As no notice was taken of this outrage, he was emboldened to make the church of St. Germain once more the scene of his exploits. It is necessary to mention that, at the period in question, almost the whole population of Paris was labouring under the epidemic madness of the famous Mississippi scheme. An ordinance relative to bank notes had just been issued by the government, and a hawker was crying it for sale in the street. From this man the count purchased a copy of the ordinance, and gave him a crown for it, on condition of his placing a large stone at the great door of the church. On this stone De Horn mounted, and while high mass was being celebrated within the building, he thundered out the anthem which is sung when the dead are committed to the ground, and he concluded by proclaiming the burial of bank notes. This second insult to public decency was too much to be borne; the priest laid his complaint before the government, and the offender was conveyed to the Bastile. In the course of a few days the youthful profligate was set at liberty. But his brief imprisonment had worked no beneficial change upon him. It seems, indeed, to have had a contrary effect. So slight a chastisement perhaps induced him to calculate upon impunity for greater crimes. A very short time elapsed before he dipped his hands in blood. In the sanguinary deed which brought him to destruction, he had two accomplices, Laurent de Mille, a half-pay captain, and Lestang, a youth of twenty, the son of a Flemish banker. Every Frenchman, who could any how obtain the means of speculating, was then busily engaged in the Rue Quincampoix, which was the Parisian stock exchange. De Horn, too, was there; but his speculation was of a more diabolical nature than that which engaged the multitude. Having picked out a rich stock-jobber, who was known to carry about with him a large sum in notes, he lured him by pretending to be in possession of shares, which he was willing to sell considerably under the market price. These bargains were usually concluded in a tavern; and, accordingly, De Horn and his associates proceeded with their unsuspecting victim to a house of that kind in the Rue de Venise. There he stabbed the unfortunate stock-jobber, and robbed him of his pocket-book. He then, with his accomplices, leaped out of the window, and endeavoured to make his escape. Lestang got off, but the count and the half-pay captain were less fortunate; they were overtaken, and lodged in prison.