MYSTERY CRIME SEQUEL

Taranaki Daily News, 3 February 1923, Page 11

MYSTERY CRIME SEQUEL

SENSATION IN QUEBEC. JOURNALIST’S COMMENTS. IMPRISONED BY SPECIAL ACT. Toronto, Dec. 16. On July 22, 1920, Blanche Garneau, an 18-year-old, girl left the store in the City of Quebec where she was employed, at the usual hour, to go by the usual route through Victoria Park to her home in the suburb of Stadacona. Eight days later a boy playing by the St. Charles river in the park found her body. Unfortunately such a crime is not unique. Neither is it undiscovered. But the murder of Blanche Garneau has had a most unusual sequel. Two and a-half years after the death of the. humble working girl, a journalist, one of the prominent figures of the Province of Quebec, lies in gaol because he made injudicious, and, it may be, illegal comment on the case. To make the sentence he is serving possible, the Quebec Legislature passed an Act which outrages a basic tradition of British justice. The whole province is seething with interest and excitement. So violent is the storm that even the stability of the hitherto impregnable Taschereau Government has been threatened. And it is within the realm of possibility that the issues raised may become prime factors even in the arena of Dominion politics. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Apart altogether from Blanche Garneau the case may take its place in history along with that of John Wilkes, another champion of the freedom of the press. The John Wilkes of Quebec is named John H. Roberts. He has been a stormy petrel in Quebec affairs for years. He came into much prominence at one time as leader of the temperance organisation in a Province that even yet seems irretrievably wet. Recently he established a weekly newspaper called The Axe. And The Axe proceeded to live up to its name. The Taschereau Cabinet and the Legislature generally were the chief objects of its assault. Taking the Blanche Garneau case as a text he made such charges against unnamed members of the House that immediately he had the whole population by the ears. The Axe swting wide and irresponsibly. It is not suggested that the inuendos and rumours which the Axe published originated with the paper. Almost from the time of the finding of Blanche Garneau’s body, gossip had been busy connecting the names of prominent familjes with the crime, and The Axe simply put into print some of the gossip that had been previously circulating in underground channels. A DOUBLE PROSECUTION. The' Legislature decided that its honor must be vindicated. In the criminal court, a charge was laid of seditious libel for intimating that the public was linking up unnamed members with the crime. But this procedure seeming insufficient, the Legislature also haled Roberts before the Bar of the House—First violation of judicial tradition, says Roberts’ counsel, two prosecutions on the same charge. At the Bar of the Legislature Roberts declined to name the unidentified members or to answer other questions, on the ground that to do so might disclose his line of defence in the court proceedings simultaneously pressed, his records and manuscripts having been already seized. AN UNPRECEDENTED COURSE. The Legislature were thoroughly aroused by his attitude, but when it looked into its powers it found the worst it could do to him for offending the dignity and violating the privileges of the House was to keep him in confinement, which would be more or less comfortable, until the end of the session, at most a matter of a few weeks. Then the Government and the Legislature took a course which was brought upon their heads a storm of criticism. They did an unprecedented thing. They passed a special Act of Parliament for the punishment of a single individual. A bill enabling the House to sentence Roberts to gaol for one year was introduced and speedily rushed through all readings. So Roberts went to gaol and there he lies. Second violation, not only of tradition, but of the constitution, declares Roberts’ counsel, and also a great many other people. The increase of the penalty after the committal of an offence outrages the spirit of law and justice, it is said. Moreover, it is pointed out, it was never intended that a Legislature should be an instrument for the prosecution of individuals. COMMISSION OF INQUIRY,-. But the Government realised that something more must be done ip the case of Blanche Garneau. Gossip had been developed into a perfect miasma. Accordingly a Royal Commission consisting of two retired judges was appointed to investigate whether the Government had done all that was possible to find the murderers. Later the Commission’s power were widened to enable it to go out and find the murderers itself if it could. This Commission is still sitting, but the mystery of Blahce Garneau is still unsolved. The established facts concerning her death leave wide gaps. Numerous clues, which have seemed significant have led nowhere. The Commission has brought out the names of two members of the Legislature Whose sons had been mentioned in the gossip. Both established alibis and ths court intimated that the public would now be well satisfied of the innocence of these men.

But the fever is by no means out of the case yet. Mr Armand Lavergne, once famous lieutenant to Bourassa, the Nation alist leader, who has been associated with the case at various stages as counsel, and is now acting for Roberts, is not hestitating to make political capital out of it. To wildly excited and crowded gatherings he is telling the story of the case interspersed with attacks on the Government.