A COOL CONFESSION

Evening Post, Volume 148, Issue 148, 20 December 1923, Page 7

A COOL CONFESSION

GERMAINE BARTHON TRIED

MURDER OF MARIUS PLATEAU.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN-MEW ZEALAND CABLZ ASSOCIATION.) PARIS, 19th December. Perfectly calm and smiling, Germaine Barthon, 21 years old, appeared in the Assize Court, charged with the murder of Marius Plateau last January. Leisurely removing her hat and coat, the girl adjusted her mass of bobbed hair, and, after glancing at a- tiny mirror, awaited the questioning. Dressed in a grey sheath _ cpstume, Germain? had the air of q.-pink-white schoolgirl instead of a determined anarchist. She replied to the questions, coolly, frankly admitting the , murder. She said she went to the offices of the newspaper iutending to murder I M- Leon Daudet, a Royalist, but only saw Plateau, who mocked the anarchist organisation. Turning livid, Germaine cried out: VMy anger welled up. He turned his back. I pulled out~ my revolver, and fired- Then.l thought death' would be a relief for myself, who had never known what tenderness was. I tried to shoot myself." The trial is expected to be lengthy, as there are 100 witnesses. Marhjs Plateau was editor of " L'Action Francaise," the Royalist newspaper. Germaine Barthon, who shot him on 23rd January last in his office, is an anarchist, who resented, the action of the " Camelots due Hoi," the Pariskm Royalist Fascisti.