An Englishman Tried for Murder in France.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 239, 6 October 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

An Englishman Tried for Murder in France.

At the Assize court of Saintes, the trial; commenced of Bernard ■Whittingham, said t 0 be the son of an English officer, for tbs, murder of his wife Suzanne, ab Royan.' The prisoner had been spending nfev summer ab Royau with his father and sister, and fell in love with\Mdllfl. ■ Audon, who was a school teacher. He married her in London on November 16th last against "bia fathers, will. Trouble followed, and one day aj Saintes, the young woman having saw that, in spite of thoir miserable position, . she loved him to death, Whittingbflin pub into her hands a revolver and asked nor to commit suicide. On another occasion ab Bordeaux he wanted both to die from suffocation by the fumes of lighted charcoal. The young wife, exasperated, it v alleged, by the violence of her husband, went to live with her mother at;.Hoyan, , where Whittingham followed,■ qoarroUoa with, and shot her. After his .arrest M tried to commit suicide by striking me j head against the wall of his cell. I","!';;, preliminary questions the Judge on iriasy declared that the Whitbingham »m«y were reputed to be wealthy people, ano asked bbc prisoner whether he aid »°? think that it was for this reaßon M>w.; y Suzanne Audon had consented to becoowhis wife. Whittingham : replied, 1«_- . inclined to think so.' v ,' ir The Judge then epoke of the evenM! March 18th, the date of the alleged crime. ' Madame Audon, your wife's mother, taw ■ he, 'entered after hearing the report 9J;thegun which you fired, and; ;C"e« out, "You wretched man ! You J l**,; killed my daughter." To tbuTyou^ cooly replied, "She is only woundea. Subsequently, when going out of the"o" 8"' you said, "Then she is dead?" Yo. u°'. played no emotion whatever.' The P]Rl| ab thia point broke down and sobbed p»'u fully. of Numerous witnesses were called, one whom deposed that the murdered wodjb had told him that she married because he would have prevented her becoming the wife of any other.:■ m.ap^ ■-■--»; had also been heard to say, -Myh«sf B will follow me everywhere and kill •"?'...,' The trial of the Englishman,;Whi"l^ ham, for the murder of bis .-'L'ttie ' Frenchwoman, was concluded be[ore, ... Assize Courb at Saintes, on . a The hearing of evidence having ,0: { concluded, a description was givep,o.. fl {,; scene of the alleged crime with tw no r^ the medical men engaged in the nothing was elicited tending j:0 JLjn. the guilb of the accused. A P ffl< ful ecene occurred during the . 0( inabion of the prisoner's BißJ er' aD d overcome by grief,- burst into •war threw heraelf into her brother's arms. The courb found that WhittiogbW^j A • Guilty,' and ha was sentenced, to qr*£ penal semtude,