Mysterious Monttet Murder.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 156, 4 July 1896, Page 3 (Supplement)

Mysterious Monttet Murder.

Hebe is the mosb puzzling murder case that has ever been brought before a French Courb of Justice. Four courtß have discussed it, and have attempted to decide ib. Yot ib is' now no nearer a jusb decision than it was four years ago.

In bhe village of Blancnrde, near Marseilles, there was a rich old woman named Madame Montbeb. She was eighty years old, and lived alone, excepb for her companion, Mario Michel, a pretty girl of sixteen, yonng for her age in speech and manners, bub well developed physically. Every day a young man of the village, a certain Louis Cauvin, of good family, and excellent repufcabion, came to call on the old woman. Ib was well known that Caima was to be bhe old woman's sole heir. She gave him money and' presents all the bime, and they seemed to bo very fond each of the other. As the old woman was very strong, she bad a good chance to live many years. Early in tho morning of December 16th, 1891, old Madame Montfceb was found dead. She had been sbrangled in her bed after a terrible struggle, in which sho had drawn blood from her murderer with her long nails. She had been strangled in the mosb brnbal and cold-blooded manner. Suspicion ab once fixed upon Marie Michel as an accomplice, because she could not) give a coherent account of her'selt. ' '

She denied atrennously, bub after a few I days made a moat) startling confession, She acctfsed young Cauvin of bho murder. She said that on the evening of Dacember 154h Cauvin offered her 3,000 francs out (of his inheritance from tha old woman and a secure place in the employ of his own family if she would hslp oo murder her old mistress. She said ehe had accepted the offer. Her account ot bho murder was full of minufce and horrible details. She said Cauvin's manner was snch thab she thought |he would kill her, and the old woman as well, if she did not consent. So she hid him in the bedroom of the old woman, and they waited until her breathing indicated thab Bhe was asleep. Mario said thab she held the candle while Gauvin leaped upon the body of the old woman, striking his knees into her abdomen, and burying his fingers in her throab. Bub the old woman was stronger than he thought. She struggled frantically, and twisted herself into such a position that his fingers Blipped from her neck. Tfao nighbsband ab bhe head of the bed was in bhe way. Cauvin called oub to the young girl to move ib, and ehe did so. Bub the old woman had freed her legs from the covers, and was kicking violently. Marie set the candle down, and laid hold I of the old woman's ankles, and stretched her legs out atraighb, so that she could Dob kick. Cauvin soon finished the strangling. When he was sure the old woman was doad he wenb into the nexb room and washed away bhe blood her nails had drawn. He came back, wiping them on a towel. Thi9 is only an outline of the story the girl told. Ib was apparently as truthful and as precise in its defcailß an a Btory could possibly be. When the case came up ehe went upon the stand, and repeated ib jusb as she had told ib to bho prosecutor.^ The young man's lawyer, one of bhe beeb criminal lawyers in France, cross examined fcha girl for several days. He did nob succeed in breaking her besbimony in a single point. Cauvin proved a good alibi, bub the jury found him guilty. There was the girl's slory, and there was the fneb fchafc Cauvin was bh« only man in the world who would profit by the death of thiß hoalthy old. woman. He was sentenced to death. Marie Michel was acquitted.

For some reason the judge was nob quite satisfied, and senb the case np to a higher court. Thab courb senb it back for re-bfinl. The same testimony was heard over again, and the jury found Cauvin guilty, and ho waa Bgein eontoneod to death. Bub the case was again sent np, because the judge feared there was something wrong. Thore was a long delay. Maria Michel wenb into a'convent), not) as a novice, but as a penitent) in retreat. She became very religious, and a few months ago she. Bent for the prosecutor: To him Bhe confessed that sho had lied about Cauvin. • I billed Madame Monttet,' she said. • I alone am puilby. I accused Cauvin to save myself. My confession waa a lie from beginning to end.' She made this confession under oath. But when they asked her why ebe killed the old woman she said she did not know. She said her mistress had always been kind to her, and that ib was to her interest for her mistress to live as long as possible, as her wages depended upon ibt But *he swore mosb earnestly thab she, and she alene, waa. guilty ; that Cauvin never even suggested the murder. And she described how sho had done ib with as much minuteness as she had previously used in describing how Cauvin had done it. Physicians were called in. They said tbab Marie Michel was mentally eouud, and thab she was physically powerful enough to havo produced the doep wounds in the old woman's neck. And now began a new serins of trials. None knsw what to think. Ib was impossible to docido between the young woman's two contradictory stories. Each was apparently as coherent and credible as bbc ofcber. And the fact that Cauvin denied bhe accusation was balanced by the fact that he would have a motive for tho crime, and Marie Michel had no possible motive for ib ; bat very strong reasons for nob wishing the old woman to diei Just before Marie's confession, Cauvin waa condemned to death for the third time. A reprieve came jnsb in time to save his head. The brnfcal murder of the old woman could nob go unavenged. Bub who should suffer for it? And if the law punishes either, there is the doubb whether an innocent) person is not dying tor the crime, and the guilty person going free.