THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION OF GRISLY TALES
FROM THE GALLOWS, GUILLOTINE AND GAS CHAMBER
Augustins. There she wrote a note and sent it to her quarry,
requesting an interview. While awaiting a reply, she went to a
cutler’s shop on the Palais Royal where, for two francs, she
bought a large sheath knife with an ebony handle. No reply
having arrived, she dressed in her finest clothes, a pink silk scarf
draped over her muslin gown, and an elegant hat adorned with
a cockade and green ribbons, and visited Marat’s house, 20 Rue
des Cordeliéres, but was turned away. Determined to carry out
her self-imposed mission, she returned to the hotel from where
she posted a message to Marat in which she stated that she knew
the names of those in Caen who were plotting against the
Revolution and was prepared to reveal them to him.
A few hours later she returned, and although Marat’s mistress
Simone attempted to refuse her admittance, Marat heard the
voices and bade Charlotte to enter. The famous revolutionary
had been ill for some time. During his earlier revolutionary days
he had twice had to flee to London, and once even had to take
refuge from the French authorities by hiding in the Paris sewers.
In those noisome and pestilential tunnels he had contracted a
virulent and incurable disease which covered his body in a rash
so devastating that only almost continual immersion in a sulphur
bath brought him any relief. Accordingly he spent most of his
time in a slipper bath, decency being preserved by having a cloth
draped over it, and with the aid of a board placed across it he
was able to write his notes and keep up with his correspondence.
He also suffered excruciating headaches, which he sought to
relieve by wrapping his head in a bandanna soaked in vinegar.
Charlotte Corday entered the room and approached her prey.
As he started to query the reason for her visit, without warning
she suddenly leant over and plunged the knife into his body
with all the force she could muster. So violent was the blow that
according to the post-mortem the blade entered his chest
59
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