, 1872-12-08

ascertainable purpose. II Te ale to As4'e euos1st
let us have the California species rather than
the Cock-Lane variety.
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TIE MORAL OF 4 PARIS MURDER.
An interesting murder trial has just been con-
cluded in Paris, which presents some features
which could not be found out Of France. The
murderer's name is Celestin Henri LaGorce
dull, beardless and characterless youth, member
Of an old and respectable family Of Limoges.
As he YVES not bright youth in school, he was
placed in q Wholesale draper's establishment
where he was employed at the time Of the mur-
der He had studied chemistry to some pur-
pose, and conceived an idea that some day he
would be able to find fortune in the crucible.
The use to which he eventually put bis chemical
knowledge, however. has made his misfortune
One day, Lagorce eaw in, q cafe in the Rue
Viyienne, handsome watch and chain
and some valuable jewclry on the person Of one
Marie Harter, known on the Bouleyards as Ia
Femme ou Perroq1tet, and he at once conceived
the plan Of numbering her in order to secure her
effects. To this end, he followed her one night,
accosted her, aid went with her to her lodgings.
In the night, one Of the tenants, in the rooms
below, heard 3 CRY and the noise Of some one
falling, and saw Lagorce stealing down stairs
with his shoes in his hands. The concierge WAS
told these facts in the morning, and about noon
entered the premises, and found Marie's corpse
on the floor, resting against sofa, and tho par
rot, from which she had derived her professional
name dead in it's cage. The rings
were left On her fingers and the earrings in her
ears to suggest the idea Of suicide, but her
watch and money vera gone. The next day, by
means Of forged passport. he managed to es-
cape, but as the document Was signed and an
crossed by the same hand, a description OF him
was taken, which VAS afterwards given to the
police and led to his arrest. An apparatus for
making prussic acid was found in his house,
which he claimed he had constructed with re-
ference to committing suicide, and phial OF the
poison Was found in his pockets. He admitted
having the poison with him in a1arie's apart
mants, and explained that she had. mis-
taken it for ecent-bottle, and that
the smelling OF 1T had caused
her death. The recovery Of the watch and other
ya1uables from pawn did not corroborate this
statement, however, and he then confessed that
he placed the phial under Marie's nose, only in
tending to render her inseusib1e. Against this
yarn was Offset the dead parrot in the cage,
whereupon Lagorce confessed that, while Marie
went out to answer the door-bell, he expert
mented with the poison on the parrot, and
killed it, but he did not suppose that what
would kill the parrot would kill the parrots mis-
tress. At last, fuding that the case vas made
out against him, his counsel made bold plea Of
his family reBpectabi]ity. Lagorce, the father,
when called upon testify "a to his sons habits,
instructed the Court that it was no offence to
rob and murder tone Of those women who de-
your the substance Of young men Of family -
while Madame Lagorce deemed it impossible
that the Court would disgrace an honorable
family for the sake Of a miserable social outcast.
Several of the witnesses thought that capital
conviction would cause great scandal at Limoges.
The public prosecutor made strong and elo~
quent summing up against the prisoner: but its
effect WAS destroyed by the counsel for the de-
fence, who appealed to the jury to protect
young men Of family from female har-
pies. The result was that the j9gry
returned negative verdict On the charge Of
murder, but Al affirmative one On the charge Of
robbery, for which the Court sentenced Lagorce
to ten years penal servitude and 100 francs fine,
and all parties we're satis6ed-at least ali the iv-
ing parties.
The inception and the execution Of the deed,
the points OF the trial, and the decision Of the
Court, are peculiarly Partisan. The affair not
women Of the class Of Marie Harter, but also the
nice. distinctions which gent1emanly criminals
and their families make Us to what constitutes
disgrace. It would have produced
to have convicted Lagorce junior
of the crime Of numbering Hocial outcast, but
simply to rob one Of these outcasts and be een-
fenced to ten years. penal servitude, casts no
stain on the family escutcheon. Murder is vul-
gar. but robbery, accompanied By lust, is gentle
manly. 4 conviction for the poisoning Of q
woman Of the town would be 4 disgrace to an
old and wealthy family, but the mere robbery Of
one of this class does not affect the family honor
and pride. Such is the moral Of the Lagorce
murder trial, and such morality, itl is evident,
could not be found outside Of Paris.
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