https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/files/original/50e75ecf83299afc580ac7e235f98516.jpg c347086bfd0d0fb0dbf4bf98f08c53b8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Edmond de la Pommerais Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Public Domain: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource French Execution Ballads Execution Ballad Set to tune of... Melody to which ballad is set. <a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/1160">Fualdès</a> Transcription Transcription of ballad lyrics Français! écoutez l'histoire Du lamentable forfait Que je chante en ces couplets Pour en tracer la mémoire; Qui m'eut dit qu'un médecin Ce serait un assassin? Autrefois, par la Morphine Des victimes de Castaing Les derniers jours sont éteints, Mais c'est la Digitaline, Un poison qui disparait, Qui plait à LA POMMERAIS. Ce scélérat détestable, Etant de la Faculté, Usait de la faculté D'empoisonner son semblable; Il choisissait pour clients Ses amis et ses parents. Le drôle était très chimiste, Il connaissait les poisons, Il en avait à foison Ainsi qu' des ch'mis' de batiste, Et l'on dit que son tailleur Etait aussi des meilleurs. Comme il était fort habile, Un jour, il prit l'omnibus Pour y chercher du quibus En épousant un' jeun' fille! Comment fit-il le surplus? Cela devient un rébus. A Madam' DUBEZY mre La Pommerais a déplus, A sa fille il a plus plu; Mme il a tant su lui plaire Que d'son coeur il fut l'élu Et qu'leur hymen fut conclu. Dans sa perfidie amère Pour tromper en même temps Par un faux apport d'argent Son épouse et le notaire, Il empruntait des actions; C'est une mauvaise action! Par contrat de mariage Etant séparé de biens Il n'avait pas les moyens De faire son gaspillage; Sa bell' mer' le gênait fort. Alors qu'arriva sa mort! De la pauvre belle--mêre Vous jugez l'étonnement, Elle a des vomissements, Couty dit: que c'est des glaires; Puis, quand le docteur viendra Il dira - C'est l' choléra! Quel événement horrible Au milieu d'un gai repas; Comme on ne s'en doutait pas, La secousse fut terrible! Car du diner que l'on sert Cette mort fut le dessert! Il s'enfuit dans le mystère; Par cette mort héritant De cinquante mille francs, Il ne fait pas d'inventaire; On dit qu'en voyant l' cercueil Il n'eut pas la larme à l'oeil! Comme il était joli homme, Bien cravaté, bien frisé, Et tous les matins rasé, Il en abusait en somme, Pour mieux troubler le repos De madam' veuve de Pauw. Madam' de Pauw étant peintre, Il lui conta des couleurs, Et, pour calmer ses douleurs, Il employait l'art de feindre, Car il connaissait cet art Aussi bien que Dumollard. Un jour, il se rend chez elle, Et lui dit: de s'assurer; Puis, pour mieux le rassurer Et pour stimuler son zèle: 'De l'argent nous toucherons, Et nous le partagerons!' 'Tu te diras très-malade, Les assureurs trembleront, Ta mort ils redouteront, Et paieront d'un air maussade Pour dédit, argent comptant, Au moins cent vingt mille francs.' Ell' se rend à l'évidence, Et, de là, chez l'assureur, Pour consommer son malheur Et commander l'assurance. Elle aurait pu à la fois Lui commander son convoi. Elle en avait peu l'envie, Hélas, car ell' lisait là, En tête de son contrat: Assurance sur la vie. - C'était bien plutôt encor Son assurance de mort. LA POMMERAIS, dans sa ruse, Se fait passer le contrat Dont lui seul héritera, Et voyez comme il abuse; Il tue Madame de Pauw! Il avait tous les defauts. Mais alors tout se découvre, Et l'on voit la main de Dieu Lorsque le docteur Tardieu, Dans la victime qu'il ouvre, Trouv' le poison, et l' moyen D' tuer un lapin et un chien. C'est en vain que la défense D'un illustre défenseur Veut excuser ce farceur, V'là l' châtiment qui commence! L'assasin d' madame de Pauw N'est pas blanchi par Lachaud. MORALITé C'était presque un rien qui vaille; Aussi ce LA POMMERAIS, Le jury l'a condamné; Tant mieux! fallait pas qu'y aille! Où son crime l'a mené, Voilà c'que c'est! c'est bien fait! SECONDE PARTIE Le châtiment dut attendre, La Cour d' cassation jugea; LA POMMERAIS n'y trouva, Pour sùr, pas m'sieur DUPIN tendre: Un avocat général N'est pas tendre en général! Language Language ballad is printed in French Date Date of ballad 1864 Synopsis Account of events that are the subject of the ballad This complainte seems to be written after the judgement but before the execution. Pommerais, a French physician, murdered his mother-in-law and his former mistress in the 1860s. He persuaded the latter to fake an illness in order to collect an insurance settlement, and to write a letter describing her phony problems; after which he poisoned her with digitalis. From Executed Today: At dawn this morning before the walls of La Roquette, a homeopath convicted of poisoning his mistress was beheaded for one of Paris's most sensational crime dramas of the 1860äóés. The ill-fated Madame de Pauw had fallen suddenly ill and expired in the doctor's care; means and opportunity were obvious, and motive readily adduced from the handsome life insurance policies of the expired woman. La Pommerais was convicted on this basis of killing his paramour in the midst of a farcical insurance scam, with noted forensic scientist Ambroise Tardieu establishing to the court's satisfaction the presence of the poison digitalin. (One can read a detailed 1865 critique of Tardieu's conclusions and testimony, a reminder that the criminal justice system's struggles with the uses and limitations of forensic science are a longstanding concern. This (if one takes it as such) murder, which reads in retrospection like a classic in the genre of comedic criminality, might have been the perfect crime absent an obvious pecuniary design: the death was put down to a routine cause and only scrutinized when an anonymous tip and/or the suspicious insurance adjusters led the authorities to exhume the body 13 days after burial.) American newsman George Alfred Townsend chanced to be abroad in Paris on this occasion, and recorded the scene as äóìthousands of Parisians bent their steps the night before the executionäó in Campaigns of a Non-combatant äóî Notes Additional information related to the ballad pamphlet or related events From Townsend's description of crowds at Pommerais execution: Venders of galeaux, muscles, and fruit were out in force. The äóìSavage of Paris,äó clothed in his war plumes, paint, greaves, armlets, and moccasins, was selling razors by gaslight; here and there ballad-mongers were singing the latest songs, and boys, with chairs to let, elbowed into the intricacies of the crowd, which amused itself all the night long by smoking, drinking, and hallooing. At last, the mass became formidable in numbers, covering every inch of ground within sight of the prison, and many soldiers and sergeants de ville, mounted and on foot, pushed through the dense mass to restore order. [later] They threw a cloth upon the carcass and carried away the pannier; the guillotine disappeared beneath the surrounding heads; loud exclamations and acclaims burst from the multitude; the venders of trash and edibles resumed their cheerful cries, and a hearse dashed through the mass, carrying the warm body of the guillotined to the cemetery of Mt. Parnasse. In thirty minutes, newsboys were hawking the scene of the execution upon all the quays and bridges. In every cafe of Paris some witness was telling the incidents of the show to breathless listeners, and the crowds which stopped to see the funeral procession of the great Marshal Pelissier divided their attention between the warrior and the poisoner, äóî the latter obtaining the preponderance of fame. Rashomon-like, not all observers concurred as to the event's quiet solemnity. The New York Times reported that [t]he language of those non-official persons who assembled to witness this expiation of a great crime was brutal to the last decree. They hissed and hooted as the convict was about to mount the ladder, and were loudest in their brutal demonstrations when the crucifix was pressed to his lips. The blade had scarcely severed his head from his body, when a rush was made to do violence to the trunk. The troops were obliged to interfere, and had some difficulty in repelling the crowd, which was excited by the sight of a äóÖgentleman criminal' to a pitch of savage ferocity äóé The Pays, in noticing this expiation of a great crime, states that the crowd retired in silence. But I am in a position to affirm that the contrary was the case. Printing Location Location the ballad pamphlet was printed. Paris Dépot Central chez M. Ch. Egrot, Libraire on reverse: Paris - imp. Dubois et Edouard Vert, rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth, 29. Method of Punishment Method of punishment described in the ballad. guillotine Crime(s) Crime or crimes for which the person in the ballad is convicted. murder Gender Gender of the person being executed. Male Age Age of the person condemned in the ballad. 27 Execution Location Location the condemned was executed. Paris, la Roquette URL <a href="http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pommerais-edmond.htm" target="_blank">Murderpedia record<br /></a><a href="http://www.executedtoday.com/2009/06/09/1864-doctor-edmond-desire-couty-de-la-pommerais-poisoner/" target="_blank">Executed Today article</a><br /><br /> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Double complainte du Sieur Edmond Couty de la Pommerais sur l'air de Fualdès guillotine Male murder