Easter Sunday in 1768, in which Sade procured the services of a woman, Rose Keller,
[19] a widow-beggar who approached him for alms. He told her she could make money by working for him—she understood her work to be that of a housekeeper. At his chateau at Arcueil, Sade ripped her clothes off, threw her on a divan and tied her by the four limbs, face-down, so that she could not see behind her. Then he whipped her. Keller testified that he made various incisions on her body into which he poured hot wax, although investigators found no broken skin on Keller, and Sade explained that he had applied ointment to her after the whipping.
Four years later, in 1772, Sade committed further acts with four prostitutes and his manservant, Latour.
[20] This episode in
Marseille involved the drugging of prostitutes with the supposed
aphrodisiac Spanish fly and
sodomy with Latour. The two men were sentenced to death
in absentia for sodomy and the poisoning.
In 1774, Sade trapped six children, including one boy, in his chateau for six weeks during which time he subjected them to abuse, which his wife allowed.
[2] He kept a group of young employees at the chateau, most of whom complained about molestation and quickly left his service.
