DUMB WITNESS IN MURDER TRIAL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 179, 24 April 1908, Page 9

DUMB WITNESS IN MURDER TRIAL

VIVID ACCOUNT OF THE CRIME BY sicxs. There ..was. an- extraordinary scene at tho trial ,of tho prisoners ill the " Sweeny .Todd" murder case at Langon recently, when one or the witnesses, a deaf-and-dumb man named Laeampagne, was 'called to give evidence'...' An innkeeper named Branchery and his wife,.were alleged to have systematically murdered and - robbed . their customers, and two men named Parrot and Gazol were charged as accomplices. The.: particular charge being heard concerned tjhe murder of 'a commercial traveller named Moliget,' who was killed - and;robbed, after which his bo'dy was thrown, into -the .U4roiine. : The deaf mute. was accompanied tothe bar by two friends, who acted as'interpreters. : Lacampagne, in dumb show which wis wonderfully expressive, described how "lie had seen Monget, the murdered; man, in tho inn. An hour ' later Lacampagrio , had gone down into tho cellar, and seen the alleged murderers washing their hands.:' ; He noticed that Mme. Branchery, the innkeeper's wife, had blood On her apron, and in a marvellous >picce Of dumb: show which Would have been highly . effective on -tho stage, he showed to the' Court the horror that ho felt when ho- discovered the. body. Branchery, the 1 innkeeper, '.surprised, him immediately after the- discovery, struck him on the head, and threw him out of tho inn. Ho went for shelter, to an outhouso and tried to sleep, but could not. All this was expressed by tho witness as clearly as if ho had said it.At one o'clock in the morning ho saw tho cellar door open. Gazol, ■ tho smuggler, camo out. with a lighted candle, and Branchery and his accomplice Parrot followed with tho wheelbarrow in which was tho body of Monget tied up in a: blanket. Throughout Lacanipagno's cvidmico, which made a tremendous ' impression on tho Court, Branchery and Parrot repeatedly interrupted before tho interpreters could oxplain, shrieking out that the man was lying. i