plantation at the Côte des Allemands. His first impulse was to throw himself under the protection of the British flag, at Manchac, but a letter from Aubry quieted his apprehensions and advised him, on the contrary, to come to New Orleans. As flight seemed a confession of guilt, this course was more acceptable to Villeré, and he set out at once for the city. At the Tchoupitoulas gate he was arrested by the Spanish guard and carried aboard the Spanish frigate lying in the river. Madame Villeré, a daughter of the Chevalier d'Arensbourg, hearing of her husband's arrest, hastened with all speed after him, and taking a skiff, had herself rowed out to the frigate. She was ordered away by the sentinels. Villeré, confined below, hearing the supplicating voice of his wife, and fearing some insult, attempted to rush past his guard and get on deck. He fell, transfixed with a bayonet. It is a tradition that to convince the wife of her husband's death, his garment, wet with blood, was thrown into her skiff, while a sailor cut the rope that held it to the frigate.
O'Reilly's assessors conducted the trial in a room of the barracks. Foucaut's plea that as a royal officer of France he was accountable only to her laws, was allowed. The charge against Braud, the royal printer, was also similarly remitted.
The other prisoners attempted no defence. They denied the jurisdiction of the tribunal before which they were arraigned, and protested that the offences with which they were charged were committed while the flag of France was waving over them. The trial being conducted to a close, satisfactory to the judgment at least of O'Reilly, he, on the 24th day of October,
