Hauteserres and the Cinq-Cygnes. Michu controlled the Gondreville
estate between 1789 and 1804, after it was snatched from its rightful
owners, and under the Terror he presided over the Jacobin club at
Arcis. As a result of the assassination of the Duc d'Enghien March 21,
1804, he lost his position at Gondreville. Michu then lived not far
from there, near Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, to whom he made known his
secret conduct, and, as a result, became overseer of all the estate
attached to the castle. Having publicly shown his opposition to Malin,
he was thought guilty of being leader in a plot to kidnap the new
Seigneur de Gondreville, and was consequently condemned to death, a
sentence which was executed, despite his innocence, October, 1806.
[The Gondreville Mystery.]

MICHU (Marthe), wife of the preceding, daughter of a Troyes tanner,
"the village apostle of the Revolution," who, as a follower of
Baboeuf, a believer in racial and social equality, was put to death. A
blonde with blue eyes, and of perfect build, in accordance with her
father's desire, despite her modest innocence, posed before a public
assembly as the Goddess of Liberty. Marthe Michu adored her husband,
by whom she had a son, Francois, but being ignorant for a long time of
his secret, she lived in a manner separated from him, under her
mother's wing. When she did learn of her husband's Royalist actions,
and that he was devoted to the Cinq-Cygnes, she assisted him, but
falling into a skilfuly contrived plot, she innocently brought about
her husband's execution. A forged letter having attracted her to
Malin's hiding-place, Madame Michu furnished all the necessary
evidence to make the charge of kidnapping seem plausible. She also was
cast into prison and was awaiting trial when death claimed her,
November, 1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.]