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Show I tlistoric I Crimes J and Mysteries WdllMasorv ill oyKHTTnAWirt Ml wtae iwwcure, LAUGHING LACENAIRE. On December 1-1, 1831, n gentleman of distinguished appearance walked briskly nlong a quiet street neur the Choplnettu harrier, lu I'iuIs. This pedestrian, who looked distinguished distin-guished even under the handicap of threadbare garments, was nbout thirty-live thirty-live years old. Ho wns rather small of stature, but carried himself prouoly. Ills fuco wns refined and Intellectuul tho fnco of n poet and a dreamer. Indeed, In-deed, at that hour nil Paris wus whistling whis-tling and Muglng ono of his songs, "The Kifo und the Drum." He hnd the hands and hair of an artist, and the Joyous carefree laugh of n boy. It wns n good thing to hear Laccuuiro laugh. lU'hlnd Lacennlro thoro walked n man of vulgar appearance. His name wns Avrll. He was quite young, not moro than twenty-two, mid ho had been so unfortunate as a criminal that Lacennlro was sorry for him, and was determined to give him u chance to do better work. Presently they stopped before a dwelling of prosperous appearance "This Is the place," said Lacenalrc. "Do you remember my Instructions qulto clenrly? Yes? Then allons vltol" thin nbout, fool the details nro not cs-scutlnl cs-scutlnl to this story. Everything being In readiness, Avrll wns so foolish ns to bo nrrestcd, wlillo trying to rescue n lady friend from tho police. So, nt tho eleventh hour, Lacenalrc Lace-nalrc hnd to go forth and seek another assistant. Reliable help of that kind Is hard to Ilnd when most needed, but after much troublo tho poet accepted ns his partner a gentleman named Francois, to whom homicide wns n fud. It was said of him, lu his own haunts, that he would kill a man for a sou, which was cheap enough, to bo sure. Francois, however, should huve known better than to eut oranges before be-fore committing a crime. Or, If he couldn't get along without oranges, hu should huve realized that It wus bud to drop tho peel on tho door of a business busi-ness man's olllce. At tho appointed hour tho bank messenger arrived at tho otllco with his llttlo bug fairly bulging with money, und securities. Lacennlro, tho smiling, the fascinating, asked him to scut himself nt the table and examlno certain papers. The messenger did no, mid while tho poet engaged him In conversation, nnd held his wholo attention, atten-tion, Francois camo up behind, dagger dag-ger In hand, to stab him to the heart, frnncols, who hud studied murder under un-der tho old masters, knew how to reach the heart from nny unglo or position. po-sition. This looked like nn ensy and sure Job I But, maledictions on tho orange peel 1 Ills foot slipped Just ns he delivered the blow. The messenger was stabbed, but not mortally, or oven seriously. With n yell of terror ho leaped for tho door nnd-reached It first, nnd ran down tho stairs yelling murder. Francois also sped nwuy, nnd Lacennlro followed closo at tho messenger's heels, ulso yalling murder, thus diverting suspicion until ho reached tho street und was lost In tho crowd. Ho felt that Pnrls wns no place for him Just then, so he depnrted for tho provinces, whero for a long tlmo ho lived opulently. Ho wroto much poetry nt this time, nnd it was good poetry, which sold readily; but lie wus too wise to depend upon tho muso for u living, so, when not embalming things in song ho devoted his genius to forgery, for-gery, nnd with great success. When hu returned to Pails he was nttircd In purple und fine linen, und was a credit to tho boulevards. Meanwhile Francois had been arrested ar-rested on some trilling charge, and "He Threw His Arm Around Chardon's Neck and Garroted Him." The poet rang tho doorbell, nnd tho door wns opened by u young man. "Ah, my dear Chnrdon," cried Lncc-nulrc, Lncc-nulrc, "we have como to seo your mother moth-er on n trlflo of business tho mere signing of a paper." "Wo nro greatly honored, M. Lacc-nalre," Lacc-nalre," replied Chnrdon. "Mother, us you know, Is an invalid, nnd Is In her bed, but she can do what you ask." They stood fnco to face, Chnrdon and Lacennlro, and tho latter gossiped gnyly of one thing and another, while Avrll stole quietly behind Chnrdon, und, having stationed himself prop-' erly, nt u wink from tho poet ho threw his arm around Chardon's neck and garroted him. Lacennlro drew n dng-ger dng-ger then, und stabbed tho victim several sev-eral times, to ninko the Job complete, then he went to the room of tho Invalid In-valid mother and slew her with tho weapon that killed tho sou. "There should bo 10,000 francs here somewhere, according to my information," informa-tion," said Lacennlro. "Lock tho door, my friend, and we'll search till wo' find the money." Avrll locked the door, nnd they nenrched uini searched, but nil they found wns 500 francs. Lncenalre, whose senso of humor wns ahnonunlly developed, laughed until the tears rolled down his cheeks. It was this Inseiislblllty, displayed on many trnglc nnd harrowing occasions, that nmJe Win one of the most famous criminals of modern times. "Is tho Joke on us or on tho Char-dons?" Char-dons?" ho asked, ns ho wiped tho Joyous Joy-ous tears from his face. Ho wanted to got nwny. Those dead people were getting on his nerves. So they loft the house, nnd went to nn inn, where, over sundry bottles of cheap wine. Lacennlro plunued u Inrgcr nnd better crime. Ho rented an olllce nnd painted nn assumed name on tho door, thus creating cre-ating tho Impression that ho wns a business mnn. Then, by laying his plans carefully, ho nrranged that n bank moRsenger should call upon him In his olllco on a certnin tiny, tho chosen cho-sen day being ono on which collections were sure to be large. It took a great deal of skillful maneuvering to bring Avrll still was In Jail. The crimes In which they had been concerned wera complete mysteries to tho police, nnd It seemed tlmt they would ulways rc-mnln rc-mnln fco, when Francois dropped n few words which mndo tho pollco suspl clous, nnd they drew from htm the storj of tho uttack upon tho bank messenger. messen-ger. Avrll's consclenco became uctlv nbout tho same time, nnd he told ol the Chnrdon murders. So It came tc pnss that the poet wns nrrested, nnd when ho learned that tho discovery was duo to his accomplices, ho randfl full confession, his only object, he said, being to take tho betrayers to the gulllctlno with him. Tho trial wns n famous one. The most celebrated people of France crowded to tho courtroom to seo the Inughlng Lacennlro, who wns dressed like a prince. He lnughed nnd joked throughout tho proceedings, and drove Avrll nnd Francois to n frenzy time and tlmo ngaln by his ridicule. Upon several occasions tho guards hnd tc hold them, they were so nnxlous tc get nt his throat. Frnncols wns sentenced to life Imprisonment, Im-prisonment, n.nd Lnccnnlro nnd Avrll to dentil. So ono day in 1S.15 these two made their Inst appearance in public. Avrll died first, nnd mot Ills fate with brutish calmness. Lncennlre tried to nppenr jnunty nnd Joyous, bill It was with an effort. Ho was excited and nervous. Being n man of imagination, imagina-tion, n poet und nrtlst, death mean! more to him than to an ordinary criminal. crimi-nal. Ho fought for self-control with n mentnl courage that Is moro hcrok thnn nny physical courage. Uadlj scared, ho tried to seem undnunted Rut It was his fato to undergo nu extraordinary ex-traordinary ordeal thut would brenV down nny courage. Tlfo gulllotlm wouldn't work. Tlmo nnd ngnlu tin ax descended to within tin Inch or twt of his neck nnd then stuck, nnd tin executioner fumbled with It, raised it nnd let It fnll again. Tho tortured mnn twisted himself nround so that hi could look upward, nnd uttered nr. awful, agonized shriek that wns uevei forgotten by thoso who heard It. But the shriek was rut La two. Tin ax worked, nt last. |