Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  better have answered the purpose. But the language of the evidence

  speaks of the strip in question as 'found around the neck, fitting

  loosely, and secured with a hard knot.' These words are sufficiently

  vague, but differ materially from those of Le Commerciel. The slip

  was eighteen inches wide, and therefore, although of muslin, would

  form a strong band when folded or rumpled longitudinally. And thus

  rumpled it was discovered. My inference is this. The solitary

  murderer, having borne the corpse, for some distance, (whether from

  the thicket or elsewhere) by means of the bandage hitched around its

  middle, found the weight, in this mode of procedure, too much for his

  strength. He resolved to drag the burthen - the evidence goes to show

  that it wasdragged. With this object in view, it became necessary to

  attach something like a rope to one of the extremities. It could be

  best attached about the neck, where the head would prevent its

  slipping off. And, now, the murderer bethought him, unquestionably,

  of the bandage about the loins. He would have used this, but for its

  volution about the corpse, the hitch which embarrassed it, and the

  reflection that it had not been 'torn off' from the garment. It was

  easier to tear a new slip from the petticoat. He tore it, made it

  fast about the neck, and so dragged his victim to the brink of the

  river. That this 'bandage,' only attainable with trouble and delay,

  and but imperfectly answering its purpose - that this bandage was

  employed at all, demonstrates that the necessity for its employment

  sprang from circumstances arising at a period when the handkerchief

  was no longer attainable -- that is to say, arising, as we have

  imagined, after quitting the thicket, (if the thicket it was), and on

  the road between the thicket and the river.

  "But the evidence, you will say, of Madame Deluc, (!) points

  especially to the presence of a gang, in the vicinity of the thicket,

  at or about the epoch of the murder. This I grant. I doubt if there

  were not a dozen gangs, such as described by Madame Deluc, in and

  about the vicinity of the BarriΦre du Roule at or about the period of

  this tragedy. But the gang which has drawn upon itself the pointed

  animadversion, although the somewhat tardy and very suspicious

  evidence of Madame Deluc, is the only gang which is represented by

  that honest and scrupulous old lady as having eaten her cakes and

  swallowed her brandy, without putting themselves to the trouble of

  making her payment. Et hinc illµ irµ?

  "But what is the precise evidence of Madame Deluc? 'A gang of

  miscreants made their appearance, behaved boisterously, ate and drank

  without making payment, followed in the route of the young man and

  girl, returned to the inn about dusk, and recrossed the river as if

  in great haste.'

  "Now this 'great haste' very possibly seemed greater haste in the

  eyes of Madame Deluc, since she dwelt lingeringly and lamentingly

  upon her violated cakes and ale - cakes and ale for which she might

  still have entertained a faint hope of compensation. Why, otherwise,

  since it was about dusk, should she make a point of the haste? It is

  no cause for wonder, surely, that even a gang of blackguards should

  make haste to get home, when a wide river is to be crossed in small

  boats, when storm impends, and when night approaches.

  "I say approaches; for the night had not yet arrived. It was only

  about dusk that the indecent haste of these 'miscreants' offended the

  sober eyes of Madame Deluc. But we are told that it was upon this

  very evening that Madame Deluc, as well as her eldest son, 'heard the

  screams of a female in the vicinity of the inn.' And in what words

  does Madame Deluc designate the period of the evening at which these

  screams were heard? 'It was soon after dark,' she says. But 'soon

  after dark,' is, at least, dark; and'about dusk' is as certainly

  daylight. Thus it is abundantly clear that the gang quitted the

  BarriΦre du Roule prior to the screams overheard (?) by Madame Deluc.

  And although, in all the many reports of the evidence, the relative

  expressions in question are distinctly and invariably employed just

  as I have employed them in this conversation with yourself, no notice

  whatever of the gross discrepancy has, as yet, been taken by any of

  the public journals, or by any of the Myrmidons of police.

  "I shall add but one to the arguments against a gang; but this one

  has, to my own understanding at least, a weight altogether

  irresistible. Under the circumstances of large reward offered, and

  full pardon to any King's evidence, it is not to be imagined, for a

  moment, that some member of a gang of low ruffians, or of any body of

  men, would not long ago have betrayed his accomplices. Each one of a

  gang so placed, is not so much greedy of reward, or anxious for

  escape, as fearful of betrayal. He betrays eagerly and early that he

  may not himself be betrayed. That the secret has not been divulged,

  is the very best of proof that it is, in fact, a secret. The horrors

  of this dark deed are known only to one, or two, living human beings,

  and to God.

  "Let us sum up now the meagre yet certain fruits of our long

  analysis. We have attained the idea either of a fatal accident under

  the roof of Madame Deluc, or of a murder perpetrated, in the thicket

  at the BarriΦre du Roule, by a lover, or at least by an intimate and

  secret associate of the deceased. This associate is of swarthy

  complexion. This complexion, the 'hitch' in the bandage, and the

  'sailor's knot,' with which the bonnet-ribbon is tied, point to a

  seaman. His companionship with the deceased, a gay, but not an abject

  young girl, designates him as above the grade of the common sailor.

  Here the well written and urgent communications to the journals are

  much in the way of corroboration. The circumstance of the first

  elopement, as mentioned by Le Mercurie, tends to blend the idea of

  this seaman with that of the 'naval officer' who is first known to

  have led the unfortunate into crime.

  "And here, most fitly, comes the consideration of the continued

  absence of him of the dark complexion. Let me pause to observe that

  the complexion of this man is dark and swarthy; it was no common

  swarthiness which constituted the sole point of remembrance, both as

  regards Valence and Madame Deluc. But why is this man absent? Was he

  murdered by the gang? If so, why are there only traces of the

  assassinated girl? The scene of the two outrages will naturally be

  supposed identical. And where is his corpse? The assassins would most

  probably have disposed of both in the same way. But it may be said

  that this man lives, and is deterred from making himself known,

  through dread of being charged with the murder. This consideration

  might be supposed to operate upon him now - at this late period -

  since it has been given in evidence that he was seen with Marie - but

  it would have had no force at the period of the deed. The first

  impulse of an innocent man would have been to announce th
e outrage,

  and to aid in identifying the ruffians. This policy would have

  suggested. He had been seen with the girl. He had crossed the river

  with her in an open ferry-boat. The denouncing of the assassins would

  have appeared, even to an idiot, the surest and sole means of

  relieving himself from suspicion. We cannot suppose him, on the night

  of the fatal Sunday, both innocent himself and incognizant of an

  outrage committed. Yet only under such circumstances is it possible

  to imagine that he would have failed, if alive, in the denouncement

  of the assassins.

  "And what means are ours, of attaining the truth? We shall find these

  means multiplying and gathering distinctness as we proceed. Let us

  sift to the bottom this affair of the first elopement. Let us know

  the full history of 'the officer,' with his present circumstances,

  and his whereabouts at the precise period of the murder. Let us

  carefully compare with each other the various communications sent to

  the evening paper, in which the object was to inculpate a gang. This

  done, let us compare these communications, both as regards style and

  MS., with those sent to the morning paper, at a previous period, and

  insisting so vehemently upon the guilt of Mennais. And, all this

  done, let us again compare these various communications with the

  known MSS. of the officer. Let us endeavor to ascertain, by repeated

  questionings of Madame Deluc and her boys, as well as of the omnibus

  driver, Valence, something more of the personal appearance and

  bearing of the 'man of dark complexion.' Queries, skilfully directed,

  will not fail to elicit, from some of these parties, information on

  this particular point (or upon others) - information which the

  parties themselves may not even be aware of possessing. And let us

  now trace the boatpicked up by the bargeman on the morning of Monday

  the twenty-third of June, and which was removed from the

  barge-office, without the cognizance of the officer in attendance,

  and without the rudder, at some period prior to the discovery of the

  corpse. With a proper caution and perseverance we shall infallibly

  trace this boat; for not only can the bargeman who picked it up

  identify it, but the rudder is at hand. The rudder of a sail-boat

  would not have been abandoned, without inquiry, by one altogether at

  ease in heart. And here let me pause to insinuate a question. There

  was no advertisement of the picking up of this boat. It was silently

  taken to the barge-office, and as silently removed. But its owner or

  employer - how happened he, at so early a period as Tuesday morning,

  to be informed, without the agency of advertisement, of the locality

  of the boat taken up on Monday, unless we imagine some connexion with

  the navy - some personal permanent connexion leading to cognizance of

  its minute in interests - its petty local news?

  "In speaking of the lonely assassin dragging his burden to the shore,

  I have already suggested the probability of his availing himself of a

  boat. Now we are to understand that Marie RogΩt was precipitated from

  a boat. This would naturally have been the case. The corpse could not

  have been trusted to the shallow waters of the shore. The peculiar

  marks on the back and shoulders of the victim tell of the bottom ribs

  of a boat. That the body was found without weight is also

  corroborative of the idea. If thrown from the shore a weight would

  have been attached. We can only account for its absence by supposing

  the murderer to have neglected the precaution of supplying himself

  with it before pushing off. In the act of consigning the corpse to

  the water, he would unquestionably have noticed his oversight; but

  then no remedy would have been at hand. Any risk would have been

  preferred to a return to that accursed shore. Having rid himself of

  his ghastly charge, the murderer would have hastened to the city.

  There, at some obscure wharf, he would have leaped on land. But the

  boat - would he have secured it? He would have been in too great

  haste for such things as securing a boat. Moreover, in fastening it

  to the wharf, he would have felt as if securing evidence against

  himself. His natural thought would have been to cast from him, as far

  as possible, all that had held connection with his crime. He would

  not only have fled from the wharf, but he would not have permitted

  the boat to remain. Assuredly he would have cast it adrift. Let us

  pursue our fancies. - In the morning, the wretch is stricken with

  unutterable horror at finding that the boat has been picked up and

  detained at a locality which he is in the daily habit of frequenting

  - at a locality, perhaps, which his duty compels him to frequent. The

  next night, without daring to ask for the rudder, he removes it. Now

  where is that rudderless boat? Let it be one of our first purposes to

  discover. With the first glimpse we obtain of it, the dawn of our

  success shall begin. This boat shall guide us, with a rapidity which

  will surprise even ourselves, to him who employed it in the midnight

  of the fatal Sabbath. Corroboration will rise upon corroboration, and

  the murderer will be traced."

  [For reasons which we shall not specify, but which to many readers

  will appear obvious, we have taken the liberty of here omitting, from

  the MSS. placed in our hands, such portion as details the following

  up of the apparently slight clew obtained by Dupin. We feel it

  advisable only to state, in brief, that the result desired was

  brought to pass; and that the Prefect fulfilled punctually, although

  with reluctance, the terms of his compact with the Chevalier. Mr.

  Poe's article concludes with the following words. - Eds. {*23}]

  It will be understood that I speak of coincidences and no more. What

  I have said above upon this topic must suffice. In my own heart there

  dwells no faith in prµter-nature. That Nature and its God are two, no

  man who thinks, will deny. That the latter, creating the former, can,

  at will, control or modify it, is also unquestionable. I say "at

  will;" for the question is of will, and not, as the insanity of logic

  has assumed, of power. It is not that the Deity cannot modify his

  laws, but that we insult him in imagining a possible necessity for

  modification. In their origin these laws were fashioned to embrace

  all contingencies which could lie in the Future. With God all is Now.

  I repeat, then, that I speak of these things only as of coincidences.

  And farther: in what I relate it will be seen that between the fate

  of the unhappy Mary Cecilia Rogers, so far as that fate is known, and

  the fate of one Marie RogΩt up to a certain epoch in her history,

  there has existed a parallel in the contemplation of whose wonderful

  exactitude the reason becomes embarrassed. I say all this will be

  seen. But let it not for a moment be supposed that, in proceeding

  with the sad narrative of Marie from the epoch just mentioned, and in

  tracing to its dΘnouement the mystery which enshrouded her, it is my

  covert design to hint at an extension of the parallel, or even to


  suggest that the measures adopted in Paris for the discovery of the

  assassin of a grisette, or measures founded in any similar

  ratiocination, would produce any similar result.

  For, in respect to the latter branch of the supposition, it should be

  considered that the most trifling variation in the facts of the two

  cases might give rise to the most important miscalculations, by

  diverting thoroughly the two courses of events; very much as, in

  arithmetic, an error which, in its own individuality, may be

  inappreciable, produces, at length, by dint of multiplication at all

  points of the process, a result enormously at variance with truth.

  And, in regard to the former branch, we must not fail to hold in view

  that the very Calculus of Probabilities to which I have referred,

  forbids all idea of the extension of the parallel: - forbids it with

  a positiveness strong and decided just in proportion as this parallel

  has already been long-drawn and exact. This is one of those anomalous

  propositions which, seemingly appealing to thought altogether apart

  from the mathematical, is yet one which only the mathematician can

  fully entertain. Nothing, for example, is more difficult than to

  convince the merely general reader that the fact of sixes having been

  thrown twice in succession by a player at dice, is sufficient cause

  for betting the largest odds that sixes will not be thrown in the

  third attempt. A suggestion to this effect is usually rejected by the

  intellect at once. It does not appear that the two throws which have

  been completed, and which lie now absolutely in the Past, can have

  influence upon the throw which exists only in the Future. The chance

  for throwing sixes seems to be precisely as it was at any ordinary

  time - that is to say, subject only to the influence of the various

  other throws which may be made by the dice. And this is a reflection

  which appears so exceedingly obvious that attempts to controvert it

  are received more frequently with a derisive smile than with anything

  like respectful attention. The error here involved - a gross error

  redolent of mischief - I cannot pretend to expose within the limits