MURDER CASE RECALLED

Evening Star, Issue 19616, 23 July 1927, Page 23

MURDER CASE RECALLED

FRENCH MYSTERY UNRAVELLED YOUKG DETECTIVE'S PERSISTENCE Sherlock Holmes is no more. Conan Doyle has “killed the old man,” and his precise, close and logical reasoning will live only in tho many exploits already chronicled by his friend and loyal assistant, Dr Watson. Ho was the detective par excellence in the field of fiction; yet there are cases in real life in which the story of the crimo, the detection and unmasking of tho criminal, rival tho exploits of Conan Doyle’s hero.

A story of this nature is that of Voirbo, tho French murderer, who was detected by tho efforts of a young Commissar'’ of Police in Paris in 1869. Tho full story reads like a novel, and might well have furnished the base for a real detective “ thriller.” To follow tho steps in tho investigations of M. Mace, tho young Frenchman who unravelled tho mystery, is to become absorbed in an interesting tale in which ingenuity, resource, doggedness and perspicuity are displayed in a high degree. In January, 189(3, a human leg was found in a well in the Rue Princess in Paris by a restaurant keeper named Lampon*. The Commissary of tho district* was ■summoned to tho scene of tho discovery, and ho examined the leg and the wrappings. These had been injured by the hook which • had been used to secure them, and gave no trace as to tho identity of the person to whom they belonged. M. Mace carefully examined tho well before ordering it to bo emptied, and lie observed another parcel, wlueh was secured without injury. It proved to contain the follow of tho first leg. Tliis second log had been wrapped in a peculiar way, which pointed to the work having been done by a tailor. The log bore the mark, X B X, hut there was no indication whether the leg was male or female. A further search levealed that the well offered no other evidence. Portions of a body had been found in other parts of tho city, but again there was no evidence as*to identity. Small incidents wore continually coming to light. Two policemen had accosted a man carrying a hamper on the night of December 22, 1868. • Ho bad given a satisfactory account of himself, and had been allowed to pass. There is little doubt, in the light of later events, that this was the murderer, but tho police at tho time had no knowledge of a crime having been committed. Medical evidence led tho police astray at tho outset. Doctors gave it as their opinion that tho remains wore those of a female, and M. Mace went thmugh every case of disappearance during tho previous six months, and founefthat eighty-four women had been missing. Ho narrowed his search down to three, only to find them all alive and well. Then Dr Tardien, the greatest mcdicologist in France at the time, gave it as his opinion that the victim had been a man. He pointed out that the absence. of the head would make the identification difficult. Failure stared M. Mace in tho face, but ho caught tho only slender thread remaining, and, as it turned out, the one which was to lead him to tho murderer. Tho second leg had been tied up by a tailor, and so ho inquired at all tho houses in the Rue Princess for a tailor. None lived there.

M. Mace then gossiped with tho concierge. £ho was garrulous, as is tho way of old women. There had been a young seamstress, but sho had left to sing at cafe concerts. “For whom did she work?”

“ Half a do-.en people. One man camo often, and I had fine work with him. He used to spill the water on ray stairs.” “What water?” “The water he used to carry for her fiom the well.” Here, thou, was someone who know the location of the well, and might be a tailor. A slight duo, but worth following. In an adjacent chemist’s shop M. Mace learned that the water-ear-lier lived in the Rue Muzarin and that his name was Pierre.

The seamstress. Mile. Dard, was found, and she told M. Mace that the man’s name was Boirbo, but that ho had removed from the Rue Mazarin since his marriage. “Had he any relations or friends?”

“Ho had one particular friend, a common-looking old man. Voirbo addressed him by his Christian name. Desire.” “When did yon see the friend last? Was it with or without Voirbo?”

“Two months ago at tho cafe with Voirbo. Desire’s aunt was with them. She lives in the Rue de Neslos and goes by the name of Madame Boclasse.” Hero, again, was useful information if it had any bearing on the crime. Better was to follow. The old lady was interviewed. Yes, she had a nephew, Desire Bddasse, hut she had not seen him for a month. She was not concerned, for he often disappeared for long periods. He was married, but did not live with his wife, fiihc saw him last on December 13. Voirbo was a short, dark man, and usually wore a long mat and a top hat. Madame Bodasse was hurried off to tho morgue and she identified the portions of clothing found as belonging to her nephew. She remembered marking the sock. Here was part of the mystery solved. Tho man was identified as Desire Bodasse, 50, Rue Dauphin. A reverse which seemed to upset all M. Ala ce’s calculations now occurred. A visit to Bndasse’s lodgings showed that lights had been observed in his window for several nights past. A subsequent search of the lodgings, however, revealed the fact that someone had lighted a candle to preserve the illusion that Bodasse was alive. 'lucre conkl bo only one person who could wish to do that, and that was the man vho had killed Boclasse.

Two detectives were, placed in the lodgings of Bodasse, hot they revealed the fact that they hep* a vigil to Voirho, with whom they had been occasionally associated in police work. The expected man failed to turn up, and this incieased the suspicions that M. Mace had already formed as to the identity of tho murderer. But lie still needed proof.

It had been found that all Bodasse’s valuables were missing, including Italian securities to the value of 10,000 francs, and the numbers of these were found on a scrap of paper that the murderer laid missed. Voirbo had paid ins rent with an Italian bond that had a number corresponding with one of those on the slip of paper. Investigations showed Voirbo to he a dangerns character, dissolute and vicious. Ho had hated his friend because of tho latter’s avariciousness, and Bodasse had refused Voirbo a loan to help him to get married. Here then was a motive for the crime.

M. Mace interrogated an old servant of Voirbo and she stated that on the morning of December, 17 she had arrived to find that Voirbo had cleaned up the kitchen and that the floor was wet and shiny. M. Mace had already fixed this ns the date approximate of the murder.

Voirho was now brought to the Commissary’s office, but he had a ready explanation for all his actions. He had received the bond from Bodasse in repayment of a loan. A friend had spilt a bottle of carbolic acid on the night previous to the morning on which ho had cleaned the kitchen, and he wished to save the servant trouble. He had not conic forward because ho had expected that the case would be placed in more experienced hands, but he offered his services to the young officer,

to help find the criminal. M. Mace disliked the thrust at his inexperience, but accented the offer in order to have the criminal, under obs -vation.

Voirbo attempted to lead the commissary into other Hues of search and attempted to place the blame on soveial well-known criminals. This hastened his downfall, and ho was finally arrested. A search of his homo showed that he possessed . several dangerous instruments, including two pair of heavy shears, a murderouslooking mallet, and a big butcher s cleaver.

That ho contemplated flight was shown by the fact that he possessed steamship tickets in a false name. His wife, innocent of the real character of her husband, said that ho had made a’ marriage settlement of 10,COO francs and these had been in Italian bonds. When the police looked for them they were missing, but M. Mace finally found them in a tin canister which had been placed in a. wine cask and affixed to the bung by a length of twine. The toils were closing on Voirbo, hut he still maintained his calm attitude, believing that nothing could. -be proved against him. M. Mace still had to prove the murder and the dismemberment of tho body. , And now conies a fitting climax to tho drama. Tho scene is laid in tho kitchen of Voirbo’s house. Tho prisoner is led in between two gendarmes. M. Mace takes a jug of water. “You will observe, gentlemen, that the floor lias a alight slope. . If I pour tho water on tho floor it will find its own level. IF a body has been cut up the blood will Jiavo found its own level.” Ho pours. Voirbo grows ashy pale, his eyes are fixed on tho running water and ho shakes violently. Slowly the water collects in two great pools on the tiled surface. A mason takes up tho tiles and a quantity of blood is found.

This was too much for Voirbo and he confessed. Tho blood'was analysed and found to bo human, and M. Mace had successfully concluded ono of the most remarkable investigations in the history of crime. Concluded, for Voirbo did not wait for tho scaffold. He died by his own hand while on tho way to trial. The case stands practically alone in the annals of crime, for the remarkably clever work of ono man who, despite discouragement and disappointment, hold on until ho had found his man. The ingenuity of the criminal was equalled only by that of the police officer who followed a slender thread of clues with wonderful peitinacity.