MURDER HUNT

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 78, 1 April 1936, Page 6

MURDER HUNT

IDENTITY RIDDLE

DEVIL'S ISLAND FUGITIVE

The i'ate of the man apprehended in Paris under the name •of Charles Edouard Lacroix on t a warrant issued at Bow Street charging him with the murder of Max Kassel, alias Emil AUard, whose bullet-ridden body was found near St. Albans, hangs upon the definite establishment of his nationality, writes the Paris correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." A Briton or a foreigner could be rapidly extradited to stand: his trial before a British court for a .crime committed on British territory, . On the principle, however, of international law that a country does not extradite its own nationals Lacroix will be entitled, if he can establish the fact that he is a French citizen/ to claim trial in his own country. So far Lacroix has not chosen counsel to defend him. All the efforts of the French Surete Nationale, since it has been informed that Scotland' Yard intends to initiate extradition proceedings, have been concentrated.upon determining his real identity. It has been stated that he claims to :be a French-Canadian. •. ■;'.. FINGEK PRINTS COMPARED. French detectives have compared the finger prints of the alleged murderer with all the records of the prefecture, and they claim that these are identical \yith those of Hoger Marcel Vernon, born in Paris on January 4, 1901,: of French parents. Vernon is an escaped convict who was sentenced to seven years' deportation to the." dreaded convict settlement of Saiht-Laurerit-de-Maroni in the Caribbean Sea, commonly known as "Devil's Island." Het had served less than,three years at "Devil's Island" wiien he escaped. He. was reported missing from.the penal settlement on November 16, 1927.; After having reached the main : land of South America he managed to make his way to Canada before "finally going to England in the guise of a British subject. \ Meanwhile the detained man Lacroix. continues to protest vehemently that he had nothing whatever-to do'with the murder of Kassel, adding that iri due time he v will prove that he is completely innocent. ■.■■■■; ■ A new element was Jidded to the case when a Frenchman named Bau : douin, to' whom the- woman Suzanne Bertron, detained in Paris with Lacroix, was married some years ago, called at the Surete Nationale and stated that he had recognised published pictures of the woman as his wife. M. Baudouin declared to the.detectives: "In August, 1935, my wife came

to see me in the country. She arrived by motor-car and was accompanied by a man whom I am very much inclined to think was Lacroix. She insisted upon taking away our little girl, which she did despite my protests." Police inquiries, I understand, have confirmed M. Baudouin's statements. The litlJe girl has been traced, and is at present in a place of safety pending . her restoration to the custody of her i father. . , A representative of "The Telegraph" ' was told at the French Embassy that ■ on no account could French nationals [ be extradited, even on a charge of mur- ; der- •"•'.' "The present case," said an official, "will be greatly "complicated if La- ■ croix is proved to be Vernon, the fugi- ; tive from Devil's Island. In the ordinary way he would then be tried in France for murder, but as a fugitive ; he would first have to face the charge 1 of escaping from the island. He would ■ go back to serve his sentence before any further charge could be considered. "This complication makes it difficult ■ to define the position of the woman. It 1 seems unlikely that she would be tried t alone.". . In spite of this view it is understood that the police authorities in London are hopeful of securing the extradition I of the detained couple. » The interpretation placed by authori- , ties in England on the existing extradition treaty Acts-does not admit the " legal impossibility of extraditing both • Lacroix and Bertron. ; ' RIGHTS MAY BE WAIVED. I . Extradition is not a matter of international law, but in-each case depends on a treaty between the "country which . desires the trial of an alleged offender, ! and the country in which he may hap- : pen to'be found. ■ ■.■-■.••. , So far as Great Britain is concernl ed, these treaties, with the rest of the , civilised countries - run on very.simit lar lines. There may be slightvvaria--1 tionsiriti the list.of crimes for which l extradition can be demanded, but murder is extraditable everywhere. - When extradited "the accused person - can be tried-on any offence arising out of the facts proved on the extradition 5 crime, but no other. . : Some countries will not undertake j to surrender their own native-born, but , in such cases they try to punish them, : it found guilty, for the extradition > offence, Within recent years Italy r tried and punished a company director t and financier for frauds committed in England. :. ■ Great Britain is usually ready to surt render' her, own nationals, but if an? l other'nation is unwilling to recipror cate she may stipulate otherwise. ' - This, in fact.is a feature of the extradition treaty' between England and i France, signed-nearly sixty years ago. ■ , The treaty provides that native-born i or' naturalised subjects on either side ■ are exempted from extradition, but a , person originally native in the country 1" which demands extradition shall be • surrendered^ , The ~ country which , claims trial of its own nationals may, ■ no doubt, waive the claim in a suitable ...case. .. ■.. ■ :' '. ■•.■■■'■