The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-02-05
A MEMORABLE CAsE.

There are Two or three points in the
Fyraud case which are worth notice. The
frsI IS the unerTing administration Of cTimi-
nal justice in France The murder was
committed on July %, 1889. The murderer
was executed on February 8, 1890, q trihe
over eighteen months afterWard. Between
the two dates Eyraud had put the Atlantic
Ocean between bin and the French police,
and travelled in what seemed to be absolute
safety over this continent and the West
Indies. Nobody who met NJ. Naneard had
the least suspicion that he was an assassin
and robber He had covered his tracks
with skill. The first difficulty with which a
murderer has to deal is how to dispose of the
body OF his victim. 1t can neither be hid
nor annihilated. If it is buried the new
made grave Will tell the story. If it is
diowned the corpse will float and arrest at
tentiOn. If it is burned the ashes reveal
their origin on analysis, and some of the
homes are indestructible by any ordinary
IRE. Meanwhile the remains announce their
presence by their effluyia. Eyraud packed
Gouife's body in a trunk, took it to Lyons,
carried it out of town in a wagon and
dumped 1t in ditch in lonely spot His
idea was that it would never be identified,
and that the police would assume that the
corpse was that of some Lyons laboripg
man.
Here was his first mistake. The police did
identity the body. Then, by obtaining from
the trunk-maker a description of the man to
whom he had sold the trunk, and by coupling
this with the fact of Eyraud's disappear
ance. they wove a web of circumstantfal
evidence round the fugitive. This would
not have enabled them to secure a convic-
ton if Gabrielle had not confessed. Why did
she confess? She acted in obedience to the
law which provides that where two or more
persons are concerned jointly in crime
one OF them is almost certain sooner or later
TO turn States evidence against his accom-
plice or accomplices. With GabreIe's con-
fessiOn and the freemasonry existing be-
tween the heads of the police in all civilized
countries, the arrest of Eyraud was mere
matter Of time. There is no place in this
wide world where he could have hidden
himself with safety.
Events then succeeded each other with
rapidly. Gabrielle made her confession on
January 25. 1890; on May 21st Eyraud was
arrested in Havana; on December 18th his
trial at Paris ended in verdict of guilty;
On February 8, 1884, he eXpiated his crime
on the PuillOtine. Had the murder been
committed in this country it is hardly prob
able that the course of justice would have
run 50 smoothly. 1t is quite likely that the
first or possibly the second trial might have
ended in a disagreement of the jury and,
after conviction had been obtained. further
delays would have eDsued on applications for
a new trial, appeals on points of law, etc
The plea Of hypnotism, which was raised by
the defense, would probably have occupied
one OF our courts for weeks; it took the
French court just one day to brush it away.
and when the verdict was rendered and
sentence pronounced iinality was reached.
There was no more pettifogging fooling.
The execution was conducted in the nsual
business-like way. The rule in France is
that a convict IS not told of the day or the
hour OF his execution until the executioner
bids him step to the euillotine. BY some
means Eyraud had obtained information of
ms hour and was up and partly dressed
when the turnkeys appeared in his cell AT
6:45 o'clock in the morning. His death took
place within a quarter of an hour. There
were no maudlin speeches by the assassin:
justice was vindicated quietly and thor
pughly. In France punishment for crime
does not extend beyond the life of the crimi-
nal; the decapitated body was Immediately
surrendered to the relatives of the murderer.
Some Americans do not admire every