The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-01 00:00:00

A FRENCH TRAGEDY IN REAL LIFE.

In the whole of the criminal annals of France there is not
to be found a more ghastly and horrible story than that
into which the Cour d'Assises des Bonches-du-Rhane has
just concluded its investigations, remarks the Daily News,
and thus continues
The mere outlines of this lurid narrative, as they
were first revealed some few months ago, were sufficient
to thrill the pnbli , with a sense of the desperate lengths
to which evil passions may drive reckless men ; and now
that the official inquiry has brought into full day-
light the various motives and aims of the accused,
no one but a Balzac or an Edgar Allen PIM
C.lllll I teal fitly with the depths of iniquity which
are thus disclosed. The briefest recapitulation of
the charge preferred against the three pi•iseuers
will chew that the ',magnet who weaves hi;
story out of the blackest crimes known to humanity
cannot get beyond the limits of fact; and the roost
complicated of plots are simple and paltry when com-
pared with the tangled mesh of guilty motives pre-
sented to us by the "affaire Grego." On the 16th of
January last, this M. Grego suddenly disappeared.
Ito was a merchant and representative of a corn-
, , , i.t is use, was twenty-five years of age, and lived
in Marseilles. At the time of his disappearance he
had just collected a large sum of money on behalf
of his employers ; and when the discovery was
male that he and the money were both missing
Irvin his apartments, the natural inference was
that he had absconded with the property of his
employers. Mr. Michel Samania, a friend of Grego,
and a member of the firm for whom he acted, then
went to several acquaintances of the missing man,
more especially to two called Tobelano and Sitbon,
who said they had not seen him. While the mystery
remained in this stage, a certain fisherman, accompanied
by two men and a boy, having gone out to cast his
lines. perceived ass object floating on the sea. lie and
, his companions approached it, and found it to be a
large black chest, so heavy that it could scarcely be

hauled on board. One of the seamen forced it open,
and recoiled with horror on finding within it a sack
in which was the mangled corpse of a man, with the
legs sawn off, and the whole body sinothered in blood.
The cheat and its contents were taken into Marseilles,
and there it WSW speedily discovered that the murdered
man was the M. Grego who had disappeared. That he
had been murdered was abundantly evident; for, be
sides marks of strangulation on his neck, there were
deep wounds on Lis forehead. It was equally clear
that the assassins had made off with the large amount
of booty which had been deposited iu the murdered
man's safe.
The three men who have been tried for this crime,
and convicted on the clearest evidence, belonged to
the Tunisian colony in Marseilles, and were well known
to M. Grego. Two of them, Toledano and Sitbon,
were his personal friends; the third was a porter
employed by Toledano. The motives which prompted
Sitbon to the diabolical deed were, according to his
own story, jealousy and anger. One day last winter
Sitbon, in a discussion, struck an Algerian named
Maman before several persons, and Grego having
remarked that his friend was in the wrong, Sit-
bon became furious, and cried out. "If you say
anything against me, I will break your neck."
The quarrel continued for Koine time; when it was
complicated by another occurrence. There was a semp-
stress in the employment of Messrs. Samaras, for
whom Grego had cherished an affection. Wearied with
his importunities, she one evening left the place in
the company of Sitbon, whose arm she took. This
provoked Grego into making a rude remark about the
character of the house, which saying was carried to
Sitbon by Toledano. Sitbon was greatly enraged
thereby; and Toledano, who had also a quarrel with
Grego on account of a lawsuit, thereupon hinted to Sitbon
that both of them might have their revenge. With Sitbon
revenge was the ruling motive; and in his passion he
said, " If you like we will lead Grego into some public
place, we will pick a quarrel with him, and I will
strike him." According to Sitbon's own account,
Toledano replied that such a proceeding was foolish,
as it would only lead t. a legal prosettution. "For
myself," he said, "I mean something different. I
wish to get money. We must get him to drink; we
will conduct him to the Prado, and make him dis-
appear for ever. If you are a man we will rant a
garden in the Pratt° ; with a blow of a skull-
era ker I will kill him ; we witl take his keys,
and then throw him into the sea:' Two or
three days afterwards, Toledano again broached
the subject; and said he had secured the services
of the man Maim. "What would you do to
gain "10,000 francs ? " said Toledano to this third
villain in the tragedy. "I would kill a mart," was the
ready answer. Whoever actually proposed the crime,
and whatever motive was the strongest in any one of
the agents, it is certain that from this moment the
three men were resolved upon the deed. Toledano and
Sitbon made friends again with Grego. The murdered
man seems to have been of an unsuspecting nature; he
not onlysesponded to their professions of f riendship,
but asked them to go to his apartments to see 500,000
francs in Tunisian piastree which he had there. During
the next few weeks the two accomplices were making
preparations for the murder of the man who was meet-
ing them every day in ordinary social intercourse.
The details of the crime are too horrible to bear re-
petition. We need only say that the conspirators had
rented certain chambers, and that one night they in-
vited Grego to go and meet some women there. He
went. The place was dimly lighted by two candles.
White he was still chatting, and wondering why the
women did not arrive, the murderers threw themselves
on him, strangled him, and smashed-in his forehead at
the same moment. Then, having washed away the
blood from their clothes, they went to his apart-
ments, and secured the money and valuables that were
in the safe. After that came the question of the dis-
posal of the body ; and here the porter, who had
been relied on as the chief agent, withdrew, and left
the hideous task to his employers. They had a large
chest made, and tried to put the body in it; but even
then they found they had to purchase a saw to cut off
the legs, so that the corpse could be compressed into the
chest. They managed to get the box shown to the sea-
side, and by a manceuvre gait intoa boat, of which they
assumed possession. Taking it out to sea, they flung it
overboard, but were paralysed with horror to find that it
did not sink. There was no help for it. They were forced
to return to the quay; and thereafter left for their own
homes. The very next morning, Sitbon, still in bed, heard
some one cry," The assassin ation in the Rue Montgraud!"
Terror seized hitn, for he kttew the chest must have
been found. He hastily dressed, and fled from Mar.
Bellies by the first train, eventually reaching England.
Tub- dano, with the greatest composure, went to the
funeral of Grego. But suspicion pointed to him
and to the porter Missim. Both were arrested within
forth-eight hours, and the name of the third
assassin discovered. The English authoriies handed
over the fugitive; and the three men were committed
for trial for one of the in 'at malicious and cold-blooded
murders perpetrated in our day. The result of the
trial was foreseen, as there was scarcely an attempt
made to contradict the overwhelming evidence brought
forward. Sitbon and Toledano have been sentenced to
death, and Misairn to penal servitude for life. The
punishment is not excessive ; for a more brutal crime
than the murder of the young merchant Grego it is im-
possible to conceive.