MYSTERY OF TWO HUSBANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 242, 9 October 1920, Page 19

MYSTERY OF TWO HUSBANDS.

EICH WOIf.WS LIFE IX FARI'S. TRUNK MCWDE'K DRAMA. Mine. Weissinnnii, an authoress, who is accused of murdering her husband, a raris business man, and then placing the body in a trunk which she sent to Nancy station liiL-KaRC offlce, was taken to her flat after I her arrest for a preliminary Tecoiislitutlon of the scene of the murder. She preserved a wonderful assurance, snys the "Daily Mail." Subsequently the police se.irched the apartment, while ]>olice the rooms, nnd especially of her bedroom, wher«* the shooting took [>lnce. The mattress of the bed in which M. washed anil Ironed, and was taken away by the poLlc-e. The "Journal" reproduces in facsimile a note written by Vine. Weissniann and signed in her pen name— Hertn Mlrtel —In which she vehemently protests against the ncci:satlon of being a murderess, and nd<ls, j "Relng as I am a creator, how could 1 destroy?" A leading handwriting expert st.ites that the hindwritinu of this letter shows "a remarkahlc temperament, avarice, and keenness for gain, combined with a wild imagination nnd ferocity." At noon the dny following the arrest In Hie Hols de Boulogne a park-keeper fonnrt the body of one of the deed man.- for.ner partners. M. Hernard Ttecker. hangi'i-4 'rom a tree. JVlter. who was 46, 7'i' to krow Welssninnn In and sin• ■ the war the latter entrusted him with s»vrr:il m sslons to that country. 111? two p-.itners recently quarrelled. M. Becker's mother suggests that he killed himself through Ic-prc-sfion aud illness; he suffered fiou heart d'sfrse. Rehlnd the tragic ficirre of Mme. TTeiss mann looms the memory of her flrst tinshand. M. Jncqnes. who Is entered on Tarts police records as hnvinir shot himself with a revolver on 'March 28, 1014. The presumed reason of the act -was financial worry. This Is based upon the statement made at the inquest by his wife, who satrt he had asked her to die with him. The fact that Instead of beinc left in poverty Mme. Weissmann Inherited about CT>.O4KI fmm her first husband's interests in Mexico, did not apparently arouse any suspicion. M. Jacques met MiM, Welssmnnn itben Mile. Gonosl in Mexico, where her father had business Interests, n« w.ns openly disliked by his -wife, who, apparently to obtain money for her extravagant tnste in dress, used, when he was away from home, to sell quantities of the household furniture, or order lnrce snpn'-ies from shops, and when 'if. Jacques had paid the bill, send ihem back and reclaim the money. Mme. Weissmann maintnined similar Ing to his friends. M. Wpissmnnn told nn acqunlnfnnee that -his wife had sold two new suits and nn overcoat which he hart just had sent home. When challeneed about it she said burglars hnd been in the flat. On her return from Mexico Mme. Jacques plnnc-od .it once into the -whirl of Taris life, spending mojiey recklessly In the hope of winning social standing. It was apparently for the same reason that she wrote novels sand verses. Her fcooks Tind a small sale liefore she became notorious, but the bookdemand has sprung up for them.