Read Online Practically Perfect by Dale Brawn - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Dale Brawn
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judicial district closest to where the crime was committed. In the case of Cloutier and Grondin, that meant their execution was to take place in the village of St. Joseph de Beauce. No one had ever been hanged there before, and its townspeople had no appetite for such a spectacle. By this time Cloutier did not care where she was put to death, she just wanted to get it over with. As usual, Grondin said nothing. When the provincial government was petitioned to change the location of the hanging, it agreed to do so: the couple was to hang in the courtyard of Montreal’s Bordeaux Jail.
Grondin went first. A little over sixteen minutes later his widow began her death walk. She was dropped at 7:10 a.m., and as her body was cut down a black flag was raised to half mast. The tolling bells of the city’s Catholic Churches brought to an end the lives of two lovers who, with a little more patience, may have gotten away with murder.
6
The Two Rolands
Love, booze, and one too many suicides are the themes of the two stories in this chapter. Both are set in the province of Quebec. Sadly, four people died, three of whom were women. In the first tale a killer got away with murder until his lover was overcome by guilt and committed suicide. The police thought it unlikely that a man and wife would each take their own lives, and it was their reopened investigation that sent her lover to the gallows. The second story is all about brutality involving a woman who would do anything for her man. That included killing his wife.
Roland Asselin: Fifty-Five Weeks between Murders
Ulric Gauthier was a big man in St. Telesphore, a small Quebec town located just west of Montreal. The large garage-man was one of the community’s most prosperous business persons, and drank with gusto. His stentorian voice, steeped in liquor, was often heard echoing down the town’s main street. But he died quietly, or at least as quietly as someone who shot himself can die. After Gauthier’s death was ruled a suicide, everyone seemed to forget about him — everyone, that is, except his widow. When she hanged herself three months after her husband died, the authorities thought it was one suicide too many, and reopened an investigation into the death of Ulric. That was bad news for Roland Asselin. One year and three weeks after he shot his lover’s husband in the side of the head, he was called to account.
If Roland Asselin did not have a lot of close friends, he was at least well known. When not driving his cab he often stopped by local garages to kill time. Asselin was at the business operated by Joseph Babineau so often that no one noticed when he began wandering around the garage, opening drawers and poking about. In retrospect, as soon as it was discovered that a revolver was missing, Asselin should have been considered the likely thief. That was not the case, however, and although Babineau noticed the gun was gone sometime in mid-1946, he neither reported it missing nor made an issue of its disappearance. But Asselin knew where it was. In fact, the taxi man made little attempt to hide it. Perhaps that is why he had it in his jacket pocket on November 9, when he picked Gauthier up for a night of drinking.
No one saw where the men went, but the next morning it was all too apparent where Gauthier ended up. His body was discovered lying on a dirt road a few miles out of town by an area farmer. The man slowed as he passed the corpse, but did not stop until he encountered some friends. The group returned to the remains, and despite the shock of finding the body of a man everyone knew, they could not help think that something was not right with the scene. Babineau’s missing revolver was lying on one side of Gauthier, and a bottle of beer on the other. Two things struck the men as odd: the fingers of the garage owner’s left hand were hooked into one of the pockets of his vest, as if he died in the middle of a casual conversation. And the men thought it unlikely
Grondin went first. A little over sixteen minutes later his widow began her death walk. She was dropped at 7:10 a.m., and as her body was cut down a black flag was raised to half mast. The tolling bells of the city’s Catholic Churches brought to an end the lives of two lovers who, with a little more patience, may have gotten away with murder.
6
The Two Rolands
Love, booze, and one too many suicides are the themes of the two stories in this chapter. Both are set in the province of Quebec. Sadly, four people died, three of whom were women. In the first tale a killer got away with murder until his lover was overcome by guilt and committed suicide. The police thought it unlikely that a man and wife would each take their own lives, and it was their reopened investigation that sent her lover to the gallows. The second story is all about brutality involving a woman who would do anything for her man. That included killing his wife.
Roland Asselin: Fifty-Five Weeks between Murders
Ulric Gauthier was a big man in St. Telesphore, a small Quebec town located just west of Montreal. The large garage-man was one of the community’s most prosperous business persons, and drank with gusto. His stentorian voice, steeped in liquor, was often heard echoing down the town’s main street. But he died quietly, or at least as quietly as someone who shot himself can die. After Gauthier’s death was ruled a suicide, everyone seemed to forget about him — everyone, that is, except his widow. When she hanged herself three months after her husband died, the authorities thought it was one suicide too many, and reopened an investigation into the death of Ulric. That was bad news for Roland Asselin. One year and three weeks after he shot his lover’s husband in the side of the head, he was called to account.
If Roland Asselin did not have a lot of close friends, he was at least well known. When not driving his cab he often stopped by local garages to kill time. Asselin was at the business operated by Joseph Babineau so often that no one noticed when he began wandering around the garage, opening drawers and poking about. In retrospect, as soon as it was discovered that a revolver was missing, Asselin should have been considered the likely thief. That was not the case, however, and although Babineau noticed the gun was gone sometime in mid-1946, he neither reported it missing nor made an issue of its disappearance. But Asselin knew where it was. In fact, the taxi man made little attempt to hide it. Perhaps that is why he had it in his jacket pocket on November 9, when he picked Gauthier up for a night of drinking.
No one saw where the men went, but the next morning it was all too apparent where Gauthier ended up. His body was discovered lying on a dirt road a few miles out of town by an area farmer. The man slowed as he passed the corpse, but did not stop until he encountered some friends. The group returned to the remains, and despite the shock of finding the body of a man everyone knew, they could not help think that something was not right with the scene. Babineau’s missing revolver was lying on one side of Gauthier, and a bottle of beer on the other. Two things struck the men as odd: the fingers of the garage owner’s left hand were hooked into one of the pockets of his vest, as if he died in the middle of a casual conversation. And the men thought it unlikely
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