FRENCH MURDER CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19419, 30 August 1926, Page 9

FRENCH MURDER CASE.

RECONSTRUCTION OF CRIME. MORBID SCENES WITNESSED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) PARIS, Aug. 28. A unique example of French legal methods was provided by the reconstruction of the murder of the girl, Marie Beaulaguet, at Meaux, in connection with whose death a wealthy landowner, Gaston Guyot, is under arrest. The event closely resembled a holiday, the whole of the scenes of which were re-enacted. Guyot was accompanied by a horde of officials in 20 cars. There were dense crowds of sightseers en route to the scene of tho tragedy. The journey was frequently stopped to allow the examining magistrate to question Guyot. These stoppages afforded the crowd a dress-circle view 1 of the proceedings. Guyot was very .calm. He related without emotion the events of the day on which he took .the girl motoring. Three miles from the spot where the body had been found the cars stopped. Guyot was unhandcuffed and took the wheel of his car in order to demonstrate to an inspector alongside him how he had steered with one hand and gripped the girl's throat with the other.

The crowd overflowed the roadway and blocked it and the magistrate decided to postpone that particular incident. When the party arrived at the field where the crime had been committed thousands of people were eagerly awaiting it. Gendarmes and mounted police found it most difficult to maintain order. Then some of the officers built a haystack, to which Guyot set fire. A sample of gas emanating from the burning hay was taken in order to ascertain whether it was similar to that found in the deceased girl's organs.

Subsequently Guyot drove the car and demonstrated to an inspector how he 'haf seized the girl by the throat after she had upbraided and struck him and how he had held , her throat until she had died under the pressure and the jolting of the car.

Guyot afterwards became annoyed by too much questioning. He said he could not see the point of it. Thereupon everybody returned to Meaux.