THE TRUNK TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 13

THE TRUNK TRAGEDY.

MURDERERS NARROWLY ESCAPH LYNCHING. LONDON, September 13. Mr and Mrs Goold, who are charged with the trunk crime committed at iloute Carlo, ■were removed .last Saturday from Marseilles to Monte Carlo amid extraordinary manifestations of hatred. An hour before the train which was to take them to Monte Carlo started Goold and his wife weve locked in separate compartments of the prisoner's van in Marseilles station. Every effort had been made to keep the departure secret, but a large number of peop c had gathered at the station, and they hooted the Goolds as the train started. At Nice a large crowd was waiting on the platform, and it was such a noisy and threatening one that the train had to restart almost immediately, instead of waiting in the station for twenty-five minutes, as usual. Hundreds of people who wanted to see the Goolds had taken tickets for Monte Carlo, and took the train by storm, so that all the way from Nice to Monte Carlo angry shouts of "Death to the murderers-* greeted the prisoners' ears at intervals. At every station were crowds shrieking and howling, and when the train stopped at Monte Carlo the station was black with a howling mob of well-dressed jgeople. As the train steamed in a yell of execration burst from the crowd. When, the door of the prison van was opened, a determined rush was made to get at the. prisoners. There was a free fight between the carabineers and the crowd, which made another fierce rush, with the evident intention of lynching the Goolds. The crowd was forced back, and Goold appeared, handcuffed, between two carabineers. The shrieks of the crowd broke out again, but Goold did not seem to notice them. He was deadly pale, and appeared to have lost control of his legs, for he was carried rather than helped down the high steps and across the platform to the police commissary's office. Two minutes later two more carabineers, with Mrs Goold handcuffed between them, appeared at the open door of the prison van. She is regarded, in Monte Carlo as the principal criminal, and as soon as she appeared the crowd went mad. Fists were shaken at her, shrieks o F "Death to the murderess" rose and umbrellas and other missiles were thrown at her. Then, as sue was led across the platform, the mob made another rush at Mrs Goold, but the carabineers were equal to the occasion and succeeded in getting the woman safely into the commissary's office. Here the prisoners were handed over to the Monte Carlo authorities, who lost no time In taking them to prison. Two landaus guarded by soldiery, and police were in waiting to take the alleged murderers to gaol, but considerable difficulty was experienced in getting the prisoners to these conveyances, so strenuously did the angry mob try to gel hold of them. The carabineers had to fight hard to prevent the crowd wreaking summary vengeance on the accused couple* and all the way from the station to the prison the strongly-guarded carriages were accompanied by a furious mob of shrieking men, women, and children, all howling execrations at the quaking prisoners, and from time to time making ugly rushes to. get possession of their bodies. They were, however, baulked of their prey, and Goold and his wife were at length safely housed in prison.