A MURDER CASE IS FRANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10419, 17 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MURDER CASE IS FRANCE.

Ii Gonan Doyle had nob seen fit to anaseinate Sherlock Holmes, that astute gontleman would have in a crime that is just now bothering the Fronch Vidocqe a subject worthy of genius. The crime in question wee committed early in the evening of the Saturday following Christmas at the village of Vitry-le-Francois. The victims were two old women: Mme. Royer, who was 82 years old, and a typical mieor, and Suzanne Mamais, 71 years old, and Mme. Royer'e servant. The two old women lived alone together, and hod as little aa possible to do "with their neighbours. Yet their habits wore so well known that when at nine o'clock on Sunday morning, December 28, the shatters remained doted and there were no eigns of life about) the house, the police were notified, By sealing a wall, entrance to the house was gained through a window, and the fint thing that met the eyes of the policemen was the body of Suunne Mamaia hanging by the neck from the windowcasing. The n'rab impretsion was that ahe had committed suicide; and when the body of Mme. Rover was found, she, too, having been strangled and beaten over the head with a hatchet, it wm believed the servant had murdered her miitrete and then hanged herself. THE CRIME 108 BOBBEBY, Thii theory, however, was quickly dispelled when it wm discovered that the old miter , ! itrong-boz wm broken open and * large mm of money taken, Then the crime revetted itself at a double murder, with plain robbery for the motive. Mme. Rover frequently boasted of the amount of money the bad in her strongbox, and whan warned of. the danger of nbben the only laughed and wid the had

a good revolver, and knew how to use it. Notwithstanding her eighty-odd years she is described as being a sorb of female Sandow in point of strength, quite capable of handling even a more than ordinarily rigorous man. Her money-hoarding was purely miserly in its character. She loved money purely for its own sake, not for what it represented. She fondled, caressed, and counted it constantly. If her bank-notes were in the least wrinkled or mussed she spent hours carefully ironing them oub with a flatiron. Her gold and silver pieces ehe polished and repolished until they shone and glittered. One of her manias was that she would have none but French notos and coin in her collection. Besides this she kept in her box an accurate memorandum of the exact amount of cash she had on hand. STOLE THE MISER'S HOARD. This memorandum was found, and by it the police learned that the murdoror had got away with something over 100,000 francs. Sacks containing large sums in coin were found intact, for tho simple reason thab the robber evidently could not lug any more away with him. The only clue to the murderers lies in the statement of tho man who drove the village omnibus between the railway station and the hotels. This man says that about seven o'clock on Saturday evening a man who was finely dressed, but had his overcoat collar turned up and a bandage over one eye, accosted him and said he wanted some baggage taken to the railway station. He gave no addross, but said he would be in a certain street—the point ho designated being near tho Royer bouse—in about half an hour. The driver found him there in company with two women and two large baskets. The baskets were so heavy that the driver spoke of it, and the stranger said they were full of bronze. One of tho women seemed to be so loaded down with something concealed under her clothing that she could hardly walk, and hud to be helped into the omnibus. The driver left the party at the railway station, and saw no more of them. THEORIKS OF THK OKI ME. It is supposed these were tho murderers, and that the man did the killing while tho women kept watch. Tho theory is that the man rang the Royer bell eurly in the evening. Mine. Royer went to bod soon after dark, and probably this fact was known, When Suzanne Mamais opened tho door the stranger threw a slip-noose around her neck, strangled her, and dragged her to the window, where he hung her up. Then ho murdered the old miser in her bed, and called in the two women. The key to the strong-box was found, and tho three loaded themselves down with money and wont quietly out the ground door. Tho Royer street was generally dosorted, particularly on winter evenings.