EUGENE LEMAY, of Fortierville, farmer, aged 25 years.
EXAMINED BY MAÎTRE LACHANCE, K.C., ON BEHALF OF THE CROWN:
Q. Do you live in Ste. Philomène?
A. Yes.
Q. Are you married there?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have the opportunity to go to Télesphore Gagnon's home last year, more specifically during the month of August?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember which day of the week?
A. On a Sunday.
Q. Who was in the house when you went there?
A. Monsieur Gagnon and his wife.
Q. Were the children there?
A. The children were there, yes.
Q. Among others, was Aurore there?
A. Aurore was also there.
Q. Where was Aurore when you arrived there?
A. When I arrived that Sunday afternoon, Aurore was outside. She came in after I had arrived, and when I was there on Sunday evening, she was in the house; she was in her bed.
Q. Now, did you notice anything when you saw Aurore coming?
A. I noticed that she had a very swollen foot, that she was limping.
Q. What was she wearing on her feet? Was she barefoot?
A. She was barefoot.
Q. And what was said then?
A. They said that it was a little boy, two little boys from the village, who had crippled her, who had thrown a rock on her foot.
Q. Who said that?
A. I don't recall. I'm not sure if it was Madame or him, Monsieur Gagnon. In any case, they were both present.
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Q. Continue now. What else was said aside from that?
A. They said that it was these little boys who had crippled her, and then I advised them to see a doctor for that.
Q. You advised them to see a doctor for that?
A. Because I found that she had a very swollen foot. Then, about that, they told me that they were going to see him, and when I went back in the evening, they said they had seen the doctor.
Q. You went back in the evening as well?
A. I went back in the evening.
Q. Were both Gagnon and his wife still there?
A. Both were still there.
Q. Did you see Aurore then?
A. In the evening, I didn't see Aurore.
Q. Where was she?
A. She was.…
Q. Do you know where she was?
A. She was in a bedroom, and we were in the kitchen.
Q. Did you hear her talking?
A. I heard her talking a few times. Her mother was in the room; she was talking to her. She said that her side hurt.
Q. Now, did Gagnon and his wife talk at all about the child's character?
A. They talked about it. They said that the child was difficult, that they had disciplined her with a horse whip and an axe handle.
Q. Now, did you make any comments or observations about that yourself?
A. I told him that they shouldn’t use that to straighten out a child, that he was a big enough man that he should be able to reprimand a child with something other than an axe handle and a horse whip.
Q. And what did he answer to that, if he answered anything?
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A. He told me that the child was very difficult. When she deserved to be disciplined, he would hit her with that to punish her, and she didn't even cry.
CROSS-EXAMINED BY MAÎTRE FRANCOEUR, K.C., ON BEHALF OF THE ACCUSED:
Q. When you went there, was it the last Sunday of August?
A. I don't recall if it was the last Sunday, but I do remember it was at the end of August.
Q. That was the day that there was question of sending for the doctor, wasn't it?
A. Yes.
Q. When you saw the child in the morning, the doctor hadn't come?
A. Excuse me. It was not in the morning; it was in the afternoon.
Q. It was in the afternoon?
A. The doctor hadn't come.
Q. And was her foot wrapped up?
A. I'm not sure if her foot was wrapped up when she came into the house, but I know I saw her foot wrapped up.
Q. When you came back in the evening, you were told that the doctor had come. Was the child in a bed downstairs?
A. Yes.
Q. And this conversation about the child, when they told you that she was difficult to discipline, was it the father who was talking, or was it the mother who said that?
A. From what I remember, it was the father. They both talked to me about it, but the father said that, that she was very difficult to discipline.
Q. Did she talk about her faults?
A. I don't remember.
Q. You don't remember?
A. ...
Q. The mother didn't say anything, in the presence of the accused, about certain faults that the child had?
A. I don't remember that.
And further deponent saith not.
[signature]M.J. Tremblay
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I, the undersigned, sworn stenographer, certify that the foregoing is the faithful transcript of my shorthand notes, the whole in accordance with the law.
[signature]M.J.Tremblay
Official Stenographer
Source: ANQ, TP 9, S1, SS1, SSS999, 1960-01-357\69, 3B 023 03-05-002A-01, Cour du banc du roi, assises criminelles, district de Québec, Déposition de Eugène Lemay, procès de Télesphore Gagnon pour meurtre, n.d., 4.