Miscellany.

West Coast Times, Issue 3055, 18 January 1879, Page 2 (Supplement)

Miscellany.

A, DEAD WOMAN'S ARMS.

Thb police have for sometime been busy penetrating '• the mystery of Rue Poliveau." In a furnished lodging-house of Rue Poliveau the two arms of a woman were found. Tne chamber in which they were foutfd had been , occupied by "a etudent." The only clue to their identification was the peculiar cloih in which they were .wrapped, and which had evidently formed part of a shirt. It ia wonderfully eaey to discover crime and the criminals. A detective alluding to this o^ce said to me: "Depend upon ie, air, all criminals are fools with ajjcircuinbnedibus"— that is, with a sort of cunning which Beems intricate, bub which is only " oircumbeudi-v bus." Certainly here was a crime which seemed likeiy to baffle the police ; yet note by what rapid and demeatary analysis every step of it was traced. Tnere xr*-re Borne chances that the arms beloog«d to a medical etudent (the section of the shoulder had wished evidently been made by a surgeon) who to play a practical joke. He could tuve gotten . the ''subject" ohly from some hospital. Tke history of every body of the hotpitala was traced. It was demonstrated that.th.6Ba arms, came from no "subject." While this investigation was going on inquiries were made in another direction what woman was missed by her neighbours? Taere are daily ten or twelve mysterious disappearances in Paris. The police are extremdy sceplioalia considering any of them •« mysterious." If women disappear, 'tis to go with men; debtors disappear to avoid creditors ; others disappear from pure love of advttmure; others to silence scandal — crime has rarely' any share in the events.' Every missing woman was traced — one only excepted, M<ne. Gillet. Who were her associates ? She waa lniiai> ta with a shoemaker. He waa arrested. Tue evidence was strong against him ; olothing exactly like that in which the body was wrapped waa found ia his possession. What was tue motive which led him to assassinate her? Money? Wuere was her money ? The, person to whom she confided her bufeiuess transactions was appealed to lor information. He was a geuer.il agent and collector. The practised eye of rhe police at once discovered something suspicious in the manner in which, he gave information. He was arrested. Hi* lodgings were searched. The other pare of the shirt from which, was torn the portion whioh was found with the arms lay io his wardrobe. Tue lodging-house keeper of Rue Poliveau recognised aim as the " atudent " who had ocoupied a chamber at tier house. In face of the evidence what could he do but make a full confession ? He 'said the remainder of the body was in a trunk at Angerc. There it was found. He, with the cowardice and perfidy of alh criminals, revealed the name of his^ accomplice — a medical student, whose acquaintance he had made at college, and with whom he b«d long been intimate. The medical student hid the nerve to deliver a publio lecture iv Paris three weeka after the crime, and while the newspapers waie filled with the action of the police. Tae general agent and collector laid he wanted some

I money to make a aure stroke on the StockExchange. Ha had asked Dime. Gillet to I lend him the 2500 tola, which &be possesßpd — her whole fortune. She refused. He resolved to murder her and get - the money. He invited her to his room on business. As she came in he felled her with a crowbar. The medical student plunged hia bistouri into her heart and spine. She died without a struggle, without conioiouineaa of her fate. The general agent and medical student wtre both of good families. The former is a son of a well-to-do timber merchant near Anders. The latter ,ia an only child of an excellent painter, who was so long pfofe»aor of drawing in the Angers college. Hia mother is a daughter or eiat*r or sister-in-law to some of the most eminentphyaicianu of Angers and its neighbourhood. The way the medical Btudent's parents heard of his guilt ia heartrending. They live in a Bmall, but charming cottage about a mile from Angers. While weeding his flower garden the father saw the letter-carrier and went to the gate to meet him. The letter-carrier eaid : " I have to-day nothing for you but your newspaper." The mother joined the father. She asked, "No letter?" They had been expecting a letter from their son. They walked together toward the heuae. The husband read his newspaper. "Bead me everything about crime," said the mother. Like moat women she takes the deepest interest in crime and in criminal trials ; they are stories which have the spice of truth. The husband exclaimed : " Ah, here is a crime which promises to be deeply _ interesting—' Mystery of Rue Poliveau.' It is not yet known whether or no it is an assassination." Then he read all the parcicu? Ura of the crime which the newspaper gave. Day after day they eagerly read the news - paper. They took the deepest interest in the crime. One morning the wife came down stairs later than usual. She saw her husband outstretched in hia arm-chair, motionleßß, pale as death. The newspaper was at his feet, open, crumpled. She ran, pub her arms around her husband. " Good heavens/ Bhe excUimed, " what is the matter?" Ha trembled convulsively ; spread his hands before him, as if to repel some horrible phantom, and gasped: " Don't read thenewßpaperl I beg it of you." She did read, and having read, foil on her knees and convulsively claßping her brow, which seemed as if it would split, she screamed. " Oh. God, oh Gv>d, we have lived too long 1" Father and mother had read the secret of the "Mystery of Rae Poliveau." Toe assassin was their soo, their only eh.il J. — Paris Ootr. N. F. Tribune.