is 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



Heduit, Isle of France, by a Mr. 

 Fluerot, who, with a friend, was 

 angling near a cascade in the river 

 of Plain Wilhelms. The dogs ac- 

 companying the party, first disco- 

 vered the reptile concealed in a 

 cavity of the rock ; and four 

 charges of small shot were fired at 

 him before he became crippled, 

 and could be drawn by six slaves 

 from his lurking place. He prov- 

 ed to be H feet 6 inches long, l^ 

 inches thick, and weighed IS^ lbs. 

 When opened, the stomach was 

 found to contain several animals 

 half-digested, such as monkies, &c. 

 This reptile is believed to have 

 been introduced on the island by 

 a ship from India, which was 

 stranded in 1801 on the shore, near 

 six miles from the river where it 

 was killed. 



MARCH. 



1. About fifteen months since, 

 aprisoner of Porchesterdepotcom- 

 posed some verses, and among the 

 characters introduced in his poem, 

 one, very unfortunately, struck the 

 mind of a prisoner, named Tardif, 

 as being expressly written to sati- 

 rise himself; this erroneous idea 

 invariably operated upon the de- 

 moniac spirit of the wretch, who, 

 as it now appears, sought nume- 

 rous opportunities to glut his ven- 

 geance on the person of Mr. Legue, 

 from whom he imagined the writer 

 of the lines had received the hints, 

 enabling him to delineate the cha- 

 racteristic traits in question. Some 

 weeks back, the assassin, in order 

 to render his weapon (a large clasp 

 knife) the more certain in its ope- 

 ration, bound the handle with 

 waxed cord, that hia grasp might 



prove more firm, and also render- 

 ed the back, as well as the edge, 

 of the sharpness of a razor : this 

 weapon, since the commission of 

 the deed, he has denominated his 

 guardian angel, which was nightly 

 his companion in bed: nor is it 

 less a fact, that the dreams of this 

 monster were so disturbed, that 

 the prisoner who slept in the ad- 

 joining hammock requested to 

 know whether he (Tardif) would 

 not wish to be awakened when 

 he became so dreadfully agitated ? 

 " No !" replied this daemon of 

 vengeance, " for I am then dream- 

 ing of a deadly enemy that has 

 dishonoured me, and although he 

 appears to conquer for a time, yet 

 the vision always terminates by 

 giving me his blood." Thus, af- 

 ter the lapse of thirteen months, 

 on Monday evening, March 1st, 

 about eight o'clock, Tardif found 

 the long-desired opportunity, when, 

 rushing upon his victim, he lite- 

 rally ripped him open, and the 

 bowels in consequence obtruded 

 themselves, when Legue, bending 

 forward, received his entrails into 

 his hands, exclaiming at the same 

 time, " lam a dead man!" "Oh! 

 no," cried the murderer, ironical- 

 ly, " it is merely a scratch !" Then 

 twice plunging the knife up to the 

 hilt in the back of Legue, ex- 

 claimed, " Take that, and that." 

 He was proceeding thus to inflict 

 further wounds, when another 

 prisoner, at the risk of his own 

 life, arrested his murderous arm 

 in its progress, on which the vil- 

 lain calmly said, " I have now 

 completed ray work, and am con- 

 tent ; you may take the weapon, 

 and me, too, wheresoever you 

 think fit." While binding his 

 arms, he requested those around 



