Flavart, however, appealed against this sentence to the sovereign council at Quebec, which but confirmed the above sentence, remitting, however, two years from his services in the galleys. The above sentence was carried out as a certificate bears out, dated Friday, October 5, 1742, and signed by M. Fr. Daine, councillor, and M. Porlier, greffier.
The incident left a lasting impression, for the clergy was shocked at the sacrilege. By a mandement of September 10, 1742, the bishop, Monseigneur de Pont Briand, ordered an amende honorable and a procession from the parish church to that of Bonsecours. Two years later, having obtained the cross from the authorities, the bishop instituted the feast of the Outraged Crucifix. This was to be celebrated the first Friday in March, each year; and in 1804 Monseigneur du Plessis changed the day to the first day of October, attaching to this a day of plenary indulgence, obtained by a papal brief, dated March 28, 1802.
The legend of The Red Cross, illustrating further the methods of civil punishment of this period, may be here told. Over one hundred and fifty years ago, this part of the island, from the summit of the mountain to the pebbly shore of the St. Lawrence, was a thickly wooded forest. Where Dorchester Street exists today, there was then a narrow path, beaten by the feet of the passers-by from Lachine, St. Laurent and the environs. It bore, however, the high sounding title of: "The King's Highway." Here and there, at irregular distances, a few farms bordered the simple thoroughfare. At the point where today Guy Street crosses Dorchester lived an honest farmer, Jean Favre and his wife, Marie-Anne Bastien. Being an industrious couple, they were supposed to have realized a good sum from the produce of their prosperous farm, which sum, in all probability, they hoarded away in some corner of their dwelling. In the same spot where now stand the iron gates, which open on the avenue going up to the Convent Church, was a small house occupied by a petty farmer, named Belisle. The demon of covetousness had taken hold of his soul and the unfortunate man brooding constantly over his neighbour's supposed wealth, resolved to become its possessor.
The month of May, 1752, had again decked nature in its garb of green. The sun, his daily course over, had sunk behind the mountain and the last echoes of the evening Angelus bell had ceased to vibrate on the air. Peace and security seemed to reign throughout the colony, as the shades of night crept over the island, lulling its inhabitants to slumber and to rest.
Alas! an unholy shadow lured on by the evil one, glided through the darkness, with the tread of the panther to seize its prey, and drew near the dwelling of Favre. Suspecting no ill, the honest man sat quietly smoking near the hearth, from whence a brisk fire cast a mellow light through the room, showing the table, with its two covers set for the evening meal. Finally rising, the farmer took from his pocket a key with which he opened a cupboard near at hand,—drew forth a small well filled sack and added to its contents the proceeds of the day's sale. Through the open shutter, from outside, the wretched Belisle, with glaring eyes, watched every movement of Favre, while his hands kept spasmodically clutching the knife he held. Wresting from his bosom the pistol, hid therein, he burst, like a wild beast, into the dwelling and fired at the old man, then finished him with the knife. The wife, terrified by the unusual noise, rushed in from an adjoining room and was at once attacked by the murderer, who plunged the knife repeatedly into her breast, and then crushed in her skull with the blow of a spade which he found near by. Side by side lay the unfortunate husband and wife, victims of man's cupidity. For a moment the murderer contemplated his work, then, like another Cain, he fled from the spot, haunted by the dread spectre of the "Lex talionis."
The absence of the old couple gave rise to surmises. Search was made and the horrible crime discovered. Suspicion rested on Belisle, who was soon after arrested, tried and convicted. The following copy of the "Réquisitoire du Procureur du Roi," dated 6th June, 1752, shows that the terrible punishment of "breaking alive" was then in force under the French régime in Canada. Belisle was condemned to "torture ordinary and extraordinary," then to be broken alive on a scaffold erected in the market place (the present Custom House Square) in this city.
This awful sentence was carried out to the letter, his body buried in Guy Street, [179] and the Red Cross erected to mark the spot, as fully described in the following document historically valuable:—
Extract from the Requisition of the King's Attorney
"I require for the King that Jean Baptiste Goyer dit Belisle be arraigned and convicted of having wilfully and feloniously killed the said Jean Favre by a pistol shot and several stabs with a knife, and of having similarly killed the said Marie-Anne Bastien, wife of the said Favre, with a spade and a knife; and of having stolen the money that was in their house; for punishment of which that he be condemned to have his arms, legs, thighs and backbone broken at noon, he alive, on a scaffold which shall be erected for that purpose in the market place of this city: then, on a rack, his face turned towards the sky, he be left to die. The said Jean Baptiste Goyer dit Belisle, being previously put to the torture ordinary and extraordinary, his dead body shall be carried by the executioner to the highway which lies between the house lately occupied by the said accused and the house lately occupied by the said Jean Favre and his wife. The goods and chattels of the said Jean Baptiste Goyer dit Belisle confiscated to the king, or for the benefit of those who may have a right to them, or of those not liable to confiscation, the sum of 300 livres fine being previously set apart, in case that confiscation could not be made for the benefit of His Majesty.
"Done at Montreal this 6th June, 1752.
"(Signed) Foucher."