Market Day in 1823

Once upon a time there was a man named Laurent Baradel.  He lived on a farm in the mountains above a town in eastern France.  Once a month, there was a market in the town, and since farms were so far apart, it was a reason for celebration and social gathering--and sometimes, people had a little too much to drink.  On one such market day in June of 1823, Laurent's neighbor, Claude, who had already returned to his home in the mountains after market, noticed Laurent and his friend walking past his house.  Now Claude was the jealous type, and Laurent always seemed to do well on his farm.  And Claude had had a little too much to drink.  So he yelled something out to Laurent that wasn't very neighborly, and the two men began to fight.  Words thrown at one another became fists thrown, and then suddenly Claude had a knife...and Laurent lay bleeding on the road between the two houses.

Laurent's friend ran as fast as he could to the town to get the local magistrate, but by the time they returned, Laurent was dead.  After a lengthy trial, Claude was found guilty of murder, but because of a technicality, he was released and set free.  He returned to his farm, next door to the family of the man he murdered, and lived out his days.

Laurent's wife had a stone cross erected on the spot where he was killed, which reads:

"Cross erected in memory of Sire Laurent Baradel, age 43 years, died here the night of 17-18 June 1823 by a violent act."

Laurent's son, who was 19 at the time, went on to have his own family.  Eventually, in 1929, one of his descendants Lucie Baradel married Raymond Jacques and settled in the town, Granges-sur-Vologne, in eastern France, and they had seven children, one of which was named Rene.  His namesake is pictured below:

(Left) standing on the ruins of Laurent Baradel's farm in the mountains above Granges.  (Right) Ren reenacts the fatal act on the spot where it happened, next to the memorial cross Laurent's wife erected, about a half-mile from the ruins of Laurent's house and a few feet from the ruins of Claude's house.