| Show THE REAL JEAN VALJEAN I I Chicago I M the th inspector of prisons under tile the second empire knew the man who iio served as a the prototype pr of Jean Jen Valjean and aad whose hose story haunted the brain n of Victor Hugo and inspired his famous M M had a pension passion for reforming con convicts convicts i He gathered many confessions I and knew many strange secrets secret Tte The fol tel following I II I lowing lowin story of ot the convict conict Urbain Le La melts melle is 8 taken n from his not n notes hJ j Lej Urbain Lam like Jean Valjean vau was the abandoned child of a drunken father When he was only 8 S years old he went from tarm farm to farm t ft rm to offer for tor a apiece a piece iMece of oC bread tile tw work that his bis little litO hands bandA could do He was first taken in hand hald by a kindhearted peasant named I who kept him MITt minding cows for three years yean y Then he h was employed by two neighboring farmers farmer who sent ee t hint to tend sheep for three years more Ur Urbain Urbin bin bain hem tired of oC the life Ufe of a shepherd and de I I to become a sailor when wilen he ho reached the 14 11 He began as cabin bin boy 00 in a river boat from f Angers whose captain capt n ge spoke to him with the end ead of a rope Three years yean parsed in tn thi this thia i way ray during only consola consuls consolation consolation tion was in his friendship for the son of the captain a young man named Oar Ger who was no less lees badly treated than This friendship was Waa unfortunate lor for uma VIle use winters day dey when the waters of or the Loire Leire were wece frozen and nay nav navigation n was suspended su Gervais proposed to Urbain to take ke away the tte money that wae was in the safe te of the boat beat for tor the pay of the hands banda Then said s he he we will go SO to Nan tee tes where we will wm become real sailors But that is La robbery you propose e to tome tome me said Urbain Dont my father owe you 80 90 francs Well Weil you ou can pay yourself the 30 90 francs franca out of the His toll sack and then yon you wilt wiH be square An hour the money was no longer on boil boru boi the Che be teat boat oat Gervais had bad taken it away and aid Urbain had bad hid bid it IL in hi the trunk of a willow tree Next day dRy the imprint of Ms his feet teet upon the snow led to the tree where the treasure was found Urbain was arrested and the lock of the safe having been broken he was con to seven years ver penal servitude He was w then only oly y 17 During Ins IllS seven n years Tears vear imprisonment I i Urbain was is industrious ious tois and exemplary in his conduct When I he hele h left t the it penitentiary where he be had lost seven years yea he t bourn Ur t he had nothing to oo do but to return r um to Angers purified Uri l unified ed com corn It was at Angers that he com corn committed committed muted his bI hl and he be wanted to prove that he was wan reformed This hope was dis dissipated The fact tact that he was Wad an ex n viet vict lct closed sit ail I doors and all ail hearts to him He found It ft extremely difficult to get work and when by chance he did pro procure procure procure cure ome me arduous employment the other workmen refused to associate with Mm H He was condemned to idleness beggary and ana theft One Sunday while roaming reaming roa l through the country h he st stopped ped fatigued to rest him holm self in a field IteM where there were some horses at liberty libert He thought of Ute tire sea i that was wee only thirty league from him I I and ana of America America the tile new world where he expected to live as an honest bonesi working I man The idea turned hIs hili head He Jumped like a 8 mad med man upon on One of tile the horses and anti started the animal along the road reed without saddle or bridle He set Bet out In the evening and arrived at break of day at Ingrandes Nearing that place on the edge of the road read there was a prairie 7 There he turned loose Joo the horse hors and en toned the tho town An unknown person turn Ing a horse loose loo e was suspected He was I folloWed arrested and brought before the mayor He gave ge his name Dame without ut hesi heal I don but while they were discussing his ease case he managed to escape He lie reach I I ed ad Nantes and tried to ship with some captain on a long Jong voyage e But to em en bark t lk it was as necessary n to have papers and Urbain have them For some time he wandered along the I quays almost on the verge of when a big hand touched his hi shoulder er Ue the hand htoo of a boatman of ers Angers wb I r recognized Mm him The boatman wanted I I help belp pis so Urbain n went with him to Angers Anger I M i I He had hardly arrived before he was arrested and put ut in prison on on the corn com comI plaint or of stealing a horse Now it hap pelted that the honest peasant Brisset i was wa the owner of the horse hOne in question I He testified before the court that Ms his horse came back to him and that Urbian was too honest a fellow to want to steal it But he be pleaded for him In vain The unfortunate young man was convicted a second time by the assizes aselma court of qZ and sentenced to twelve years ears penal peDal servitude At Brest Bre t he served his hi time just justas as he old did d formerly at Toulon In prison his con duct was wa irreproachable but after four tour years of tortures inflicted upon him in I that dreadful place piece he be escaped Where was he to go Paris was the only place pace that could hide nide him from the rhe police He I went there without encountering any dUft difficulties difficulties and the very next day after his arrival he was on the Place Pla e de Greve i among the laboring men There he te was waa taken by a building contractor with I whom ho ha remained for three years whose regrets followed him to the establishment of or M x Masse a dry goods manufacturer I where he received better wages For four I years JL lL Masse kept him and to his hands large sums of money which Urbain always alys handled with seal and m in and perfect honesty hone ty H He com corn commenced commenced to prosper and married an honest working girl sirl Happy in the thought that at last he be was loved and respected he be a lived lied with her het for seven years jears eem One Sunday SundayS while he was waa walking in the suburbs with his wife he met a policeman who was a s former convict who knew him at Brest Bre t This policeman de destroyed destroyed strayed his ide entire happiness He Pie ar an arrested rested him Urbain was brought to and from there was taken to Brest Brent to finish the eight years of penal servitude that he be had still to serve in I addition to the supplementary years for tor forthe forthe the crime of escaping I It was during the few months of his hili de detention at in 1833 1933 that Moreau f I Christophe knew Urbain Urban aad and learned his hisM story M 1 obtained i for Mm the favor of exemption from the first chain gang on leaving l ving for tor Brest Bre t and a few months later he man managed managed managed aged to send end him back to Paris Pans In other words he brought the case to the atten attee attention D tion lion of the king who pardoned the man upon uv upon n the aiH poL t Urbain lived JIved to a great old age n He was the beet beat of husbands and wi wished h d to be tho beet beat of fathers but that joy jot J was dented denied him He consoled himself himself l nevertheless by making pets of all the children in the place where here h lived antI and ho amused them often by telling them stories of brigands Heaven only onty knows what queer stories ho he must have bave learned during his ten years in the Bagne Bague I |
