THE TRAGEDY IN A LONDON HOTEL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8789, 27 May 1890, Page 3

THE TRAGEDY IN A LONDON HOTEL.

On Tuesday afternoon, (April 17), Mr Troutbeck opened an inquest on the body of a young foreigner, known as Albert de Guedon, who on Friday shot himself at the Hotel de l'Europe, Leicester-square, London, after wounding a young woman with whom he was living, and who is now an inmate of the Charing Cross Hospital. The young people had been staying at the hotel about a fortnight as M. and Madame de Geudon, and had borrowed money from a commercial traveller named Hoffman, who was now represented by Mr Waraker, barrister. The tragedy occurred after the hot3l bill had been presented for payment. Inspector Bourke, of the C Division, read a statement of the injured woman, who said that M. Guedon put the trunks before the door of their apartment, and wished her to swear she would never leave him. Before she had time time to answer he fired. The police had now ascertained she was the unmarried daughter of M. Valch van Mussiel, of Liege. After living some time with an old gentleman in Brussels she came to London, and sought work as a milliner. Returning to Biussels, Madlle. Van Mussiel again visited London, where she made the acquaintance of De Guedon, who communicated with her friends, telling them that if they would allow him to take her to Paris, he would introduce her to his friends, who were very wealthy, and he would marry her. Inspector Bourke further deposed that all efforts to trace the parents of the deceased had failed up to the present, though the French Consul had been made cognisant of the circumstances cf the tragedy. There was reason to believe, however, that Guedon had a brother living in the Euo Duhilder, Bois de Boulogne, Paris. As Hoffman, who first heard the shots, was on Friday unavoidably absent, the inquiry was adjourned for a week for his attendance.