ARCH FIEND OF PARIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10133, 16 May 1896, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARCH FIEND OF PARIS.

AMAZING REVELATIONS AT AN OLD SADDLER'S TRIAL FOR MURDER. A RARE CRIMINAL DEGENERATE. ENTSRT once in a while from' one of the old centres of civilisation comes a story of crlrainal* degeneracy which shows what a monster the human animal may become when its mind is thoroughly perverted, and degraded by heredity and an envirpnnienb of deprftyity and crime'; • Such a story |« that of Voiguier, the saddler, just convicted of the murder of little Alice Neut. It appears that this saddler was a horrible old wretch who employed a young degenerate named Robin to do ft certain class of atrocious crimes for him. One day in the early summer of 1890 this Voieuier, strolling through the Place Notre Dsore de la Croix, hot far from his lodgings at No. 46, Julian-Ucroixstreet, saw a beautiful little golden-haired child of eight years playing with' the children of the neighbourhood.' ' '•' ' "

nuuu, The next day he took young Robin with him and, when they saw the children, he told him that he would give him ten francs to bring the child to his room. Robin agreed to it. But ib was not until July 21 that he had a chance. That evening this little girl, whose parents lived in the Passage d'Eupatoria, was sent on an errand to her grandmother. Robin was lying in wait and went up to her and asked her to come and play with him. He was then only fifteen years old, and small for his age. The child walked along with him. "I have to deliver a message here," he said, when they came to Voiguier's house. " Gome up with me." The little girl hesitated, and at last agreed to go. Old Voigueir opened his door, and Robin and the child went in. Robin came out alone with the ten-franc pleco in his hand. Voiguier locked the door behind him, telling him to come back in about two hours. Half an hour after Robin left, the printer, Boileaux, who lived just under Voiguier, heard the screams of a child and a heavy, dull falL "Don't disturb yourself, neighbour," said Voiguier, who was standing on the landing above, " I upset my hob-water stove." Boileaux went back into Hi rooms and heard no more sounds. • About 7.15 p.m., an hour after the screams, Boileaux, sitting at his window, saw a handcart at the door. Soon Voiguier and a boy came out of the, house, carrying a filled sack. They tossed is into the handcart, and together pushed ib down the street. Early the next morning a Customs offic&v, walking on the bank of the Seine, a long distance from the quarter of Paris in which Voiguier lived, saw the body of a child floating on the surface of the river. It was taken to tho Morgue, and soon identified as little Alice Neut. All Paris was talking of the terrible murder, bub not one fact was brought out which in any way attracted suspicion to Voiguier or Robin. An old clerk named Porter was arrested, and almost convicted on general principles. But he made his innocence so clear that he escaped in spite of his bad reputation. Several months ago Robin, serving long sentence in a prison in the south of Prance, confessed the whole business. Bub even then Voiguier might have escaped had ib nob been for the cord with which he bad bound tLe little girl's hands to her sides, This was a green window cord, with a peculiar knot in the middle and certain worn places, where it had caught the roller of the blind to which ib was attached. Outrequln, a neighbour of Voiguier's, identified that cord as one he had seen in Voiguier's rpomß ft few days before the murder. In the course of making the case, the prosecution introduced testimony as to Voiguier's past life. This aside gave two days of morbid pleasure to the crowd that packed the courtroom. Robin's description of Voiguier'e conduct and of his own doings filled the people with horror. Ib was clear that not the slightest sensation of pity or remorse or any other sort of human reeling existed in either of them. Voiguier was found guilty, and sentenced to death.