TRAGEDY IN PARIS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 241, 4 July 1908, Page 6

TRAGEDY IN PARIS.

AN AUCKLANDER'S GRIME. A WAITER SHOT. , Tho London correspondent of the "New Zealand Herald," writing on May 22,-, states: Now Zealand residents in • England, particularly thoso who have lived in tho nortliorn districts of the Dominion, were grieved and shockcd at tho receipt of news from Paris, oarly qi tho current week, that a son of Mr. William Shepherd Allen, of Piako, Auckland, was alleged to have shot a waiter at an hotel in Paris, seriously wounding him. The man has since died.

It appears that Mr. Thomas Shepherd, Allon, son of Mr. W. S. Allen (formerly M.P. for .Newcastle-under-Lyme, and brother to Captain Wm. Allen, also formerly M.P.'for Nowcastle), had been staying in France for I the. past six. months, living quietly, and apparently happily, at Amiens, and had written regularly eajh week to his parents in this country. But last week, without informing his father of his intentions, ho left Amiens and went to Paris, where ,he put up at tho Hotel Danube, in the Rue Jacob. According to a Paris correspondent, on Sunday night, after taking his soup, Mr. Allen suddenly loft tho tablo, declariug that he could oat no more dinner; ho left the hotel.. On Monday morning, about 9.30, he asked for a waiter, who ,was sent to him. The two men were seen 1 engaged in conversation for a moment, and . then Allen made a move as if to go out of his room. The waiter, a man named Jean Cogan, drew aside to,lot him pass, and immediately tho young man. Allen whipped out a revolver and fired twice'at tho waiter, hitting him in the ; body. ... The wounded man screamed, and ~ran upstairs pursued by Allen; who fired another shot, and this lodged, in the'; poor fellow's leg. The waiter was able to take refuge in .ono of the upper floors, in the room of another visitor, who succeeded in preventing the infuriated pursuer from entering. .. . Mr. T. S. Allen then put the revolver into his pocket, descended to the hall, and sat dqwn perfectly calm. A "littlo later the I police arrived, the weapon was quietly handLed over to them, and he accompanied'thorn to the station.

So far as can.be discovered there apparently no adequate' motive for , the crime. One account says that Mr. Allen's baggage had been removed by the waiter from ono room to another,, and that this angered the visitor, who drew the revolver , and fired. Then, according to another telegraphed statement, Mr; Allen'is said to have mado tho following curious declaration to the police inspector" I thought 1 recognised ili him my brother in disguise"—a brother whom he, had a delusion had attempted to poison- him-; • Mr. Allen was found. to be in of 1500 francs : (£6O). and threo knives; in his room,was found a box of cartridges.' The- Magistrate, after vainly endeavouring to convince the .prisoner that his victim was !not his brother, ordered a medical man to, make an, examination of Mr. Allen's mental 'condition. '' , • It was not . until Tuesday that news reached the Potteries of the proved identity of tho assailant. . The first intimation which was received at- Choadle by Mr. William Shepherd Allen of what had happened was a telegram from Captain Allen, in London, spying ho had' communicated with tho British Ambassador in. Paris,' that he. had verified tho information, and'that ho was proceeding immediately to Paris. V • Great .sympathy is everywhere expressed for .the young'man's parents, who have been living in England for rather moro than a | year, immediately-prior to which timo. they were living in Auckland, where they possess I a good deal of property, and where they have co many int-imato friends. ' . It seems that Mr. T. S. Allen somo time ago was badly injured on the North Staffordshire Railway, at Blythebridgo j as a result ho was laid up for some timo in tho London Hospital, his condition at ono period of tho illness being'critical. I '-Later lio had a severe attack of influenza, arid this, his father thinks, must have affected his son's brain. ' He also thinks that the Paris tragedy-must liavo' boon due to a sudden uncontrollable impulso, for the young man had always been singularly amiable and steady, in his habits. 'Doubtless tlio accident and tho attack of influenza caused the. mind to become, sud- : denly unhinged. " . . .Tho depositions of witnesses .m the caso were taken in Paris tho day before yesterday. From these, it appeared that -there was 'nothing in Mr. Allen's demeanour during his stay at the Hotel Danubo to excite any •suspicion.. His beariii'g was ; quiet ana : gentlemanly,'' and, . fair frbra displaying'any signs of excitement either before of_ after firing the shots, ho calmly sat . down in the hall of the. hotel and allowed himself' to bo taken awav by the' police without remonstrance. , "Ho"merely- insisted that it was not a waiter he had shot, but his brother, . who was bent on poisoning him. This leads to the. supposition that the waiter, who was a civil young man of 28 years of age, boro an accidental-resemblance to someone against whom Mr-Allen had a grievance; but it is . much'moro probable, that he was seized with . a sudden impulse which he could not control.