Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 1.djvu/130

, to procure the escape of the said Sebastien Boitel, from the house of confinement, called St Peter's Tower, at Lille, where he was confined; and particularly the said Brice Coquelle, with having, by means of this forgery, allowed the escape of the prisoner entrusted to his care, as jailor of the said house of confinement. All the charges, together with the necessary papers, would have been sent to the undersigned to be submitted to a new indictment, but on the examination of the said papers it was discovered that the said Jean François Grouard, detained in the house of confinement, called St Peter's Tower, implicated in the charge, had been omitted by the director of the beforementioned jury, whereupon, on the orders of the commissioner of the executive power, and by virtue of an order of the twenty-fourth Fructidor, a decree was issued against the said Grouard, and thereupon, after having heard a decree of sentence, as being concerned in the said forging; that no plaintiff appearing in the two days of the remand of the accused to the house of confinement in this division, the undersigned proceeded with the examination of the papers relative to the causes of the detention and arrest of all the accused. That having corroborated the charges of the crimes of which they were respectively accused, it was found that the offences were of a nature to deserve severe and notorious punishment, and consequently, having consulted the commissioner of the executive power, he has this day passed a decree, by which he has ordered all the said defendants before a special jury of accusation, and by virtue of the decree, the undersigned has drawn up the present act of accusation to be, after the formalities required by law, presented to the said jury:

"The undersigned declares, that m consequence, there resulted from the examination of the papers, and particularly the indictment drawn up by the clerk of the tribunal of peace of the fourth section of the commune of Lille, the nineteenth of Nivose last, and