Fontaine de la Foux

The Fontaine de la Foux was a public fountain situated just outside the gates of Grasse, a town in Provence that was the center of the perfume trade. In the summer of the murder spree, the fountain became the site of a killing that shattered any remaining sense of security among the townspeople. A Sardinian washerwoman from the bishop's palace was struck down near the great basin of the Fontaine de la Foux, her body found naked and shorn, killed by a heavy blow to the back of the head. The murder occurred directly before the city gates, in a place where women gathered daily to wash clothes and draw water, a location that should have been safe. This crime was the fifth in a series that had begun in May of that year, and it followed the same pattern as the others: the victim was a very lovely young girl, of the languid, raven-haired type, found in a flower field with her hair cut off and her clothes taken. The location of this murder, so close to the city and in a spot of ordinary, communal labor, made the danger feel immediate and inescapable. The authorities had already reinforced the watch at the gates and set up nightly patrols, but the killer struck at the Fontaine de la Foux as if to mock their efforts. The murder triggered a wave of fear that spread over the countryside. People no longer knew against whom to direct their impotent rage. The consuls initiated still further measures: the tightest possible control at the gates, a reinforced nightwatch, a curfew for all female persons after nightfall. Yet the murders continued, and the Fontaine de la Foux remained a symbol of the killer's audacity and the town's helplessness.