The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-06-21

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doctor had recommended in such
emergencies and asked Madame
Weber if she would go to the drug
gist, but she insisted that the mother
should go out while she stayed and
looked after the child.
The mother was absent about 10
minutes, and when she returned she
found her daughter dying in great
agony. with the ogress bending over
her.
Then a terrible scene occurred.
The mother. recalling all the other
deaths of her children accused
Madame Weber of being a murs
dcress. The latter replied that it
was a wicked, cruel lie, that she
loved the children better than their
own mothers and that they died be-
cause their parents did not take
proper care of them. Meanwhile
little Alice Weber was diving in
great pain and in two hours passed
away.
That night Madame Weber was
arrested. The body of Alice Weber
was retained by the public authori-
ties and the bodies of the three
other dead children were exhumed.
Nothing was found on any of them
to show how they had met death.
An examination of Alice Webers body
indicated that she had recovered
fromhe gastro-enteritis, but still she
was liable to an attack Of accute in
digestion. The police and prosecu-
ting officers searched for every scrap
of evidence that would make a case
against the ogress, because they
wished to satisfy the public clamor,
but they accomplished little in their
four months of work.
There were plenty of witnesses
convinced that she had murdered the
children and anxious to testify
against her. The belief that she
was really an ogress who spent her
life destroying children had spread
through Montmartre and caused i'm
nense popular excitement.
The fact that Madame Weber was
frequently seer placing her hand
upon the breast Of the dead children
was mentioned by several witnesses.
One of them declared that "She
pinched the hcart"(pincait lie coeur)
of the children to kill them, and
this belief gained general credcnce
among the neighbors, although the
act is apparently an impossible one.
Another witness declared that she
had seer Madame Weber leaning
over Maurice Wcber's face, as if she
were sucking his breath. This seem
ed a more feasible act than that of
pinching the heart. but in every case
a doctor had examined the dead body
and found no indication Of death by
suffocation.
At the trial Drs. Brouardcl and
Th0inon. two of the most eminent
physicians in France, who appeared
on behalf of the state, declared tina;
there was not a shadow Of medical
evidence against Madame Weber.
DR.. Brouardcl spent several hours
explaining that the death of a little
is child frequently due to some slight
cause, and that it was not necessary
to look for a grave disease, such as
was to be expected in the ease of an
adult. He suggested that the deaths
were due to the habits of life pre-
vailing among these families. He
dwelt strongly upon the meal of
vegetable soup, pork chops, salad,
coffee, wine, etc, as responsible for
the loss Of little Alice Weber.
The public prosecutor, M. Selig-
mann, declared that there was no
case against Madame Weber. Coun-
sci for the defence made a very
brief address. in which he spoke of
the accusation as ridiculous, and the
jury returned a svcrdict of mot
guilty. in three minutes.
This verdict was greeted with bit
ter disapproval among the pconle in
court and outside and there were
loud cries of:
"a bas rogressc!"
The woman needed the protection
of the police when she went away
from the court. She was forced to
leave Montmartrc and went to
another quarter Of Paris, conccaling
her address as well as possible from
her former ncighbors.
Now after an interval of two
years Nine. Jeanne Weber has been
arrested on suspicion of causing the
death of q neighbours child, who per
ishcd exactly the same manner as all
the other children. The last victim
is little Alphonsc Poiricr. living at
II rue DIES Boulcts, in the quarter of
C%haronne. 1t does not crcdi-
bic that six occurrences Of this char
actor, with Mime. Weber taking the
same part in all of them, are all ac-
cidcntal and disconnected. This is
not in accord with the calculus of
probabilities as Poe would have OK
pressed it.