The San Francisco call., 1897-11-28


work of the London Ripper" taking
great care the while not TO be soiled or
manned. He never attacked physical
equals. Every incident Of every Grim e
aad the precise localities in which they
were committed, time, place, circum-
stance, all is distinctly remem tered by
hin. Nor is his tenacity OF memory ami
cIearness of mind less remarkable than
his pronounced adroitness and audacity.
After each tragedy he FASTENED to the
first pool or stream of water he could
find, washed the blood stains from his
person and destroyed any garment that
might have received q telltale splash.
For this emergency he went prepared
constantly. The sack he carried always
contained change of clothing.
Whether such a degenerate, not 20 be
classified with the insane for whom asy-
iums are supposed TO be provided, should
be imprisoned the remainder OF his life or
executed is q question upon which the
opinion OF France is divided. Vacher
himself is plainly playing with the hope
that he may escape the death penalty and
spend the rest of his life on asylum fare.
The parents and relatives OF his victims
cry for his head in revenge, and the stick
leTs for precise justice demand that If ne
is to 20 to tn euil'otina IL will tie to pay
the penalty OF HIS first crime, as they hold
every subsequent one to have been the
proof of a mental collapse, of which So
ciety cannot take judicial cognizance.
This supersensitive consid Grafton is pecu-
liar to French Jurisprudence and would
t.1fI i 4. Il.
really guilty person.
The average detective is no match for
Vacher, DumoIlard, the mysterious
Ripper" and parvert criminals of this
kind, and with Vacher, as with DumoI-
lard, his discovery was accidental. The
two French criminals bear a striking re-
semblance to each other, physically
Although of the same class of men,
tai degenerates, Vacher in cunning
daring, lucidity of mind and multiplicity
OF escapes is the more re M arkable. The
most typical features of similarity between
them consist of a gross form of lips,
thick nostrIls and the astonishing dog
like kindness of brown eyes that disarmed
the dlstrust OF their victims. Both were
of catlike muscularity. A slit in the
lower lip of Vacher recalls the harelip of
DumoIlard. Strange to say, in confir-
nation of the thesis of the medical
academy, the latter was also the third
generation descendant OF an inebriate
grandparent.
Vacher is of medium size, dark COM
plexioned and pallid. He wears a full
Jet black beard. When captured, after ar
assault on young woman, in which be
was surprised by her husband, he was
dressed in a complete velveteen suit, and
for headdress wore picturesque cap of
white rabolt-skin. On his back were
slung an accordion and a canvas sack.
Around the latter was wound a long rope.
In his hand was an um brelia wi hout a
handle and dirty club. The sack con-
tained leggings pair of hali-rotted shoes,
a rusty porridge pot, piece of soap, a
pair of stained scissors and a smaller
game pouch, in which re potatoes
onions, a sealed box of bread, bottle OF
oil and brown cotton fabric coat, out OF
which Ielltale spots of color had been
washed. In his pockets we've an ugly
sheathed knife and razor
AT the outset he stoutly maintained that
he was a travelling farmland seeking en-
ployment and meant no harm to the
young woman. But the day of reckoning
had come.
AS the inquiry proceeded it became evil
dent that by the merest chance the law
was dealing with the most revolving Grim.