Cavelier de La Salle, 1684-1687 165
firing at the same time, shot him in the head. He died an
hour after, on the 19th of March, 1687.
uI expected the same fate,” goes on Father Douay, “but
this danger did not occupy my thoughts, overcome with
grief as I was at so cruel a spectacle. I saw him fall a step
from me, with his face full of blood. I watered it with my
tears, exhorting him, to the best of my power, to die well.
He had confessed and fulfilled his devotions just before we
started. He had still time to recapitulate a part of his life,
and I gave him absolution. During his last moments he
went through all the customary ritual of a good Christian,
grasping my hand at every word I suggested, and especially
at that of pardoning his enemies. Meanwhile his murderers,
as much alarmed as I, began to strike their breasts and
deplore their blindness. I could not leave the spot where he
had expired without having him buried as well as I could,
after which I raised a cross over his grave.”
You no doubt notice the similarity in the two ends, al-
though we know that Moranget was killed in the night by
the blow of an axe, while de La Salle was shot. Father
Douay was an honest and reliable witness but at the same
time a man of the Church. We have to take into considera-
tion the fact that he wanted at least to give both victims
a good Christian end. Joutel, equally reliable, presents us
an altogether different picture.
“M. de La Salle, suspecting nothing, asked for his nephew,
Moranget, to which Larchevêque answered that he was along
the river. At the same time the traitor Duhaut fired his
piece and shot M. de La Salle through the head, so that he
dropped down dead on the spot, without speaking one word.”
“This,” adds Joutel, “is the exact relation of that murder
as it was presently after told me by Father Anastasius”
(Douay). Joutel then proceeds to explain that the assassins