A Book of Remarkable CriminalsIrving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
History
A Book of Remarkable Criminals
Irving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb)
Criminals -- Biography
How far the President was justified in thus inverting the parts played
by the husband and wife in the crime must be a matter of opinion. In his
volume of Souvenirs M. Berard des Glajeux modifies considerably the view
which he perhaps felt it his duty to express in his interrogatory of
Gabrielle Fenayrou. He describes her as soft and flexible by nature, the
repentant slave of her husband, seeking to atone for her wrong to him
by helping him in his revenge. The one feature in the character of
Mme. Fenayrou that seems most clearly demonstrated is its absolute
insensibility under any circumstances whatsoever.
The submissive Lucien had little to say for himself, nor could any
motive for joining in the murder beyond a readiness to oblige his
brother be suggested. In his Souvenirs M. Berard des Glajeux states that
to-day it would seem to be clearly established that Lucien acted blindly
at the bidding of his sister-in-law, "qu'il avait beaucoup aimee et qui
n'avait pas ete cruelle a son egard."
The evidence recapitulated for the most part the facts already set
out. The description of Mme. Fenayrou by the gentleman on the sporting
newspaper who had succeeded Aubert in her affections is, under the
circumstances, interesting: "She was sad, melancholy; I questioned
her, and she told me she was married to a coarse man who neglected her,
failed to understand her, and had never loved her. I became her lover
but, except on a few occasions, our relations were those of good
friends. She was a woman with few material wants, affectionate,
expansive, an idealist, one who had suffered much and sought from
without a happiness her marriage had never brought her. I believe her to
have been the blind tool of her husband."
From motives of delicacy the evidence of this gentleman was read in
his presence; he was not examined orally. His eulogy of his mistress
is loyal. Against it may be set the words of the Procureur de la
Republique, M. Delegorgue: "Never has a more thorough-paced, a more
hideous monster been seated in the dock of an assize court. This woman
is the personification of falsehood, depravity, cowardice and treachery.
She is worthy of the supreme penalty." The jury were not of this
opinion. They preferred to regard Mme. Fenayrou as playing a secondary
part to that of her husband. They accorded in both her case and that
of Lucien extenuating circumstances. The woman was sentenced to penal
servitude for life, Lucien to seven years. Fenayrou, for whose conduct
the jury could find no extenuation, was condemned to death.
It is the custom in certain assize towns for the President, after
pronouncing sentence, to visit a prisoner who had been ordered for
execution. M. Berard des Glajeux describes his visit to Fenayrou at
Versailles. He was already in prison dress, sobbing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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