The Court is composed of a President and two advisors to the Royal Court, and 4 assessors chosen from among the notables. The clerk reads out the Act of Accusation:
At the end of 1835, Vallentin had acquired a third of this habitation, which for a long time had been suffering losses in cattle. Under his administration, these losses continued: two or three oxen a week, he claims.
Without even consulting a veterinarian, Vallentin attributed this mortality to poison and decided that, to avoid ruination, it was urgent to put an end to the “evil sorcery”. He pointed to Félicien as the culprit. Of all his blacks, Félicien was the one he trusted least. He was, said Commander Louis, ”a naughty negro, whose air made him look like a bad subject”. It didn’t take much more for him to become the object of the accused’s suspicions.
Interrogation of Louis Joseph Vallentin,
Audience of January 29, 1842
Vallentin.
In 1836, I made no losses; MM. Tréluyar and Vernias, having acquired two-thirds of Mr. Bellevue père’s portion. I told them: no manure, no cane. After much hesitation caused by fear of poison, they bought and sent me seven oxen from Puerto Rico. I put them in Sebastian’s care. Some time later, I lost an ox. I sent for Sébastien: “You see, this is the beginning. One Sunday morning, an express messenger sent by my commander came to tell me that the finest of my oxen had died. I ordered that my workshop be assembled the next day. The order was carried out. I spoke harshly to all my assembled blacks: “Beggars, thieves that you are, do you want to bankrupt me? Don’t you see that it’s to relieve you and save you work that I procure animals?” Many of the negroes wept and cried out, “We are not guilty, we are innocent”.
Q.
Did you have any proof of Sébastien’s guilt?
Vallentin.
If the negroes in the workshop hadn’t known it was Sébastien, they wouldn’t have denounced him.
Q.
But You had to find out for yourself, make nightly rounds of the huts, spy on the area around the herd-yard, keep an eye on Sébastien or have him watched.
Vallentin.
Gosh! I couldn’t stay up all night and take so many precautions.
Q.
However, before arresting and sequestering a slave, we must at least be sure of his guilt. Did you often visit Félicien’s hut?
Vallentin.
Yes, sir, very often. I found no trace of poison.
Q.
(…) How, on the sole denunciation of an individual as ill-famed as Félicien, a thief, a bad subject, could you arrest and throw into the dungeon the unfortunate Sébastien? You were very careless, very thoughtless, to say the least, because I don’t want to make your position any worse. Such a denunciation was obviously insufficient. Nevertheless, it was on the basis of this denunciation that you acted against Sébastien?
The accused remains silent.
Félicien was put in irons in the office of the main house. He managed to escape for a while, but was soon found and locked up in a dungeon built especially for him.
Vallentin.
Félicien was put in chains in the office of the main house. He escaped and remained marooned for about three weeks. During his marronage, I had a dungeon built and he was imprisoned there when he was recaptured.
It’s less a question of getting a presumed culprit to confess than of pressuring him. Fincer Bellevue, Vallentin’s business associate, visits the prisoner every week and tries to obtain his revelations: “You’re strong, you have nothing to fear ‘ he tells him, “besides, we’ll protect you by making you a Commandeur’ ‘.
Félicien resisted, refusing to denounce another innocent man. Weeks went by, and the cattle losses continued. Realising that his innocence would never be trusted, Félicien, exhausted and sick, finally gave in. He accuses another slave, Sébastien: “Sébastien is from a family in Grande-Anse where there are poisonous sorcerers, and his sister, whom he often sees, could well be providing him with poison”. Félicien was released, but died a few months later.
In the meantime, Vallentin gave Sébastien custody and responsibility of the cattle. For several months, the loss ceased. But one day, the most beautiful ox dies. Vallentin gathers his slaves and threatens them. Félicien denounces Sébastien publicly. Although Sébastien protests his innocence, he is immediately thrown into the dungeon, where he remains until life abandons him. Sébastien’s ordeal began in April 1838 and lasted around three months.
“Sébastien comes from a family in Grande-Anse, where there are poisonous sorcerers, and his sister Madeleine, whom he often sees, could provide him with poison“.
Félicien was released, but died a few months later.
In the meantime, Vallentin gave Sébastien custody and responsibility of the cattle. For several months, the loss ceased. But one day, the most beautiful ox dies. Vallentin gathers his slaves and threatens them. Félicien denounces Sébastien publicly. Although Sébastien protests his innocence, he is immediately thrown into the dungeon, where he remains until life abandons him. Sébastien’s ordeal began in April 1838 and lasted around three months.
Interrogation of Louis,
Overseer
Monsieur said to him, “since you’re the one who killed my cattle, you must die in the dungeon, like my cattle you poisoned.”
“Sir,” replied Sébastien, ”I don’t blame you. Do whatever you want with me. Kill me rather than put me in the dungeon”.
Indictment
Louis informed his master of the prisoner’s pitiful condition and told him he was going to die. So much the better,” he said, “at least I’ll be rid of all the steps I’d have had to take to have him deported to Puerto Rico, if I’d been authorized to do so: I won’t lose any more of my cattle. A detestable idea that stripped this man of any sense of humanity, leaving him cold and impassive in the face of the horrible suffering endured by a man who, on the basis of vague suspicions, he was slowly put to death in a muddy, filthy, airless dungeon….
Vallentin did nothing to prevent the fatal outcome; he impatiently awaited the death of his slave, whom he would not visit once.
Consequently, the named Louis-Joseph Vallentin is accused of having, in the course of 1838 and with premeditation, voluntarily given death to the slave Sébastien, a crime provided for and punished by article 3, title 6 of the royal decree of December 25, 1783, and articles 295, 296 and 302 of the penal code.
15 of Vallentin’s 75 slaves are called to testify at the trial. Some courageously denounced their master’s cruelty, while others expressed their conviction of Sébastien’s innocence. His wife Adeline and sons courageously stand up to the commander and the master.
Judge Hardouin’s investigation was conducted thoroughly and the debates were conducted fairly firmly by the Chairman. The facts of Vallentin’s case – the arbitrary nature of his decision, the premeditation of his act, its inevitable outcome – are confirmed by the slaves, even through cautious testimony.
During the debates, the assessors’ interventions and reflections, particularly those of Jean-Baptiste Jammes, a European doctor, all served the defence, following it and sometimes anticipating it
But Vallentin could count on the indulgence of the assessors, the medical examiner and the unfailing support of his colleagues and fellow landowners who came to testify on his behalf… On the sixth day of the trial, February 2, 1842, Louis-Joseph Vallentin was found not guilty and acquitted.