QUEBEC CAUSE CELEBRE

Evening Star, Issue 18161, 29 December 1922, Page 3

QUEBEC CAUSE CELEBRE

CITED TO BAR OF HOUSE. allegations in murder case. Great interest is displayed throughout tho Province of Quebec in the unusual course adopted hy tho Quebec Legislature in citing to the Bar of Parliament Mr John Roberts, of Montreal, in connection with the recent attacks oil members of the Quebec Legislature in the weekly paper called ‘The Axe.' Roberts was onoo secretary of tho Province of Quebec Temperance Society, frorn which ho retired after considerable publicity in connection with charges that various Montrealers in public positions were making large sums by grafting, houses of ill-fame, and gambling houses (writes a Canadian correspondent of the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’). When ho tried a temperance crusade in Australia he was refused admittance to that Commonwealth. Recently ho returned to Montreal and started a paper ailed ‘The Axe,’ which attained notoriety by the publication of scandalous matters which other newspapers ignored. Last week Roberts published a sensational issue of ‘ The Axe,’ with a series of articles purporting to expose the scandalous efforts of Government quarters to hiefb the real facts connected with the murder of a girl named Blanche Garncau, of Quebec, a working girl who was criminally assaulted aud murdered in Quebec City Park over a year ago, aud around whose murder ever since many rumors have been current, including gossip that the girl was killed by two" young men highly connected in provincial Government circles, and that as a result special efforts were made to prevent exposure. The Premier, Mr Tascheroau, moving tho Legislature proceedings, said that the article published in ‘ The Axe ’ practically alleged that the murder w r as committed by two Deputies, who were not arrested because they were members of tho Legislature. llio article in question was formally read by the Speaker of the Legislature, following which the members unanimously adopted the Premier’s resolution of the dignity of the Quebec Parliament, and instructed the Serjoant-at-Anns to proceed to Montreal and arrest Roberts and bring him. before the Bar of the Legislature. , This step, which Roberts has apparently been challenging the Legislature to take, was expected. Should Roberts continue the demands for an investigation of the charges made in his paper, a Legislative Committee will be appointed to make an inquiry, following the lines adopted in several similar incidents in the past half-century. The wdiolo procedure is unprecedented, involving a legislative inquiry into charges, and insinuations against not only Deputies, but against the relatives of those prominent in Government circles whose names have frequently been connected with the Blanche Garueau murder, which bids fair to become a cause celebre throughout the dominion.