Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-08-15
THE RENNES TRAGEDY
Mrs. Crawford Discourses Entertainingly
on NJ. Labori and His Beautiful Wife.
CCopyright, Associated Press.)

| tCopyIlSnt, Associated HreSS.)
| RENNES, August 14.-The drama at
Rennes grows tragical. That long be-
Gained town is being stirred into a
more violent passion than Paris. The
Parisians are laborious. The Bretons
are silent and possessed by their belief
or idea, whatever it may be.
! This morning at 6 O'Clock a we'll
nigh successful attempt was made TO
| kill M. Labori, who defended lola last
| year, and who came here to defend
| Dreyfus with NJ. Demange The would
| be assassin was evidently crank and
| locked a workman. His weapon was
a revolver. the theatre of the crime
! the quay Rihcemont. 1t was while
| Labori was going to the court with
| Col. Picquart and his cousin, NJ. Cast.
! When Madame Labori came up she
was sent to fetch a doctor. but not
knowing the town she lost good deal
/ of time. At last she thought of going
| to the court and asking there for a
military surgeon. Doctors Vidal and
Reclus were a. hand and at once ac-
companied her. They had the pres
ence of mini to send gendarmes to the
| barracks for I'm ambulance with a
| stretcher and bearers.
With deea tha,kfulness they found
| that M. LaboId eorlG move his limbs at
! will. The spine, therefore, was not in
| jured. The ball had entered at the
sixth vertebrae, behind the thorax 1t
| might be imbedded in the muscle OF
| the back or have penetrated deeper, in
| juring the lungs. However, the thing
was to bear the wounded advocate TO
| the pretty and gay looking villa he
| had hired for use during the trial, a
| villa adorned with green slabs OF fal-
/ ence, bright with flowers and in the
| airy part of Rennes. But why go fur
| Their into details? The lesson of the
| event was foreshadowed in my cable
| last evening. The two opposite forces
are in line of battle. Fanaticism has
| been appealed to and has answered the
| call.
/ Col. Picquart describes the would
{ be murderer as swarthy and thick-set,
| resolute and intelligent-looking He
| thinks the man might be a Southron.
| If so, he must have known the coun-
| try around Rennes. 1t is a country of
small, patchy fields, separated by
! hedges, which he was evidently fami-
liar with. Apparently he knew places
| in the thicket into which he could dive
| and in doing so remained concealed
| for some time from a pursuer. The
| gendarmes that Col. Picquart met
! joined in the pursuit, but fleet running
and knowledge Of the locality enabled
the would-be murderer to escape.
| NJ Labor is young, fair, handsome
! and full of lusty life and high spirits.
| His talents as a speaker are not of the
| highest order but no other member of
| the Paris bar knows better how to use
law to defeat its object He can drive
motor car through the code. Until
| he pleaded for lola his luck was unin-
terrupted. He then had an attack Of
| typhoid fever, which greatly weakened
him and forced him to neglect bust
ness. The lola affair was great adj
vertisement, but it brought him no di-
rect profit and created for him endless
enemies. He refused the handsome
/ fee the novelist offered nor does he
accept pecuniary reward from Dreyfus.
Labori is proud of his wife's beauty.
She is equally proud of his, good looks
and talents, and loses no opportunity
to hear him plead. She is an Aus
tralian, and received as a pianist her
musical education in London, became
a player at concerts, made the &C
quaintance of the reformed but highly
| gifted Russian pianist, Pachmann,
married him, had two children, and
| then fell in love with Labor. The
| passion was mutual. She and Pach-
man were divorced and then she mar
ried Labori The children live with
her and find a devoted stepfather in
him.
| Madame Labori had attended all the
public sittings of the Renne5 court
martial Her beauty is beyond dispute
! She is a striking blonde and though her
| path has not been always strewn with
roses. she expressed the joy of life in
splendid health and a satisfied heart
| What bolt from the blue sky the
mornings event was to her. She SEEM
ed the happiest woman alive when she
| set out this morning. In less than ten
minutes her life was blighted.
| Labor, not long convalescent from
typhoid, is in bad state to receive
| ball entering the thorax through the
back. He is now in a high fever, and
there may be dangerous complications
| later.
We remember that we have all found
pleasure in seeing Madame Labori at
Rennes. With her blonde hair, regular
features, fine figure, motherly blue eyes
and graceful walk, with all that she
| looked like Ceres who had not yet lost
| Proserina. We had called her the
Bona Dea, of Good Goddess. We all
felt that, as the news arrived, fortunate
| ly not confirmed. that Lahori's state
was hopeless, as if we had lost brother
of whom we were all justly proud. We
lDreyfusites also remembered how pleas
ant was Labori's blue eye, whenever,
catching that Of friend in court, it
| lighted up. He must have literally had
a powerful heart that drove the blood
with regular strong beats. The fresh
complexion declared a fine arterial cir
culation. He has always been uncon-
ventional largely because he is the son
of simple, useful folk. The father is an
| Alsatian and a station master at Chal-
ons He is in the secret of the steps
TO be taken in regard to railway trans
ports of troops were France attacked
from Germany. He and his wife were
staying at NJ. Labori's Paris home when
the crime was committed. Madame La
bori telegraphed for them to come at
once and they are now here.
(Signed), EMILY CRAWFORD.
| WARNINGS SENT 0TTT