The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-28

whose name is. execrated throughout
 France, what was her purpose in strangling helpless children? What but that lust of death which psychologists de- clare exists in the minds of these women
 a moral insanity" that finds pleasure in the abominable, the ghoulish, the cruel that surpasses normal ingenuity Born In Paimpol 35 years ago, Jeanne Weber went to Paris when a girl and worked in kitchens. She married, and her first child little girl, died in 1901. There was no suspicion concerning
 the death, and strangely, there was little to indicate murder in any of the
 cases. She nursed a child; 1t died in conyulsions or strangulation in her arms; physicians always gave a verdict | of death due to natural causes. Sometimes as the child lay dying Jeanne Weber's hand lay on the tiny huttering heart. Otherwise there were no evidence of foul play. Like the vampires of legend, this terrible wom an seemed to absorb their little lives to inhale from their bodies the vital breath.
 Only when arrested with a dead body
 in her bed, was any tangible evidence of foul play found. This consisted of three handkerchiefs knotted together. The doctors said there were evidences of strangling.
 Jeanne Weber always showed an | overwh elming fondness for children.
 She was as ugly as the ogresses of
 fairy lore, with big yellow teeth and
 big eyes. Jeanne lived with her sis
 Jaw, Madame Blanche Weber On | March 2, 1905, going to her home for
 a midday report, the mother found her
 child on the knees of Jeanne, strug 1 gling in convulsions.
 Jeanne, for Gods sake, you are suf- l locating the childi" Enraptured,
 strange smile on her face, Jeannes | hand lay on the breast of the child.
 Tearing it from Jeanne's arms, the
 mother administered restoratives, and | the child recovered. The mother left
 the house to return to her work at
 laundry. When she got home that night | the child was dead. Convulsions, de- l clared the government doctor. l No suspicion attach ed to Jeanne, and | she continued caring for the other l children. Nine days later when the
 mother came home from work Suzanne
 aged 3, lay dead in Jeanne's bed, with
 purple face. The doctors ascribed | the death to natural causes. fortnight passed and Jeanne seemed to grow especially fond of Germalne, a
 10-year-old daughter of another sister l in-law. One day the child was found
 dead, with protruding eyes and purple I cheeks: The doctors viewed the body and
 ascrbed it to convulsions.
 Marcel Weber, Jeanne's own fair-haircd l child, died four days later Her death
 was due, the doctors said, to meningitis. | Jeanne suffered her loss stoically. One | day, a week after the funeral, she said | SiStPr-in-law Of Ia | dead Germaine:
 Would you mind going out and getting
 me veil? ought to wear one." 1 She felt bad, she said, and in the ab- l sence of the mother would care for Mau- | rice, her 11-year-old son. When Mrs.
 Marie Weber returned no one was in the house. Terrified, she ran to her room. | There, lying on the bed, pallid, senseless,
 with red marks on his neck, lay Maurice. The distracted mother hurried Maurice | to hospital, where he recovered. She | lodged complaint against Jeanne and l the examining magistrate came to the | conclusion the woman was guilty of the | former deaths of the children. At the | trial Henri Robert defended Jeanne. The i declarations of doctors, who exhumed | the bodies of the children and held au-
 topsies, that there were no evidences of strangulation, were heard. Jeanne was | acquitted.
 Fleeing from Paris, where people re- | fused to disbelieve her guilt, she took up
 her residence with M. Bavouzet in the
 country, caring for his two children. One
 child died. Jeanne was arrested, and
 after eight months imprisonment re- | leased, various doctors ascribing the l death to typhoid fever.
 l Jeanne returned to Paris and led the 1 life of a vagabond. She was arrested, | made a confession of killing her niece, | but later withdrew the statement She
 was released and disappeared in the
 under world of Paris. At an obscure hotel
 she lived with a male companion. | There also lived a poor couple named Poirot. They had little boy of 6, Marsel,
 lad with a Raphael face and black | curls Jeanne took a liking to the child. On May the boy went to Jeannes room. Some time later the parents heard plain | tive cry. Fey found the child dead in
 Jeannes bed For the first time the doc
 tors agreed in declaring death due to
 strangulation. Then the machinery of the
 law was put in motion.
 ! ITnuue in the annals of crime, Jane Toppan seven years ago confessed to 31
 murders. All of them were actuated by
 an insane impulse which at times dom | mated the woman, by which she expe- I rienced an nconceivable pleasure merely in taking life.
 Jane Toppan was a nurse for 25 years. ] In appearance she was big, rather stocky,
 with a jolly face, twinkling brown eyes and hair streaked with gray, in appear l ance a motherly, kindly woman, if there | ever was one.
 For years no one ever suspected her of
 crimes: even when doctors dared to
 voice suspicious concerning peculiar cir
 cumstances attending the deaths of pa
 tients, people refused to have autopsies
 and regarded such suspicious with re- sentiment.
 l Jane was arrested at Amherst. N H.,