SHOT BY BLIND MAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHOT BY BLIND MAN.

A blind musician, who murdered his wife in a frenzy of jealousy, has been acquitted by a jury at the Assize Court of Douai. The man had been sightless from infancy, and was brought up in a public institution, where his ability as a musician was early recognised, and he became an expert pianist" In time he obtained an appointment at a cafe concert at Dunkirk, at a fair salary, and constituted quite an attraction. A year ago he married a young woman engaged in the same establishment. She, however, does hot seem to have been so devoted to him as he was to her, and while he was at the cafe concert for the greater part of the evening, she used to visit her former friends. One evening a person pretending to be a friend, whispered into the blind man's ear that his wife was deceiving him. Maddened by jealousy the blind man. rushed home, and, in fact, his wife did not return till a late hour, when a heated discussion ensued. On the following day the blind man bought a revolver. His wife again remained out till a late hour, and when she returned her husband, after a few angry words with her, fired five revolver shots at her, and then tried to kill himself by firing the sixth shot at himself. The woman was almost instantly killed. Her husband, however, having succeeded only in wounding himself in the chest, flung open the door, and shouted that he had killed h>"s wife and wanted to go and drown himself. The neighbours, however, instead of handing him to the river, called the police, and he was taken to a, hospital, and after he had recovered was remanded for trial. The jury, in view of the facte, considered it a "mm jaassiQDpk" , ;' j