FRENCH BLUEBEARD.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 1976, 18 November 1921, Page 2

FRENCH BLUEBEARD.

A CASE WITHOUT PARALLEL. THREE YEARS OF LEGAL FIGHTING. Henri Landru. the so-called "Bluebeard of Gambais,” has been in prison for over three years. His case has no parallel in French criminal history, and if the charges against him are proved he will be put down as one of the most infamous murderers in the European records of ■crime. The police story of Landru follows: After the mysterious disappearance of several women the gendarmes, aided by information furnished by friends of the missing women, arrested on suspicion, on April 12, 1919, one Lucicn Guillct, engineer, of 76, Rue Rochechouart, Paris, Gulllet turned out to be Landru. As soon as the arrest became public and his photograph had been printed in the newspapers witnesses came to the police, among them Inhabitants of Gambais, where Landru had rented a villa. They discovered feminine objects supposed to belong to the missing women—letters, jewellery, and articles of clothing. They also found a notebook of accounts which indicated that Landru had written down the amounts he had received from the sale of the effects of his many fiancees. Further investigation unearthed debris of half calcinated bones, fragments of skulls, human teeth and pieces of bone which had been sawed from larger bones. Physiologists studied the bones, and concluded that they were human fragments, but under the law were unable to state whether they were those of men or women. Blood was found on the cellar floor, but when analysed indicated animal origin. This affirmed Landru's explanation that at a later time he had killed some dogs at the villa. Such, was Landru's power over the weaker sex, say the authorities, that many of his fiancees had become his mistress in anticipation of marriage, and one braved the wrath of her religion to procure a divorce from her husband to become the wife of Guillet, as Landru was known to her. Eleven women he is alleged to have lured to the villa at Gambais, and all the time he had a legal wife and two grown sons. Landru’s alleged victims were mostly widows or divorcees who were women of some little means, and after the French custom were willing to combine their fortunes with tl\oso of a new husband. They read the appeal of Landru, the police assert, in various publications of matrimonial bureaux, among them the well-known column in "La Vie Parislenne.” According to all the evidence, he then proceeded to charm them with his mysterious personality and politeness with such success that from 1914 to 1919 he'gained the combined fortunes of his 11 victims, who successively dropped from sight. Pathological experts have concluded that Landru is nob insane. The judicial, authorities of Paris are quite convinced that, so far as the law is concerned, Landru is far from insane, and can match his wits against any legal talent retained to ensnare him into admissions that may convict. During more than 39 months in prison Landru has baulked the prosecution many times in its efforts to bring him to trial. When it appeared that all the preliminaries were arranged, he has cited some trifling legal technicality which has gained him more delay. In March last, he was able to have all the preliminaries up to that date declared null and forced the Courts to grant him a change of venue from Paris to Versailles. Again the prosecution made its arrangements, and again cafne Landru with a mass of technical objections However, In August last the> Courts ruled against him, end his trial at Versailles was fixed for November. Landru. who is 53 years of ago, is credited with extraordinary powers of fascination. His prison guards admit that the heinous crimes charged against the docile little man are wrong. His personality completely overcomes what might be described as a simian face covered with a black beard and heavy black eyebrows. He is extremely polite, courteous, and meek. He spends hours each day working on his defensive brief, and then begs a book of Balzac from the prison library. At other times he will dispense with the book to fashion small paper fans, which ho sells to buy more paper for the preparation of his defence.