Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-06-25
CuriosIties OF French Crime.

we cup the lOIlOWIHS from re-
cent Paris letter 10 the Chicago
Tribune:
Crime seems terribly on the in
crease In France, and not day
goes by without some new deed OF
savsgsry exciting the public. The
latest specimen is the story of u
little monster named Marie-Anne
Gaubert, aged eleven, who, in the
absence of her mother, deliberately
burnt her baby brother to death.
The means adopted for accomplish
ing her ferUci0us and unnatural
purpose are proofs of the most base
and cunning instincts. Her victim
was but two years aud four months
old. She waited till the house she
lived in (near Cahors) was perfect.
ly quiet, and then, tying her broth
er to q stool, set fire to some straw
underneath 1t, aud went of, first
taking the diabolicsl precaution to
lock the door behind her, to pre-.
vent all chances of the unfortunate
childs escape. When the case
came on for trial, however, the
jury brought in verdict virtually
scquitting the Juvenile murderer,
who gets off with q sentence of
nine years free board and lodging
at Female Reformatory. The
mo- her, who appears to have orig
inally suggested the murder to her
daughter, has been condemned to
I've years imprisonment. 1t was
proved that on several occasions
she had told Marie.Anne to stran-
gle little Jean. "If you would
only strangle him." she said one
day, 1--WE should be all the quieter.
and you would get praised by every
one." When the youthful MUIR
derer was cross-examined, howev.
er, she resolutely denied that any
suggestion of the mothers had led
her to the crime.
II was so sick Of hearing him
cry" was the extraordinary and
revolving explanation Marie Anne
gave of the affair.
Barbarous as this murder is, it is
nothing compared to one l read of
y few years ago. Here the victim
was a mother, and the murderers
her two children-a boy and girl
of sixteen and seventeen years each.
The family lived somewhere in the
Provinces, in lonely country
house. 1t is supposed that the
children grew impatient at having
to wait for some trifing property
that was to come to them on the
death of their mother. Be this as
it NAV, the murder was determined
on, and the Infamous pair set to
work. First they tried to poison
the poor creature by putting sui
phurous matches in her soup, when
she lay ill in bed. This did not
succeed the first time; and they
tried it again, with a stronger dose.
But the invalid's stomach rejected
the poison. Upon this they altered
their plans eDtirely-how 1 shall
tell you. In many old French
country houses there are great
beams running across the kitchen
ceilings. One day, as their mother
was sitting before the FIRE on a
chair, they put their devilish and
accursed scheme into execution.
One-whether the boy or the girl l
do not remember-tied her tightly
to the chair. The other threw
rope over the beam, made rum
ming moose, and slipped IL round
the victims neck. Then, uniting
their efforts, they strung her up,
chair and all. and held her
till the last convulslve struggle
was over. Incredible and shame.
full to relate, the Jury that tried
those two fiends admitted their
plea Of "extenuatiug circum-
stances" They were not logged
to death, nor torn in pieces by wild
horses, as they deserved to be. No.
A good, generous and humane
French jury took an after-dinner
view of the case, and they were
only sent to prison for a term of
years. There are still hopes that
they may yet have opportunities of
strangling, shooting or poisoning
the rest OF their family before they
themselves quit this world for a
hotter and more congenlal one, not
named In polite society.