GIRL'S ORDEAL

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17367, 31 March 1928, Page 21 (Supplement)

GIRL'S ORDEAL

SAW BODY CUT UP. THE TAMER OF WILD DOGS. MONTREAL. Feb. 2. The police tiere are recalling .lack Hie Ripper and Landru in their inquiries into fhe deeds of .Tuies Coulombe. cin expolieeman known as “The Butcher,'’ who is alleged lo have confessed to the murder of a beggar and of a young girl, Bessie Daley. • The body of the beggar was found dismembered and frozen in the snow on the roof of Goulombe's house. Coulombe is under remand charged with the murder.

■ His mistress, Blanche Larendean, told the coroner an extraordinary story at the inquest yesterday. She is a country girl and came to Monleral two months ago, she said, to visit an aunt who is in a Roman Catholic institution. On returning to the station she had lost tier way when Coulombe came along and offered to guide her.

Kept a Prisoner.

On the way they passed his home and he invited her to have some reft'eshment. As soon as they were inside he locked the doors and stripped her. For two months, she said, he kept her unclothed,, threatening her with instant death if she altemptel to escape. She said she did not see Bessie Daley killed, hut she was terrorised into seeing tiim cut Hie body into pieces and burn them in a stove.

“We are fared with one of the most horrible wholesale murderers ever known," said Ihe coroner.

The police are trying to discover the fate of two other young girls who were known to have entered Coulombe’s house since when they have never been heard of. Coulombe was the terror of the neighbourhood owing to his pack of wild dogs, four of which he always had to lead. He had an uncanny influence over the savage dogs, which cowered at his voice. This leads the police to believe that he may be connected with the murder last year of a bank manager and his wife, whose dog was apparently cowed by the murderer. The police theory is that ttiis dog formerly belonged lo Coulombe.

The police recall that Coulombe was arrested some years ago at 3 a.in. when he was walking in the street barefooted and carrying an axe. His sanity was then inquired into, but lie was released. Many years before, when he was a policeman, Coulombe suffered a serious injury to the head while stopping a runaway horse.