The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-22
: JAIME MAURICE DIES CANErTEs,
POUR LA VIE, 1899


The date proved at once that Nine Fla
mant, whatever her past may hide of
hardship or romance, was not past the
age of romance.
For the message read: 81 love Maurice
of the faucets for life, 1899"
Maurice the Tank" would be a fair
rendering of the nickname. 1t is not
pretty nickname, but 1t is Partisan.
Beneath this strange pledge was a
crude design-a heart outlined In red,
pierced by blue dagger.
1t was promise of undying love. back
ed by a grimly suggestive threat CT death
If the promise were ever broken.
When the left arm was examined a de-
vice equally curious WAS revealed Here
the words ~ Anne pour la VIE were IN
scribed about a rude picture of dagger
and two hearts chained together and
signed Jean Bovet."
This pledge was without date. and the
question at once arose as to which tattoo
mark had been first affixed.
Then the Lecocqs of the Partisan po-
lice, to whom nothing is more dear than
cunning theory. reconstructed" the
crime after their manner.
Jean Bowel, they concluded, had been
Nine. Flamant's suitoI-peIhaps years
ago. certainly before Maurice. Because
of his presumed Partially for tattooing
they, concluded that he must have fol-
iONCO liiC SGD, lLlOueh lI.lS - llOl SNluSil5
now that society women have taken to
tattooing as a fad, as they have other
foolish fads
Bowel had gone away-this is all con-
lecture, of cOurse-and Nine. Flamant,
who had been gently reared, had come
to want unforeseen by him and had re-
moved to more modest quarters where a
new lover had found the way to her heart,
perhaps aided in his conquest by her
poverty.
The second tattooing is more difficult
to explain. 1t may be merely one of
those condolences which make real life
stranger than any tale of the magma
ton. 1t may be that some incautious re-
mark of Nine. Flamant revealed the
truth to Maurice.
More probably, perhaps, the dead wom-
an herself, urging on her own fate, as
women will, proffered the test and proof
of her affection, and added the date as
II to efface the memory of Bovet by a.
later declaration, even If she could not
strip from her beautiful arm the promise
she had made him.
At this point the theory divides: -
First-Did Jean return to Paris and
punish the womans faithlessness in the
manner indicated by the design of the
pierced heart?
Second-Had Clemence heard from or
communicated with her first lover? Had
he returned from the past to renew his
claim upon her heart. and did Maurice
inf1ict the punishment of death upon herr
Either theory is logical.
Robbery was clearly not the motive of
the crime, because no valuables were
taken. The stab wounds exceed thirty,
any one of which must have been fatal.
The murderer must have seen red"
In blind frenzy. frothing at the mouth,
he must have sta bed and stabbed again,
pc nting with the effort, until exhausted;
then he crept away, leaving the dagger
with its horrible work. =
Neither Jean Bovet nor any man with
the sobriquet of Maurice, the Tank is
known to the police. Or perhaps they do
not reveal quite all they know. 1t is.
said that they are looking for a highly
connected young American art student,
who had made Nine. Flamant's acquaint-
ance: The careless Bohemian life of the
Latin quarter might account for the nick
name. '-t
The police say that this student, known
among the budding Corots and Falguieres
not as "des cannettes,' but as Fan Fam
best answers their idea of the murderer
He is missing from the city, which might
mean either an innocent sketching tour
or a very guilty flight from justice.
Arrests are sure TO be made. So much
the etiquette of French police procedure
requires
But 1t may never be known whose hand
struck the frenzed blows that killed
Clemence F'lamant.