SHOTS IN THE NIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

SHOTS IN THE NIGHT.

UNDERWORLD DRAMA,

English revellers returning home in the early hours of the morning through the steep and narrow streets of old Montmartre heard two voices raised in angry disputation. Then came a revolver shot, and one of the men fell to the ground mortally wounded. The victim was "Jean le Tatoue," supposed to follow the calling of travelling hawker or pedlar, but none the less a noted figure in the underworld of Montmartre. The assassin made his escape, and the police have little hope of finding him because of that unwritten law of the underworld which forbids even anyone to aid the police. But if unable to track the assassin, the police have found certain details that supply the motive for the crime, and incidentally shed a lurid light on the habits of some of the English and American women who abandon home and friends in order ito bury themselves in this strange underworld life of Paris.

It seems that the feud which ended fatally for the Tattooed, Jean began a few weeks ago when he turned up at his miserable lodging accompanied by an elegantly dressed and still beautiful woman who is known in certain quarters as "La Blonde Anglaise." She is stated by the police to be a ■young woman of means and of good family who has become a drug addict and has settled in Paris because she is more at home with the denizens of the underworld than with people of lier own position.

From time to time she lias shown a predilectioii for the Apache type, and the more unsavoury the reputation the more delight she seemed to take in their companionship. It is believed that in attaching herself to "the Tattoed One" she brought down on his head the vengeance of one or other of the men to whom she had up to then shown herself partial. The police Have evidence that the victim had himself confided to his concierge that it was npcessary not to venture out too much because he had stolen the blonde Englishwoman from a man who would not hesitate to kill a rival.

Immediately after the tragedy the mystery blonde disappeared, and though a thorough comb has been made of the quarter, the police have failed to trace her.