Horrid Murder and Shocking Discovery.

 

 

In the Rue de la Harpe, which is a long dismal street in the fauxbourg of St. Marcell, is a space or gap in the line of building upon which formerly stood two dwelling houses, instead of which now stands a melancholy memorial, signifying, that upon this spot no human habitation shall ever be erected, no human being ever must reside!

 

Curiosity will of course greatly be excited to ascertain what it was that rendered the devoted spot so obnoxious to humanity, and yet so interesting to history.

 

Two attached and opulent neighbours, residing in some province, not very remote from the French capitol, having occasion to go to town on certain money transactions, agreed to travel thence and to return together, which was to be done with as much expedition as possible.  They were on foot, a very common way even at present, for persons of much respectability to travel in France, and were attended, as most pedestrians are, by a faithful dog.

 

Upon their arrival at the Rue de la Harpe, they stepped into the shop of a perruquier to be shaved, before they would proceed on business, or enter into the more fashionable streets.  So limited was their time, and peremptory was their return, that the first man who was shaved, proposed to his companion, that while he was undergoing the operation of the razor, he who was already shaven would run and execute a small commission in the neighbourhood, promising that he would be back before the other would be ready to move. For this purpose he left the shop of the barber.

 

On returning, to his great surprise and vexation, he was informed that his friend was gone; but as the dog, which was the dog of the absentee, was sitting outside of the door, the other presumed he was only gone out for the moment, perhaps in pursuit of him; so expecting him back every moment, he chatted to the barber whilst he waited his return.

 

Such a considerable time elapsed that the stranger now became quite impatient, he went in and out, up and down the street, still the dog remained stationed at the door. "Did he leave no message?"  "No."  All the barber knew was, that when he was shaved he went away.  "It was certainly very odd."

 

The dog remaining stationary at the door was to the traveller conclusive evidence that his master was not far off; he went in and out, up and down the street again.  Still no signs of him whatever.

 

Impatience now became alarm; alarm became sympathetic.  The poor animal exhibited marks of restlessness in yelps and howlings, which so affected the sensibility of the stranger, that he threw out some insinuations not much to the credit of the barber, who indignantly ordered him to quit his boutique.

 

Upon quitting the shop he found it impossible to remove the dog from the door.  No whistling, no calling, no patting would do, stir he would not.

 

In his agony, the afflicted man raised a crowd about the door, to whom he told his lamentable story.  The dog became an object of universal interest, and of close attention.  He shivered and howled, but no seduction, no caressing, no experiment, could make him desert his post.

 

By some of the populace it was proposed to send for the police, by others it was proposed a remedy more summary, namely to force in and search the house, which was immediately done.  The crowd burst in, every apartment was searched, but in vain.  There was no trace whatsoever of the countryman.

 

During this investigation, the dog still remained sentinel at the shop door, which was bolted within to keep out the crowd, which was immense outside.

 

After a fruitless search and much altercation, the barber, who had prevailed upon those who had force in to quit his house, came to the door, and was haranguing the populace, declaring most solemnly his innocence, when the dog suddenly sprang upon him, flew at his throat in such a state of terrific exasperation, that his victim fainted, and was with the utmost difficulty rescued from being torn to pieces.  The dog seemed to be in a state of intellectual agony and fury.

 

It was now proposed to give the animal his way, to see what course he would pursue.  The moment he was let loose, he flew through the shop, darted down stairs into a dark cellar, where he set up the most dismal howlings and lamentations.

 

Lights being procured, an aperture was discovered in the wall communicating to the next house, which was immediately surrounded, in the cellar whereof was found the body of the unfortunate man how had been missing.  The person who kept this shop was a patissier.

 

It is unnecessary to say that those miscreants were brought to trial and executed. The facts that appeared upon their trial, and afterwards upon their confession, were these:--

 

Those incautious travellers, whilst in the shop of this fiend, unhappily talked of the money they had about them, and the wretch, who was a robber and murderer by profession, as soon as the one turned his back, drew his razor across the throat of the other and plundered him.

 

The remainder of the story is almost too horrible for human ears, but it is not upon that account the less credible.

 

The pastry cook, whose shop was so remarkable for savory patties that they were sent for to the Rue de la Harpe, from the most distant parts of Paris, was the partner of this perruquier, and those who were murdered by the razor of the one were concealed by the knife of the other in those very identical patties, by which, independently of his partnership in those frequent robberies, he had made his fortune.

 

This case was of so terrific a nature, it was made part of the sentence of the law, that besides the execution of the monsters upon the rack, the houses in which they perpetrated those infernal deeds, should be pulled down, and that the spot on which they stood should be marked out to posterity with horror and execration.