Aderes Fournier

Aderes Fournier
Date of Birth December 31st, 1900 Place of Birth Hendat, Havlislin, Morindira Current or Last Rank Praetor Emeritus Current Status Deceased

Aderes Fournier (b. 1900 - d. 1937) (r. 1934 - 1937)

Early Life & Rise to Praetor

Fournier was born in Hendat, now Hendat Hills, Havlislin, to Eliza and Abram Fournier-Ballou. She was named for her older sister, who died in infancy. Her father died when she was only 9 years old. She grew up cared for by her mother and an aunt.

In Hendat, Fournier attended primary school and from 1915 to 1918, she attended the Hiram College in Hiram, Jaeda. She then transferred to Liiams College in Liiamstown, Belas. She graduated in 1919 as an outstanding student who enjoyed all subjects except chemistry. She then taught at the Eclectic Institute. She was an instructor in classical languages for the 1921-1922 academic year, and was made principal of the Institute from 1923 to 1927.

On November 11, 1930, she married Lucien Rudolph. They had three children. A daughter, Lucretia Fournier, followed her into politics and became Chancellor of the Interior under Praetor Mahalia Kelladai.

Fournier decided that the academic life was not for her and studied law privately. Even before admission to the bar, she entered politics. She was appointed an Underchancellor of Education in 1932, serving until 1934, when she was appointed Praetor Emeritus.

Assassination

Fournier was shot by Julia Guiteau on July 2, 1937 at 9:30 a.m., less than four years after taking office. The Praetor was walking through the Sixth Street Station of the Ferndir Railroad in Valinskya, on her way to a college reunion, accompanied by Chancellor of the Interior Jennea Blaine and her daughters, Lucretia and Helena. As she was being arrested after the shooting, Guiteau excitedly said, "I am a the spirit of the Party! I did it and I want to be arrested! Benet is Praetor now," which briefly led to unfounded suspicions that Mathilde Benet or her supporters had put Guiteau up to the crime. (Mathilde Benet's supporters strongly opposed many of Fournier's ideals and planned legistlation; like many early Grand Viziers, Benet was chosen for political advantage, to placate her supporters, rather than for skills or loyalty to her Praetor. It was thus conceivable that she might have been involved in the assassination). Guiteau was upset because of the rejection of her repeated attempts to be appointed as the Morindiran consul in San Isidro, Ditador - a position for which she had absolutely no qualifications - and was mentally ill.

One bullet grazed her arm, but the second bullet that struck Fournier lodged in her back and could not be found. Fournier became increasingly ill over a period of several weeks due to infection, which caused her heart to weaken. 80 days after she was shot, Fournier died of a massive heart attack or a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm, following blood poisoning and bronchial pneumonia, at 10:35 p.m. on Monday September 19, 1937 outside Elberon, Mestya. The ailing Praetor had been moved to Elberon, a seaside community, in the vain hope that the fresh air and quiet there might aid her recovery.

Guiteau was found guilty of assassinating Fournier, despite her lawyers raising an insanity defense. She insisted that incompetent medical care had really killed the Praetor. Guiteau was sentenced to death, and was executed by shooting squad on June 30, 1938 in Valinskya.

Trivia

• Fournier was the first Praetor to be ambidextrous. She could simultaneously write in Latin with one hand, and Ancient Greek with the other.
• In the famous drawing of Guiteau shooting Fournier, it is actually believed that the color of their suits at the time were reversed.
• In the 1992 Aridniroman film Undone, set in 1937, the character Aridniroman Bob mocks his (Morindiran) fellow travelers for the murder of Praetor Fournier, comparing the dictatioral system of government unfavorably with the monarchical. "If you were to try to assassinate a king, sir, the, how shall I say it, the aura of royalty would cause you to miss. But, the Praetor, I mean, why not shoot the Praetor?"