BLUEBEARD VILLA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16462, 14 June 1919, Page 4

BLUEBEARD VILLA.

■WOMEN WHO VANISHED. BLOODSTAINS IN LONELY HOUSE. The Paris police are investigating one of the most disquieting mysteries which detectives have ever had to solve. Without attempting to prejudge the facts, they seem to have put their hands on a crime of the “Bluebeard” type, of the most astonishing character. In the summer of 1915 a motorist arrived in his car at the little village of Gam bars, on the borders of the Rambouil.lot Forest, and chose a villa at the entrance to the village, which stands in its own grounds, almost entirely shut in by trails and surrounded by stables, sheds, and domestic offices. The property forms an island amid the farmland, and the nearest house is a third of a mile away. The new tenant gave the name of Georges Dupont and described himself as an engineer. . He made only brief visits to the villa once a month or so, and was occompanied by a tall, dark woman of about 4-5.

In tho following year ho came with a younger woman, whoso gaiety and high spirits were commented on. She oocupied the house alone with her younger sister for eight or ten days. One Saturday Georges Dupont came down and was seen to leave alone the following day. The supposed wife was not seen again. Next it was the turn of a young girl who came several times and then did not re-appear. Finally, in tho middle of last January, Dupont arrived from Paris by train at the neighbouring station of Houdan with a goodlooking, dark young woman, who had two littlo dogs. They drove, to the mysterious villa, and tho following evening Dupont left alone.' No one remembers seeing the owner of the dogs again, but tho other day tho dogs bodies were found under a heap of leaves in the stables. Villagers speak' of having scon other women enter the villa, but none of them ever went into the village or strolled in the forest. Dupont always did bis own shopping, and was regarded as an odd character. Between his visits the villa was shut up, but sometimes when his arrival had not been noticed, smoko was seen issuing from the chimneys. SEARCH AND ARREST. Recently a police inspector and several detectives arrived and: made inquiries, It leaked out that several families had reported the mysterious disappearance ot women or gilds who had gono to the country with a man named cither Natier, Crutohet, or Fromiet, whose description tallied with that of the tenant of the lonely villa. In each ease tho man described himself as a motor engineer. But Georges Dupont seemed to have vanished, until one day Mile. Lacoste, a sister of one of the missing women who had herself stayed at the villa, saw him come out of a china shop in the Rue do Rivoli, Paris. She lost sight of him in the crowd, but inquiries at the shop led the police to a house _in the . Rue de Kochcehouart, where lived M. Guillet, an engineer. Georges Dupont had been found, and it was not long before he was identified as Andre Desido I-audru, twice sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for fraud. Tho detectives confronted him at his flat with his police jxliotograph. and, after first attempting to bluster, bo admitted his identity. LOCKS OP HAIR. Laudru was living with a young woman named .Sogret, who passed as his wife. When the flat was searched, says tho Petit Journal, several locks of" women’s hair of different shades were found, together with lingerie bearing various marks, ribbons, and feminine trifles. Sogret says she found these things at the flat on her arrival. Laudru refused to explain their origin, so lie was taken to Gambais and the villa was searched in his presence. The Palm Sunday congregation, com ing out of the little church near by, soon gathered that the mystery of the house which had puzzled them was being probed. The motor garage where it is supposed Dupont placet! his curs was neat and tidy, and contained numerous tools and spare parts, but the villa was in utter disorder. There was practically no furniture, but in one room a bed had been improvised on two chairs, while in another was a narrow folding couch. In the comers were heaps of soiled linen and women’s underclothing. In the kitchen a mattress found on the table seem to bear bloodstains. Cartridges of different sizes were strewn about, and empty revolver cases; but the only weapon was an old gnu. Asked if a. large trunk with tho initials “C.L.” belonged to him, Laudru said, “Yes, Charles Laudru.” “But your name is not Charles, and tho initials arc those, of Ceeilo Lacoste, whom you brought hero,” was the reply. “Moreover ; the label shows that the triink came from Bayonne, her native town.”

Laudrn thou said he bought tho trunk from Ceoile Lacosto and gave her £BO to get rid of her. “Whore did she go?” he was askod. “Find out. I know nothing about it,” was his reply.

Confronted with the bodies of the two dogs, Laudr'u said the young woman who owned them asked him to kill them when she left. “Perhaps you strangled her too.” suggested the detective. Lnudru did not reply. Ho was arrested on the charge of murder and fraud and taken to the noigbouring town of Mantes.