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  Researching the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
  Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada

The Administration Of Justice At The Fortress Of Louisbourg (1713-1758)

1720
 

• A.N., Colonies, C11B, Vol. 5, fols. 78-99v., 22 août 1720, ibid., B. 42-2, fols. 419-23, 20 septembre 1720; ibid., C11B, Vol. 5, fols. 242-60, 26 janvier 1720

La Brie, a soldier in De Renon's Company, was on duty at the door of the treasurer's house when, "pour rire," he opened the window and took some dirty linen. A servant testified that she heard a noise and went outside. Finding a handkerchief on the ground, she entered the "guérite" where she found a packet of dirty linen belonging to her master. La Brie, who witnesses said was drunk to the point of being "out of his right mind", helped her close the window. 

When charges were pressed against the soldier the commissaire-ordonnateur felt that leniency should be shown because this was the man's first offence and he was drunk at the time. However, La Brie further complicated the situation by escaping from custody after stealing from a comrade imprisoned for drunkenness. When recaptured, an "ecu" La Brie was sentenced to be shot. 

De Mézy claimed that there was "a good deal of pique" involved in the verdict since four of the seven judges were related to the treasurer and two of the four witnesses were in his employ. Again the Conseil de Marine approved the sentence, observing that the accused had been on duty when he committed the crime, a time when he was not supposed to be hampered by drink from performing his duties. Also, his escape from prison had made him a deserter. [Source: Margaret Fortier, Fortress Security and Military Justice at Louisbourg, 1720-45, Unpublished Report H E 14 (Fortress of Louisbourg, 1980), pp. 69-70]