Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-30
A French Murder.

the forest of Fontainebleau saw lady W.
ing on the grass, near the roadside, as if
sleeping, with a parasol over her face.
There was apparently nothing so unusual
in this as to excite remark; but after
the same figure had been noticed in the
same position for several successive days,
curiosity was aroused, and closer inspec-
ton was made. The woman was dead.
Her fingers clutched the grass; the para
sol had been stuck in the ground as if to
conceal the face; and part of the head
had been deyOured byworms or wild ami
mails. It was believed at first that she had
been killed by wolves but a surgical ex-
animation disclosed the tact that death had
been caused by strangulation. Some one,
said the physicians, with an assault sudden
and quick as that of a panther. had clutch
ed her by the throat, and then kne1t upon
her stomach, and in six seconds the breath
was out of her body. Further investigation
showed that, on the 7th of May, two ladies
lone young, handsome, and we'll dressed
had come to Fontainebleau from Paris,
spent the night at hotel, and the next day
gone into the forest. The elder woman re-
turned 3alone, and reported that she had
lost her friend in the woods, but expected
TO meet her at the railway station. She
declared that she had no money, and was
obliged to pawn a brooch for forty francs
to pay her bill; but when she took out her
purse the waiter saw in it 100-franc note.
On the discovery of the body this woman
was traced aud arrested. She is the wife OF
q M. Frigard, a bankrupt silk mercer of
Caen. She is described as very plain in ap
pearance, of small size, about e35 years old.
The Murdered woman proved to be wid1w
named Mertens, with whom Madame Frig-
ard had been on terms of close Intimacy.
Madame Mertens was not of i.reproachable
character, having an inordinate fondness
for the society OF young gentlemen, and a
leaning toward the gay life for which pret-
ty French widows are proverbial; but she
had 5000 francs in bank, and Madame
Frigard, who was very much in want OF
Italian warehouse in the Rue Montholon,
seems to have thought it not inconsistent
with the virtues of a wife and mother to
promote the pleasures OF her young COM
panion and second her amours. Dabbiing
In alchemy and sorcery, inviting Madame
Mertens to restaurants, drives, dinners,
and wine-parties, fiatteriDg and cajoling
her in every imaginable way. she soon OBJ
stained over the gay widow complete as
tendency. She concluded a bargain for
the purchase of the business in the Rue
Montholon, and paid the first installment
of the price with 1000 francs drawn from
the bank on an order purporting to be
signed by Madame Mertens. A second in
.stallment of 1.500 francs was paid in the
same way a week later. There remained
5000 francs to be paid on the 9TH of May.
On the Sd Madame Frigard bought apistol.
She was not ready with the money on the
.5th,, and begged and obtained four days
grace. On the 9TH she went to Fontaine-
bleau with her friend, and came back alone.
Two days later she paid the rest of the
purchase money, and took possession Of
the shop. ~ ~
Whenshe was arrested, Madame Frigard
produced Q pretended deed of partnership
W orta
sBouneed this as well as the drafts on the
banks to be forgeries, and the handwriting
that of the prisoner. Papers belonging to
the murdered woman were found in her
possession. The trial began at Melun on
the 9th of August. The theory of prose-
murder in order to conceal her forgeries,
which Madame Mertens could not fail soon
to detect, and at the same time o.get pos
session of what papers she needed for the
completion of her plans. Madame Frigard.
who is said to bear herself before the court
with remarkable calmness and intelligence,
relies for her defense chiefly upon story
about some man named Williams, whom
the deceased, as she declares, went to Fon-
tainebleau to meet, and whom she lett in
the unfortunate wOman's company. But
the strictest inquiries have failed to bring
to light any trace of such person, and no.
body believes in his existence. E
All the evidence so far bears strongly
against the accused. But it is almost in
credible that for triffe like $500 wo-
man in no actual want of money, woman,
moreover, who had hitherto borne good
character, should commit SO horrible
crime; or that, having committed it, any
one with the intelligence and skeenness
which the prisoner has shown herself to
possess should be at so little pains to avoid
discovery. Yet it is not, after all, in full
accordance with what experience teaches
us of the peculiarities of crime in the fe-
male sex? When woman stoops to wicked
ness the natural loYeliness of her character
turns to a loathsome depravity which man
rarely reaches. There are few more horri-
Bic figures in history than a Messalina or
BrinSilliers. And, moreover, it seldom
happens that woman who has the nerve
to perpetrate deed of blood has also the
ever present dread of detection which en-
ables her to conceal the crime. e. ..s!5.I