GOADED INTO MURDER

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 35, 11 January 1926, Page 9

GOADED INTO MURDER

french officer acquitted. EXTRAORDINARY CASE. An extraordinary murder case lias just been tided before tho Assize Court of the Dordogne, in which a distinguished naval officer, Captain D’Hestreux, was accused of having killed his two neighbours, M. and Mdme. Salving do Boissieux. The father of Captain D’Hestreux was a general at one time in command of Saint-Cyr, the French Sandhurst. He himself served with distinction during tlx© war, when he was in command of a light flotilla in the Channel. The dream of his life was to retire to the family property of Barbouny, near Bergerac. The French' laws of succession, however, had resulted in the division of the property, so that only one-half of the chateau and grounds came to Captain D’Hestereux, tho remaining half of the building being occupied by a M. and Mdme. Salving de Boissieux. His neighbours, it appeared, were parvenus, the husband being a former employee in a gas company, and tho wife a fortuneteller and adventuress. They much resented the arrival of Captain and Mdme. D’Hestreux, and took every opportunity to insult their neighbours and annoy them in potty ways, such as sealing up a well, killing the fowls, and fishing in Captain D’Hestreux’s trout stream. M. do Boissieux also brought legal actions against his neighbours on various flimsy pretexts.. Finally, on July 30 last, following a more than usually violent scene. Captain D’Hestreux took his revolver and fired several shots as M. and Mdme. de Boissieux were coming up the drive in their carriage. M. de Boissieux, fatally wounded, dropped the reins; the horse took fright, and Mdme. do Boissieux, who was also shot, was thrown to the ground. She died almost immediately, but not before she had told her servant to fetch witnesses, so that Captain D’Hestreux’s deed might be duly attested. Captain D’Hestreux expressed to the Court his regret for his act, but declared that he had been irritated beyond measure. His version of his neighbours’ attitude was fully borne out by witnesses, the evidence clearly bringing out the daily insults to which he had been subjected and the patience with which for years he had mad© tho best of an almost unendurable situation. He was acquitted.