EVENING SPIDERS

The witnesses

There is therefore one thing even more annoying than being appointed a juror in a criminal court, and that is to be called as a witness. In Quimper, one hundred and thirty witnesses have been waiting for a week for the moment to declare to the court that they have no idea what Seznec could have done with his friend Quémeneur. Some come from Le Havre, others from Paris. They have left their families, their businesses, their homes to answer the summons, in compensation for which they are granted an allowance of six francs per day. Six francs for food, lodging and the small expenses of living in a large city is meager. Not all of these witnesses are rich; one of them works as a bus conductor for the T.C.R.P., a situation in which one hardly accumulates any savings. If he can, with his six francs, buy himself enough bread and sausage to not starve to death, it is certainly impossible for him to pay for a hotel room.
All this proves, once again, how dangerous it is to have dealings with Justice. One goes to Quimper with the idea of ​​attending an Assize hearing as a witness and ends up staying there after having been sent to correctional court on charges of vagrancy.

Bernard GERVAISE.