The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-26
TRUE STORIES OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALS
By r. ii. SHER AR D


THE KILLERS OF WOMEN
This at least can be said in favor Of the
French courts that where the victim IL
I woman and the motive is p1uhder their uAu-
al absurd leniency towards murderers is laid
aside. And l can say this, although at the
very time at which 1 am writing these lines,
the Court of Appeal at AK, in solemn ses-
sion. is reading out to Henri Vidal the Presi-
dents letters Of grace" But If Henri VII
daI, convicted of numbering six women for
| the sake OF robbery. has drawn. as the
| French call it, prize in the lottery of the
! guilIotine. Il is not because his crimes do
not inspire general horror. but because the
\doctors who examined him at Lyons de-
rlared his responsibility limited. The same
o doubt might have been said about the
1 man Philippe. who was executed on July "a,
1856. but the head Of the state in those days
| held views % to his own responsibility
. which diffes, from chose of Monsieur Lou
| bet Philip vas convicted of three muir
ders from L s o 1866, but was undoubtedly
| guilty of ma4'y oilers. He boasted after his
conviction of ne rapidity of his work"
| II could kill woman. wash my hands, pos
sess myself of her money and Jewels and get
out of the house. all in twelve minutes by
my watch" And it was proved that for once,
| in a way, he was speaking the truth
In this category Of criminals place in the
first rank should be given to the sinister
Dumollard, and il / do not speak Of him
here IL Is because / wish to reserve him for
another article. 1t is in France that this
! genus fourishes most on the continent, and
I'm Paris particularly. but it Is only fair to
say that the majority of killers of women
IN France are not Frenchmen. They mostly
belong TO that class of foreigners who are
described in Paris as rastaquoueres Such
were Pranzini and Prado. very types of the
class.
MEN OF PREY"
There are In Paris" wrote Aurelien
scholl on the day after Pranzinfs convic-
ton. about 10000 individuals who don't
dine every day. but who take their cup of
black coffee all the same. In which lies
their strength. They are faultlessly dressed,
| with stand-up collars, white silk ties and
embroidered handkerchiefs peeping from
their pockets Flowers are in their button
holes. and an eternal smile is on their lips.
Thus equipped do these mustachioed birds
OF prey take their seats on the terraces of
the fashionable boulevard restaurants
The men of prey speak three or four
languages. five or six If he be of Slavonc
explored all the German watering places and
has been seen at Dieppe. at Trouville at
vichy. Luchon and Biarritz. He is
usually count a baron. In Germany and
IN Belgium he passes as 'chevalier.' In
France. baron is the minimum"
Such "men of prey exist in large numbers
+ dn England also and their object, namely.
to plumber women whom they have inspired
| with affection for their worthless persons
Is the same as that of their continental col
leagues. But if in England these scoundrels,
70 achieve their object. do not go as far as
murder. it is first of all because in the lot
terry Of the gallows there are no such prizes
as Henri Vidal drew in the lottery of the
guillotine. and secondly because, owing to
the scandalous facilities afforded in our
countrs~for bigany they can lay hands on
the plumber without first staining them In
blood. The distinguishing Characteristic OF
these criminals isis ii necessary to point
II Out?-rank c0wardice. They want to en-
rich themselves and they do not shrink at
murder TO gain their ends, but the murder
must be an easy one without risk TO their
own precious skins. So weak and defenseless
women are selected BY them for their prey
They the Noah Claypoles of assassina-
ton. Strangely enough, L have on my list of
killers of women no less than three soldiers
OF whom one was officer. In each case the
crime was planned for murder. and in each
case execution followed upon sentence. 1t
should be noted by the way that these three
men died oravely. but that is true of
most murderers, even the most cowardly.
remember how struck was at the execution
OF Vodable, who was guillotined on the Place
de la Roduette, on July 2. 1900. with the man
~ bearing. calm and resignation of this man
who was convicted OF the barbarous murder
OF little girl. After his crime Vodable had
escaped to Belgium. but being utterly desti-
tute returned on foot to- Paris to give him
self up AS he told the police. he had begged
his way. and every night had asked for
shelter In the barracks of the gendarmerie
amounted poiice) Now the hue and cry was
out after him and his description was posted
up in every police station and gendarmerie
barracks in the country. Which shows the
value of such description in the pursuit of
criminals He died bravely. 1 say, but so
also did Prado and Pranzini. two typical
murderers of the cowardly class with which
I am dealing.
AN ABLE CRIMINAL
Prado was quite calm when they aroused
him on the fatal morning (Dec. %. 1889 in
JA4 cell Ia IA hOquette. He dressed quietly
and when the governor OF the prison told
lin to take of a flannel snglet which he
was wearing. he said, ''of course. 1t would
be In the way" Then he quietly went over
his papers. destroying some and handing
others to the priest. When they were tying
him up. Re said: Leave me a good stretch
OF rope between the ankles" saw this man
tried and was amazed at his sang froid.
The crime for which he was convicted was
the murder Of Marie Agietant in the Rue
Canmartin. bat he suspected. although
only thirty-four years of age, OF long ca
reer Of crime He went about this particular
murder in a very business-like way, made
careful preparations. even rehearsed the
crime, and carried 1t out successfully that
It was only by a mere chance that he was
detected, many months afterwards. He was
q man of consummate ability. When. I'm the
usual formula. his advocate having made
his speech, the presiding Judge asked him,
WHEELER AND CHAETFP