The age-herald., 1900-06-06
TWO FRENCHMEN
 WE'RE MURDERED Horrible Crime Brought to Light
 in Mexico. OFFICIALS ARE IMPLICATED Mayor of Copalillo Planned the Assas- sination and Assisted in Carrying ( it Out, Getting a Large
 Share of the Doodle
OFFICIALS ARE IMPLICATED

City of Mexico, June 5.-Owing to the &C.,
 tive exertions of the federal government
 the mysterious murder of two French gen.
 tlemen travelling in the loneliest part of
 the state of Guerrero, has been cleared up. M. Courmont and Depin, cultivated Frenchmen, went together into the state of Guerrero to look for investments, and took with them considerable cash. On the banks of the Balsas river they were killed, and
 it was given out that they met their deaths in fight with boatmen, and subsequently,
 with an armed force of police which tried to arrest them, owing to the quarrel with the boatmen.
 It now develops that the unfortunate
 men were assassinated as result of a
 deliberately laid plot to obtain possession
 of their money. The plot in which certain
 minor local authorities and one function ary of higher standing were implicated, either actively or as accessory after the fact, was laid in the small town of Co.,
 palillo. The mayor, Francisco Sanchez, an
 Indian, was participant. The guide of the Frenchmen, Cerenscnio Alumbrie, was also concerned
 When the two gentlemen approached the
 Balsas river under the guidance of Alum
 bre, the latter advanced, and speaking to
 the boatmen in Indian, told them to give
 away before the Frenchmen could ask
 them to ferry them across, giving as
 reason that the two men were fugitives
 from justice and that an armed posse was
 due to arrive soon to arrest them In con- sequence the boatmen rowed away, and then Alumbre proposed to the Frenchmen
 that they should proceed to Oxtutla, where
 they might find other boatmen, who would
 be willing to ferry them across. This was
 only feint to hold the Frenchmen until
 the arrival of an armed band that was to surround and murder them, had pre-
 viously been agreed upon between the
 mayor and the guide.
 The Gang Opeaed Fire
 Very soon the band came up and opened
 fire on the Frenchmen, the guide, Aumbre,
 by retributory accident being the first to
 fall. The assassins continued to fire, kill
 ing Depin and wounding Courmont in the
 legs. Courmont tried to escape, but owing
 to his wounds did not get far and had to
 give up without further resistance to his
 assailants. They proceeded to beat and
 torture him, asking him all the time where
 his money was. He replied that it was in
 the saddebags. The Indians made Cour-
 mont walk to the top of a neighboring mountain, and when he told them that he was unable to walk and begged them to give him horse, they abused and beat
 him. They finally reached the top of the
 mountain, where stood a big tree. During the night they continued to torment Cour- mont, asking him where his money was to which he continually replied that he had none but what was contained in the saddle bags.
 On the following day, September r, 1899, they suspended him by his thumbs to a branch of the tree and riddled him with bullets. When he was dead they took him down and one of the Indians hacked his head with machete. Then they carried the body to the bank of the river, where it was buried While riding away Mayor Sanchez deliberately fired his pistol at one of his followers called Pistonero. The shot only wounded Pstonero and the mayor told him and his other followers to say that he had been wounded by the Frenchmen when attempting to arrest them after their quarrel with the boatmen.
 Had the Body Dug Up
 It was also the mayor who in December had the body of Courmont dug up from its first place of burial and thrown into the river, where it was found, the mayor for his own purposes secretly giving the clue which led to its discovery as if by acci-
 dent.
 In regard to the guilt of Colvega, the | former jefe de politico of Chiapa, whose participation in such an affair would ap- pear incredible, but who has almost given his guilt away by attempting to commit suicide in jail, 1t is quite certain that he was not at the scene of the tragedy, but 1t seems pretty well established that he re- ceived his share of the booty. | Still more sensational disclosures are ex- pected, as the government is hunting down all the participants without mercy and the | terrible crime will be avenged in an ex- empary manner The detective work in | this case was attended with much danger and was done by Ismael Zunig, specially commissioned by the government. The
 French colony rejoices over the tracking down of the perpetrators of this cold booded murder which has not been paral- leled here for many years.