Secretarial copy of a mémoire concerning the attack on Decroze, written in the hand of Wagnière and signed by Ambroise and Josephe Decroze, 30 January 1761
Lambert-David.IIIDecroze.2MsDecroze.9.Mémoire de sr. Decroze, 30 janvier 1761
Title:
Secretarial copy of a mémoire concerning the attack on Decroze, written in the hand of Wagnière and signed by Ambroise and Josephe Decroze, 30 January 1761
Secretarial copy of a mémoire concerning the attack on Decroze, written in the hand of Wagnière and signed by Ambroise and Josephe Decroze, 30 January 1761
Detailed Summary:
The memoire recounts the attack on Decroze on 28 December 1760, and the subsequent assessment of the doctor, St Cabanis, who declared that Decroze would soon die from his injuries. It is noted that Decroze was dining with friends and that while he was dining Ancian went out secretly and sought out Benoit Brochut, arming him with a stick. Brochut had testified that this was true and signed the confession in front of witnesses. Along with Brochut, Ancian enlisted Jean Guar, Pierre Dubi, François Tiller, and others to attack Decroze and his friends. Decroze was struck on the head with a stick and the widow Burdet, with whom Decroze was dining, was also attacked and bruised. The memoire notes that he lay between life and death for a month. His father speaks of the anguish seeing his son in this state caused him, and the financial difficulties he faced when seeking justice. The remainder of the memoire recounts the legal process that Ambroise Decroze went through to try and bring Ancian and the other attackers to justice.
Words representing spoken dialogue have been underlined throughout. A marginal note has been added to the left-hand margin of f.1v which adds additional context to the text. There are several minor corrections throughout in the form of corrected text being written over the top of incorrect text. Pagination has been added throughout. Ambroise Decroze has added his signature to the end of the mémoire. A signed note has also been added by Josephe Decroze which reads: ‘je soucignés me trouvan un peux mieux pouvant ecrirê mê je[?] à la plainte de mon pere a saconner Le 30 janvier 1760’.