POET-MURDERER'S TRIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 37, 12 August 1905, Page 9

POET-MURDERER'S TRIAL.

EXTRAOBDINAtIir SEQUEL. Armand Gaily; aged twenty, loved ft girl of nineteen, and was loved by. her (writes the p aris correspondent of tho London Daily Telegraph). The parent* on both sides approved highly of the match, the engagement was official, and tho wedding-day was fixed. "But *Arjnand was thrown out of -work, and ho has a, melodramatic temperament. ,The future looked black, he could not support his bride, the engagement would have to be broken off. He never stopped to -consult his or the girl's parents, or to wonder whether at -twenty he "would not be. able to find work. "No, let us die in each other' 6 arms," he told hie sweetheart. ' She. was apparently interested by the- idea. Yes, they would die together, and their parents and friends •would weep for their melancholy fate, ' and the papers would bo full of " Yet one .more romantic double 6uieido." So the two young ''tragic comedians" took a room in an hotel together, tho boy bringing with him a 'oaded revolver. He clasped tho girl with on© arm and fired twic© at her point-blank. She was killed instantly, •receiving two bullets 'in, . the brain. Ho turned the revolver •against himself, fired twic© alsp, and fell back wounded, but not dead. H© was found, nursed, and,- having completely recovered, has been, tried for 'murder. , |, 'An 'eloquent and pathetic 'counsel defended him. With tears in his eyes and | a handkerchief in one hand, the barris- ! tor begged the jury to allow him to wad some touching lines by his client. Gentlemen of the .jury might not find thab [ they boT© tho maTk of original genius, and, iv fact, they were obviously in- [ spired by Mussel. But, none could deny that they showed an unmistakable stamp of sincerity. Counsel read the veraes 'Beginning^ like Musset's famous poem, about the willow i!o be planted 'on ' his grave, the lines prayed that after 'Arjnand's death his heart should be buried •beneath his love's window. From it wild roses would grow, which ihe" loved handa would pluck: The verse "of its kind showed undoubted poetic taste. Tho jury was "much affected, 'instantly •brought in -n , verdict of acquittal^ and . Armand Gaily left the /court a free, man, amid, applause which it was impossibleto repress. But tho- story of tha .murderer-poet has a - sequel. Viscount do Borrelli writes to-day to the Gaulois: "Here is an exceedingly humorous business^ One Armand Gaily kills a woman, and tries to kill 'himself, but" of course fails, as i'hey always do. 4t the ."trial, counsel reads, as being the work .of his client, a poem by -myself, -published some three years ago in the Gaulois. And, of course, the jury acquits • him. 'It appears to me that !• deserve to be congratulated in this matter." As no asevision of trial -can ever follow an Aacquitital, A'tmand Gaily is safe, but his eloquent counsel must feel annoyed. The Viscount may also 4>e & Ktftle annoyed by some of tho -einarks made, on, tho poem in 'court.