Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-07-24
tFrom the London Globel
A HORRID CHAPTER OF CRIME.
TwENTy-THREE PERSONS MURDERED BY A
FRENCH DEMoN-THE MOTIVE LOVE
OF HUMAN BLOOD.

FRENCH DEMoN-THE MOTIVE A Low
OF HUMAN BLOOD.
On the 11th of January last middle.ageC
widow lady in Paris, Madam Mildly, by pro
iession painter narrowly escaped being
murdered. A man who had lately been in
her house as a workmen in the employment
OF framemaker whom she patronized, wat
the intended murderer; and he had doubtless
been tempted to the deed in order to rob his
victim of some small but valuable paintings
which had been intrusted to her By Polish
Prince. He called under preience of looking
for tool which he had accidentally left be.
hind. Notfinding 1.-THE drew from his pocket
bolster cover, asking the lady if it did not
belong to her, and as she turned away, an
noyed by his questions he took the oppor-
tunity TO throw the cloth over her head so as
to cover it, at the same time placing one
hand on her neck and the other on her mouth,
stuffng the linen down her throat so as to
stifie her cries. But she was able to scream
q little, however, and her screams, the noise
OF the scufhe and the sound of her fall OH
the floor, brought Il brother painter-the
Sieur Vanchelet-who was in an adjoining
apartment, to her assistance. The prisoner,
thus interrupted, coolly walked away, merely
saying that the lady was ill; but he was fol-
lowed and arrested, The police soon iden-
titled him as a man who was "wanted " for
a horrid murder committed few days be-
fore, and little more investigation proved
their prisoner, Joseph Philippe by name to
be one of those great criminals of the Dun
nollard type, who commit murder by whole
sale, partly from pure blood-thirstiness OF
nature, and partly for the plunder and out
rage of their victims His trial has Just
taken place under one of the most formidable
actes d'acCusation which the ingenuity of
French lawyers has constructed.
The prisoner appearance and antecedents
quite correspond with the last epoch in his
history. He is a short, thick.set man, with
black hair. closely cut beard and moustache,
low forehead, deep set eyes, thick lips, and
in the garb of well-to-do-workman. Born
in 1881, so that he is now 35 years of age, he
was taken for the military service in 1862,
condemned in 1856 to a years imprisonment
for misconduct and enrolled soon after in
one of those terrible Battalons d'Afrique,
into which the scoundrels of the French
army are drafted. He returned to Paris in
1861 and has since been in numerous situa-
tions as cook, groom, general servant and
warehouse messenger, but staying long'in
in none on account of his drunken habits.
The idea of. living by murder and robbery
appears 10 have originated in the necessities
of his poverty when out OF employment; and
his system is novel as the first attempt to
sbcial life. The murderer, two years ago, at
Florence, victimized lodging house keepers,
whom he found out as .faiaodRt lodger, and
whom he was enabled to murder on account
of their lonely position. Joseph Philippe
selected for his victims the class of unfortu-
mates whose degradation and isolation, and
the peculiarities of their miserable trade,
expose them in high degree to the danger
of assassination. The Waterloo road mur-
der, and the more recent murder. of Emma
Jackson, exemplify among ourselves what
these dangers amount to-
But the prisoner is the first to have seen
in these facts the chance of living. From
the evidence now obtained it is certain that
he did act on system. More than two years
ago he revealed his secret to one of these
females in the weakness oil intoxication. 81
love women well, he said "and / do for
them we'll | stuff their mouths and cut
their throats Wait bit, and you will hear
me talked about" What has passed fol
grim Jest has become a too horrid reality.
Several uniortunates had perished in Paris
since 1861, stranged, or with throats cut,
but it is only within the last two years that
cases have been found in which there is
proof against the prisoner. There are three
distinct cases, one of them double murder,
In which the infant of one of the victims
was also killed, and the circumstances are
much alike in all Three days before his
apprehension he accosted, at II O'Clock in
the evening, in the Rue de la Vile l'Eveque,
girl named Maria Victoire Bodeax; soon
afterwards he was seen entering the building
in that street in which were her apartments
and quarter of an hour later he was OBJ
served 10 leave, by an old man who lived in
the house, and who wanted to see the girl
This man, entering her room, discovered
her on the floor with her throat frightfully
gashed, and marks of blood stained fingers
on the drawers and on their contents, which
as well as the mattrass of the bed, had beer
rummaged for yaluables II was found tha
the murdered woman's purse, containing
e3 and several articles of iewelry, had beer
stolen; and luckily there were found in the
prisoners possession several articles to iden
tifY him. Before leaving he had had time tt
wash his hands in basin which stood upoI
the dressing table in the apartment
The two other murders with which he i
connected were committed in the spring o
1864. One morning in April that year al
unfortunate, named Julie Robert, not havinl
appeared since the evening OF the day before
was found in her apartment in the Rue st
Joseph with her throat cut in similar fash
ion to that of the girl Bodeaux-her pocket
and the whole apartment also bearing mark
of hastY ritling, and a hand basin in lik
manner marked with blood stains, Tn
prisoner is said to have taken with him
handkerchief, which has been Identified q
the deceaseds property, and he is proved /
have been spending money very freely at til
time, although he had but newly entered o
an employment after term of idleness, an
had yet received no wages. His strang
demeanor and agitation at the time have nls