The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-07-25
Marie Emil Server Comes From
Pekin, ILL.,, and Shoots Charles
Bonetti, Who, He Says,
Sought to Poison anh
Rob Women.
PRACTICES FOR THE DEED.
SLAYER Is Alleged to Have Threat
cned the Life of an Interpre
ter. Who Is Shocked by
Finding Bonetti TO Be
an Old Friend.

Marie Emil Serven. % years old. ma tive
of Rotterdam. Holland shot and killed
Charles Bonetti. 32 years old, in Bonettrs
saloon. at Ninth and Morgan streets.
yesterday afternoon at o'clock.
According TO his own story Server came
here from Pekin. ILL.,, for the express pur-
pose of killing Bonetti. and the deed was
committed within an hour after he az
rived.
AS a reason for killing Bonetti Serven
says Bonetu was a member OF gang
whose purpose is to give poison to Amer
lean women and then to rob them. In
his talk with Captain James johnson Of
the Fourth District, Serven frequently re-
ferred TO Miss Marie Boyle of Edgemont
French Village. and in killing Bonetti he
said that he had been avenged for a wrong
TO her
Serven's actions were cool throughout.
According TO the statement of witnesses
he walked into the saloon of Celia & Celia
on the southeast corner of Ninth and
Morgan streets. and. after drinking a glass
of beer. inquired of a group of men sit
ting at a table, is this Dago saloon?'
He was told No" and then he went out.
Going across the street. Serven walked in
to the Ninth street entrance of Bonetti's
saloon.
SHOOTS WITHOUT WARNING
Entering the barroom. Serven showed
aside a man standing at the end of the
bar, pulled out 3S-caliber pistol. and
then. muttering. Remember Madame
Boyle fired three shots at Bonetti, who
stood at the other end of the bar. All of
the bullets took effect Bonetti walked
few PAGES and fell dead. He was taken
to the morgue by way of the City Dis
Densary.
Server walked calmly out and across
the street to Cellas saloon. smoking pis-
tol in one hand, stiletto in the other.
His orders that no man but officer
should touch him were obeyed. Sergeant
Quinlivan and Patrolmen Kelly and King.
who were attracted by the Shots has
tened TO the scene. They made a rush
on Serven. and he was hustled off to the
Fourth District Station.
When placed under arrest Serven admit
ted having killed Bonetti and then
later In his interview with Captain John
son and other officers he declared en-
phatically that he was glad of it, Ser
ven talked readily, incoherently in very
broken English. An interpreter was Sc
cured. but there was a stormy passage be-
tween them. and the results were as un-
satisfactory when he talked to one who
understood French.
CALMLY TELLS STORY
Through Emanuel Green. a Frenchman
employed as cook at Pike concession,
Serven told the story of how and why he
committed the crime. Serven is short and
stout, unshaven and unkempt.
According to his statement Server left
Pekin. Ill. where he had been employed
as carpenter bv Conklin & Co.. yester-
day morning. He arrived in St. Louis at
$3.50 o'clock and went to the saloon at No
17lS Market street. where he left his grip
After calling on Louis Cassatt. at Twelfth
and Biddle streets. he went to Ninth and
Morgan streets to fulfill his mission, that
of killing Bonett
Bonetti is not the only man whose life
Server desired to take. He was deter
mined, he said, to kill every member of
the gang which had been organized to
take the lives of American women by
poisoning, with robbery as the motive
They bad committed a great wrong upon
a woman whom he loved as he did his
mother. though he confessed that he had
HOl seen TIE WOUldIl IMAM Two
years.
PRACTICED TO ACQUIRE SKILL.
Serven told how he had been prac-
ticing for some time that every shot might
count, acquiring skill by throwing pieces
of coal into the air and shooting at them.
He hit the majority of them, he said,
proudly. Feeling satisfied that his aim
was good, Server then came to ST. Louis
to kill Bonetti.
The interpreter ran the gamut of con-
ficting emotions as the result of his con-
versation with Serven. At the very outset
Serven accused Green of being one of the
gang he was after, and then said in
positive terms that if he had seen Green
he would have killed him, and would yet
do il If he had a chance. Then, later,
Serven accused the Interpreter of having
loaned him the pistol. and the two men
used bitter language toward each other
During the interview Green did not I'M
derstand Bonetti's name, and not un-
til the close did he know that 1t was
Bonetti. The two had come to this coun-
try from France sixteen years ago, and
had been warm personal friends in the
New World ever since. Green wept so bit
terly when he realized that his friend was
dead that he had to be carried away.
Bonetti never spoke after he was shot
He leaves wife and 2-months-old child.
child.