The historic facts

Most of the information in this chapter comes from Turners book on Sweeney Todd^3.1. Unfortunately Mr. Turner doesn't give much bibliographical information. Therefore all the citations without a specific source-indication, are Turner's. There is some doubt about the historical truth of this story. However there is some evidence that original Sweeney Todd originated not in London but in Paris. We have two ''Figaro's'' to choose from. There was on in the fourteenth century in the Rue des Marmouzets. As we read in Les Rues de Paris(1844):

''Le temps n'éffacera pas le souvenir du patisier qui sert encore d'épouvantail aux petits enfants de la Rue des Marmouzets''

There is one better documented person, or monster here. His deeds are recorded in Fouché's Archives de la Police. He had a barber shop in the Rue de la Harpe during the first French Revolution (1789). One day two travellers came to his shop accompanied by a dog. While one of these men was being shaved, the other went elsewhere to make some inquiries. When he returned to the shop he could no longer find the other traveler there. The barber informed the traveler that his partner paid and left. This sounded a little strange but even stranger was the behavior of the dog, who still seemed to be waiting for his master to return. The suspicions of the traveler were aroused by the dog's curious behavior. He (the traveler) rallied a crowd and with them assaulted the shop, now closed. When they finally managed to enter the shop, the dog attacked the barber and almost killed him. Then it nosed its way towards the basement and in the neighboring basement they found the remains of the other traveler. The owner of this basement was a pie-maker whose creations were considered the most delicious of Paris. Then the neighbors remembered that they had never seen meat actually going into the shop. A further search revealed 300 skulls on the premises. For their crimes, the barber and pie maker were executed on the rack, and the site of this horrible crime was left vacant as a reminder of the monstrous crimes.