The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-12-26
Lieutenant Anastuy, a Dissipated Soldier and
the Supposed Leader of Band of Assas-
sins, Arrested for the Bold Crime.
Story of Delphine, the Maid, Whose
Throat Was GaShed by the Murderer.
Robbery the Incentive for the Deed-The Bar
oness Member of q Family Whose Name Has
Added Luster to French Military Annals.


special TO the indianapolis Journal.
PARIS, Dec. 25.-The Christmas day sem
sation In the city Is the arrest of Lieuten-
ant Anastuy. o retired army officer on the
charge of numbering Baroness d'Ellard.
The Lieutenant was subjected to a prelimi-
nary examination at the prefecture of
police and. after denying that he was
guilty, the prisoner was remanded. The
evidence submitted by the police was about
as follows: The Baroness it appears. was,
at o'clock in the afternoon of Dec. 4.
seated In the saloon of the apartment on
the floor OF the large and fully inhabited
honse which she occupied with her son, at
No. AZ Boulevard du Temple, close to the
Place de la COncorde. Baroness d'Ellard
was the daughter of the General of the
hrst empire, widow of q colonel of
cuirassiers of the guard. and was seventy
two years of age. She is described as tall,
stately. old lady, with snow white hair,
and was held in much respect and esteem
by her neighbors. Her son. Baron d'Ellard,
holds ON important position In the clerical
staff of the Minister of War, NJ. De Frey
cinet. He Is about forty years of age, re-
tired army officer, and Knight of the
Legion of the Hieford.
At the hour mentioned, q young man of
slight build, elegantly dressed, wearing q
high silk hat and carrying an advocates
portfolio under his arm. entered the door
way of the house IN which the Baroness
lived and asked the porter where the apart
ment OF the Baroness was situated. He
was informed that the Baroness lived on
the first floor. but the stranger went up to
the apartment Immediately above that of the
Baroness, and asked the servant who an
swered the bell if that was where the
Baroness d'Ellard lived. He was informed
that the Baroness lived on the floor below,
whereupon he descended the stairs to the
first floor, and was heard to ring the bell of
the Baronesss apartment. Here there was
q lapse of a short time. possibly five or six
minutes. at the end of which period Del
phine. servant employed by the Baroness.
violently opened the window of the latter's
diningroom which opened into the court
yard forming the interior of the building
and, pointing TO the porch or archway
leading into the street, cried in choking
tones: $780,
Help. murder. stop hint"
The poor servant girl, 1t was seen. had q
deep wound on her throat, from which the
blood was pouring. The girls cries were.
however, at first too inarticulate to raise
an alarm. Meanwhile the murderer was
able to leave the BarOness's apartment and
to start down stairs. On the porch. just as
met the concierge or p0rters wife. and
coolly recommended her to close the front
door, as it seemed that something had hap
pened In the house. He then calmly stepped
closed the door behind him. The murderer
then quickly mingled in the throng of
passers- by and disappeared.
THE MAID FELL INsENSIBLE.
BY this time the Baroness's servant, in
spite of the gaping wounds in her throat,
had managed to stumble. faint from loss of
blood. down stairs into the court. hall,
where she fell insensible. This caused the
concierge to raise an alarm, which brought
q number of people to the spot aud the
blood soaked girl was carried upstairs to
the apartments of the Baroness. There a
frightful spectacle was disclosed, the ut
most disorder prevailed in the dlnIng-hall
room; all the cupbOards, desks and drawers
had been forced open and the best part of
their contents were strewn on the floor. In
the bedroom adjoining W as found the body of
the baroness d'Ellard, her throat cut from
ear to ear, the head literally being almost
cut from the body. 1t was evident that
her death must have been almost instan-
taneOus.
The police were soon summoned to the spot.
and an investigation wasimmediately as begun
into the crime. The first thing to be done
was to try to save the life of the unfortu-
nate girl and this the surgeons were able
to do in spite of the the terrible wounds In
her throat and the large quantity of blood
she had lost. When Delphlne, strong and
healthy country girl, had recovered sutti-
ciently to answer the questions put to her,
the police were able to set to work. with o
well-cOnnected story of the crime to guide
them.
The servant it seems, had been sent out
on an errand, and the murderer, who is
supposed to have been watching the house.
aware that the Baron d'Ellard had gone ont
some time previously. knew. when Delphine
left thed Ellard residence that the old Bar
oness was alone. Consequently he entered
the house. as already described. and
went to the floor above the
Baroness's room simply to see If
tn ere was any possibility of being inter
rupted in his work. Thus when he rang
the bell of the d'Ellard apartments it was
the Baroness herself who opened the door
to the assassin. The latter, the investiaa-
tion shows must have followed the
Baroness into the bedroom of her son, to
which place the Baroness apparently fed.
terrified by the mu-derers 8 threats. In that
bedroom the murderer seems to have seiZed
his victim and to have killed her by almost
severlng her head from her body. Then.
resolving to profit as much as possible by
the absence of the servant, the murderer.
according to the story as put together by
the police, began to ransack tue apart
ments and prepared to escape with ali the
valuables he could gather together. In this
work, however, the murderer was inter-
rupted by the unexpected return OF the
servant Delphine Harbe.
TIE ATTACK on DELPHrNE.
Then the murderer of the Baroness
d'Ellard resolved to commit another MUIR
der in order to insure his escape with the
booty and to provide against his detection.
He allowed Delphine to enter the kitchen
where. it being already dark, she resolved
to light the lamp, without as yet having
her suspicious aroused to there being
anything wrong in the apartment. When
the lamp was lighted Delphine proceeded,
carrying it in her hand, TO her mistress's
room. when suddenly the lamp was Knocked
out of her grasp and she was seized from
behind by the assassin, who at the same
time stabbed her an the breast and. hastily
withdrawing his murderous blade from the
wound thus inflicted. he cut the poor girIs
throat as she struggled desperately to free
herself. In her battle for life Delphine
succeeded in tearing the mdrderers knife
from his hand and IL rolled To some place
where he could not find 1t In the dark.
While he was hunting for this blood
stained weapon Delphine ran TO the dining
room window and raised the alarm. as
previously described. The murderer then
saw that he had no time To lose II he
wished TO escape and hurried to the street
as described above.
While the police were examining the
dEllard apartment shortly after the es.