LOVE TRAGEDY IN ALGIERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

LOVE TRAGEDY IN ALGIERS.

OFFICER ON TRIAL. , DOUBLE MURDER ALLEGED. j There began recently before the Assizes ; ■>f Algiers a murder trial which is exciting ; the passionate interest of the French colony in Algeria. The accused, an exarmy surgeon, Major Batut, is on trial, for the murder of his wife, and of .a-; Lieutenant Gawet, whom- he suspected of being his wife's lover. It is over a year ago since, on December 28, 1912, the little garrison town of Blida, not far from; Algiers, was the scene of the double tragedy. Towards nightfall several soldiers sitting on the terrasse of a cafe heard from a road near by, the Rue de la; Fontaine Franche, the sound of an alter- ', cation, and then, a single shot. They ran! in the direction from which the sound.: came, and found the dead body of a man in uniform, whom they recognised a* Lieutenant Gavet. He had been killed by, a.; bullet in the neck- On his face and hands were bruises that seem to have been made by aome heavy instrument.

A crowd gathered, and in a short time the magistrates were on the spot. " Who can the murderer be?" was the question asked, and several onlookers were ready with the answer. "It must have been Major Batut," they said. "We saw him passing a few minutes before the crime perhaps he has now gone home to kill his wife." -. The magistrates who, like everyone else in Blida, knew of the constant quarrels and jealousies in the BatuF household, hurried to the doctor's hoose. They were ■ too late. The murder had been done. The first sight that met their eyes as they opened the door was the dead body of Mat!am6 Batut lying in a heap at the foot of the stairs, pierced by four bullets. There was no difficulty in finding the murderer. Major Batut made no attempt at flight. He was sitting in an armchair in an adjoining room, nis legs crossed in the attitude of a man who awaits somebody. He' handed over his revolver, stock forwards, to the magistrates, and went with them to the police station without a word. In the course of the investigations <pi the examining judge the scene of the murder was "reconstituted." Madame £atut had been killed before her children's eyes and in the arms of her servant. After .kilting Lieutenant Gavet, Major Batut returned home and entered his" wife's room, where she was lying down. "I have killed vour lover,." he said, "and I am going to send you to join him." Then he fired. Wounded, but not serious']} 7 , Madame Batut ran out of her room, foilowod by her husband, revolver in hand. The noise of the shots had frightened the two children, Emile and Gabrielle, aged 32 and 11, who had been sitting at their le»ssons in a room next to their mother's. 'They ran out to the head of the stairs. Courageously Emile caught hold of his father', clinging to his arms and legs, but Major Batut flung him brutally aside. Helpless, he was to watch his mother's murder. Madame Batut, bleeding from a bullet wound in the neck, and calling for help, had reached the foot of the stairs, when •her devoted maidservant, Zoe Liotaud, rushed to her, took her in her arms, and tried to shield her with her body. To no purpose. Major Batnt, with cold ferocity, approached the two women. What followed is given in the words of little Emile s evidence before the examining magistrate. "My father passed his hand over Zoe's shoulder and fired one shot at mamma. Then lie put his arm under Zoe's, and fired two more shots. Then mamma fell down and I ran out, calling for help." The circumstances of the two murders, as also the author of them, are thus well known. The motives are further to seek. It was well known, however, that. Madame Batut, the daughter of the Mayor of Blida. an attractive women many years younger than her husband, had many admiEeMj, i