Court of Criminal and Special Justice for the Department of the Orne

The attorney-general to the Imperial Court of Caen, appointed to fulfil his functions before the Special Criminal Court established by imperial decree under date September, 1809, and sitting at Alencon, states to the Imperial Court the following facts which have appeared under the above procedure.

The plot of a company of brigands, evidently long planned with consummate care, and connected with a scheme for inciting the Western departments to revolt, has shown itself in certain attempts against the private property of citizens, but more especially in an armed attack and robbery committed on the mail-coach which transported, May --, 18--, the money in the treasury at Caen to the Treasury of France. This attack, which recalls the deplorable incidents of a civil war now happily extinguished, manifests a spirit of wickedness which the political pa.s.sions of the present day do not justify.

Let us pa.s.s to the facts. The plot is complicated, the details are numerous. The investigation has lasted one year; but the evidence, which has followed the crime step by step, has thrown the clearest light on its preparation, execution, and results.

The conception of the plot was formed by one Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph Rifoel, calling himself Chevalier du Vissard, born at the Vissard, district of Saint-Mexme, near Ernee, and a former leader of the rebels.

This criminal, whom H.M. the Emperor and King pardoned at the time of the general pacification, and who has profited by the sovereign's magnanimity to commit other crimes, has already paid on the scaffold the penalty of his many misdeeds; but it is necessary to recall some of his actions, because his influence was great on the guilty persons now before the court, and he is closely connected with the facts of his case.

This dangerous agitator, concealed, according to the usual custom of the rebels, under the name of Pierrot, went from place to place throughout the departments of the West gathering together the elements of rebellion; but his chief resort was the chateau of Saint-Savin, the residence of a Madame Lechantre and her daughter, a Madame Bryond, situated in the district of Saint-Savin, arrondiss.e.m.e.nt of Mortagne. Several of the most horrible events of the rebellion of 1799 are connected with this strategic point.

Here a bearer of despatches was murdered, his carriage pillaged by the brigands under command of a woman, a.s.sisted by the notorious Marche-a-Terre. Brigandage appeared to be endemic in that locality.

An intimacy, which we shall not attempt to characterize, existed for more than a year between the woman Bryond and the said Rifoel.

It was in this district that an interview took place, in April, 1808, between Rifoel and a certain Boislaurier, a leader known by the name of August in the baneful rebellions of the West, who instigated the affair now before the court.

The somewhat obscure point of the relations between these two leaders is cleared up by the testimony of numerous witnesses, and also by the judgment of the court which condemned Rifoel.

From that time Boislaurier had an understanding with Rifoel, and they acted in concert.

They communicated to each other, at first secretly, their infamous plans, encouraged by the absence of His Imperial and Royal Majesty with the armies in Spain. Their scheme was to obtain possession of the money of the Treasury as the fundamental basis of future operations.

Some time after this, one named Dubut, of Caen, sent an emissary to the chateau of Saint-Savin named Hiley--commonly called "The Laborer," long known as a highwayman, a robber of diligences--to give information as to the men who could safely be relied upon.

It was thus by means of Hiley that the plotters obtained, from the beginning, the co-operation of one Herbomez, otherwise called General Hardi, a former rebel of the same stamp as Rifoel, and like him faithless to his pledges under the amnesty.

Herbomez and Hiley recruited from the surrounding districts seven brigands whose names are:--

1. Jean Cibot, called Pille-Miche, one of the boldest brigands of the corps formed by Montauran in the year VII., and a partic.i.p.ator in the attack upon the courier of Mortagne and his murder.

2. Francois Lisieux, called Grand-Fils, refractory of the department of the Mayenne.

3. Charles Grenier, called Fleur-de-Genet, deserter from the 69th brigade.

4. Gabriel Bruce, called Gros-Jean, one of the most ferocious Chouans of Fontaine's division.

5. Jacques h.o.r.eau, called Stuart, ex-lieutenant in the same brigade, one of the confederates of Tinteniac, well-known for his partic.i.p.ation in the expedition to Quiberon.

6. Marie-Anne Cabot, called Lajeunesse, former huntsman to the Sieur Carol of Alencon.

7. Louis Minard, refractory.

These confederates were lodged in three different districts, in the houses of the following named persons: Binet, Melin, and Laraviniere, innkeepers or publicans, and all devoted to Rifoel.

The necessary arms were supplied by one Jean-Francois Leveille, notary; an incorrigible a.s.sistant of the brigands, and their go-between with certain hidden leaders; also by one Felix Courceuil, commonly called Confesseur, former surgeon of the rebel armies of La Vendee; both these men are from Alencon.

Eleven muskets were hidden in a house belonging to the Sieur Bryond in the faubourg of Alencon, where they were placed without his knowledge.

When the Sieur Bryond left his wife to pursue the fatal course she had chosen, these muskets, mysteriously taken from the said house, were transported by the woman Bryond in her own carriage to the chateau of Saint-Savin.

It was then that the acts of brigandage in the department of the Orne and the adjacent departments took place,--acts that amazed both the authorities and the inhabitants of those regions, which had long been entirely pacificated; acts, moreover, which proved that these odious enemies of the government and the French Empire were in the secret of the coalition of 1809 through communication with the royalist party in foreign countries.

The notary Leveille, the woman Bryond, Dubut of Caen, Herbomez of Mayenne, Boislaurier of Mans, and Rifoel, were therefore the heads of the a.s.sociation, which was composed of certain guilty persons already condemned to death and executed with Rifoel, certain others who are the accused persons at present under trial, and a number more who have escaped just punishment by flight or by the silence of their accomplices.

It was Dubut who, living near Caen, notified the notary Leveille when the government money contained in the local tax-office would be despatched to the Treasury.

We must remark here that after the time of the removal of the muskets, Leveille, who went to see Bruce, Grenier, and Cibot in the house of Melin, found them hiding the muskets in a shed on the premises, and himself a.s.sisted in the operation.

A general rendezvous was arranged to take place at Mortagne, in the hotel de l'Ecu de France. All the accused persons were present under various disguises. It was then that Leveille, the woman Bryond, Dubut, Herbomez, Boislaurier and Hiley (the ablest of the secondary accomplices, as Cibot was the boldest) obtained the co-operation of one Vauthier, called Vieux-Chene, a former servant of the famous Longuy, and now hostler of the hotel. Vauthier agreed to notify the woman Bryond of the arrival and departure of the diligence bearing the government money, which always stopped for a time at the hotel.

The woman Bryond collected the scattered brigands at the chateau de Saint-Savin, a few miles from Mortagne, where she had lived with her mother since the separation from her husband. The brigands, with Hiley at their head, stayed at the chateau for several days. The woman Bryond, a.s.sisted by her maid G.o.dard, prepared with her own hands the food of these men. She had already filled a loft with hay, and there the provisions were taken to them. While awaiting the arrival of the government money these brigands made nightly sorties from Saint-Savin, and the whole region was alarmed by their depredations. There is no doubt that the outrages committed at la Sartiniere, at Vonay, and at the chateau of Saint-Seny, were committed by this band, whose boldness equals their criminality, though they were able to so terrify their victims that the latter have kept silence, and the authorities have been unable to obtain any testimony from them.

While thus putting under contribution those persons in the neighborhood who had purchased lands of the National domain, these brigands carefully explored the forest of Chesnay which they selected as the theatre of their crime.

Not far from this forest is the village of Louvigney. An inn is kept there by the brothers Chaussard, formerly game-keepers on the Troisville estate, which inn was made the final rendezvous of the brigands. These brothers knew beforehand the part they were to play in the affair. Courceuil and Boislaurier had long made overtures to them to revive their hatred against the government of our august Emperor, telling them that among the guests who would be sent to them would be certain men of their acquaintance, the dreaded Hiley and the not less dreaded Cibot.

Accordingly, on the 6th, the seven bandits, under Hiley, arrived at the inn of the brothers Chaussard, and there they spent two days. On the 8th Hiley led off his men, saying they were going to a palace about nine miles distant, and asking the brothers to send provisions for them to a certain fork in the road not far distant from the village. Hiley himself returned and slept at the inn.

Two persons on horseback, who were undoubtedly Rifoel and the woman Bryond (for it is stated that this woman accompanied Rifoel on these expeditions on horseback and dressed as a man), arrived during the evening and conversed with Hiley.

The next day Hiley wrote a letter to the notary Leveille, which one of the Chaussard brothers took to the latter, bringing back his answer.

Two hours later Rifoel and the woman Bryond returned and had an interview with Hiley.

It was then found necessary to obtain an axe to open, as we shall see, the cases containing the money. The notary went with the woman Bryond to Saint-Savin, where they searched in vain for an axe. The notary returned alone; half way back he met Hiley, to whom he stated that they could not obtain an axe.

Hiley returned to the inn, where he ordered supper for ten persons; seven of them being the brigands, who had now returned, fully armed. Hiley made them stack their arms in the military manner. They then sat down to table and supped in haste. Hiley ordered provisions prepared to take away with him. Then he took the elder Chaussard aside and asked him for an axe. The innkeeper who, if we believe him, was surprised, refused to give one.

Courceuil and Boislaurier arrived; the night wore on; the three men walked the floor of their room discussing the plot. Courceuil, called "Confesseur," the most wily of the party, obtained an axe; and about two in the morning they all went away by different paths.

Every moment was of value; the execution of the crime was fixed for that night. Hiley, Courceuil, and Boislaurier led and placed their men. Hiley hid in ambush with Minard, Cabot, and Bruce at the right of the Chesnay forest; Boislaurier, Grenier, and h.o.r.eau took the centre; Courceuil, Herbomez, and Lisieux occupied the ravine to the left of the wood. All these positions are indicated on the ground-plan drawn by the engineer of the government survey-office, which is here subjoined.

The diligence, which had left Mortagne about one in the morning, was driven by one Rousseau, whose conduct proved so suspicious that his arrest was judged necessary. The vehicle, driven slowly, would arrive about three o'clock in the forest of Chesnay.

A single gendarme accompanied the diligence, which would stop for breakfast at Donnery. Three pa.s.sengers only were making the trip, and were now walking up the hill with the gendarme.

The driver, who had driven very slowly to the bridge of Chesnay at the entrance of the wood, now hastened his horses with a vigor and eagerness remarked by the pa.s.sengers, and turned into a cross-road, called the road of Senzey. The carriage was thus out of sight; and the gendarme with the three young men were hurrying to overtake it when they heard a shout: "Halt!" and four shots were fired at them.

The gendarme, who was not hit, drew his sabre and rushed in the direction of the vehicle. He was stopped by four armed men, who fired at him; his eagerness saved him, for he ran toward one of the three pa.s.sengers to tell him to make for Chesnay and ring the tocsin. But two brigands followed him, and one of them, taking aim, sent a ball through his left shoulder, which broke his arm, and he fell helpless.

The shouts and firing were heard in Donnery. A corporal stationed there and one gendarme ran toward the sounds. The firing of a squad of men took them to the opposite side of the wood to that where the pillage was taking place. The noise of the firing prevented the corporal from hearing the cries of the wounded gendarme; but he did distinguish a sound which proved to be that of an axe breaking and chopping into cases. He ran toward the sound. Meeting four armed bandits, he called out to them, "Surrender, villains!"

They replied: "Stay where you are, or you are a dead man!" The corporal sprang forward; two shots were fired and one struck him; a ball went through his left leg and into the flank of his horse.

The brave man, bathed in blood, was forced to give up the unequal fight; he shouted "Help! the brigands are at Chesnay!" but all in vain.

The robbers, masters of the ground thanks to their numbers, ransacked the coach. They had gagged and bound the driver by way of deception. The cases were opened, the bags of money were thrown out; the horses were unharnessed and the silver and gold loaded on their backs. Three thousand francs in copper were rejected; but a sum in other coin of one hundred and three thousand francs was safely carried off on the four horses.