CHAPTER XXXV. A FRENCH LAND MURDER—IRISHMEN, FRENCH ECCLESIASTICS—ALGERIAN PRODUCTIONS—BIRD CHARMING—BRITTANY—CHATEAUBRIAND.
Whilst sojourning in Paris I became acquainted with an avocat, named Vanneau, who practised in a provincial district, and who came to stay, for a few days, at the boarding-house in the Rue de l'Oratoire in which I was located. He had been recently engaged in defending persons charged with criminal acts, and narrated a case by which it appeared that Ireland had not a monopoly of land murders. A. M. Deneubourg had purchased, at Cambray, a piece of land near Ewars, occupied by a farmer, named Potiez, who had offered for the property, but was outbid by Deneubourg. In the evening of the day of sale, the two men, on their way home, met at a house of entertainment at Ramillies, and some very angry language passed between them. They left the house, and in some time Potiez returned to Ramillies, and stated that they had been attacked on the road, that he had saved himself by flight, but he feared Deneubourg had been murdered by the villains who had assailed them. On proceeding to the place described, Deneubourg was found horribly murdered. His head was smashed to small pieces, and to a club which was found near the body a portion of his brains and two of his teeth were adhering. There were no footprints on the soft ground except what corresponded to the shoes of the deceased or of Potiez, and the dress of the latter was marked with blood. Various other circumstances fully indicated the guilt of Potiez. He was convicted, but was not sentenced to death. The French jury found him guilty of the murder, under attenuating circumstances. I asked Monsieur Vanneau what attenuating circumstances could the jury discover in so brutal a murder, and he gravely replied that they thought an accepted offer for the purchase of the property, outbidding that of the occupying tenant, was a very strong provocation and a natural incitement to revenge. He then added that Potiez was fortunate in being tried by a jury on which there was not a landed proprietor or an auctioneer.