St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-09
Joseph Ribot Stabs His Wife
to Death With a Sharp
Knife.
The Cause Found in His Infat-
uation for a Pretty Young
Cousin.
Detectives Find Letters Which
Show a Reason for the
Deed.
The Murderer Sent to a French
Prison for Twenty Years
at Hard Labor.


celebre in the criminal courts here is
that OF Joseph RibOt, gentleman of
good social position. education and fair
business standing, who, in spite of the
advantages, appears to have been ut
terly unable to resist the destinations of
fair but unprlncipled woman. Mr..
Ribot has been well known here for
years as a competent official of rail
way company, whose line to Lyons and
Marseilles constitutes one of the prin-
cipal through routes of travel in France.
Respected by his brother officers,
energetic in his methods, and ap-
parently capable of releasing him.
self from the meshes of
Of red tape that environ all French Of
fetal life. when the eXigencies of the
case demanded such an assertion of
independence, NJ. Ribot occupied an
enviable position. In 1876 the tried
railway manager was married to Mile.
Guillumon, the niece of the deputy re-
presenting the department Du Rhone.
The bride was an eStimable lady, but
was not at all in love with the man who
led her to the altar, neither had NJ.
Ribot any real affection for his future
wife. The match was entirely one of
the kind known as marriage de con-
yenience," in which almost every other
consideration except love enters. In the
present case the fact that Nine. Ribot
was possessed of a very
Handsome Fortune
may have largely decided the railway
rnYf1 oh Dat al,
could not insure happiness, and there
was very little of that article in the
Ribot household before the arrival of
Mile. Essilda Dillac, Nine. Ribot's love-
ly young cousin, aged twenty, who
came up from the provinces to finish
her education as painter in the art
schools of Paris, and still less afterward.
Mile. Dillac was very clever woman,
who never denied herself the slightest
qualification from fear of the posi-
bic consequences, and, when she
discovered, as she soon did, that NJ.
Ribot was charmed with her face, she
was not deferred from carrying on the
amour by the fact that her would be
lover was the husband of her relative.
AS to NJ. Ribot, his experience again
illustrated the facility of going down
hill, and if he possessed any moral
stamina at the outset it was terribly
weakened by the soft glances of his
inamorata. OF course, the billing and
cooling of the lovers could not be carried
on openly under the very eyes of the
woman they were deceiving, and thus
resort was had to correspondence.
These tender missives, now in the hands
OF the police, are filled with cratic Senti-
mentS OF the most
Passionate Variety.
From being person or average amia-
DllltY, Nj. RibOtS demeanOr toward his
wife changed rapidly for the worse.
Nine. Ribot charged him with i'll treat
ment, and even with trying to poison
her. Matters were going on in this un
happy manner when, four weeks ago,
the servents were nearly frightened out
Of their wits by strange noises in their
masters room i'll the middle of the
Ribot's temper had lately been
SO bad, that they were
afraid to venture to ascertain
the cause without help. Summoning
some of the tenants of the other flats,
they finally burst into the room, where
they found the furniture thrown about
IN great disorder. while on the bed lay
NJ. and Nine. Ribot. The latter was
dead, her lifeless body bathed in pool
Of blood that gushed from nearly
dozen stabS apparently inflicted by a
sharp knife, while NJ. Ribot was half
falnting, his mouth gagged and his
hands and feet tied. The police were
at once summoned. Nj. Ribot was liber-
ated,
His Sife's Corpse
prepared for burial, and the case placed
in the hands of several of Nj. Goron's
best detectives. They naturally applied
first to NJ. Ribot himself for informa-
ton, but were not greatly enlightened.
The facts, according to the master of
the house, were these: NJ. Ribot was
awakened from deep sleep by Nine.
Ribot, who occupied separate couch,
calling his name. Just as he was about
to rush to her assistance he was seized,
bound and gagged, as he was found, by
two ruffianS, whose faces were black
eued with SCOT. What happened to his
wife he could not say, as he at once
became unconscious. The detectives
proceeded on their own theories and
soon discovered that these remarkable
robbers had failed to secure a large
sum of money in the room, or, in fact,
anything else of value. They also un-
earthed the details of the Dillac amour,
the inculpating letters already referred
to, and all the possible incentives that
could have influenced the railway man.
ager in putting his wife out of the way.
AS a result NJ. Ribot was arrested, tried
and yesterday sentenced to twenty
years Imprisonment with hard labor.
The leniency of the sentence was due
to the extraordinary finding by the jury
that the murder was done without pre-
meditation"