As soon as his jlanghter and her humhusband were Beonrely domiciled in the chateau Foille disappeared, his son-in-law haying first made arrangemonta 'by whioh he was secured an inoomo amply ____...__________aptysufficient for his ordinary wants. Foille, however, became a gambler, and finallymixed up with a lawless gang, who sted him subsequently in carrying out bis designs on Looc q. He died within a month of his confession, and the two nham detectives are now undergoing a fifteen year’s sentence.There m every reason to believe that neither Charles D’Eimer nor his wife ever had the slightest suspicion of Foille’s having any hand in toe long unexplained mUrder of the elder D’Eimer.m the right bank of a small tributa^^fhe Sawn®. The locality was ,y Beautiful, and the now tenants, who iwre wealthy, upeedily rreusciteted ithe gardens and transformed the diLhd*bserted doffing into a corid attradHv^ homestead.The D’Eimer family consisted of tfons. D'Eimer, a gentleman of aboutoy ox xube youngest; of the family. Within hree months of their settling at i the hateao, the three daughters and;toe aother died of typhus fever. Mons. ’Eimer was sunk in profound grief, nd some time elapsed before ho was ble to look alter ins affairs. The fol-owing year young D’Eimer formed an oqtBdntanoe with a very beautiful [butin cultivated girl, named Jeannettefoille, the daughter of a charcoal bnrn-r, to whom Moiih. D’Eimer had rented , tract of woodland. Foille was a stranger in the locality, bat appeared to be ndustrions and honest. He was a wid-rwer—so he said—and liis daughter had marge of the small dwelling in which hey resided. Charles D’Eimer, too on. spent much of liis time with Jean-They had nearly wever, in which tocure their capture.twenty-four hours, hd . .....make good their escape, and there was little hope of their immediate arrest Ituuu i*u wuia wi* liuu smvwv meager ——— tion. There! was [little doubt, however, that the men fwouia took refuge in Paris, and the polioe of that oity were Boon in possession!of all - toe facta, and occupied in Boeldiig tor a due to the perpe-,trator of the brime. Nothing, however, 1was heard of j them to Monsieur Leooq for over three months, when .the old gentleman unexpectedly made his ap-peoranoe, and learned for toe flrat time that, he was too victim of a oooBpiraoy.It seems that in 1840 he had in Ins employ, os dork, a man named Dunesme. Tins man had ft very beautiful wife, of whom Leooq! became enamoured. He dispotahed Duuosmq to . Russia, as his agent, and in [his abstmce' endeavored to sednce his wife. He! represented to her that Duneume liad xobbod him of a largo sum, and that unless! she aooeded to Ins desires he would send her husband to the galleys. | She yielded1 to '• save the Tnan whom she loved, but overcome by remorse she tost her ! reason, and Lecoq awoke, one morning, to find toe woman by hie aid® u oorjwe* with .a stiletto .in hiff breast He Wid toe woman who acted as Maflamo.Danesme’s servant aheavy bribe toktop jiis presence^ in the;to, and the fact came to his father'8owl*nowledge. He expostulnled with liis in. and an estrangement was the result, f ter this Mons. D’Eimer was frequen tly l»ent from home, and in the autumn of 854 he returned with a young wifo, bom V® installed as miStroes of; the bateau. After this bis behavior, to his on was as khid as before, and lie eup-lied him liberally with funds, altliongh e knew that Oharles’ acquaintance fwith lie daughter of the charooal burner ontinned, and that she had given birth ! ’’Chi tliemomiug of December 27,1854^ [ons, fD'Eimer’e domestics found him id liifi young wife murdered in thoirhouBe a secret, and returned unobserved to his own roaidenbe. The evidenceIAI . T1 M ^ ™ W . . ■-- - -ehowodtoat MadamejDuneame had takenher own lifer tod toe terrible' news was sent ito her husband. Immediately on his arrival ini Paris jhe was arrested for embezzling liis employer’s funds, andafter a speedy trial' tont to the galleys, i woman'who load been his wife*The Tservant took care of Dntosmo served out tenoe. On bis li8his only child, and his ten year’s sen-,tion he found thatThey bad been stabbed in several ftbes,;ana the crime had evidently beenthe woman had a diirt time before married, andiuraed .ovefr tea daughter to hissister, from whom hfe claimed the child,but the former cueljpdian oould not beAt toe dose of last year Dunesme suddenly came upon Alio person whom he had given up all'hlop® of ever seeing again. She was in boverty and he aided her, and in return sue told him toe storyperpetratedry facts. ; 'h The door of toe bedroom was|fasted on the insida . !2. The windows of the bedroom and a adjoining dressing room were also itened within, and were, moreover, icast flfty fert ftpm toe gttmnfly iftih sloped'fthrdptlysto toeriverl and 'orded scarcely sufficient footoold for aof hie wife's wrongs] and gave utterance to the suspicion that Leooq had himselfmurderedhe^.! • - ;|: ■; -i.'rDunesme, I who -was a lawless man, then coDooctqd toe plot whioh has been already treated of.' I Two of his companions played the, parlt of detectives, andarrested -Leboq, as toey s^id, for the murder of Madame JDonesme over thirty'years ago. HA wad takfln Jo Paris and.kept3. Nothing was displaoed in Mons. Eimer’s wiartments, and n* marks of y kind existed to show whioh way the irdsrerhad oome or gone. :In the bedroom, however, was anotherk», whioh led into ft suite of aport-ants oooupiod by Charles D'Blmetr, the om adjoining Mons. D’Eimer’ft bed-om having beto used as a library ,d ' toe one beyond that os the son s sepiog apartment The door leading to toe library was locked and toe key raid not be found. Charles’ bedroom mned on the corridor, and toe door of at was also locked. The butler, how-«r, produoed toe key, and'ftcknowl-Iged Charles was in the habit of aving it with him when he went to the larooal burner, with the intention of Bunrdng all night, ub ho had done the wious evening. .Utoilo toe first investigation was in ^dufriee feturned home, and „ /stricken wito horror at too scene *wattad;4um. :;His amaaernent and jef wew .very great and, later on,ien toe* authorities ‘ made a sesi-ahing iatiy/and he was oonsoiouB that they. a—- - ■- fit a Itin rvmai there iij seoltision, the supposed offioeis assuring ’him that f°r a large sum of monev which ho had drawn from ley __ _ . , .liis bankers, they wpuld seoure his ulfcir wpuid i. mate safety. \ At leigth he was roleasod, and returned homS having been assured iby the sham detectayestoat-his innoaenoe had been established to the satisfactionof the police, ftnd’ (that he .would mffer no farther molestation.When the outrage perpetrated on Mon-is made knowisuspected. Of the crime, his ihdigna-,’and tdS’fletfiAaof ftay par-ihe dreadful.deed almostjfatalf , outoebut-,y4«atowkeystrf CSiBrles. 4nam toestudy/* as .toe dust Ahw door . wa^-u*disturbed, .and look had not been used -irinoe.hismeur Ijeooq was maae mown xo the po-lioe, the most strenuous exertions were put forth to capturd the offenders. Leooq was gammoned to Paris, and after several days spent in |»«rambulating thecity, he at length flkea on a street which he believed was that in wliich he had been confined. - The police watched it thoroughly for several days; and ultimately arrested a man of Buepidons be^ havior as he was ! (euteriog -One of the domiciles early in’ the mottling. Leooqpositively idiantifltoii. Jilin itt nne of toe Bhamdeteotwes. jpid.a rooiU:ijtto whioh he was going when taken tut toe apart-mesttlh -whifiL ha had been imprisoned. There ' was i jneSQorandum' written in pencil «n thriwidb.l^ Deooq, *biob'left no donbt ait -16 uA being the place. There were letters on- the msnsMsested which Jed'tbltod, itecuring• of1 ’the' other sham deteitave, ’ fiid - fliully, to: toe capture of Dunesme.:: The latter Was in the lost stag®: of disease, tand made revels tilt;ms of an astounding nature. ; Among otoek! Qiings he detailed the i point- l facto reepecting hpa wife' and Leooq al-! ready grvnn,'!bnt his moW important oon-feasion related toi the dreadful-fcragedy of which Ohatean y®rt was the scene.111*Iatabeenber hBd porchaBcd the property. In lition to this, it was shown that thevtiAfter his 'discharge from -the galleys, and toe restoration of his daughter he rented a traflt of1 (woodland from Mon-tlor was nearly eighty ^eare of _age,had been In' the“ernploy of Moub.befoiBimer and his father before him forir sixty yeara. • • -H,0 antnorities wore greatly puzzled fix the orime on anyone, ortodis-rer a due to the perpetrator. The milling snspioion was against Charles Bimer, and the fact of hie having been bad terms with his father for a long ie, and the probability of there beingifew family 'of children to eliero theximony tvith him, vpere ooDflidered_aa eumptive evidenoe •against him. He b boI arreeted, . however, but the ighbors, who hoa before been on andly terme;^be6;aii to ehun him, and m the dpmestiro quitted liis service.. ithm a xeAflonable time after the murr Oharles brought . Jeannette to the infltallodeieur D’Eimer at. the Chateau Vert, There he wa^it Tfrjler the name of Foille.It was he who' eiippnraged the visits ofis dwelyoung D’Eimer to; his dwelling, and procured his marriagp to his daughter Jean-1 uette. Wheel Monsieur D’Eimer broughthomo his ypung!| wife, Foille saw the hope of one day; sooiug his child theitem andmistress of fhb cliateau and the mother of children! who would .inherit vastwealth cut .j Qfl* ;| Tho thought prayed upon his iniiid 011X111 ho bo came altuost demented. I'The woodland which Foille Tented was in the rear cjf theichatoan, and within it were the ruihs of ;ia small chapel. Wliilo soarching tl^em dne day lio partially removed a large ^slab and saw a deep hole underneath. \ Hetiraised the block, and a ^flight of stone fefceps was difloovwed.. Procuring a lautern and a flint and eteel,;c1______her ns mistress, he explored toe imibtemmBiming out that they were man'and wife, and soon foun^himBelf ni too^ndts ofpp. ^ — “ ■ . ■ ™ ^ ... — w ■ — - - - ■ - —- . _ -ich turned out'to be actnally the caso . the same time the charcoal burner appeared from the neighborhood. iiter. reaiding for about six month* Chateau Vert, Oharles D'Eimer and i wife discharged their domestics .and noved to Heufchatel, in Switzerland*the ohateau* More than one skeleton lay around, and here and there rusty bolts and chains, which ehowed that theplace' had once Ibeen used as a prison. Tn one corner of the vault he discoveredopening and winding staircase, which .he ascended. After a while it becameanaqd was only onoenarrow and; straight, and evidently ran. «■ I . * - - W -A _ . X J K Miu was left in oharge of* stew- ~r~■wsiteaby its 1 insidB the walls df toe chateau. Haying aerin twenty years. ascended some distance he oame to aU'befare stated; toe sequel to this al-et nnpreoedented tragedy has just m disclosed, and in order to oomplete otory it is ucobss— +1’“ _______Bssary to give toepar-fltara-prk orime of slater JktQ. 'n February. 24, 1875, one Monsieurlanding, and to ;the rightsaw what resembled a wooden door. He gave it a gentle .push and it shook. A oaraful search disclosed* la small knob in toe•wood, and a slight pressure upon it sent ajar, afid a flood of daylighttoe door
Newspaper Details
Marshall Statesman
Marshall, Michigan, US
Wed, Apr 12, 1876
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Mary B.
USA 22 May 2018
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