Extracts from the minutes of the Conseil Supérieur in Québec

Considered by the Conseil, the extraordinary criminal trial conducted by the Lieutenant General Civil and Criminal of the Royal Jurisdiction of Montreal at the request of the deputy King’s Attorney General, plaintiff and prosecutor, against Marie Josephe Angélique, negress by nationality, slave of Mrs Thérèse De Couagne, widow of François Poulin de Francheville, defendant and accused and appellant, detained prisonner in the royal prisons of this city [Québec] and against Claude Thibault, defendant and accused defaulting;
Considered the final sentencing of the 4th of June on the said trial by the Lieutenant General, assisted by Jean Baptiste Adhémar, Nicolas Auguste Guillet de Chaumont, René Gaudron de Chevremont et François Le Pailleur, royal notaries called upon to counsel, by which the said Marie Josephe Angélique, accused, is declared guilty of setting fire to Mrs De Francheville’s house which fire proceeded to burn down part of the city, and for which offense she was sentenced to make [public] amends by wearing a shirt only, with a noose around her neck, holding in her hands a burning torch weighing two pounds, in front of the main door and entrance of the parish church of the city of Montreal, where she would be taken, by the executor of the high court, in a tip-cart used to pick up garbage, wearing a sign on her front and back with the word “arsonist”, and there, bare-headed and kneeling down, [and to] declare that wickedly she set the fire, for which offence she would repent and ask God, the King and Justice for forgiveness. This done, [to have] have her fist cut off, against a post planted in front of the said church, after which she would be taken by the said executor in the same tip-cart to the public place and be bound to a stake with an iron chain and burned alive, her body reduced to ashes and the ashes scattered to the wind, and her belongings be seized in the name of the King. Prior, the accused to be tortured in both the ordinary and extraordinary ways, to reveal the identity of her accomplices, and concerning the said Thibault, it was ordered that the hearing of the witnesses’ testimony would be used as if confronted with the said Thibault. And afterwards, the torture of the said negress and her examination to be communicated to the King’s Attorney with the usual procedure, the procedure and instructions on which was based the verdict;

Considered the examination of the accused, on the torture seat in the Counsel Chambers today, [and] the conclusions of the King’s Attorney, of yesterday, and the report by Jean Victor Varin ;

All considered, the Conseil has received the King’s Attorney General, appellant of the said sentence of the 4th of June, and his right to appeal of the sentence. [The Conseil] has rejected the appeal and sentencing and sentences the said Marie Josephe Angélique, for redress of the damages caused by the fire and others facts mentionned at the said trial, to make [public] amends, by wearing a shirt only, with a noose around the neck, holding in her hands a burning torch weighing two pounds, in front of the main door and entrance of the parish church of the said city of Montreal, where she will be taken, by the executor of the high court, and there, down on her knees, will say and declare in a loud and clear voice that wickedly and ill-advised she set the fire, for which she repents and asks God, the King and Justice for forgiveness. This done, she will be taken to the public place of the said city of Montreal to be hanged and strangled to death from the gallows, which will be erected for that purpose, and her body burned at the stake, and the ashes scattered to the wind, her belongings seized in the name of the King. Prior the said Marie Josephe Angélique will be tortured in both the ordinary and extraordinary ways, to reveal the identity of her accomplices;

Ordered that the pretrial investigation against Claude Thibault will be done again, that the procedures against Marie Josephe Angélique will be used for the record only, and the witnesses will testify again on the complaint of the King’s Attorney of the Jurisdiction of Montreal, and on the charges and informations received, the said Thibault will be arrested; and if not arrested, that a new search for him be done, and investigation done until final sentencing, except for an appeal to the Conseil;

And for the execution of this judgment, the said Marie Josephe Angélique will be sent back to the Lieutenant General in Montreal;

Ordered that this present judgment, only the part that concerns the sentencing of the said Marie Josephe Angélique, will be promptly publish and posted by the King’s Attorney, in all the necessary and usual places in the three cities of Québec, Montréal and Trois-Rivières.

Done in Québec at the Conseil Supérieur, exceptionally assembled, Saturday Twelfth of June.