Even before the days of tabloid journalism, the public heard the grisly details of bizarre crimes of the day. One such crime occurred in the 1670s.
CHILD BRIDE—OR NO?
Although the legal age for marriage at the time was 12, most families didn’t encourage their children to marry at such a young age. One person who seemed to have a different opinion on the subject was Jacques Bertault, who had four daughters he was apparently anxious to rid himself of. Two of his older daughters were both married young, at age 12 and 14, and he wasted no time in arranging a marriage for one of his other young daughters, Elisabeth “Isabelle” Therese. He promised her to a man named Charles Denart dit Laplume when she was just 10 years old. But it seems the man returned to France before he could fulfill his marital obligation. The engagement was annulled and Bertault began searching for another husband for his daughter.
He settled on 29-year old Julien Latouche, a man who seemed to have a bright future. Julien had arranged to work for five years on a farm, which would give him time to save money to buy a good-sized farm of his own. When Bertault told Isabelle about her engagement, she was very unhappy, telling her father she did not like the man. Isabelle’s mother, Gillette, also had concerns and let her husband know she was opposed to the marriage. But Bertault claimed his right as “master” of the house to make the decision and the marriage took place when Isabelle was 12.
NOT A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
It soon became apparent after the marriage that it had been a dreadful mistake. Julien turned out to be a lazy, uncaring, and abusive man that couldn’t provide the basic necessities for himself or his bride, and also often beat her. Her parents tried to provide them both with food and resources, but it’s not hard to imagine that both Gillette and Bertault felt guilty about the situation. If Bertault’s goal in marrying off his daughter was to have one less mouth to feed, ironically he now had gained one instead.
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But this is when the story becomes bizarre. At the time, there were some legal actions that a woman could take to separate from a husband who abused her. But Isabelle didn’t do this, and her parents didn’t advise her to. After seeing their daughter so beaten and abused, and hearing Isabelle say that she wished Julien were dead, they decided to make that wish come true.
THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE
Perhaps Gillette saw some resemblance between the pigs on the Bertault farm and Isabelle’s husband, but something inspired her to try and poison Julien with a plant that had killed some of their pigs. She took four or five leaves from the plant and added it to a flavorful soup she had cooked. The family watched anxiously as Julien ate all of his soup to the last drop…without a single ill effect.
The next day, Isabelle’s parents visited Isabelle and Julien and Gillette entered the barn where Julien was doing something it seemed he rarely did: working. Gillette supposedly remarked, “Well there’s a nice son-in-law,” sarcastically, and Julien replied equally sarcastically. In a burst of anger, Gillette picked up a hoe and struck Julien in the head with it. It did little damage to him, but caused him to respond in kind, and he attacked Gillette. Gillette screamed for her husband and daughter to help her. Bertault entered the barn and grabbed the hoe from Gillette and repeatedly struck Julien with it while Gillette screamed “Kill him! Kill him!”
SELF-DEFENSE OR RETRIBUTION?
The perpetrators of Julien’s murder didn’t conceal their crime very well. They dragged out Julien’s body and threw it in a nearby river. Neighbors had heard the commotion and traveled to the barn where they saw the horrific sight of blood everywhere, and even some teeth. They had also recognized the voices of Isabelle’s parents. After a brief investigation, Isabelle and her parents were arrested for Julien’s murder.
During the trial, Gillette and Bertault confessed their role in the crime. They both claimed that Isabelle was only a bystander. Isabelle claimed that Gillette was defending herself against Julien’s attack. Unfortunately, the court decided that all three were guilty of murder. Gillette and Bertault were executed and just as she had watched the death of her husband, she was forced to watch her parents’ execution. At the time, execution involved breaking the person’s arms and legs prior to strangulation on a wooden cross. Fortunately for the Bertaults, members of the court were compassionate, and the couple was strangled before their limbs were broken.
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What happened to Isabelle afterward isn’t clear. Some historical accounts say she remarried twice, others just once. Some say she had children by Julien, others that she was childless. One thing is clear: she lived with the notoriety of the murder for the rest of her life.
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ANOTHER URBAN LEGEND
LEGEND: Late one night in 2004, RCMP Constable Bill Wisen responded to a report of a motorist stuck in the snow near Medicine Hat, Alberta. With his cruiser’s lights flashing, Wisen parked behind the running car, got out, and approached it. Peering in the window, he saw an older gentleman passed out at the wheel next to an empty bottle of vodka. Wisen knocked on the window, waking up the man, whose name was Robert Duport. Seeing the flashing lights in his rear view mirror, Duport hit the gas pedal and tried to get away. The wheels were spinning, but the car wasn’t going anywhere. Duport didn’t realize that, though. All his drunken eyes could see was his speedometer htting 30 kph and rising. Amused, Constable Wisen started running in place right next to the car. When Duport looked out at him, he panicked and accelerated to “50,” but the Mountie was still there running beside him! “Pull over!” yelled Wisen. The drunk man skidded to a “stop,” flopped out of the car, and gave himself up, saying, “Man, you guys are in good shape!”
HOW IT SPREAD: Variations of this tale go back to the late 1970s. This particular version supposedly came from an article in Toronto’s Globe and Mail (which we couldn’t locate). It shows up a lot on police blogs.
TRUTH: According to the Urban Legends website Snopes.com, there’s no evidence that this incident took place. As with the best urban legends, each retelling adds new details.
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