LOUISE MASSETT HANGED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6729, 26 February 1900, Page 2

LOUISE MASSETT HANGED.

AND CONFESSES HER GUILT. A FEARFUL CRIME. [From Otra Correspondent.] LONDON, Jan. 12. ' But- for th© all-absorbing war in SoutK Africa, what a hullabaloo there -would hare been over the hanging on Tuesday of Louise Massett,, a Vrench governess, accused of suffocating her own child at ftalston Junction in October. I can almost gee Mr Stead's quivering emotional indignation at the very idea of suspecting a poor young" foreigner of such a dastardly act, and I have seen long, long petitions to the Home Office for a reprieve. But the public** failed to catch on to Mißs Massett'B woes,, and on Monday she was finally informed • she must meet her God the following morning. Amongst a few mysterious personages very anxious to get Massett off was att old gentleman, described as " General Daly, of the Spanish Service," who offered to produce the self-confessed murderer of Baby Massett. The Home Secreliary concluded thatthe General was ( to put it mildly) eccen - trie, and^o save trouble later, admitted him to the execution, at which, to everyone'^ infinite relicf 1 , the condemned Woman (as anticipated) owneft up. She had passed a, restless night, arid looked haggard and careworn, but bore herself firmly to the end. Death was instantaneous. Just before the end she said to the chaplain, "What I am aTbout to suffer is just ; now my conscience is clear." A large crowd, numbering some thousands, had colleoted in the vicinity of the prison to await the hoisting of the black flag, but there was nothing ih the nature of a demonstration. It is well to recollect now that this exceptionally wicked woman and cruel mother was condemned on circumstantial evidence. . Bub it proved Very strong. As the "Daily News" remarks: "People who say that* there is "only circumstantial evidence,' do> not -seem to know what they are talking about. Murders are not, as a rule, committed in public. Privacy is always desired and usually obtained. If nobody couldi' be punished for art offence which nobodysaw bim commit, one gaol would hold ail* the prisoners in England. But that very desirable consummation must be readied by other and more legitimate means. The: prisoner was the. last person seen with the child. The railway station where the body was found is a station she knew and: frequented. On the day of his death, she took her boy from the family with whom it boarded, and gave them false reasons for doing so. • The child's clothes were found at Brighton, where she went immediately after the murder. When ehe read in a newspaper that the body of the little boy ha<l been discovered atDalston Junction, ah* Went to her brother-in-law, and told him she was being 'hunted for the murder of her son,' Which Was untrue. Qertain allegations made after the trial, and not wortli discussing now, deseWed inquiry,, and we h&ve no doubt that they received it. Some of them might have been, ani were not, -brought fofwatd at the trial. The others were vague and inconclusive. The prisoner gave evidence on her owft behalf, and told an ingenious story to explain away the evidence against hfir. It was wildly improbable, and unsupported by any testimony except her own. Her admissibility as a witness aided the cause of justice, because it showed that there was no valid defence. All executions are horrible,' and especially the execution of a woman. But all the papers allow that if ever a woman deserved to be hanged, it was this one."