Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-05-09
STRANGE MURDERS IN PARIS.

"ciTu anu EcnsaiibHAi ~ ''ss~"
acted in the French Capital.
For the picturesque and sensational
In crime there is no country that can
begin TO match France. Scarcely
week passes that the newspapers do
not print the details Of murder that
reads like the most fantastic notion.
Such theatrical attributes seem TO be-
long naturally to the French charac-
ter. which loves odd weird, or fanci-
full effects In everything.
Recently man employed In one OF
the government Offices in Paris Killed
his wife in their suburban home under
circumstances of the most extreme cru
city. Then he went to his bedroom.
and. preparatory TO taking his own life.
sat down and wrote "A calm, psychol-
oglcal treatise on how 1t feels to be
murderer.
In the Nlette quarter OF the capital
young man climbed to the second
story window oof his own house
Though he had the keys OF the front
door In his pocket, entered his own
bedroom where his wife and child were
sleeping. murdered them then ana
there, climbed out OF the window ana
down to the ground again, and was
skulklng away like u duty-done burg
lar when arrested.
A French artist In the Latin quarter
was short time ago putting the finish
ing touches on his painting, The Death
of Venus, which he meant to be his
masterpiece. So that his model would
be llfe-like. he had been In the habit OF
hypnotlzIng her during the three hours
she posed each day. That last day he
grew dissatisfied with the flesh tlnts
he had impaired to Venus, so he adj
mlnlstered fatal dose of chloroform
to the sleeping woman. After she had
pa ssed from partial Inconsistencies to
death. he copied with marvellous ac-
curacy the precise hues of the dead
models flesh. He worked all through
the night, and by daylight had finished
the painting to his own satisfaction.
Then he wrote few words on three
separate sheets of paper. one he fas-
tened In the dead woman's hand; a sec
on lie Hltd-HtU W tltt sum ihp'St NAii
vas, and the third he placed, like a
headstone, against the pillow of his
couch, where he threw himself after
swallowing the rest Of the chloroforin
that was left In the little vial. When
friend of the artist visited the studio
that afternoon he lead the story of
the tragedy in the three slips Of paper.
The ead-penciled epltaph of the girl
read: she died for art" The In
scription above the painters head was:
HE stroye for Immortality" The pa
per hanging from the painting bore the
words: Their monument
The police fished ont from the Martin
canal the bodies Of man and woman
who had obviously committed suicide
because they had been crossed In love.
They were clasped In each others
arms, and around their waists. bind
ing them to each other, was a stout
rope, in the strands Of which were en-
twined artificial orange blossoms.
Only the other day two young men,
armed with daggers, fought desper-
ate duel near Billancourt, in the out
skirts of Paris. They selected \ moon
light night Mt the time. deserted
road as the place. and added further
picturesque effect to the episode by
each OF them mounting a bicycle for
the encounter.
A charaeteristically French criminal,
who had been sentenced to death for
murder committed year ago in
Havre, has written to the President
of the republic protesting against
communication OF the sentence. and eN-
planning that he had committed the
murder for the sole purpose of being
gulllotned, las he had had an intense
desire. ever since childhood, to learn
the brain conditions of a man immedi-
ately after he is beheaded."