MUST DIE ON THE GUILLOTINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

MUST DIE ON THE GUILLOTINE.

FRENCHMAN WHO KILLED FIVE OF HIS CHILDREN FOUND GUILTY. Chabtbes, December 23.—After n week's trial which has attracted the attention of the whole of France, Briere, the farmer of this vicinity who on April 21 murclerd four of his daughters, aged 14, 11, 5, and .4 respectively, and his son, 7 years of age, stabbing and beating them to death while they were in bed, was found guilty to-day .and condemned to bo decapitated by the guillotine. Briere persisted in declaring himself innocent, but the circumstantial evidence against him was overwhelming. A pathetic incident of the trial occurred when Briere' surviving little daughter (whom the police declare only escaped the fate of the other children by not .responding to Briere's invitation to go to see him) went on the witness stand, sobbingly protesting that her father, was. innocent and begging the Court to restore him to her.

There were twojheories as to the motive for the murders. 'One was that the crime was committed in a drunken passion, while the other was that Briere wanted to marry a. woman who had rejected him because of his large family and killed his children in order to win her favour.. "