Creating Fiction From History: 10/12/2022

On a ridge between the rivers, Haine and Trouille stand the 7th-century city of Mons. In late May of 1889, the man pictured below, possibly the Belgian novelist Henri-Charles Boussuet, was on trial in this capital city of the province of Hainaut as an agent provocateur of the Parti Socialiste Republicain.

Posing as a long-lost friend of the group's founder, Alfred Defuissaux, Bousseut had gotten Defuissaux expelled for inciting violence, something the group was trying to steer clear of. The resulting scandal, known as 'le Grand Complot' spelled the end of the PSR and Boussuet, who was actually an agent of the government, took an early retirement into the private sector.

Born on 30 September 1843, Henri-Charles was a distant member of the Belgian nobility. As such, he had attended the best universities and eaten from a silver platter for the earliest parts of his life.

As university students are often wont to do though, he fell in with the wrong crowd and aspired to become what we call a starving artist. As such, though he had published several small novels, he was easy prey when the Belgian government approached him in 1887, shortly after the PSR was founded. Although Boussuet had produced the desired result, he was quietly, but forcibly, exiled to America, where he finally settled in the new state of Montana.

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum's photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.