ECHO OF A GREAT TRIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 64, 13 September 1911, Page 2

ECHO OF A GREAT TRIAL.

REMARKABLE MURDER PLOT. According to a message of recent date irom thr Stitseeis correspondent of the Jjundon Toisgrn.ph, itrorig pirec-ure is beitig exercised, with, g.-eal r>i'obj l oilitiL» of rtiicctes, on M. Ca:;oi dc Wud. Minuter of Jt'sUce. to obtain the jAld-m and liberation of the com id I*ai! Pcltzor, the c-nc suivivoi- of the t\\» brothers sentenced in 1332 for tto» murder of til-; .AtiUcrp barrister GwillaiJi.f Borit9.>s^-" the moct wonderful criminal case of the itlneteepth ccnan-y," as it. Was styled si the 'linn-. Tho iMescnt geticraUnn c^ulu obtain some rough idea of that extraordinary drama by pert^al oi the rcmai-kablf novtl, "Andre. Cornells." nhiuh the great Ptenrh Author. J^anl Kourwi., drew from h twotity-five yews ago. The enflo would have attracted universal .attention, if oi-ly on accottnV of the hiyh socia-1 position of nearly a-U the pAttiei cottc^rned. Tim Peltzer brotbore were of a Belgo-Getma.n stock, closely conncrt^d by family ties with tretfilier« oi the Pi-nusian House v-l Lords and with former Ministers nf the Km^ of Hanovfff. Ajrmrnd, the rid?: 1 ot tha two. brother^ v.-ae 1-imsclf an pH^itteev and lecturer of ppletidid cajiacitiex aud a. much-c^tirted society man. GuiilanMe Btrnaj-s, a barrister of hirfi etandii)^ wln> t was vegardpd as an authority n/r maritime law, and oho an hicto'rian, ■vvos the son-in-law of M Arthur Pcckp. 1 . one of thft ir»t'iv,nasifc princes of Awtweifi, ! etljoyjftju furthermore, great political powev as leader of the Antwerp Liberal Tarty. Tlic motive of the crime t\ae not a fordid hist for gold, hut, according *<> the ver?ior> .icceptorl by the jury, it y;ps the infatuation of Arniftnd Peltzer for the faacin&iing wiie cf Bei-nayc. The lattpr had grave offent^ 'to Ins \v:ff, ■Kho lived practically apait from him wider the same roof, but whb, notwitlwtanding her deep sympathy for Armatid Pelt2er, wae too pure a v/oiiian to requite anothet man's love &s> long as she had a, lawful husband. Hence Arma.nd'B idea of doing sway with Guillaume Bernayp. The trial als* revealed brotherly affection and grntitndo ca.r?isd to the lengths of crime, Leon Peltzer having come all the way from America to commit the murder, out of *heer, although mieguided, devution to his eider brother, who had, years, before, sacrificed his fortune to save him from bankruptcy. ,• But the most wonderful thing of all was the genius and forethought dis> played vi the preparation of the terrible deed, fully realising £>c Quincey's notion of " Murder considered as one of the fine aits.* The two brothers had, beforehand, given tangible existence and wide notoriety to " nothingness M by creating 0. being who, under the name of Henry Vanghan, and* in tliG guise of a wealthy Anglo-American steamship company promoter, was to shoot Bernays dead, during a, consttlta* tion on maritime law, a.nd afterwards deliberately to attract all suspicions on himself before vanishing into space. ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY. The so-called Henry Vaitghan was none other than Leon Peltzer under a wig and an inscrutable disguise, thanks to which he ostensibly vieited unrecognised Paris. London. Manchester, Brussels, and many German towns, on the apparenl business of company ' proinot' ing. and managed to entrap BerilaVfc, and to shoot him in a house in Brussels, where the corpse remained ttn* discovered for days, until a letter ad> dressed from Germany "to the coroner" by the alleged Henry Vaughan, "accidental murderer of Hernays," disclosed its whereabouts, and sent the whole police of Europe oil the track of the alleged Anglo-American financier, Leon Peltzer having* in the meanwhile, thrown off his disguise, and calmly begun preparations ior returning eafely to America. Such an astonishing plot, which would ha^ve baffled* Sheflock Holmes, was only miraculously, as it were, laid bare by pure accident through the mi.«readii'f •of a ciphered telegram from Leon v Armafid, and the sudden clue it afforded to a baiom friend of the latter.. Dr. Lavise, who. indeed, struggled hard against himsfelf and hie wife before consenting to the direful duty of acquainting the police with his .startling discovery. Before the Court Leon took upon himself the responsibility for the crime, which, he maintained, had been quite unpremeditated ; but the jury found that ATmaml had been "the brain*" and Leon the arm in the awful business, and both were sentenced to death, a penalty afterwards reduced to _perpetus»l Solitary confinement at the Prison of Lottvain, where Armand died less than three years after, from remorse according to some, from the grief of tortured innocence according to others. Loon, lias now been in prison twenty-nine years, is said to have reafl and pondered immensely in hie cell, aiui to § have become a great philosophic^ mind, capable of adding to the intellect* ual wealth of the world. King Leopold 11. to his death sternly refused to liftten to any request in favour of his r<*. lease, "the greatness of such n, crime entailing the enforcement of the fentence to the bitter end," but the present Minister of Justice ha* been Won to the cause of pity; and King Albert is al?o credited With a strong inclination to clemency, so that the return to the world of the mice famoils and bogus "Henry \ anghan' is considered as a mete matte? oi days 'or weeks.

The new conditions created by the reduction of the Auckland extended river limits were explained in a letter leceived by the "Auckland Chamber of Commoicc from Mi. Oeo. Allport, <secr<;lary of *K -3ltmne Ue\-aflnw)it. Ui\ AttpuH Pfftlnd that the ialuct ; oil \v&", made rt f lev lmnuto '^r.Eliiei'.rtksn, ab il v/ds considered liuil. in the interests of the .**t'uty of life {}»? tofiner limit* \vcic Itxj ht^a tor fticanieis manned in «ioroi dance with the rpfjuinmsiiis i'or o.\ien«lrd ( infiv Hmitf*. Tho rcdiiLtioi\ \AO!ild have been made long aj,o, ht. f . in j tivdev vo prc\crl hnn^hlj) lo e.\t«iidn?cl liver ccaiticalcd maetert ard cii^if.c^ns, who lifKi'lifien employed in tl c old limits fo-v .sowo time, it Wos dfJciOtd to lmid (he matur o\ojt unt'l legal }iru\is"»i "At.s made to enable t'wni to" continue in th^ii* foimei- limli.o. 'l'hL« pz&vision was mana in the Mnppin? and f<e?men Amcndwnl Acl, 1909, whica rame into force on Ist Msy Ls'i. ]t ynpeared fhut pome of the etcamcra riinnin^ on extended livol 1 cerliQralcii i.n lii* n]i} limits could obtain floino track oeitiiioatcs vithout having to incur much additionnl expense, ac they had tlte cicws leqi.ircd ku Ftoine trade v^ss/'is. and \\ouid only havti tc provision their boat* and curry a few moi'o Jifubo'lfi a tut tifliT cquipmtuls Ac regarde *au:ling \w.-c'c, which did lml go bejoiui i he old citinded lin.ite. which were inside a. line drs-wi. from C'jvpc . Colvillc (.o Bieam Jlcad. it ",\w considered that the cquipnKnt t.h«y were then rtruiivcd lo bopiovidcr 1 with wa-s fiufScient to rjmb!<; them to rciHittoe lo rim witl'in th* line referred to, and it had. the ef urc ( been decided that tht-V would not be called upon to provide anything further. Aq &h _ indication nf tne 'livtf?^ of tin?/ season in these diptiHe. it may be tiwiitioned fx3\v the >Jnr.awal.ti f*iundfirdl liiat nR the iiß.tivcs f)om A^i'anai witlcnioni nii^nt Uavr been wn iillintC V-.atcr into a lar»»- tank, on si dray in the Oi'oiia. J'.i\ei. for the ue^ of the inaiatco- of the p;i. nith whom water ha*, bton ratliti a s.-ftic-. for toww !ime pa*i>.