A Heartless Brother

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 273, 27 November 1901, Page 1

A Heartless Brother

Paris, October 11

The Monnier sequestration case, which has been followed with unabated interest all over France, came to a termination to-day, when a sentence of fifteen months’ imprisonment was passed on M. Marcel Monnier, formerly a sub-prefect, who was "uilty of being an accomplice with his mother in compelling his sister, Blanche Monnier, to submit to forcible seclusion. Mine. Monnier, the mother, succumbed to heart disease shortly after her arrest.

The authorities at' Poitiers were informed last May that Mile. Blanche Monnier was virtually a prisoner in her mother’s home. The police searched the premises and found the unfortunate woman lying in a star\iug condition, surrounded by indescribable filti}. Sh» weighed only oOlb, and *^ s totally destitute of clothing, and had no strength even to walk. The windows ot the room in which she was kept were said to have been closed for twenty years, and iron shutters effectually prevented fresh air or light from entering. There was a great outcry throughout France against the woman’s relatives, and popular feeling was so worked up that a number of other sequestration cases were discovered in various parts of the country. . . Many members oE the Monnier family have for venerations been aiilicted with the plague of insanity, and although the mob has throughout the trial been most violent towards the accused the sentence of fifteen months’ imprisonment has caused some surprise in Paris on account of the mental condition of the prisoner. I When he left the Court after the verdict IM. Marcel Monnier was received by the howling crowd with cries of “ Lynch him 1 ° Lvnch him 1” and it was with difficulty that ho was protected from the violence of the excited populace.