Trial of a Slave. A Society’s Judgement

Montréal, April 10 1734 - A fire breaks out on the rooftop of the house of Thérèse de Couagne, a prominent Montréal widow. The Hôtel-Dieu hospital and some 46 houses are engulfed in flames. Suspicion falls on a black slave, Marie-Josèphe-Angélique and her lover, Claude Thibault, recently released from a French prison. The slave is arrested the morning after the blaze but Thibault flees. Marie-Josèphe-Angélique proclaims her innocence. A trial ensues, during which she must defend herself without the services of a lawyer, against a succession of testimonies from prominent citizens, domestics, slaves and children.

Despite twenty depositions, including those of the brother and sister-in-law of the magistrate, the court hears no testimony that implicates the slave beyond a reasonable doubt. The accused is nevertheless declared guilty based on the late and mysterious testimony of Amable Lemoine Monière, the five-year-old niece of Thérèse de Couagne.

The court’s recommendation is that the slave be submitted to torture in an attempt to discover any accomplices ; after gruesome attempts at extracting a confession, the slave is hanged on June 21, 1734 near the ruins of the houses razed in the fire. Her corpse is burned and her ashes scattered to the wind.

This book is not a fictional account but the result of an exhaustive and impassioned inquiry into one of the most important criminal proceedings in the history of Montréal. From her meticulous delving into judicial archives, historian Denyse Beaugrand-Champagne, in a modern, captivating narrative, reveals the salient details of the trial and Montréal suddenly comes to life before our eyes.

Her research guides us through the streets of the colonial city, through the daily lives of the participants while chronicling the course of the trial as it unfolds. Listen to witnesses testify that they had seen nothing and yet were certain of the guilt of “the Negress.” Meet with Judge Pierre Raimbault, witness the accused’s interrogations, follow the bailiffs Decoste and Marchand as they navigate the streets of Montréal to serve their summons ; listen to the testimony of Marie, the Native slave of the King’s treasurer who claims that the accused intended to burn her mistress ; read the testimony of Louise Poirier dit Lafleur who lost her job as a domestic because of the black slave’s temperament ; that of Marguerite César dit Legardelette, who sold her soul to the devil and threatened to set a fire ; watch the Gouriou dit Guignolette family defend themselves against allegations of theft and receiving stolen goods. Meet Gamelin, the wealthy merchant who claims that Thérèse de Couagne feared her slave and who in the same breath claimed that she had never been so well served ; and Thomas, a black slave, who has assignations with his white mistresses in the ruins of the burned houses. Listen to Jeanne Taillandier dit Labaume who wants to change her testimony, having realized, too late, that she was merely repeating the incriminatory rumours circulating about Marie-Josèphe-Angélique. Every one of these people did once exist.

However, according to other written accounts of this historic Canadian event, Marie-Josèphe-Angélique’s was a premeditated act ; she took flight with her white lover Thibault for the English colonies while the entire city burned. She is considered to be the first slave to rebel against her situation and harsh treatment. But she did not flee. On the contrary, Marie-Josèphe-Angélique remained in rue Saint-Paul, and with Claude Thibault, she assisted her mistress in saving her belongings.

So what really took place in Montreal, that spring of 1734 ? Was Marie-Josèphe-Angélique innocent ? Did Thibault set the fire in an act of vengeance before escaping ? Marguerite César dit Largardelette, the madwoman everyone fears, could have started the fire. Could Marie, the Panis slave, have accidently provoked a chimney-fire at the Bérey des Essars house ?