MURDERED ASTRONOMER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14375, 21 May 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

MURDERED ASTRONOMER.

, ' ) DOCTOR AND ; SERVANT. PATHETIC SCENES. Tns magistrate who is conducting the investigation into the Nice murder case continues to examine the physician who is in custody on suspicion, but with little success so far as the attempt to demonstrate his guilt is concerned. .The doctor repeatedly exclaims, Fate is against me. lam the victim of terrible coincidences, but I assure you I am" innocent." The fact is, however, that no positive proof of his having had a hand in the crime is as, yet; forthcoming. Whatever evidence may tell against him is vmrel" circumstantial. The magistrate had attached great importance to the discovery of the two tram tickets, and they turn out to have been delivered four years ago. ' Then, when he questioned the doctor recently about the address on a certain letter, he met with a ready answer. The magistrate had said:-— " M. Charlois was murdered on the night of March 28. In spite of your affirmation to the contrary, you did not sleep at home on that night, and the evidence shows that you left, Nimes at the very hour of the departure of a train which would have enabled you to proceed to Nice, and that you came back to Nimes at the very moment of the return of a train from the same direction. M. Charlois was killed with a bullet, from a Browning revolver, and you yourself admit that the revolver which, you took to the chemist's shop after the crime is a Browning of the same calibre. '"Well, before the crime, but after the loss of your lawsuit with M. Charlois, you sent him a threatening letter, which was significant enough, and in which the following passage , occurs : "You introduced yourself, monsieur, into our family like a worm into print. To-day you are victorious ; but beware; your turn will come. There is, above the justice of men, another justice.'" . " How,'' exclaimed the physician, " does this letter prove that I am the murderer? I was annoyed at having lost the case. That is all." AN" IMPORTANT ENVELOPE. I grant (replied the magistrate) that this language does not necessarily imply any intention to murder, but I notice on the envelope something which is quite in contradiction to vour previous statements. You have declared that vou did not know that v vour brother-in-law had a pied-a-terre at 2, Rue Gubernatis, where he was to be murdered. This declaration appeared strange, as he had been a tenant there for upwards of 14 years, and was a tenant when ho was the husband of your wife's sister, and you came to Nice to visit him. But the envelope of this threatening letter is addressed to "M. Charlois, astronomer at the Mont Gros Observatory," and I perceive in the corner near the postage stamp the words in the same handwriting, " See 2, Rue Gubernatis." You knew this address, as you inserted it on the envelope. The doctor calmly took the envelope from the magistrate, examined it carefully, and then returned it with the remark: — " I did not write the address on the envelope. This was probably done by the postman of my' former brother-in-law. Tin's is not my handwriting, and I maintain what I have stated.'' The Matin's special correspondent says that this interrogatory had been going on two i hours without further result, when the examining magistrate decided on confronting the doctor with his cook, who was waiting in another room. The physician, took no notice when his servant came in and was asked to repeat what she had said about her master's absence from homo on the Saturday night. When she had finished he spoke:— "So, Henriottc, in spite of what you stated at the beginning, you persist in affirming that I neither dined nor slept at home on that night? Consider how terrible such a deposition is for me. and I implore von to tell the simple truth. You know how pleased I have been with you ever since you entered mv service. Why are you against mo now?" The old cook sobbed, and at last replied : "Monsieur le doeteur. I know that if I have always done my duty, 'you on your side have always been .ext.re.melv. kind to me. But I really can't say what is not true any longer, as I am a Christian, and have sworn to speak the whole truth. It is not for me to consider whether this truth can save or may overwhelm you. Mv duly is to tell it. No; vou did not dine or sleep at home on Saturday, March 26."Soon afterwards the physician was taken back to the prison, where he is still in custody. His wife was waiting in one of the ; passages of the Palais de Justice, and as he came alone she flung herself weeping into his arms. Ho pushed her away gently, saving: "Go away, my poor darling. Go, T beseech you. Do not. try to see me again, and follow the advice of our counsel. Do go." . A despatch from Nice gives it to be understood that these lengthv examinations of the doctor have not altogether fulfilled the magistrate's expectations, as the physician is invariably ready with a reply or a plausible explanation, and this rather upset his calculations. Of course, appearances are still against the accused, but some of the arguments which were expected to tell against him have been demonstrated to be groundless, and something mav vet turn up to put quite another complexion on this sensational affair. . ~