"BLUE BEARD"

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 73, 30 March 1929, Page 17

"BLUE BEARD"

THE TRIAL OF LA.XDRU

"Landru." Edited by F. A. Mackenzie. London: Geoffrey Blcs. Tlio .Famous Trials .Scries.

"Eh bicnt It ts not the first lime I hat ii n innocent man had been condemned. lam ready." With these words on his lips, Henri Desire Landru went cheerfully to. the guillotine ou a cold morning in February of 192^ to pay the penalty for a scries of crimes which not only caused a sensation throughout the length and breadth of l'Va-nco, but shocked, the ..whole civilised world.

That profession of his innocence was not tho only one that Landru made from the time of his arrest until his execution. Throughout the long examination by the Magistrates aiul the extended trial, he declined to make the slightest admission. His attitude was: "You say I have done these things; prove it. It is not for me to prove my innocence; it is for you to prove my guilt." Fortunately, the law was armed with the necessary proof, and Landru did not escape the punishment which it was fully proved by_ evidence that he richly deserved. Tile only fear is that the punishment did not fit the crime; no punishment that could have been meted out. to him would have been sufficiently-severe to do that. Landru was not born to a life of crime. Although in poor circumstances, his parents were honest and upright people, and they did everything possible to guide their son along, the paths of rectitude. Henri was a clever boy, and after a good education he was admitted a subdeacon at the religious establishment of St.. Louis-cn-l'lle. But such a life aid not appeal to him, and it was while he was at St. Louis-en-J'lle that he made his.first venture in crime. Thenco onwards ho never looked back oil virtue. The remainder of his life was spent mainly in defrauding innocent people, mostly widows. Several terms of imprisonment did not dampen his ardour, and finally I/andru hit upon the idea of disposing of his victims in such a way that they would be unable to give evidence against him. The modus operandi adopted by Landru is well described by Mr. F. A. Mackenzie. "After doing his military service, and reaching the rank^ of quarter-master sergeant, ho obtained various posts as accountant, publicity agent, and the like," writes Mr. Mackenzie. "Ho took to swindling, not at first cleverly, for he was caught time after time and imprisoned. After ho had tried his .hand at ordinary swindling he developed his own special field, taking as his victims the most easily captured • women—widows, aged between thirty-eight and fifty—with furniture of their own, and a few thousand francs in the bank. He reached these usually by matrimonial advertisements in the newspapers, or through matrimonial agencies. He was the ardent lover, and would write pages to grizzled old washerwomen in the fifties, who 1 had inherited a few thousand francs, about their beautiful lily-white hands, their soft eyes, and their gentle hearts. Landru would capture the affection of women such as these, promise marriage, and bind them to him. Then he would suggest that they should allow him to sell their old furniture, for it would no longer be wanted when they were married. He was careful, wherever possible, to secure a legal- transfer from them. By assuring them that he could obtain four times the interest that they wore receiving from the bank, he induced them to hand their deposits to his caret Then the furniture would be sold, the money secured, and Landru would disappear. Ho tried this mothod many scores of times. In forty-nine cases out o£ fifty he was successful. But there came the fiftieth time, when the woman pursued him and hunted him down, and he was sent to prison. Later he nerved himself not merely to rob the women, but, when they seemed likely to bo troublesome, to make them disappear so thoroughly that no trace of them should be found again."

In all there were eleven victims of Landru's atrocious form of homicide— ten women and a boy. The Btory of their association with this arch criminal is well told in tho account of the evidenco given before President Gilbert in the Court at Paris. The evidence is prcscntod iv a busiuess-liko manner, and is easy to follow,/but- more might havo been said of tho manner iv which tho French police conducted the inquiries. To the reader not acquainted with the administration of justice in French Courts this book will prove of especial interest. Altogether, "Landru" is an acceptable addition to the Famous Trials Series.