The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-04-20 00:00:00

THE MURDER IN PARK-LANE.

On Sunday official intelligence arrived in London
th d the woman, Marguerite Dixblane, who stands
unwell of the murder of Madame Hiel, had been
arre.ted in Pali, on the wad rant under the Extradition
eaty by the Scotland-yard officers. Inspectors Pay
and Druscovteb. _

'Hie circumstances attending the arrest show that
there were many elements of difficulty in the matter.
13y the time that the information of the murder wan
communicated to the police, the woman had had twelve
hours' start, and this, with the additional advantage
of being not easily to be distinguished from a
Frenchwoman, enabled her to leave them with a
tangled skin in their hands. requiring more
than ordinary ingenuity to unravel. She N 39 also
well provided with money. Faced by these diffi-
culties, and having to sift besides much information
and many suggestions which, as usual, pour in on all
hands, the English police had to gather up the true
clue step hy step. They ascertained beyond all doubt
that she left London on 'Sunday night for the Continent
by the mail train from Victoria, and having sought out
all that was known of her here they left London for
Dover on Wednesday night. They did not leave Dover
until Thursday morning, having ascertained there that
t'e woman had not gone to Oatend, but to Calais. At
Cilia's again they ntopped, for they had to trace
whether She had gone a toad she bad been before, as
from Calais she might have 91nprd her way to Verdun,
where she had lived. Their inquiries were ouch that
they continued their journey to Paris, where they
arrived on Friday.
Having arrived in Paris, they soon ascertained the
whereabouts of some rela'ives of the suspected I
woman, who were residing in the neighbourhood of
St. Denis, where it was found Marguerite Dixblanc
had slept on the Monday right following the murder.
The inmates of the house in question, on being inter.
rogated by the officers, denied all knowledge of the
woman for whom searib was being made ;bit
on investigation the officers found in the place
some of the bank notes known to have belonged
to Madame Rid, and also a ring which she
had worn, as well as the green dress worn by
the suspected woman when she left Park-lane, as
described by Watts, the housemaid. With such evi.
donee the English detectives cansed the apprehension
of the inmates of the house by the French authorities,
and then retained posseasion of the place, whi.h was
not left till the supposed murderess made her appear-
ance, on Sunday morning, between two and three
o'clock. She IVAN of course, instantly captured and
placed in the custody of the French polka.

The Paris Correspondent of the Standard gives the
following particulars of her arrest
At three o'clock on Sunday morning 'according to informa-
tion obtained from the police authorities in London)
Druscovitch sent an officer to make an Inquiry at the house
above mentioned. There wits a person standing half way to
the passage, as if waiting the arrival of some one. After
a few interrogatories the officer learnt enough to guarantee
the almost immediate arrest of DAblancs. accompanied
by Inspector Druscovitch and others, he proceeded at
once to a low calcaret in one of the streets running
out of the Rue St. Dents, where they found Dixblancs tolling
hi the lathilind upon the subject of the Park site murder.
From the description they I...erased of the woman they
had no difficulty in recognizing her, although abe was
• dressed very differently to what she was when she left
tendon. Seeing the officers enter, the woman became
agitate& They told her that they had a warrant for her
arrest Upon the charge of murderiug Madame Riel, in Park-
lane, on Sunday the 7th toat. Diablanca did riot speak for a
moment or two, but turning to the two possess to whoa

It is stated that Dixblancs procured a return ticket
to Paris, and in paying for it she changed a £5 Bank of
England note, the number of which shown it to be one
of those which were in the possession of Madame Riel.
The half-ticket has been collected at the other bid!, of
the Channel; and the object of procuring a return
ticket is supposed to have been to avoid suspicion, and
throw the authorities off their guard. This ticket WSW
traced to Calais.

During the whole of Sunday crowds of people visited
Park.lane to see the house where the murder was com-
mitted ; and it gave the police considerable trouble to
keep the foothways in the vicinity clear. The blinds of
the windows were closely drawn. The main object of
curio-dty was the ail a; and many artifices were resorted
to in order tolook over the green hoarding which shuts
out the basement story from the public view.

It is thought that the cabdriver who gave the first
tAngible clue to the whereabouts of Dixblancs will
share in the reward of £lOO offered for her apprehen-
sion by the Secretary of State for the Rome Depart-
ment. The detective offices; Druscovitch and Pay had
not been, it ia said, an hour in Paris, when they were
fairly on the track of Dixblanes.

Some few particulars of the conduct of the prisoner while
at her place in Soho, which have rieen forwaroed to us (Daily
News,) iv a correspondent, may tend to throw a light on the
curninstances leading to the commission of the crime :
"As already stated, Dixblanc wan formerly in the
service of M. Dumaa, a well-kn. ivm French chamber,
or, as we should say, Italian warehouseman, living in
Princes-street, Soho. She was recommended to M.
Dumas by a Catholic clergyman, to whom she repre-
aented herself simply as a co-religionist in great distress.
She remained ist the service of M. Dumas about
five mouths, and during that time he perceived
but one fault in her—that she was a thunkard.
She was indeed a pilferer too, hut of wine
only, and that for her own drinking, and she was
never known to steal either eatables or money, though
both, and the former especially, were often within
her reach. When drunk she was exceedingly .marrel-
some, and on one occasion, when in this state, she gave
oue of the men in the house who had refused to drink
with her a slap in the face. At finit her intemperance
escaped the notice of M. Dumas, and it was not
perceived until Christmas time, when she became
worse than usual in consequence of the receipt
of several Christmas boxes from the customers of
the house. She was then warned that a repetition
of Finch conduct would ensure her instant dis-
missal. She was not sent away at once, because, this
failing excepted, it was believed perfect confidence
could be placed in her. AS a domestic servant she
was a resident of the house of M. Dumas. and she had
often been left in charge of the premises during the
absence of the family. She was, moreover, an inmate
of the house during a tolerably long absence of M.
Dumas in Italy, on business affairs, and Madame and
Mademoiselle Dumas had no complaint to make
against her on his return, though there had been no.
one else present to control her. She was treated
with great kindness by the family, and, on account
of her friendless condition in London, she was some-
times Allowed to accompany them on visits, and enter-
tained by the servants of their friends, and was
permitted to receive the visits of such servants in iv-
torn. This practice of joint visiting on the part of
families and servants is pretty general among the
French colony in London, and io to norm. extont
necoNnitated by the difficulty which foreign servants
experi, (iced in finding acquaintaucea in a strange
country.
Some allusion has been made to Diablanc's Alleged
connection with the Communists. It went no further
than a statement on her part rather than a boast,
to the effect that, during the troubles in Paris, she
had sheltered some Communalists in a cellar, and
on one occasion had given some wine to the
destitute wife of a Communalist officer. This state-
ment, of course, was not made to M. Dumas, as, indeed,
it did not concern him ; but was merely the gossip of
the kitchen, which afterwards found its way upstairs.
Hail she been closely identified with the movement, it is
thought probable she would have been at no loss to
find acquaintances in London. As it was, she had
but one visitor, an elderly man, understood tube con-
nected with the religious establishment by which she
was recommended to M. Dumas. For some time after
her first warning against drunkenness, her conduct was
unexceptionable; but, finally, she repeated the offence,
and was summarily discharged. Madame Riel unfor-
tunately took the woman without a character. But
in this service, It appears, Dffiblanc soon fell into
her old habits, and it is alleged that only a few
days before the murder a French actress came by in-
vitation to dine with Madame Riel. and found that no
dinner was ready, and that the cook was intoxicated
From M. Dumas's experience of Dixblanc, he con-
siders it highly probable that her crime wasin the first
instance prompted by some other passion than cupidity,
and that her determination to rob the house was an
after-thought, prompted by the exigencies of her flight.
Ile is at the same time able to cor.tirm what has been
already stated as to her great personal strength."

PA P. 15, Monday.

It seems that Marguerite Dixbianc was not arrested
in a low wine-shop at St. Denis, but in a coal-shop.
When taken into custody her face was blackened like
that of a chimney-sweep.
The English detectives, Druscovitch and Pay were
not present when Marguerite 'nil)lane was arrested at
St. Denis. She was brought in a cab, late on Saturday
evening, to Byron's Tavern, in Paris, where the two
detectives are staying. 60,000 francs (P 2,400 of the
stolen property has been recovered, as well as jewels
and other valid ate.
In addition to Marguerite Dixielane, five persons
have been arrested as accomplices and receivers, but
they probably will come off soot free. The principal
bring prosecuted in England, the French courts are
incomp tent to try them, and the Extradition Treaty
does not apply to them.

Wednesday, April 17

_
Information from Paris states that Marguerite Dix-
blanc still remains in custody at the Prefecture of
Police. Her surrender to the British authorities unt ler
the terms of the Extradition Treaty ia delayed by the
circumstance of her Belgian nationality. Steps are,
however, being taken, it is said, by the British Em-
bassy to hasten the proceedings. According to a
telegram received at So tland-yard last night from the
En;lish Detectives in Paris, there is a desire on the
part of the prisoner to clam the full term—fifteen
slays—under the Extradition Treaty. -

-
It appears that the letter written by the prisoner,
which fell into the hands of the French detectives, and
which first set them on her track, was addressed to M.
Differis, Rue St. Denis, Paris. No M. Dubois could
be fund in the RUO St. Denis, and the letter was ac-
cordingly opened at the Paris P etroffice. It was at
once seen that the writer was no other than the
cook suepected of being the zuurileress ,if Madame
RieL This very valuable piece of information was
PC.II turned to account. The investigations that
were made conelnsively showed that the M.
Dubois, Rue St. Deide, Paris, to whom the letter
was addressed, really lived at Rue du Port. at St.
Denis, and thither the detectives immediately pro.
ceediel. Marguerite Dixblane was found there, and
arrested. She had, as already stated, blackeued her
face in order to conceal her identity, and seemed,
airording to the account in the Figaro, as though
she had done nothing all her life but measure out coals
and charcoal. At. first she showed some dispo-
sition to resist the officers, but they soon made
her understand that resistance would be usel err',
and she quietly allowed them to handcuff her, and
afterwards take her to the Prefecture of Police.
She stoutly maintained that she had committed the
murder in a moment of anger, and had not been
urgent to it by the desire of possessing her mistress's
valuables. According to her own account, she was
alone in the kitchen with Madame Riel, and deemiirg
the moment favourable for etranglleg her, seized her
by the throat with such violence that death was almost
instantaneous. The victim had hardly time, indeed,
to titter a QT. and in a few moments had ceased
to breathe. Marguerite Dixblanc then tied a rope
round the neck of her 7ictim, and dragged the body
into the pantry. She then seized upon all the valuables
she could find. After this ehe wrote the letter
which fell into the hands of the police. hat
night she says she slept at a tavern in Mary.
lebone, and it was not until the next morning
that she left London for Paris. It V 419 not until
Friday that she quitted Paris, and proceeded to
St. Denis. In the interval she slept at various low
lodging-homes in the east end of the French capital.
She is said to be well acquainted with Paris, having
lived there for some time. Her father resides at Ver-
sailles. When arrested several newspapers were found
in her pockets containing accounts of the Park-lane
murder.

The famous quadrille of Colonnaat the Folios Berghre
has just tweak probibitadb he polies.