who had the cynical epitaph engraved on Maulan?

Who could have had this epitaph of unfailing cynicism engraved? On a grave in the Maulan cemetery in Meuse, is written on two lines: “We didn’t wait for your death to steal 4,000 francs in gold from you”! Under this text is simply mentioned “Jules Choquette”.

In this grave rests Marie Anne Augustine Oudinot who died in Maulan on April 23, 1907 “in her 76^e year “. She was born there on October 16, 1831 to Claude Louis Oudinot, lumber merchant, and Catherine Henriette Lahire. She married Jules Choquette, in her native village, on July 10, 1855. Jules Choquette is said to be a “candle maker” and lives in Bar-le-Duc where he was born on March 22, 1831 to Alexandre Choquette, a shoemaker then a crepin merchant and Marie Morisot.

No trace on the Maulanese grave of the death of Jules Choquette, except his name engraved under the epitaph. So where did he die? He actually died in Bar-le-Duc on 1^is May 1910 at 27, rue Bradfer. The death was declared by his nephew Léon and his great-nephew Henri.

A staggering sum

According to memories gleaned here and there about this unusual story, it was Jules Choquette who was relieved of these 4,000 gold francs while he was dying and not his wife. The mention of his name could suggest that it was he who had signed his package.

To be honest, 4,000 francs in gold was a considerable sum at the time, which would correspond to more than 1.7 million euros today! However, the Choquette couple does not seem to be rolling in gold. Jules was a roadman and tavern keeper in Maulan. Not enough, a priori, to amass such a nest egg.

So who?

Above all, what hatred must have nourished the person who robbed it to afford the luxury of having this murderous sentence engraved and paid for with the stolen money… Besides, the “We didn’t wait” perhaps supposes be that there were several thieves. So who? We can only make assumptions. In any case, this person is family.

If we look at Jules Choquette’s close entourage, we find a brother, Victor François born in 1830 in Bar-le-Duc, married to Adèle Élophe. The couple have two children: Jacques Léon, the declarant of the death of Jules, a bank employee, and Nicolas Paulin born in 1859 in Bar-le-Duc. It is very tempting to think that the latter is the author of the epitaph. Initially a solicitor’s clerk, he was twice sentenced to prison for fraud and vagrancy: in 1886 by the Grasse court and in 1889 by the Épernay court. He married in 1892 in Meuse with Marie Laure Denise Févez. The man lived in Paris, Bar-le-Duc and even Valenciennes before dying, a traveling salesman, in 1917 in Bar-le-Duc. Was it him? The mystery remains.