My 8th Great Grandmother Was a Murderer

UPDATE:  I am mistaken that this was my 8th Great G-ma.  Actually, she's the daughter of my 8th Great, a sibling of my 7th Great, making her my 7th Great Aunt.

I've just provided another path to Jacques de LaPorte dit St Georges.  The one I didn't discuss at length was Catherine LaPorte, who married Philibert Couillaud.  They were responsible (via some crafty name changes common in "New France") for the "Rock" family in my tree -- most recently, my Grandmother, who's maiden name was Rock.

Well, in all likelihood, she was a murderer.  Here's a snippet:

ommitted with premeditation, a murder of passion is all the more sordid, and all the less excusable. Such was the outrage which occurred at St-Ours at the very outset of the XVIIIth Century.

At that time, a man by the name of LaChaume and his wife, Marie [Catherine LaPorte] Couillaud, lived at St-Ours. Much to their misfortune, Pierre Viau dit Larose, a soldier in the St-Ours Company is lodged with one of their neighbors. As a means of killing time, Larose often goes to his neighbors', the Lachaume, to enjoy some casual talking. A fine talker, the soldier quickly makes the heart of his hostess beat faster. This passion leads him straight to crime. Once she becomes the mistress of Larose, Marie Couillaud decides in good measure to get rid of her husband. And she soon advises her lover of her project. On 28 February 1702, Marie Couillaud and Pierre Viau decide to put an end to LaChaume "during the time he was asleep." That very night, the husband is stabbed three times with his sword by his wife's lover. The result is instant death.

 Marie Couillaud is nowhere to be found, while her presumed accomplice is locked up in Montreal. The disappearance of the LaChaume woman reads like a pulp novel. To protect her from legal prosecution, her uncle, Pierre Laporte dit Saint-Georges, is said to have assumed the responsibility of taking her to New England. On the way he is said to have met natives, to whom he would have entrusted the care of his niece, paying them to conduct her safely to her destination.

More is available here at this link (the link provides both French and English versions of the story).