Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-16
A Youthful Monster.

A Paris letter says: Crime appears to be
on the increase in France, and our police
courts are filled with cases of the most
horrible d~epravity. The other day a
young wretch, only fifteen years old, en-
ticed a little boy of six years to his
room. tied him to a chair, and deliber-
ately cut him to pieces with a large
knife. The only motive for the deed
seemed to be a desire to witness the ag-
onizeu struggles of his victim. Strangely
enough the young fiend lodged a com
plant against himself and surrendered
to the police Immediately after the
crime. His name is Felix Lemaitre, and
he lived in hired rooms 1T No. 220 Bou-
levard de La Villette. He told his story
in a calm, matter of-fact way, as though
murder was his ordinary occupation.
''On the 18th of last February, " said he,
81 stole 200 francs from my employer,
NJ. Siraut, u d'Aboukir. 1 spent them
in going to the theatres and places
of amusement. Yesterday l found
myself at the end of my resources. l
felt angry, and the idea of killing a child
suddenly entered my head. Chance led
me to the little one whom l killed. I
found him in the street. l promised
him a steel chain, which l showed him.
as an inducemeDt for him to come with
me. Arrived in my rooms, | tied his
hands behind his back as if in play.
Then | disrc bed the front of his body. in
order that the clothes should offer no OBJ
stacle, and plunged my knife twice into
his stomach. AS he cried out l cut his
throat. | cannot say exactly why l did
all this. | have read many novels, and I
found in one of them a scene like that
which | put into execution" At this
horrible recital the police officers thought
themselves in the presence of some mon.
ster, such as the anDals of medicine occa-
SiOnslly furnish examples of. Lemaitre
was rather large for his age, of dark
complexion, and with bright black eyes.
His employer was shocked when told
of the arrest. He had been quite una
ware of the theft of the two hundred
francs, and said that Lamaitre was a
mild, timid boy, very steady in his work.
Taken to the scene of the crime, the
young assassin minutely described all
the details. A crowd gathered around
the house, threatening to lynch the pris-
oner, but a strong guard protected him
on MS way back to prison. The name
of the little victim was Jean Schaonen.
His parents are very poor, and a sub
scription of $50 francs was sent them by
the Project of Police 10 relieve their i'm
mediate necessities. Two doctors exam
ined young Lemaitre. Instead of his
mind being affected, as some thought,
they found that he was in full possession
of all his faculties, and that his intelli-
gence was very vivid. He replied to all
the questions that were asked with as
tonishing clearness. His great ambition
was to be N actor, and he declaim-
ed by the hour. The knife he had
used was a terrible weapon. The blade
was nearly six inches long, thick and
sharp as a razor. The handle was of
horn. On account of his youth, LIE
maitre was sentenced to the House of
Correction. He continued to speak
freely and with a certain pleasure of the
crime he had committed. Horrible as
was this assassination, it is not without
~precedents. In the summer of 1872, in
the village of Yerres, zeal Montgeron, a
little fellow nine years old tied his
youngest brother to a post and gave him
to the house dog, a veritable wild beast,
who half devoured him. About the
same time, in the province of Var, a
peasant boy threw his three little sisters
into a burning lime kiln. In 1875, near
Nancy, a child of ten killed another
three years old, in order to see as he
said, "what it was to die" In Deem
Der, 1877, three children ~strangled one
of their comrades on the banks of the
Seine, near this city. These facts show
that the crime of Lemaitre is not unique.