SENSATIONAL TRIAL

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1937, Page 7

SENSATIONAL TRIAL

by Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.

MURDER OF MAX KASSEL INVESTIGATION AT PARIS ROGER VERNON CHARGED DEVIL'S ISLAND ESCAPEE

Paris, April 28. The most sensational of the many murders recorded in London's most cosmopolitan area, Soho, is being investigated by the Assize Court here. The trial opened of Roger Vernon, alias Cliarles Lacroix, aged 36, charged with the murder on February 2, 1936, of Max Kassel, otherwise "Red" Max, and Suzanne Bertron, aged 25, charged as an accomplice. I In accordance with the usual French procedure five minutes was allowed the photographers before the judge took his seat, in which the accused was snapped, while an artist rapidly made a sketch. Then there was a duel between the judge and Vernon, in which the judge reviewed Vernon's life. He v/as forced to answer most damaging questions. Return of Loan Requested. Vernon, after being reminded of his escape from Devil's Island described how repeatedly he asked Max Kassel, with whose murder he is charged, to return a loan of £25. _ , . Eventually Max came to his nat in Soho. "Max arrived furious. I knew immediately that he or I must be killed. He tried to strangle me and tried to seize my pistol. It emptied itself by itself." Kassel's bullet-riddled body was found under a hedge outside St. Albans, and subsequent investigations suggested that traditional Chicago gangster methods had been adopted, possibly as the outcome of a race gang feud. The customary baffling features were presented. A village carpenter discovered the corpse early on the morning of January 24, noting that though it had rained all night the clothing, including a buttonedup overcoat, was completely dry. The Paris police detalned Lacroix and Bertron. According to the woman's story Kassel came to her flat in London to collect £25 owing to him by Lacroix. She refused to give him the- money, but arranged a meeting, at which, when she was in another room, she hear'd quarrelling and shots. She opened the door and saw Kassel go bleeding into the bathroom, where the police believed he died. The woman says she heard mere quarrelling between Lacroix and a third man concerning the disposal of the body.