ese investigations is, that his father,
distressed by his misconduct, and despairing of ever seeing him mend his
ways, had him sent to a house of correction when he was fourteen years
old.

"Released at the end of eighteen months, he says he was bound out as
an apprentice, and soon learned his business well enough to support
himself. This last allegation, however, cannot be true; for four
witnesses, of whom one at least is of the same profession as Crochard,
declare that they have seen him at work, and that, if he ever was a
skilled mechanic, he is so no longer. Besides, he cannot have been long
at work; for he had been a year in prison again, when the revolution
of 1848 began. This fact he has himself stated to more than twenty-five
persons. But he has explained his imprisonment very differently; and
almost every witness has received a new version. One was told that he
had been sentenced for having stabbed one of his companions while drunk;
another, that it was for a row in a drinking-saloon; and a third, that
he was innocently involved with others in an attempt to rob a foreigner.

"The prosecution is, therefore, entitled to conclude fairly that
Crochard was sentenced simply as a thief.

"Set free soon after the revolution, he did not resume his profession,
but secured a place as machinist in a theatre on the boulevards. At the
end of three months he was turned off, because of 'improper conduct with
women,' according to one; or, if we believe another statement, because
he was accused of a robbery committed in one of the boxes.

"Unable to procure work, he engaged himself as groom in a wandering
circus, and thus travelled through the provinces. But at Marseilles,
he is wounded in a fight, and has to go to a hospital, where he remains
three months.

"After his return to Paris, he associated himself with a rope-dancer,
but was soon called upon to enter the army. He escaped conscription by
good luck. But the next year we find him negotiating with a dealer in
substitutes; and he confesses having sold himself purely from a mad
desire to possess fifteen hundred francs at once, and to be able to
spend them in debauch. Having successfully concealed his antecedents,
he is next admitted as substitute in the B Regiment of the line; but,
before a year had elapsed, his insubordination has caused him to be sent
to Africa as a punishment.

"He remained there sixteen months, and conducted himself well enough to
be incorporated