NOISY TRIAL.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8841, 18 June 1907, Page 1

NOISY TRIAL.

r Paris was the scene of a remarkable trial recently, which resulted in an acquittal based on the “unwritten law” that a woman is entitled to shoot her betrayer. Jeanne Dallemange, actress, better known

under her stage name of Addey, a tall, good looking woman of 47, elegantly dressed in black, sttod in tiie dock. Her features bore traces cf much suffering. She was on trial for the attempted murder of M. Merlou, ' formerly Minister of I Finakce, in M. Rouvier’s Cabinet, : and now French Minister Jrto Pern. : She wounded M. Merlou with four

; shots from a revolver on [the Boulej vard des Italiens in November last. j Mdmo. Dallemauge’s story, as she j told it in Court, was a sad one. She first became acquainted with

:M. Merlon in 1893, when lie was ! practising as a doctor. He was a j married man, hut paid attentions to j his patient. A child was horn, and | Mdme. Dallemauge was thou de- ; sorted by M. Merlou, who, she, | Slid, loft her in a state of groat i destitution. Tho child died soon 1 after. Violent scones frequently occurred between M. Merlou and the deserted woman. On oue occasion in 1903 she forced her way into M. Merlou’s house while he was at diuuer with his wife, and made a great disturbance. M. Merlou then promised to settle £3O a mouth on tier, but the payments were very irregular. Later, she '(alleges, he threatened her with death, hut settled £4OO on her. Hearing that M. Merlou had at the last general election lost his seat in Parliament, and* had been appointed French Minister at Lima, she determined to kill him before he left France. “Your revolver was a sevenchambered revolver. Why did you load it with only four shots? “My child had been dead fouryears, and I resolved to fire a shot, for every year of my bereavement, ” answered the prisoner. J-s

f' Oue of the witneses was Mile, Berger, who was with M. Morion when the shots were fired, She is said to have supplanted her friend, iuj’t-he statesman’s affections, and complains that a few months ago Mdme. Dallemauge tried to hill her by sending her a basket of ]iyo Vipers, Only by an accident she had not been bitten, A scene occurred when M. Morrel, counsel for the absent M. Merlon, said that though his client was>not bodily present fu tho court, “ho was there in heart. 1 ’ At this there was such a roar of laughter that the ' judge threatened to clear the court. The barrister suggested that the prisoner had been egged on h> enemies of the Republic to fire at M. Merlon. A book entitled “His Excellency M. Merlon, ” written by a M. Gaucher, had been inspired, said counsel, by the prisoner, and was written for the purpose of blackmail. At these words a loud voice from the well of the Court shouted, “That is a lie. You will answer to me for it, 1 ’ and the 'interrupter, who w T as M. Gaudier, the author of the hook, stood up and shouted insults until lie was expelled from the Court by six ushers. He then sent in his card, asking the barrister to fight a duel. M. Robert, for the defence, drew a picture of M. Mcrlou as unscrupulous, dishonourable, and deceitful. Tho prisoner’s child, ho said, laid died in tho hospital of tuberculosis because the mother had not the means of providing it with proper nourishment. This was the man who represented tho French nation at Lima, and who had run away rather than face this Court. A stream of aplpause greeted his conclusion, and the jury immediately returned a verdict of acquittal, amid tremendous cheers. hAs M, Morrel came out of the Court he was violently assaulted by M. Gaucher, who was arrested.