Atrocity At St. Peter Street

La Chataine Juliette And The Perverted Professor Of Magnetic Physiology

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Episode 372 delves into the history of one of the most hideous villains to ever stalk American streets, a predator so vile that he ranks up there with Albert Fish in his depravity. Even if you don’t believe in capital punishment, I think you’ll agree that Etienne Deschamps deserved his punishment, and then some.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Palpudert Calm, New Orleans, Louisiana. January thirty first, eighteen eighty nine.
Six years ago, Ady Anne Dechamp arrived in this city
from Paris, France, and secured an apartment in number sixty

(00:24):
four Saint Peter Street, where he practiced his profession that
of an electric physician. At the time of his arrival, Dechamp,
although about thirty five years of age, was a magnificent
specimen of manhood, almost six feet high. Wearing a dark
mustache and goateee cut a la Napoleon. He claimed to

(00:48):
be well off, was extremely polite to everybody, and, being
of a quiet and retiring disposition, did not attest special
attention from his fellow lodgers. In July eighteen eighty seven,
doctor Jules Diech, together with his aged mother and his
two pretty daughters, Juliette aged twelve and Laurence, nine years

(01:14):
arrived from the outskirts of Paris and secured rooms in
the second story of the house number one sixteen Charter Street.
Diech was an upholster, and being a competent workman, managed
to make a good living for his little family. They
board it at the Pension Francais, a French restaurant on

(01:35):
Charter Street, and there it was that they met Eddien
de Champ, whose polished and affable manners gained for him
the esteem and respect of the Datsch family. Deuchamp visited
their home and friendly relations sprang up between him and
the children.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Every evening he would.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Call at the house and take the girls out for
a promenade, and when he returned, he and mister Deech,
who had by that time completed his day's work, would
take a stroll about town. This continued for quite a time,
and the two girls were in the habit of visiting
at his room to chat with him and assist him
in any little work which he might.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Have to do.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yesterday afternoon, at one o'clock, Deuchamp called at the Ditch
home and took the children out for their accustomed walk.
After a long promenade, the three repaired to the doctor's room.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
At number sixty four Saint Peter Street.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Access to the house has had to the upper stories
by means of a wide entry and up a narrow
winding stairway lighted only by a dimly burning lantern. The
room occupied by Dechamp is a large, ill furnished apartment,
in one corner of which stands an old fashioned bed

(02:54):
devoid of sheet or blanket. Along the west wall is
a pile of trunks of rude make, and in the
center of the room stands a common deal table, on
which are numerous bottles filled with various mixtures. Upon the mantle,
lighted by an oil lamp, and two sputtering tallow candles,

(03:16):
our large number of empty vials and bottles of all
sizes and forms. It wasn't to this room that Deschamp
conducted the Diets Sisters yesterday, and it was there that
he last evening committed a most horrible crime true crime

(03:59):
history in presence An Eye for an Eye, a special
edition of yesterday's news exploring the criminal justice system at
its most extreme, inflicting the death penalty. Episode three hundred
and seventy two delves into the history of one of
the most hideous villains to ever stalk New Orleans streets,

(04:21):
a predator so vile that he ranks right up there
with Albert Fish in his depravity. Even if you don't
believe in capital punishment, you'll agree that Edieon Dechamp deserved
his punishment. And then some I'm true crime historian Richard O. Jones,
and for your horror and indignation, I give you atrocity.

(04:45):
At Saint Peter Street, la Chateaine, juliet and the perverted
professor of magnetic physiology. The sisters Juliette and Laurent's diets
had frequently visited the dingy room occupied by Eddie Anne Duchamp.

(05:07):
They were well acquainted with its poverty stricken appearance, and
the uncanny surroundings had no terrors for them. They knew
Deschamp and had confidence in him.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Hence it was that when.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
He told Juliette to place herself on the bed, she
did so. Going to the table in the center of
the room, Dechamp procured a small vial filled with a
colorless liquid, and, giving it to juliet told her to
inhale its contents. She did as she was directed and

(05:40):
soon fell back on the bed in a semi conscious state.
Dechamp again went to the table, and, after securing a
handkerchief from his coat pocket, took a large bottle, and,
saturating the handkerchief with its contents, laid the wet cloth
on the face of the unconscious girl, leaving only the
eyes and forehead free. Little Laurence, with childish curiosity, noticed

(06:07):
the doctor's every motion and noted how her sister was affected.
She remarked that Juliette was breathing heavily. She saw that
the liquid on the handkerchief had evaporated, and noticed that
dechampleted again and again with the colorless fluid. Finally, Juliette

(06:27):
went off in a peaceful slumber, and then Dechamp took
the small vial which he had first given her to
inhale and placed it to his nostrils. The drug had
its effects, and Dechamp lay alongside the sleeping girl. Little Laurence,
growing weary of the quietude, moved restlessly on her seat

(06:51):
at the foot of the great four posted bed, and
Dechamp arose, and, procuring another piece of cloth from his trunk,
saturated it with the contents of the big bottle, and
told her to place it to her nose. Warned by
a strange presentiment of danger, the little girl cunningly pretended
to inhale the drug and sat motionless for some time,

(07:14):
holding the damp cloth in her hand. Dechamp now arose
and told Laurence to go home and tell her father
that he was tired of living and intended to commit suicide.
He showed her out, and as she stood on the landing,
she heard the huge bolt as it shot into the
socket when Dechamp locked the door behind her. Crying bitterly,

(07:39):
Laurence hurried to her home and with childlike hesitation, told
her father everything that had occurred in Dechamp's room. Horrified
at the terrible intelligence, the father ran to Deschamp's house
and knocked for admission. All was silent within the room,
and the father, torn by anxiety for the safety of

(08:00):
his daughter, endeavored to break open the door. The noise
he made awakened a private watchman named Charles Sarah living
in the house, and to him mister Deech quickly related
his terrible suspicion. Their united efforts proving of no avail
against the strong door. Mister Deech ran to the third

(08:21):
Precinct station and informed Captain Journey of the facts. Corporal
Morris and Special Officer Durrance hurried to the house, and
despite the efforts of the four men, the front door
could not be opened. The adjoining room was visited and
The door leading into de Champ's apartment was tried, but

(08:43):
it too resisted the efforts of the officers to effect
an entrance. The officers then went to the gallery, and,
leaping over the low railing, broke open a door fronting
on Saint Peter Street. Upon entering the room, a horrible
so met their gaze. Upon the bed lay Juliette, Dietch

(09:04):
and Ettie and Dechamp entirely disrobed. The girl was dead,
Her eyes were half open, in her mouth, terribly burned
by the chloroform which Dechamp had administered, was swollen to
twice its natural size. Dechamp lay beside her, His mouth
was wide open, his lips were working convulsively in his

(09:27):
breathing heavy. The horror stricken officers, realizing the situation, immediately
summoned The ambulance had responded promptly, and the students set
to work to resuscitate the man. Coroner le Montier was
sent for and Dechamp was removed to the Charity Hospital,

(09:48):
where he was placed in the reception room and every
effort was made to save his life. After the man
had been taken from the house, the coroner turned his
attention to the dead girl. She was well developed for
age and her features were finely formed. She was a
chtan and her alive complexion was set off by an

(10:09):
abundance of light brown wavy curls. The coroner said that
death was caused by chloroform. After his removal to the hospital,
the students busied themselves in restoring the dying man to consciousness.
The stomach pump was called into service, and nearly an
ounce of the anesthetic removed at his reviving appliances were

(10:34):
resorted to, and at about eleven thirty o'clock, the man
was pronounced out of danger. When this fact was established
beyond peradventure, word was sent to the police headquarters that
the man was recovering, and, acting upon this advice, Special
Officer Durrance, accompanied by Sergeant Fleming, repaired at once to

(10:55):
the hospital in the patrol wagon for the purpose of
conveying the man to the third Precinct station, where the
proper charges could be preferred against him. On reaching the hospital,
the party were ushered into the reception room, where Dechamp
was found lying upon a couch. Those present were doctor Lemonnier,

(11:16):
who was found interrogating the man, who was now apparently conscious,
and who was quietly making answers to the questions put
to him. The man seemed bewildered when told that the
girl was dead, and said that he was sorry they
did not let him die too, as he wanted to.
He had tried to kill himself, but was discovered too soon.

(11:37):
The girl, he said, he had been intimate with for
some time past, but previous to this she had been
his subject in his experiments of magnetism. He had been
educating and training her in the mysteries of magnetism for
some time until recently when he left the city for
a trip. He was in the middle of making his

(11:57):
trips out of the city to the different parishes, and
on his return always found Juliette ready to receive him.
He found her an agreeable companion and never permitted himself
to suggest an immoral proposition to her. On this recent trip,
he was gone a little longer than usual, and on
his return he learned that Juliet had been ruined by

(12:19):
a young man, and he questioned her about it. The
child at first denied it, but subsequently admitted it, and
then he took liberties with her which she never resented.
On being questioned concerning the girl's death, he was at
first not inclined to talk, and affected to be in

(12:40):
ignorance of the fact.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
However, he said that he.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Had been magnetizing the girl for some time past in
order to develop her into a beautiful subject. He failed
on account of her not being pure. A woman to
be a perfect magnetic subject must be a virgin. He
became disenheartened and told her so when she came to
his room. He told her that he was going to

(13:04):
kill himself on account of it, and she said she
would also kill herself if he did. This met with
his approval, and she disrobed herself and inhaled the fumes
of the bottle containing the chloroform. She then saturated the
handkerchief with the drug and went into bed and laid
down with the handkerchief held in her hand a short

(13:26):
distance from her face, and said, Oh God, how pleasant,
how nice it smells. Suddenly she fell into a slumber.
He then inhaled the contents of the bottle and swallowed
some of the chloroform, and entered the bed. When Descham
realized that the girl was really dead, he took one
of his dental instruments, an instrument about four inches in

(13:49):
length with a point on it like a needle, and
stabbed himself three or four times in his breast, with
a view of perforating his lungs, so as to make
death sure and certain. He positively refused to say what
were the motives which actuated the girl and himself to
make way with themselves. The girl, he said, met his

(14:14):
advances voluntarily and was very much in love with him.
Upon the conclusion of de Champ's statement, doctor Lemontier said
the examination showed that the girl had not been subjected
to misusage last night. The statement that the girl took
the drug of her own free will and saturated her

(14:34):
handkerchief and other particulars is not corroborated by Little Laurence,
the sister of Juliet, who was present in the room.
On learning the mission of the officers, doctor Lemontier stated
that it would be impossible to remove the man in
his present condition to the police station. He had been

(14:55):
restored to consciousness, it was true, but any undue excitement
by throwing into a state of coma. His condition was
said to be very delicate and dangerous in the extreme.
Notwithstanding the fact that he could converse rationally, but the
time was not opportune to remove him. The doctor doubted
whether the man, even if he should attempt to escape,

(15:17):
could walk or run above one hundred yards, and further
argued against the immediate removal of the prisoner. During this time,
Dechamp looked anxiously about the room, his eyes roaming from
one object to another, as though he contemplated flight. Resuming
the examination, the prisoner stated to doctor Legonnier that the

(15:40):
girl had been his mistress for upward of four months.
It was doctor Lemonnier who discovered the instrument with which
Deuchamp had inflicted the stab on his own person. At first,
doctor Lemonnier surmised that the instrument had played a part
in the killing of the girl, but on examination no

(16:01):
wounds could be found upon her. When the man was
removed to the hospital, the students stated that certain wounds
were discovered, which the coroner subsequently satisfied himself by examination,
had been made by this instrument in the man's endeavor
to perforate the lungs. The wounds, three or four in number,
were barely visible and were located between the third and

(16:24):
fourth ribs. Although the man destroyed every paper and every
proof which might lead to his identification or family relations,
Doctor Lemonnier succeeded, after much research, in unearthing from his
effects four letters written by the young girl to her
aged lover. These letters, childish effusions at best, were clean

(16:49):
in tone and moral sentiment, and dwelt upon the deep
love she bore Deucham. One of the letters, however, though
bearing the signature of the girl, was clearly not written
by her, as the handwriting was quite dissimilar from that
in which the other three letters were written. Doctor Lemonnier,

(17:09):
having concluded his labors at the hospital, hurried to the
Central Police Station for the purpose of stating to Chief
Hennessy the reasons which precluded the removal of the man
to the station house. On the way, the Chief was
met in a cab and together, after a short consultation,
the two departed for Dechamp's residence on Saint Peter Street,

(17:32):
where the body of the girl was exposed. On reaching there,
Chief Hennessy made minute inquiry into all the facts gathered
by the coroner at the autopsy. The Chief was visibly
affected and stigmatized the crime as one of the most
atrocious that had ever come under his personal observation. It

(17:52):
was disclosed at the conference of the two officials that
the father of the young girl was averse to having
the body removed to the residence of her parents, as
her grandmother, who was very old, was then lying at
the point of death, and it was feared the shock
might prove fatal. It was also said that the girl's
people were very poor and could ill afford to defray

(18:16):
the funeral expenses. On receiving this information, Chief Hennessy generously
offered to bear the entire cost of her interment if
it should prove that her parents were too poor to barrier.
Doctor Lemonnier stated that he had interrogated the young girl's sister, Laurence,
and had gleaned from her that it was customary for

(18:37):
her to see sister to visit to champ and that
on one occasion he had taken certain liberties with the
dead girl in the presence of Laurence. When asked why
she had not informed her parents of this matter, the
girl stated that Juliet had imposed silence by threatening her
with bodily harm if she revealed anything that she had

(18:59):
observed After having obtained all the information available at the
home of Duchamp, the chief and doctor Lemonnier proceeded to
the residence of the dead girl for the purpose a
further looking into the causes which brought about the tragedy.
A business card of Duchamp, which was picked up in
the room where the terrible deed was committed, advertised him

(19:22):
as a professor of magnetic physiology February one, eighteen eighty nine.

(19:46):
As soon as Edieon Dechamp recovered from the effects of
the chloroform taken by him immediately after the murder, he
was removed to the third Precinct station, where he was
incarcerated to await arraignment. When the second Recorder's court was convened,
the prisoner was arraigned before Recorder Drove. He pleaded not

(20:10):
guilty and was promptly committed to perish prison without bail
to await examination. Guarded by Durrance, the frightened wretch was
conveyed to the old jail, where, safe from mob violence,
he drew a long breath and made himself as comfortable
as possible. In the meantime, the indignation throughout the city

(20:35):
grew in intensity. Muttered curses long and deep were showered
on the head of the murderer, but no organized attempt
was made to do himbodily harm. Large crowds congregated in
front of the old building at number sixty four Saint
Peter Street, where the crime had been committed. All day,

(20:59):
the spectators lingered in the vicinity, gazing blankly at the
old house and discussing the details of the horrible crime.
An officer was on duty in front of the premises,
and he managed with great difficulty to keep a passageway
cleared for pedestrians. As the day wore on apace, the

(21:20):
crowd increased until the entire street was blockaded. Then a
hearse arrived with a little coffin. This was a signal
for a rush in the direction of the doorway, every
person in the crowd being anxious to catch a glimpse
of the murdered girl. They were not rewarded, however, as

(21:42):
the coroner had not yet held his autopsy and the
body could not be removed until that official had completed
his investigation. A little afternoon, corner Le Montier, accompanied by
a number of medical students, reached the house and slowly
forcing his way through the crowd, loudly knocked on the

(22:03):
big gate, which was opened by a policeman. Entering the
wide alley, the corner and his jury mounted the narrow stairway,
reaching the room where the dead body was exposed. The
time fixed for the inquest had arrived. Corner le Monnier

(22:25):
entered the dingy little room, carrying under his arm his
case of instruments. He was followed by a number of
medical students, representatives of the daily press, and a policeman.
An officer was stationed at the great door opening into
the courtyard below to keep out intruders. In a businesslike,

(22:47):
matter of fact way, the man of science proceeded to
make a minute inspection of the room. Nothing escaped him.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
It may appear childish to call your attention, gentlemen, to
the many apparently trivial objects which here surround you, But
in an investigation such as this, one cannot be too particular,
said the coroner, as he drew back the sheet which
covered the form of the dead girl. The eyes of

(23:18):
every person instantly sought the bed where the dead child lay.
She seemed to be asleep, So peaceful was the smile
which still lingered around her pretty little mouth. The miserable
surroundings the blanketless and sheetless bed did not in the
least detract from the beauty of the child, whose dead

(23:39):
face was given a lifelike appearance by the suffused color
left by the deadly chloroform. The drug had burned her
tender skin, not sufficiently to cause a blister, but still
enough to leave a ruddy stain. Assisted by the students
and spectators, the body was placed on a small deal

(24:02):
table in the center of the room. The table was
not quite as long as the corpse, and as a consequence,
the child's feet, encased in rough woolen socks, dangled over
its end, displaying the shapely but small limbs of the subject.
A ray of sunlight, forcing its way through the dirt

(24:24):
begrimed window, fell on the face of the corpse, the low,
broad forehead, delicately marked eyebrows, long black eyelashes, classic nose
with finely cut nostrils, and pretty smiling mouth, whose rather
short upper lip exposed the tips of a row of

(24:44):
pearly teeth, denoting that the girl was not of low origin.
It was a beautiful face, made more lovely by a
wealth of curly auburn hair, which fell in luxurious profusion
about the snow white shoulders. Although childlike, there was something
womanly in the expression of the features. But here all

(25:07):
indication of womanhood ended. For the neck, arms, and chest
were extremely youthful, even babyish. Covering the body the corner,
before undertaking the more important duty of holding the autopsy,
made a careful examination of the room. On a chair

(25:27):
near the window, the child's clothing had been placed before
she retired for her last long sleep. A woolen underskirt,
carefully folded hung over the back of the chair, telling
more plainly than words, that the person who placed it
there had acted with great deliberation. The dress was also

(25:48):
neatly folded, and each garment in turn had been carefully
laid away. Two little shoes, side by side, cunningly peeped
out from under the mass of clothing. In marked contrast,
the wearing apparel of the man was scattered carelessly about
the dingy apartment. The imposing array of bottles, vials, and

(26:12):
pill boxes on the mantle were examined. Chloroform, paragoric and
other drugs composed the collection. A box of gold fillings
for teeth was the only thing of value unearthed. The
ashes in the fireplace, where Dechamp had evidently burned his
waste papers were picked over, but they revealed absolutely nothing.

(26:38):
Then the trunks were inspected and the letters written.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
By the child were found.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Coroner Lemonnier, who was exceedingly thorough and painstaking in everything
he does, was particularly attentive to the details of this
important case, which he had under consideration, and as he
moved about the room, he conversed with the jury, explaining
his reasons for every step. The jury listened attentively to

(27:04):
the corner, and becoming interested in his exhaustive explanations. For
the time, forgot the presence of the corpse. Their attention was, however,
soon recalled to the duty to be performed by Corner
le Monnier, who approached the body in removing the sheet,
prepared to hold an autopsy. This is a beautiful subject,

(27:27):
he said, as he toyed with the long auburn hair,
which hung an entangled mass of sunny curls over the
edge of the table and halfway to the floor. It
would be a shame to disfigure such a corpse, and
it is not necessary in fact, the head can be opened,
and when the operation is over, no one who sees

(27:50):
the body will know that it has been operated upon.
While speaking, the corner had disentangled the curls. A round
comb which the child is used to keep back or hair,
was pressed into service. The hair was parted directly in
the back of the head from ear to ear, and
the upper portion thrown over the face and held in

(28:12):
position by the round comb. The back hair hung down,
revealing a clean part around the back of the skull.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Now all that is necessary is to operate here, and
when the brain has been examined, the hair will be
replaced and the child's head will resume its normal appearance unquote.
The case of glittering instruments was opened, and in the
presence of the jury, the autopsy was held. The autopsy

(28:43):
revealed that death had been produced by chloroform inhalation. An
internal inspection of the body showed the congestion of the brain, lungs, liver, stomach,
and also but less marked, all of the organs of
the body. The heart was flaccid and empty. Nowhere could

(29:06):
chloroform be detected by smell or otherwise. It was late
when the autopsy was finished, but the crowd on the
outside of the house had not diminished, and the anxious
populace were rewarded by seeing the little coffin. They were
denied even a glance at the face of the dead. However,
as the coffin lid had been tightly screwed down, the

(29:30):
body was placed in a funeral wagon and conveyed to
the establishment of Undertaker bunod On Saint Peter, between Charter
and Royal Streets, where the remains were exposed.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
As it was.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Known that the father of the murdered girl was too
poor to give her respectable burial, a subscription was started
for that purpose. At the burial parlors, the dead body,
attired in a white satin gown and placed in a
handsome white casket, was viewed by thousands. A wreath of

(30:08):
pure white flowers encircled the brow of the youthful victim
of Beauchamp's perfidy. At the head of the coffin, behind
a table stood an employee of the establishment, who listed
in hand solicited subscriptions from the visitors. Quite a sum
had been subscribed when Captain Journey arrived and informed mister

(30:32):
Bonart that the collection would have to be discontinued. Mister
Bonart explained that he desired to raise a fund for
the father of the child, who was in needy circumstances.
As Captain Journey did not think further collections were appropriate,
he requested mister Bonart to discontinue the same. Mister Bonart

(30:53):
acquiesced it is impossible to estimate the number of people
who viewed the remains. Thousands and thousands came and looked
at the fair corpse. The crowd was very orderly. The
officers remained on duty until relieved at night by others.

(31:20):
Yesterday afternoon, a reporter accompanied by an artist visited the
parish prison for the purpose of seeing and putting a
few direct questions to that murderer of murderers, Etienne Duchamp.
Duchamp is a short, thickset man, probably not over five

(31:41):
feet seven inches in height. He is of the decidedly
French type, his skin being dark and his hair, which
is thick and bushy, very black. He has a full
beard which is decidedly touched with the gray hairs of
a man who has past the middle age of life.
His eyebrows are quite heavy, shading a pair of piercing

(32:04):
eyes of hazel color. The face as a whole is
not striking, but of such a type as to affect
the individual with a feeling of nervousness or insecurity, were
he to once even for a second rivet his closely
set piercing eyes upon you. His cheek bones are rather prominent,

(32:25):
made especially so by his low receding forehead. The jawbone
is firmly set, and his whole facial expression betokens an
air of determination. His general appearance is shabby, with a
light cotton shirt open at the neck. He had on
a black coat, a dark pair of pantaloons, but feet

(32:47):
uncovered save by a pair of unlaced shoes. To all appearances,
he suffers very little from the wounds he inflicted upon
himself or from the effects of a good, big dose
of chloroform. His step is quite firm, though he stoops
just a trifle in walking. Having been told to take

(33:08):
a seat, Deuchamp was immediately engaged in conversation by the reporter,
who attempted to interest him while the artist was busy
in sketching the face of the murderer. Although the professor
of physical magnetism. Spoke in the tongue of France. His
speech was rapid in his gesticulations many there was no

(33:30):
difficulty in following up as every idea. He wrote his
name without trembling or hesitancy, upon a piece of paper
which was handed him. I am fifty years old, he said,
and was born in the town of Renee, France. He
claims to have practiced dentistry his profession in France, but
he made no pretense as a dentist in this city. Certainly,

(33:55):
according to his account, he made no money at it.
Here his father was a merchant, and both his parents
were natives of France. Deuchamp claimed to have been able
to cure any disease by his power of magnetism, which however,
could be made brought to bear only through his medium
to be found in the person of a virgin. He

(34:19):
stated that he loved his profession or art above all
things else, that in the person of this young and
lovely child, Juliet, he had found a most fit subject
for the perfecting of his wonderful art as a doctor
of magnetism. And because he realized this fact and what
an opportunity had offered himself for his beloved cause he

(34:42):
had cultivated the friendship of the father and children from
the very first meeting at the Pension Francais. That the
girl was pure up to five months ago. The murderer
does not deny. Indeed, purity of the flesh and mind
were essentials to the charm m to be worked through
her as his medium. But this astonishing statement he considerably

(35:06):
muddles by declaring that the girl's father was used occasionally
as a medium in his practice. Was the father an
ideal of purity as was the innocence of the beautiful child?
This is one of the questions that remain unanswered. Have
you ever cured or attended any cases in this city? Many?

(35:28):
Was the nervous reply, for he seemed to realize what
was coming next, mention any one case, giving the particulars
a name. This too received no reply, though the doctor
pleaded as an excuse the delicacy of giving the names
of any parties. One month and some few days ago,

(35:49):
this learned professor of physical magnetism discovered so he says
that his personal magnetism of his victim was fast losing hold,
and that and his experiments were suffering.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
In consequence.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
He found that he had lost a beautiful subject, for
the child was no longer pure. Then he lost heart.
There was no further hope for his cause. Opportunities of
that kind are very rare, he replied, in answer to
the statement that all the childlike purity of the world
had not been blotted out at this stage of the conversation.

(36:29):
He suddenly became aware of the work of the artist, and,
brushing aside the tears and countenancing not the person addressing him,
he hastily arose from his seat in an endeavor to
smooth and to turn down the lapel of his coat,
muttering some remark as to his general appearance. The uniform

(36:50):
look of absolute disgust and total loathing which spread over
the faces of the few present, spoke louder than words
the innermost feelings of the interrogator and his companions. He continued,
She loved me, told me through private letters, and voluntarily
gave me the privilege of all liberties.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
With her.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Question, why did you abuse your power? Answer? Because I
was urged question, have you any money? He replied in
the negative, and further stated that he had never succeeded
financially with his business. I am not guilty of the

(37:34):
crime of murder, he said boldly in reply to a
direct question. He denies having given the girl chloroform, and
says that his best hopes having been blasted, he had
made up his mind to die by his own hand.
The girl Juliet, had expressed her desire to die with him,

(37:55):
and that they had taken the fatal drug together. He
claims to remember nothing of the n of the tragedy,
and declares that the news of the girl's death, when
told him yesterday morning by a police officer, had filled
him with the greatest sorrow.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
I have no more use for life. I want to die,
but I will not plead guilty to murder, as I
did not kill the girl, said Dechamp as he was
conducted back to his cell. February second, eighteen eighty nine.

(38:33):
There was no abatement yesterday in the excitement occasioned by
Deschamp's horrible crime and the exchanges on the streets and
public places and at the fireside, the terrible details of
the dastardly murder of the fair young girl were discussed,
and no end of theories were advanced as to the

(38:53):
causes which prompted the killing. That Dechamp was jealous of
the girl. All agreed, and it was generally conceded that,
fearing that the day was fast approaching when she would
learn to love another and leave him alone and desolate,
the miserable wretch determined that he would blot out her
young life and then fittingly end his miserable existence by

(39:16):
committing suicide. The accounts of the murder give ample proof
of the great deliberation with which the murderer had planned
and executed his diabolical crime, and they also furnish evidence
that even in the hour of death, decham was vain
of his conquest. He had destroyed every article, every scrap

(39:38):
of paper, everything in fact which might serve as a
clue to his previous history. But with devilish conceit, he
had carefully preserved her love letters and placed them in
his trunk, where he knew they must be found when
his effects were searched. The construction and maturity of expression
in these letters caused many to doubt that no one

(40:00):
so young could have written them. It was at first
thought that the letters were forgeries written by Deschamp and
had not been penned by the child. A reporter yesterday
obtained one of these letters. The handwriting in her copybook,
given to the reporter by her father, proves beyond the
shadow of a doubt that Juliette penned the letters. Whether

(40:24):
she composed them or not, however, is an open question.
The reporter visited the parish prison and obtained from Descham
his signature, it does not in the least resemble the
girl's handwriting. Yesterday morning, little Juliette Deech lay in her

(40:47):
coffin and mister Bernot's undertaking establishment. Thousands of morbidly curious
people swarmed into the narrow street and jostled each other
in their eagerness to intrude themselves into the small apartment
and gaze upon the remains of the poor child, whose
sad story should have inspired respectful pity rather than vulgar, purient,

(41:10):
callous curiosity. She was a pitiful sight, still beautiful in death,
as she lay there in her snowy shroud, exposed to
the rude gaze of thousands of idlers, who, while she lived,
had neither known of nor cared for her. Of course,
everybody denounced the miserable wretch who had wrecked her young

(41:32):
life and some few made small contributions toward defraying the
funeral expenses. The coffin, shroud and ceremonial appointments, though inexpensive,
were pretty and tasteful. Shortly before ten o'clock, the hour
appointed for the funeral, the father and the little sister

(41:54):
of the dead child were taken in the undertaker's carriage,
and with two or three friends, took their position beside
the coffin. Father, baronet with acolytes, performed basic religious ceremonies.
The sorrowing father and little sister kissed the cold forehead
of their lost one, and the coffin lid was screwed down.

(42:17):
The pallbearers then carried the casket to the hearse. When
the procession, which consists of six carriages, proceeded to the
old Saint Louis Cemetery, there was an immense crowd at
the cemetery, and it was with some difficulty that a
path was cleared by which the pallbearers and those accompanying

(42:37):
them reached the vault. The priest read the day Profundus
and sprinkled the vault, and after the tomb had been closed,
all knelt and offered a prayer. A winding stairway in

(42:57):
the courtyard of a certain old Spanish building, which sets
at the southeast corner of Charters in Saint Louis Streets,
leads the intruder to a partitioned room on the first floor,
where mister John Deech and his humble family live and
have been living ever since their arrival in the city
eighteen months ago. The apartments are but poorly furnished. Still,

(43:22):
the mutual happiness and love of this simple little family
of four made up for all deficiencies. For mister Deech
had brought his old mother with him, she being in
her declining years, the one comfort to him and the
only mother to his two little girls. And these gloomy

(43:43):
surroundings with an inconsolable grief. Upon him, having just come
from the funeral of his beloved child, mister Deech was
found in the early part of yesterday afternoon, a small
sized man who, even in poverty, dresses with all the
tidiness of a friend schman and a gentleman. Has quite
a florid expression, a sandy mustache, with clean shaven face

(44:07):
and rather dark hair. His appearance is pleasing, though perhaps
it is difficult to judge of the true spirit of
the man under his present most trying circumstances. He is
forty years of age and replied quietly, but always unhesitatingly,
to the questions put to him. He speaks only in

(44:28):
his native tongue, not even appreciating the extremes conveyed in
the Anglo Saxons.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yes or no.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Through a translator, he said quote, I arrived in New
Orleans on the twelfth day of July eighteen eighty seven,
having come via New York in San Antonio, Texas, in
which latter place.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I remained eight days.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
He showed his authorized papers, proving himself to have been
a competent workman in the railroad yards of Leone, France.
It seems that as a mechanic, he is an expert
and superintended a large core of workmen in this railroad factory,
as his card of merit shows to prove. When in
the early spring of eighteen eighty seven the factory closed

(45:13):
due to the failure of the firm, he resolved to
come to America and seek his fortunes in the vicinity
of San Antonio, where he had been led to believe
by immigration agents that it was shortly coming to be
a great railroad center in San Antonio. He remained eight
days and then came to New Orleans, thinking that among

(45:34):
a large French population he could find some ready means
of a livelihood. But here too he received the disappointment,
for the wealth was in the hands of the English
speaking people, and how could he be expected to follow
his trade when the main essential was missing in his
absolute ignorance of the English tongue. Meanwhile, his funds had

(45:56):
been consumed in traveling, and he had to provide bread
for the maintenance of his already suffering family. So securing
these modest apartments at one sixteen Charter Street, he made
a bedchamber and workshop out of the same room, and
pursued his father's trade, that of a cabinet maker, but
mostly doing odd jobs of carpenter's work, for when a

(46:18):
very young man he had received many instructive lessons from
his father in this particular trade. So thus they had
been living quietly and modestly for many months, the family, however,
having to live from hand to mouth. He said that
his friends were few outside of those he met in
connection with his work. He probably does not know twenty people,

(46:42):
what are the respective ages of the children?

Speaker 2 (46:45):
He was asked.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
Thereupon, mister Deech went to a trunk in the corner
of the room, and, bringing forth two papers, placed them
in the hands of the reporter. A glance showed them
to be two certificates of birthing, positive proof of the
child's birth on the twenty eighth day of August eighteen
seventy six, which forever more than settles the disputed fact

(47:10):
of the murdered girl's age. Laurence, the other sister, an
only remaining child, was nine years old on the twenty
third of November last In reply to a query about
the mother of pretty little Laurance, Dietsch said, you have
the image of my wife and my poor remaining child.

(47:31):
But Laurence seems to be of a gay disposition, the
exact opposite of her deceased sister, who, according to all accounts,
was quiet and retiring in disposition. The mother was mild
and gentle in all her actions and words. Her life
was so characterized up to the time of her death
in January eighteen eighty one. Juliette had the mother's disposition,

(47:57):
being one of the good, timid and a fectionate children,
at least so both father and grandmother say. It seems
that the two sisters were very fond of each other.
In company with missus A Moulan's little three year old boy,
these three children played together as if one in the
same age. When questioned about the four letters written by

(48:20):
Juliette Deech de de Champs, which letters it will be remembered,
were the only unburned papers found in the room at
number sixty five Saint Peter Street upon the night of
the tragedy, mister Deech said it was an impossibility for
any letter or writing to have come from her own hand,
for my child could but barely write, much less express

(48:42):
her thoughts on paper. He then showed the unfinished copybook,
in which there were numerous repetitions of the verbs au
revoir and eetre, and several exercises copied, some from French primer, containing,
said the sorrow stricken father, the great balk of Juliette's
writings during her schooling with miss Adelaide Roue, whose little

(49:05):
school is at number sixty eight Saint Peter Street, a
few doors from Dechamp's office. Dietsch then went on to
state that Juliette could not have written two lines of
her own accord, that she was always timid, and that he,
as well as his child, had been basely deceived under
plea of friendship. In August eighteen eighty seven he had

(49:28):
met Dechamp, and that ever since November the same year,
that man had visited them daily in their humble apartments.
Thus he was deceived by the man's constant pretenses, by
his repeated attentions to the children. He would let both
children go out together with the doctor, for his confidence
was always nursed by the impostor, but that he was

(49:51):
always careful with whom the children associated, and that no
one ever came to see them. Both Diech and Missus Aimon,
who owns the and lives upon the same floor, denied
the existence of any young man or personage by the
name of Charlie referred to in one of the letters
bearing Juliette's signature, and claimed by Dechamp to have been

(50:13):
the seducer of the twelve year old girl. Finally, mister
Deech says that the whole tragedy was undoubtedly a premeditated
affair of Deuchamp, arranged in the villainy of his heart,
to rob a child of its honor, and to throw
a parent in despair. He was asked, were you Dechamp's medium.

(50:36):
The reply was in the negative, but mister Deech acknowledged
that Dechamp had several times tried to mesmerize him, but
without success. He simply looked upon it as one of
the doctor's hobbies. Miss Adelaide Roue, who has a small
French and English school on Saint Peter Street, was interviewed
by the reporter about the characteristics of Juliette Diech.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Juliet was a timid child. She got along very nicely
in her classes, but was not particularly bright. She has
not been attending school for the past two weeks. It
was not possible for her to have written those letters
unless she copied or took them from dictation unquote. Mister Plairotel,

(51:22):
proprietor of the Pinch in Francis, was also seen, but
knows little or nothing about either Diech's family or Dechamp,
who he characterizes as a quiet and affable fellow who
owes him a month's pay for board. The old German
lady who keeps the house at number sixty four Saint
Peter Street, the scene of the tragedy. States that Deschamp's

(51:46):
habits were regular, except that he left town occasionally for
a month or two. She stated that he first commenced
bringing the Diets children to his room last summer. Question
and what kind of a girl was Juliette?

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Answer?

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Quiet always in fact, a pretty and well behaved child.
It will be remembered that all parties who knew the
child have concurred in that same opinion that she was
a well behaved, quiet and affectionate child. While those who
saw the corpse at Bnot's Undertaking establishments on Thursday night
will testify to the delicate beauty of the girl who

(52:24):
now rests in peace. May fourteenth, eighteen ninety two, after

(52:50):
nearly four years imprisonment, two trials, two convictions in the
Criminal District Court, two affirmations of the sentences by the
Louisiana Supreme Court, two applications for pardon, and one reprieved
by the Governor. Eddie Anne de Champ, the hypnotic doctor
who on January thirtieth, eighteen eighty nine, murdered little Juliette

(53:14):
Deach xpiated his crime upon the gallows yesterday afternoon. The
facilities afforded the representatives of the press for learning how
Eddie Anne Dechamp spent his last hours were so extremely
limited as to not be worth mentioning. By the courtesy
of Sheriff Villaire and the parish prison authorities, the reporters

(53:37):
were permitted to spend the night on the Orleans Street banquette,
just outside the main entrance to the prison, where they
were occasionally able to hear the tread of one of
the guards pacing up and down the ground floor corridor.
But beyond this the proceedings within the building were left
purely to conjecture and hearsay. Spending nearly a whole night

(53:57):
with absolutely nothing to do except watching in wait is
not pleasant under any circumstances. But to spend the latter
half of the night in the very shadow of such
a gloomy and gruesome old pile as the Parish prison,
fairly saturated as it is with the atmosphere of crime, violence,
misery and tragedy, is even worse. Fortunately for the weary watchers,

(54:20):
the night was a pleasant one, as there was not
only an almost full moon, but a soft and balmy
and atmosphere as that of midsummer. Slowly, the hours dragged along,
with only an occasional break in the monotony caused by
the passing in or out of one of the prison officials, who,
in answer to the eager inquiries for news pressed upon

(54:42):
them by the watchers outside the gate, always gave the
same stereotyped answer, he is resting quietly, and there is
nothing at all stirring. The longest night must have an ending, however,
and at last came signs that the weary vigil was drawn.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Going to a close.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Floating in its halo of silver mist rimmed with gold,
the moon, as it hung low over the dark, shining
slate roofs that clustered about the canal basin just beyond
Orleans Street, began to grow wan and pale, while the
mists of early morning slowly began to assert themselves in thin,
bluish mantles of subtransparent gauze that wrapped the big shade

(55:26):
trees in Congo's Square. While the gradual lifting of the
night shadows was almost imperceptibly changing them from black to
the darkest green, still the streets were silent as a
tomb and that dim, uncertain light, the deep shadows of
the grim old gallows Tree in its leafy and more

(55:49):
youthful neighbors cast an almost impenetrable gloom with grisly recollections
inseparably connected with the spot was almost awe and as
the light of the coming morning widened, the gloomy shadows
about the blighted gallows Tree only seemed to deepen, and

(56:10):
the dismal, ghostly suggestions of the place and the hour
were intensified, as one after one, dim shadowy form was
seen trooping along in those deep shadows towards the market.
They were only prosaic commonplace people on their way to
their daily avocations, but it required no vivid effort of

(56:31):
the imagination to associate them in the mind of the
beholder with the troubled spirits of some one or other
of the many who have met death in its most
direful form, in and about this historic spot. As dawn
widened to daylight and the bright sunshine of Eddie end

(56:52):
de Shamp's last morning on earth flooded the rusty and
gingy looking streets about the old prison, anyone passing would
never have mistrusted that anything outside the ordinary course of
events was about to take place. There was no scene
of Sightseers collected. Why this was so, nobody appeared to

(57:12):
be able to explain, and it seemed more than strange
that the crowd in front of the prison should have
been so slow in gathering. One explanation, and probably the
most reasonable one, was that, knowing something of Descham's religious views,
the general public were under the impression that he would

(57:32):
not make his appearance in the chapel as other condemned
men had done, and therefore they did not think it
worth their while to spend their time in waiting for
a man who was not at all likely to show
himself at any of the front windows where they could
procure even the briefest glimpse of him. Another reason why
the crowd was slow in gathering may be found in

(57:54):
the general belief that, having postponed the evil days so long,
Descham would, at the last moment succeed in securing still
another postponement in the prison. All the necessary preparations were

(58:14):
steadily going forward, and though the condemned man had steadily
refused to receive the consolations of religion, the sisters and
the reverend Father LeBlanc were admitted at an early hour,
as it was understood that the doomed man had promised,
under certain stipulated conditions to attend mass. He had a

(58:35):
great aversion to being made a spectacle of and before
he would promise to even set foot in the chapel,
he had a distinct understanding with the sheriff that no
one was to approach or speak to him. The upper
corridor was cleared of everybody but the prison officials when
de Champ walked to the chapel, which was soon afterward

(58:56):
filled with other prisoners and officials. Des Schamp occupied a
seat on the bench near the chapel door, but it
was close against the wall so as to make it
impossible for anyone outside the chapel to catch even a
glimpse of him. For the first time since his trial,
he had made an effort to dress well. He wore

(59:17):
a white shirt, black trousers and black alpaca coat, but
no waistcoat, collar nor necktie. His hair had been closely
cut and his face, with the exception of his upper lip,
cleanly shaven. This had made a remarkable difference in the
facial expression, and was not for the better. The long

(59:39):
and almost flowing beard he had worn at the time
of Baker's execution had given him a patriarchal expression, but
its removal had revealed a weak looking receding chin, which
is perhaps the most objectionable peculiarity of de Champ's face.
Besides this, however, the absence of a full beard brings

(01:00:01):
to light a broad, sensuous looking lower jaw which had
hitherto been wholly concealed. Altogether, the prisoner did not present
an appearance that was at all prepossessing, as he sat
in the chapel, looking worried and nervous, and paying but
scant and perfunctory attention to the solemn service. After Mass,

(01:00:24):
he managed to slip unobserved back to his cell as
the other prisoners were leaving the chapel and taking the
opposite direction. Very soon after Mass, he had a brief
conference with the French consul, during which Dechamp displayed a
nervous anxiety and eagerness calculated to induce the belief that

(01:00:45):
he had not quite yet abandoned hope of reprieve. As
the consul was leaving the condemned cell, the prisoner bade
him goodbye with unwonted cordiality, and seemed loath to part
with him. But what the nature of the talk had
been could not be ascertained, the consul saying that his

(01:01:05):
official position precluded the propriety of his speaking upon the subject.
By ten o'clock there was a large crowd in front
of the prison, and it was receiving many additions every minute.
The number of outsiders admitted to the prison was altogether extraordinary,
many estimating the number as high as eight hundred. Of

(01:01:28):
these many swarmed into the first, second, and third corridors,
wedging themselves as tightly as herrings in a box around
each of the small grated windows, commanding a view of
the gloomy looking oven like court containing the gallows. But
the favorite resort of those whose morbid curiosity had prompted

(01:01:50):
them to wish to witness the awful ending of the
Chomp tragedy was the gallows court. It appeared to be
to the desire Sheriff Vulaire that this court should contain
only a very few spectators, But by some mysterious means,
it was suddenly occupied by two hundred or more, and

(01:02:10):
the whole crowd was promptly ordered out of it by
the sheriff. The deputies drove the crowd back toward the entrance,
and in a very few minutes only twenty or thirty
people were to be seen, and most of these were
officials and properly accredited press representatives. Then the sheriff disappeared,
and in an incredibly short space the court was mysteriously

(01:02:34):
filled again. Once more, the sheriff put in an appearance,
and again the crowd vanished, only to reappear again as
soon as he had passed. Finally, it was discovered that
instead of going out of the court altogether, these eager
spectators were playing a rather undignified game of hide and

(01:02:54):
seek with the sheriff. As many as forty or fifty
would conceal themselves in a door at the end of
the ground floor quarridor which skirted the court, where they
could crouch beneath the winding stairway leading to the upper gallery,
while others would dodge into the ground floor cells, which
are always emptied of their tenants on the day of

(01:03:14):
a hanging, the supposition probably being that many are so
anxious to witness a hanging that if the prisoners were
permitted to witness one of these elevating and soul refining exhibitions.
The gloomy old place would be overrun with men serving
ten days sentences in the hope that they might be
lucky enough to occupy cells fronting on the gallows Court.

(01:03:35):
It was certainly amusing to see fat and puffy businessmen
and politicians, weighing two hundred pounds or more, and evidently
accustomed to slow and pompous locomotion, dodging about pillars and
ducking under stairways, and otherwise playing hide and seek with
the sheriff and his deputies, and a manner not more
dignified than that of the commonest guttersnipe stealing a ride

(01:03:58):
on a street car. At eleven o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Or a little earlier.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
These people first found their way into the Gallows Court,
upon whose stone, brick and plastered floor and walls, the
fierce summer sun was beating pitilessly. They were hunted and
chased about like a crowd of schoolboys in a farmer's orchard.
They were crowded together at times in dark corners so
tightly that they were on the point of suffocation. They panted, perspired,

(01:04:30):
and ran imminent risks of sunstroke, but they were bound
to see the hanging at all hazards. All that was
seen of the tragedy from this ground floor of the
Galaws Court may be told in a few words. About
twelve ten, the hangman and his loose black domino adjusted
the chair on the black hen's platform and connected it

(01:04:53):
with the cell gallery by a little plank bridge. Then
he fully measured the rope examined and the noose, and
measured to the rope, so that the condemned man might
have the greatest fall possible without permitting his toes to
reach the pavement, after making due allowance for any possible
stretching of the rope and tightening of the news. Then

(01:05:15):
from time to time one and another of the officials
visited the hangman in his cage, and again and again
the people beneath the gallery were startled into a fever
of expectation by hearing the tramp and shuffling of many
feet over ahead. But again and again it had proved
a false alarm. The hangman stood in his cell, looking

(01:05:37):
through the small grating, frequently working at his cow with
trembling fingers, as if the long suspense were having its effect.
Even upon his iron nerves. At last, a few minutes
after one o'clock, everybody in the Gallow's court was driven
back close under the gallery. There was more shuffling and

(01:05:58):
tramping overhead, and then the hangman stepped quickly out of
his cell with a small cord in his hand. Then
those who were nearing the outer edge of the gallery
looking up, saw a pair of bleached, bloodless and withered
looking hands extended toward the hangman, though no portion of
his body was visible to these occupants of the ground floor.

(01:06:20):
As they craned their necks and peered out from under
the gallery during the early portion of the morning, Dechamp
took advantage of doctor Lemanier's presence in his cell to
attack him roundly. He said, you could have saved me,

(01:06:41):
you even you of all the others, but no, you
preferred to disgrace an honorable name in France. After services
in the chapel, the old man again returned to the
death cell and sat among his guards. He had specially
requested that no reporters be allowed to approach him, and this,

(01:07:02):
having been made in the nature of a last request,
was granted by the sheriff, and the press excluded from
the little gallery in its one open cell. From the
time of services until the march to the gallows, Dechamp
did not again leave the limits of the condemned cell
and corridor. He seemed not at all familiar with the

(01:07:24):
new cell into which he had been moved, and spent
as much of his time as possible outside of it.
It had been like saying a last farewell to an
old home for Dechamp to leave his old cell and
go into the strange one from which his companion Philip
Baker had walked forth to that awful black platform from
which he never returned. De Champ knew every mark on

(01:07:47):
the old cell, every notch on the floor, every spot
on the wall and ceiling, every shadow of every time
of day. All of his rude treasures were in the
old cell. His beloved books of the French Infidels, his
piles of newspapers, each containing something which had interested him
very much at the time of its publication, His sketches

(01:08:10):
of those vulgar, prying, curiosity mongers who all through the
long Nightmare had haunted his soal by day and by night.
And the blue moon to which he once had prayed
that all the world might think him insane. All of
these he had left, and in the other cells a
swarm of new associations, all interwarped in the subdued tangle

(01:08:33):
of muttering voices, curious, pitying glances, and holy visits of
priests and nuns, made the place so strange and palling
that he shunned it as the living do a tomb.
He sat upon the little gallery most of the time,
only entering the soal now and then to speak with

(01:08:54):
the Good Father, who never relinquished his purpose of trying
to get the old man to become reconciled to his God.
The priest would come and go, but those who watched
his expression as he tripped down the long corridor to
the chapel after each talk with the man knew that
Dechamp had not yet yielded to the holy supplications of

(01:09:15):
the Father. He was very restless in his last hours.
His face was that of a man whose mind had
long been fixed upon the contemplation of some horrible fancy,
with all the fervor of which it is capable. Beneath
his eyes were dark rings, and the eyes themselves were
bright and keen, as are coals of fire. That are

(01:09:38):
blown upon by the winds. Beside the death watch. None
but his friends sat outside his last hours upon the
little gallery beside him. Those who were fortunate enough to
have gotten places by certain of the barred windows, looking
upon the white yard, would ever and Anon catch a

(01:09:58):
glimpse of Dechamp by the back door of a cell.
He was careful, though, that no curious eyes should feast
too highly, for when his furtive glance fell upon the
peering eyes of some looker who had a particularly good
point of observation, he would at once change his position.
All of the entreaties of the priest, the sisters, and

(01:10:20):
his good Catholic friends availed nothing toward getting the old
man to go to holy confession. His purpose of going
down into the dim valley as he had lived, with
his secrets known to none but himself, was as immovable
as the great pile of that same gray prison in
which he would die. Through it all, Deucham had never

(01:10:42):
lost his childish faith in the certainty of his being saved,
even at the last second. All through the slow dragging
hours of the morning, he had ever in Anon said
to his death watch, I shall not die. The acting
French counsel, mister Minnie, was in the building and walked

(01:11:03):
back and forth between the death cell and the office below.
Those who saw him moving so hurriedly began to doubt,
after all, whether this wizard of an old man.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
Was going to die.

Speaker 1 (01:11:15):
So many times before he had leaped from the very
jaws of death. Why not again? Can you give the
old man any hope? Was asked the counsel upon his
coming out of the cell after one of his interviews
with the old man. You must pardon me, he replied,
I am here in an official capacity, and I trust
you will understand that under the circumstances I can say nothing.

(01:11:39):
Looking back upon events now, it appears probable that the
consul's motive and entering and re entering the condemned cell
was more the result of solicitude for the religious well
being of the old man than of any plan or
hope of being able to save him from the gallows.
Yet with Descham it was an abiding faith, and it

(01:11:59):
was only when the coroner's jury filed into the little
gallery that his hope fled him. Then, when a figure
of a man entered his cell and a hand was
laid upon his shoulder with a gentle come de Champ.
The time has come. He arose wearily, and all the
hope that had brightened his eye was gone, leaving in

(01:12:21):
its place a steely glitter that momentarily grew deader, until
as he stepped into the gallows it flared up for
a single moment into a flash of unwonted brightness, and
then changed to a leaden dullness, as if even then
he was gazing through the damp half light of the
vapors that had hung over the valley of the Shadows.

(01:12:45):
It was about a quarter afternoon when the coroner's jury
stepped into the death cell. When the jury was all gathered,
the silent Chief Deputy Arnaud read the death warrant to
the condemned man, stepped out of his cell and stood
by the door. There was no fear upon the face.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
Of the old man. At the moment that he.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
Stepped out of his cell, a bystander made some unimportant
remark to him. His reply was but a shrug of
the shoulders. It was almost ludicrous. The deputy had just
started reading the death warrant when Deschamp made a light
step forward and held up his hand. Gentlemen, he said

(01:13:28):
in a loud voice, craning his neck toward the jury.
I have but one thing to say. You are killing
an innocent man. Do not speak, said Deputy Arnault to him,
in a low tone. You will simply excite yourself, holding
the death warrant in his hand and tapping Deschamp gently

(01:13:49):
upon the chest with it. No, I am not excited,
he said, in a calm tone. That was all he
said for the present. An absolute hush, save for the
buzz of voices in the distant yard below. The death
warrant was read. The Champ stood perfectly upright, with his

(01:14:10):
feet slightly apart, his chest well out, and his head
held back. He was under a terrific physical strain, and
he stood it magnificently. Every muscle in his body was
stretched to the utmost in the one overmastering desire to
keep unmoved. Had he relaxed his muscles, he might have trembled.

(01:14:32):
He scarcely even moved his eyes. His hands were held
fairly in front of him, the fingers knit and the
palms downward. Nothing perhaps about his position indicated more strongly
than this the physical mastery which he was exerting over himself.
He did not listen to the death warrant. His thoughts were,

(01:14:54):
no doubt, on other very different things. Now and then
he would glance through the bars of the crowd, upon
the roof, and in the couple of the prison. There
was a contemptuous defiance in the expression of his eyes.
At such times as the last words of the warrant
were being read, Dechamp cast his eye about among the
jury until they rested upon someone whom he had been seeking.

(01:15:19):
It was Coroner le Monier, And when his glance had
found him, Dechamp did not again look away until he
walked from the death cell. An expression of animation came
into the old man's eyes. At the close of the
death warrant. Again he brought up his hand, and again
the jury leaned forward to hear what he had to say. Listen,

(01:15:42):
you men of the jury. He said, I am not
the murderer. There he is, and his wrinkled hand pointed
away to where Coroner le Monier was leaning against the bars.
Dechamp speaks no English. All that he said was in French.
At his last words, even those who did not understand

(01:16:04):
the language knew from his expression that what he had
said was a very grave import What did he say?
What did he say? Cried the English speaking portion of
the jury, putting their heads together. Gentlemen, said Coroner le
Monier in a loud voice. He says, I am a murderer.

(01:16:24):
Then the coroner looked at him and smiled grimly. Is
this your first criminal offense, doctor, asked the Times Democrat reporter,
who stood by the coroner's side. Yes, I suppose so,
he said, laughing. It is one of my eccentricities. I
would rather.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Murder a murderer than let a.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
Murderer or murder society. The march was now started to
the scaffold, and the lead marched the doomed old man,
walking firmly between his guards. He had donned his death clothes,
a pair of dark ches trousers and I'll pack a
coat and wide French shoes. His shirt was a pleted

(01:17:06):
when secured with bone collar buttons, and he wore no collar.
The coroner's jury marched in twos behind the guards. It
took all the energies of the prison authorities to keep
the excited throng who filled the corridors from joining the
death march and filling out into the gallery, even as

(01:17:27):
it was a number of these managed to get through,
and were only expelled by elimination, that is, by calling
off the names of the jury, and excluding from the
gallery all of those whose names had not been called.
Deschamp and Father LeBlanc, the Jesuit priest, now entered together
Cell number eight, that fateful prison room from which so

(01:17:51):
many condemned men have walked forth to the death rope.
In this cell the last prayers were to be said.
It was now nearly twelve thirty. A hush fell over
the great crowds in the windows and courtyards when it
became known that these last rites were being performed. Outside

(01:18:13):
of the cell, two sisters of Charity prayed fervently.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Upon their knees.

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
It was a long and anxious weight. While the prayers
were going on, the jury walked up and down the gallery,
and the excited throng in the yard below, unable to
contain themselves, finally burst out into a subdued hum of conversation.
During the weight, men fidgeted nervously, smoked a great deal

(01:18:41):
as nervous men will, and amused themselves in a grim
kind of way by gazing at the strained faces of
those crowded upon the roof of the prison, in the
dormer windows, and clustered about the cupola. That there was
among the authorities some apprehension that the old man might
attempts suicide was clearly evinced by the words which Sheriff

(01:19:04):
Valaire was overheard to say to a deputy, Sheriff, be
very careful to get the rope on him before he
gets outside of the railing, so that he can't throw
himself off. After priest and criminal had been in the
cell for ten minutes, it being then twelve thirty five,
Father LeBlanc appeared at the door and requested that three

(01:19:26):
chairs be sent into the cell, and that Sheriff Valaire
and deputy are no enter. Send pen, ink and paper,
cried Sheriff Vlaire, appearing at the door. After a few
moments a confession, said everybody, and the strain of interest increased.
In ten minutes more, the crowd again had been mastered

(01:19:47):
by their nerves and were talking rather too loud. At
this moment, Father LeBlanc again.

Speaker 2 (01:19:53):
Appeared at the door.

Speaker 1 (01:19:55):
Keep quiet and pray with the sisters, said he everything
will be all right in a few minutes. With that
he closed the door and re entered the cell. There
was not enough light in the cell and a crack
was let in the door. Through the crack, the party
within could be seen. It was a curious tableau in

(01:20:17):
the half light. Dechamp had his chair drawn up to
a table upon which stood facing him a crucifix next
to him, leaning back in his chair, with Sheriff v
Laire on the opposite side of the table set Deputy
Arnaud writing upon a slip of paper, with Father LeBlanc

(01:20:38):
standing and leaning over his shoulder. Dechamp was apparently dictating
something now and then he would rise nervously from his
seat and lean over the table. It was evident that
he was saying something. Deputy Arnaud would listen closely and
then consult with Father LeBlanc and finally write upon the paper.

(01:21:00):
At twelve fifty a sharp rap sounded upon the floor
inside the cell. It was Sheriff Vlaire bringing his chair
down from his tip back position to sign the document.
Within a minute, Sheriff Vlaire and Deputy Arnault came out
of the cell, leaving the priest and the doomed man
together for the final prayers. The execution was now in

(01:21:21):
a matter of a very few minutes. In the meanwhile,
the reporters were busy trying to find out what the
purport of the document was. Neither of the men who
had been in the cell would say there was no
further time for investigation, for at this moment the cell
door swung slowly open, and the black robed priest appeared,

(01:21:42):
with the doomed man following like a child behind him.
At one o seven, the old man stepped upon the
platform leading to the gallows. It cannot be said that
he was pale, his face was too sallow for that.

(01:22:07):
In a few words, he said goodbye to those about him,
while the priest held the crucifix up to his mouth. Meanwhile,
the great shrouded form of the executioner, who looked like
nothing so much as some enormous demon, had advanced to
the gallows and was now engaged in binding the hands
of the doomed man behind his back. As the executioner

(01:22:30):
caught his hands and his great vice like grip, the
old man made not the slightest resistance. He looked straight
before him once, as the knot was being tied, his
eyes fell for a moment, and his shoulders moved with
a barely perceptible convulsive movement. The hands were quickly lashed

(01:22:51):
firmly together by the hangman, who then stepped toward the
gallows in order to reach his rope. And just as
he did so, Eddie end Is showed stepped out into
the little gallery and stood in full view of the
eager crowd of spectators. But it was only for an instant,
and one of the officials quickly stepped between him and

(01:23:11):
the front rail of the gallery, as if to guard
against the possibility of any last desperate attempt at suicide.
His arms tied, he was led out to the gallows,
walking with firm tread at the juncture of the platform
and the plank leading to the gallows. The executioner stopped

(01:23:33):
the old man and put the rope over his neck.
The priests stood close beside the doomed man, holding the
crucifix before him, while the hangman adjusted the noose quickly,
but with considerable care and workmanlike accuracy. Right here was
gotten the clue into champseral condition of mine. He was

(01:23:54):
physically weak with apprehension, possibly fright, but a magnificent intellectuality
and pride bore him up as he felt the smooth
hardness of the waxed noose drop over his neck, a wild,
despairing look came into his eyes, and his head jerked back,
and for the merest fraction of a second it seemed

(01:24:16):
to the close observer that he was on the point
of breaking down.

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
In another moment, he.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
Had conquered himself, and as he turned and walked out
to the trap, his eyes were steady as the nailhead's.
Then Deschamp crossed the little bridge with the hangman and
took his seat on the chair. There was not a
tremor and a step, nor had the color left his face.
As he took his seat. The hangman again tightened the

(01:24:44):
noose a little, and as he did so, the prisoner
cast a contemptuous look at the eager crowd below. Not
a muscle of his face moved, nor was there a
suspicion of moisture to dim the cold, steely glitter of
his clear, light blue eye. But if there ever was

(01:25:04):
expression in a look, there was cold, withering contempt in
that last glance that Ideenne de Champ cast upon his
fellow creatures huddled together in the gallows court. He had
announced that from the scaffold, he would make a general
denunciation of those who wronged him.

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
This he did not do.

Speaker 1 (01:25:26):
It may have been the result of his talks with
the Holy Father, or may have been, on the other hand,
that he was afraid or unable to speak. Once upon
the scaffold, he sat down in the chair, and the
hangman proceeded to bind his feet tightly together. It was
during the performance of this the Deputy Share of Carrie

(01:25:47):
stepped into the center of the courtyard below and waved
his hat at de Champ with an encouraging smile. Adieu,
replied Dechamp to the deputy in a shrill voice. That
single word was his last. His feet were now bound.
The great executioners sprang from the trap, ran rapidly around

(01:26:11):
the rope block. There was the sound of a mighty
axe blow, and the trap fell with a rushing noise.
In the meantime, the hangman had lashed his legs together,
and the look of bitterness was extinguished by the black
cap that was quickly pulled down over his face. The

(01:26:32):
hangman sprang from the gallows and dashed into his cell,
while one of the officials quickly snatched away the little
bridge and this service was not performed an instant too soon,
for hardly had the hangman disappeared. When the rope was severed.
At a single blow, the trap fell and eddy end

(01:26:52):
as shunk was launched into eternity. Dechamp had fallen eight
feet and hung swinging over the stones of the court.
Immediately there was a great rush of the crowd to

(01:27:12):
feast upon the sight of the miserable creature hanging from
the gallows. It was a disgusting exhibit of morbid curiosity.
For eight minutes, the struggle continued. At the end of
sixteen minutes, pulsation had apparently ceased, and as it was
not renewed during the thirty two minutes that the body
was kept in suspension, it was concluded at one forty

(01:27:37):
one that the man was dead. Death resulted from strangulation,
the neck not having been broken. An autopsy was held
by Deputy coroner Archanard, and it was announced by a
committee of medical men in collaboration with him that the
brain was perfectly normal, and that the congestion of the

(01:27:59):
brain which the autopsy revealed, was the result of strangulation.
This sets to rest forever the question of Eddieanne Deschamp's
sanity that was atrocity at Saint Peter Street, La Chateain

(01:28:35):
Juliet and the Perverted Professor of Magnetic Physiology. Called from
the historic pages of the New Orleans Times, Democrat, the
New Orleans Times, Picayune, and other newspapers of the era.
True Crime Historian is a creation of popular media. Opening
theme by Nico Vitessen, closing theme by Dave Sam's and

(01:28:58):
Rachel shott In engineered by David Hish at Third Street
Music Media Management, and original graphics for each episode by
Sean R.

Speaker 2 (01:29:07):
Miller Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:29:09):
And as for me, yeah, the latest reviews are in
fairly saturated with the atmosphere of crime, violence, misery, and
tragedy is even worse. I'm True Crime Historian Richard O.

Speaker 2 (01:29:22):
Jones signing off for now Amity