As we were still talking about Pranzini, M. Maloureau, who had been
attorney general under the Empire, said: “Oh! I formerly knew a very
curious affair, curious for several reasons, as you will see.
“I was at that time imperial attorney in one of the provinces. I had to
take up the case which has remained famous under the name of the Moiron
case.
“Monsieur Moiron, who was a teacher in the north of France, enjoyed an
excellent reputation throughout the whole country. He was a person of
intelligence, quiet, very religious, a little taciturn; he had married
in the district of Boislinot, where he exercised his profession. He had
had three children, who had died of consumption, one after the other.
From this time he seemed to bestow upon the youngsters confided to his
care all the tenderness of his heart. With his own money he bought toys
for his best scholars and for the good boys; he gave them little dinners
and stuffed them with delicacies, candy and cakes: Everybody loved this
good man with his big heart, when suddenly five of his pupils died, in
a strange manner, one after the other. It was supposed that there was an
epidemic due to the condition of the water, resulting from drought; they
looked for the causes without being able to discover them, the more so
that the symptoms were so peculiar. The children seemed to be attacked
by a feeling of lassitude; they would not eat, they complained of pains
in their stomachs, dragged along for a short time, and died in frightful
suffering.
“A post-mortem examination was held over the last one, but nothing
was discovered. The vitals were sent to Paris and analyzed, and they
revealed the presence of no toxic substance.
“For a year nothing new developed; then two little boys, the best
scholars in the class, Moiron's favorites, died within four days of each
other. An examination of the bodies was again ordered, and in both of
them were discovered tiny fragments of crushed glass. The conclusion
arrived at was that the two youngsters must imprudently have eaten from
some carelessly cleaned receptacle. A glass broken over a pail of milk
could have produced this frightful accident, and the affair would have
been pushed no further if Moiron's servant had not been taken sick at
this time. The physician who was called in noticed the same symptoms he
had seen in the children. He questioned her and obtained the admission
that she had stolen and eaten some candies that had been bought by the
teacher for his scholars.
“On an order from the court the schoolhouse was searched, and a closet
was found which was full of toys and dainties destined for the children.
Almost all these delicacies contained bits of crushed glass or pieces of
broken needles!
“Moiron was immediately arrested; but he seemed so astonished and
indignant at the suspicion hanging over him that he was almost released.
How ever, indications of his guilt kept appearing, and baffled in my
mind my first conviction, based on his excellent reputation, on his
whole life, on the complete absence of any motive for such a crime.
“Why should this good, simple, religious man have killed little
children, and the very children whom he seemed to love the most, whom he
spoiled and stuffed with sweet things, for whom he spent half his salary
in buying toys and bonbons?
“One must consider him insane to believe him guilty of this act. Now,
Moiron seemed so normal, so quiet, so rational and sensible that it
seemed impossible to adjudge him insane.
“However, the proofs kept growing! In none of the candies that were
bought at the places where the schoolmaster secured his provisions could
the slightest trace of anything suspicious be found.
“He then insisted that an unknown enemy must have opened his cupboard
with a false key in order to introduce the glass and the needles into
the eatables. And he made up a whole story of an inheritance dependent
on the death of a child, determined on and sought by some peasant, and
promoted thus by casting suspicions on the schoolmaster. This brute, he
claimed, did not care about the other children who were forced to die as
well.
“The story was possible. The man appeared to be so sure of himself
and in such despair that we should undoubtedly have acquitted him,
notwithstanding the charges against him, if two crushing discoveries had
not been made, one after the other.
“The first one was a snuffbox full of crushed glass; his own snuffbox,
hidden in the desk where he kept his money!
“He explained this new find in an acceptable manner, as the ruse of
the real unknown criminal. But a mercer from Saint-Marlouf came to the
presiding judge and said that a gentleman had several times come to his
store to buy some needles; and he always asked for the thinnest needles
he could find, and would break them to see whether they pleased him. The
man was brought forward in the presence of a dozen or more persons,
and immediately recognized Moiron. The inquest revealed that the
schoolmaster had indeed gone into Saint-Marlouf on the days mentioned by
the tradesman.
“I will pass over the terrible testimony of children on the choice of
dainties and the care which he took to have them eat the things in his
presence, and to remove the slightest traces.
“Public indignation demanded capital punishment, and it became more and
more insistent, overturning all objections.
“Moiron was condemned to death, and his appeal was rejected. Nothing was
left for him but the imperial pardon. I knew through my father that the
emperor would not grant it.
“One morning, as I was working in my study, the visit of the prison
almoner was announced. He was an old priest who knew men well and
understood the habits of criminals. He seemed troubled, ill at ease,
nervous. After talking for a few minutes about one thing and another, he
arose and said suddenly: 'If Moiron is executed, monsieur, you will have
put an innocent man to death.'
“Then he left without bowing, leaving me behind with the deep impression
made by his words. He had pronounced them in such a sincere and
solemn manner, opening those lips, closed and sealed by the secret of
confession, in order to save a life.
“An hour later I left for Paris, and my father immediately asked that I
be granted an audience with the emperor.
“The following day I was received. His majesty was working in a little
reception room when we were introduced. I described the whole case, and
I was just telling about the priest's visit when a door opened behind
the sovereign's chair and the empress, who supposed he was alone,
appeared. His majesty, Napoleon, consulted her. As soon as she had heard
the matter, she exclaimed: 'This man must be pardoned. He must, since he
is innocent.'
“Why did this sudden conviction of a religious woman cast a terrible
doubt in my mind?
“Until then I had ardently desired a change of sentence. And now I
suddenly felt myself the toy, the dupe of a cunning criminal who had
employed the priest and confession as a last means of defence.
“I explained my hesitancy to their majesties. The emperor remained
undecided, urged on one side by his natural kindness and held back on
the other by the fear of being deceived by a criminal; but the empress,
who was convinced that the priest had obeyed a divine inspiration, kept
repeating: 'Never mind! It is better to spare a criminal than to kill an
innocent man!' Her advice was taken. The death sentence was commuted to
one of hard labor.
“A few years later I heard that Moiron had again been called to the
emperor's attention on account of his exemplary conduct in the prison
at Toulon and was now employed as a servant by the director of the
penitentiary.
“For a long time I heard nothing more of this man. But about two
years ago, while I was spending a summer near Lille with my cousin, De
Larielle, I was informed one evening, just as we were sitting down to
dinner, that a young priest wished to speak to me.
“I had him shown in and he begged me to come to a dying man who desired
absolutely to see me. This had often happened to me in my long career as
a magistrate, and, although I had been set aside by the Republic, I was
still often called upon in similar circumstances. I therefore followed
the priest, who led me to a miserable little room in a large tenement
house.
“There I found a strange-looking man on a bed of straw, sitting with
his back against the wall, in order to get his breath. He was a sort of
skeleton, with dark, gleaming eyes.
“As soon as he saw me, he murmured: 'Don't you recognize me?'
“'No.'
“'I am Moiron.'
“I felt a shiver run through me, and I asked 'The schoolmaster?'
“'Yes.'
“'How do you happen to be here?'
“'The story is too long. I haven't time to tell it. I was going to die
--and that priest was brought to me--and as I knew that you were here
I sent for you. It is to you that I wish to confess--since you were the
one who once saved my life.'
“His hands clutched the straw of his bed through the sheet and he
continued in a hoarse, forcible and low tone: 'You see--I owe you the
truth--I owe it to you--for it must be told to some one before I leave
this earth.
“'It is I who killed the children--all of them. I did it--for revenge!
“'Listen. I was an honest, straightforward, pure man--adoring God--this
good Father--this Master who teaches us to love, and not the false God,
the executioner, the robber, the murderer who governs the earth. I had
never done any harm; I had never committed an evil act. I was as good as
it is possible to be, monsieur.
“'I married and had children, and I loved them as no father or mother
ever loved their children. I lived only for them. I was wild about them.
All three of them died! Why? why? What had I done? I was rebellious,
furious; and suddenly my eyes were opened as if I were waking up out of
a sleep. I understood that God is bad. Why had He killed my children?
I opened my eyes and saw that He loves to kill. He loves only that,
monsieur. He gives life but to destroy it! God, monsieur, is a murderer!
He needs death every day. And He makes it of every variety, in order the
better to be amused. He has invented sickness and accidents in order
to give Him diversion all through the months and the years; and when He
grows tired of this, He has epidemics, the plague, cholera, diphtheria,
smallpox, everything possible! But this does not satisfy Him; all these
things are too similar; and so from time to time He has wars, in order
to see two hundred thousand soldiers killed at once, crushed in blood
and in the mud, blown apart, their arms and legs torn off, their heads
smashed by bullets, like eggs that fall on the ground.
“'But this is not all. He has made men who eat each other. And then, as
men become better than He, He has made beasts, in order to see men hunt
them, kill them and eat them. That is not all. He has made tiny little
animals which live one day, flies who die by the millions in one hour,
ants which we are continually crushing under our feet, and so many, many
others that we cannot even imagine. And all these things are continually
killing each other and dying. And the good Lord looks on and is amused,
for He sees everything, the big ones as well as the little ones, those
who are in the drops of water and those in the other firmaments. He
watches them and is amused. Wretch!
“'Then, monsieur, I began to kill children played a trick on Him. He
did not get those. It was not He, but I! And I would have killed many
others, but you caught me. There!
“'I was to be executed. I! How He would have laughed! Then I asked for a
priest, and I lied. I confessed to him. I lied and I lived.
“'Now, all is over. I can no longer escape from Him. I no longer fear
Him, monsieur; I despise Him too much.'
“This poor wretch was frightful to see as he lay there gasping, opening
an enormous mouth in order to utter words which could scarcely be heard,
his breath rattling, picking at his bed and moving his thin legs under a
grimy sheet as though trying to escape.
“Oh! The mere remembrance of it is frightful!
“'You have nothing more to say?' I asked.
“'No, monsieur.'
“'Then, farewell.'
“'Farewell, monsieur, till some day----'
“I turned to the ashen-faced priest, whose dark outline stood out
against the wall, and asked: 'Are you going to stay here, Monsieur
l'Abbe?'
“'Yes.'
“Then the dying man sneered: 'Yes, yes, He sends His vultures to the
corpses.'
“I had had enough of this. I opened the door and ran away.”