The times., 1898-04-24
WAYS OF FRENCH JUSTICE.
Discussion Over the Case of n starv-
ing Girl.
(From the New York Sum-
.; Ji.

ers of the French press for the last fort
night and is still in full swing IN the
country districts, whittier a matter or
news finds it's way after Paris has for
gotten about it. The discussion is over
what some of the papers call question
of casuistry. and others merely one of
common sense. The facts in the case
are these:
A girl of eighteen. mother of a child of
two years, was arrested a few weeks ago
at Chateau Thierry for the theft of a
small piece OF Bread, the value of which
was 2 cents. She was sent to prison
with her child. and at the expiration of
three days was haled before a police
magistrate, The baker from whom she
stole the bread was on hand to prose-
cute. In the hearing it came out that
the young woman had been deserted by
the father of her child. and that she had
an aged mother who depended upon her
for support. The young woman had
obtained work at 20 cents a day, and
upon this the family of three had lived
for several months. Then her employer
died, and, although she was industrious
ana competent. she had been unable to
OBTAIN further work. For forty-eieht
hourS previous to the theft neither she
nor the child nor her mother had tasted
tood. She confessed that she knew il
was wrong to steal, and she was very
repehtaht, but the bread was 4 staIe
pee pee that the baker could not sell. and
'ney We're all so hungry
The punishment for this crime oooora
ing to French law was innrison ,,,e,,t
tor period varying from six TO eigb-
zen zen ionths, with restitution. The lar
.el was out of the question. because tho
bread had been eaten, so there vy,c on
~ e'ic question OF how long the impris-
onInent should be-
Inc extraordinary nagistrate-as
.iie .i rrehch papers call him-before whom
the hearing was held. determined ,,nn-,
ms own responsibility. to do sometime
uiIiieaIu Oh IN France, namely. to SET
liiihSeH up as superior to the law Nv,
uISc @ @Schdrglng the young woman from Gus
touy lie did not take this resoIution
III tHe neat OF sympathy. On the contra
y ne thought over it for a whole dav
t.'" accompanying the discharge he put
on record for his own exculpation q doc
ument which would fill nearly a coIu11,,
oi Inc sun. This document is curious
TO Anglo-Saxon eyes. The conct,i5j,,c,
paragraphs are as follows:
II Is indeed to be regretted that in
Well-organized society one of it's mem
Ders' above all mother of family should
- - ior bread unless by her own fault.
Nhen sttch situation presents itc.If
and is well established. as in the nresant
case, the judge ought certainly to in
tefpret hunlanely the in1exible Drovis
IONS OF the law. Misery and hunger are
Wen capable of depriving an individIa1
OF ms seif-restraint and to weaken in
MIN 10 certain degree his power of
ulSlh8ulshing between right and wrong
an act ordinarily reDrehenSfbIa IoeeS
much Of it's criminal character when :,
is provoked by the imperious need af
procuring an ailrnent of prime necessity
without which nature refuses TO carr
on the work of our physical being.
Acknowledging. then, that fraudulent
intent Is much less culpable when II is
Joined to the acute tortures of starva
ton, and when ii is pushed as in tho
present case, by the desire, so natural in
mother TO save her child from the
pangs of a slow death: considering. also
mat the theft committed by the accused
was not freely and voluntarily Darpa-
trated without the said incentive: and
seeing. finally, that the accused has Of
fered 10 work for the baker until the
amount OF his claim against her is salts
fied-it is ordered that she be set free"
When this decision was made known
every paper of note in France had long
editorial on it. Since then it has been
the topic of converse ton everywhere: no
thing has been discussed so widely ard
so thoroughly since the trial of NJ ZoIa
! With true French enthusiasm. the little
country judge has been put on a lofty
pinnacle Almost without exception he
| has been commended as one of the "hu-
| name lights of the century One paper
has gone so far as to class him with Pas
teur as one of the nations benefactors; (;
nearly all hotly demanded -tr him some
notable diStinctiOn-advanC in the
judiciary the cross of the Legion OF
Honor, and many other things. a few
papers of no Importance have sung a dis
cordant note; they want the judge 10 be
impeached for ma!feasance in office; they
says the republics judicial system is in
jeopardy it it's wise provisions shall be
| set aside without legislative process
Contemporaneously. some of these wise
provisions have been brought to light
| by three cases, none of which received a
word OF comment in the newspapers so
intent upon celebrating humanity" ="
! Taking the four cases together they give
an idea of what is called in France JUS
| tice. They may be summarized in a few
| lines:
l. one Pierre ROBOT, formerly one of
| President Grevy's personal detectives
was arrested several weeks ago upon sus-
| piciOn of having murdered a woman. af-
| ter robbing her. He denied the charge
while admitting that he murdered anoth-
! er woman under circumstances exactly
| similar eleven years ago. In the interval
| between the acknowledged murder and
| the one with which he was charged eight
| other women were killed in like man
ner and indubitably by the same hand
| These murders have always been myster-
| les to the police. After careful investi-
| cation. the circumstantial evidence
| against ROBOT as the culprit in the whole
| ten crimes seemed Overwhelming. 1t was
| however, not thought conclusive by the
n.+
man is 10 be discharged from custody
! AS to the murder confessed. it is simply
| outlawed by the statute of limitations
One of the wise provisions of the
| French law declares that a man cannot
| be held accountable for murder after the
| lapse of ten years. In other words If
murderer eyades the police for that length
| of time or lives outside of France after
committing murder, he may be immune
| from prosecutions
2 The case involves what some people
| in America call the ''unwritten law In
| France it is written. Ten days ago nus
| hand arrived at his home unexpectedly
and found his wife with another HidI''
| He promptly killed both on the spot re
| delivered himself to the police, appeafeu
| hofora q poIice magistrate the next Gay
',,1 ,,os discharged after an explanation.
,rbore was no need of Il trial Inc
..r,.iea nroyisions'' of the law which GOV
a,s the case is article 32i OF the fshat
| Code II declares killing in such case
| - ~, ..a1,c,sabIe'' The word ''eXcusa-
| bIa" is ALWAYS interpreted in its fullest
sense except when the husband happens
| 10 be a foreigner and the other man
| Frenchman.
. The son of the Marquis de Noailles.
| French ambassador at Berlin. recently
brought from that city Polish music
| hit sl1a Cd her