The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-13
FINGER PRINTS
 REVEAL hURDERERS Left On { hampagne Bottle and
 Wine Glass BURGLARS KILL WIDOW Chinese Student Arrested for Theft of Important Secret Documents Con tsining Naval Defensive se-
 crets-civic Improvements
BURGLARS KILL WIDOW
By PAUL VILLIERS,


 Paris, June 12.-Finger prints have played an important part in elucidating the mystery of crime committed at Neuilly-Plaisance near Paris on Sunday night last For once the system of Ber- tillon has given prompt and brilliant re- suits, and the finger prints left Non a champagne bottle and one a wine glass have led>to the immediate identification of two alleged murderers. Last Sunday night widow, Mme. Agnes Mois. was murdered in her own house. She was 70 years of age and curiously enough had constant fear of being attacked by bur glars. Her husband died two years ago, and since then she was so afraid of rob- bers that she never left her house after dark.
 Last Sunday she went out for the first time with some little nieces to a local fair, and returned alone about 10 o'clock at night. She asked one of her neghbors to accompany her through her garden into the house to make sure that no bur- glars had entered it during her absence Two young women accompanied her, and after booking through the rooms on the ground floor, where they saw nothing, they retired, and left the old lady. At that very time two burglars were In the kitchen. They waited until Mime. Noise was alone, and then when she came to the kitchen to look for egg, as she did every night, they bounced upon her, strangled her and stabbed her to death. They only discovered about $15 in her possession However, they made up for their disappointment by ransacking her larder, where they found several bottles of champagne, which they emptied.
 When the crime was discovered on Monday morning, M. Bertillon was at once sent for, and took photographs of the finger prints on the bottles and glasses. The prints were perfectly dis tinct, but, of course, the question was to find the men who had left them. An old couple living close by had a ne'er-do-well of a son, who was just wanted by the police for a sum of $40 which he had stolen from one of his cousins. This young man who only occasionally worked as plumber and lived most of the time, nobody knew how, was arrested yesaer- day morning. He occupied a room in a low class inn with a. chum of his, and when the police came to arrest him, his room companion gave a sigh of relief on hearing that the plumber was arrested for having robbed only his cousin.
 M. Bertillon later on had the happy in- spiration of comparing the marks which he had photographed from the cham pagne bottle with the fingers of the plumber, and was struck at once by their close resemblance. He immediately in formed the police, and the plumbers fin- ger prints on glass were photographed for comparison, and they were found identical with those found on the cham pagne bottle. At the same time his room companion was arrested and his finger prints were also photographed by M. Ffll.- 5o<a ofI.r S. those found on the glasses in the mur- dered Woman's house. When the two prisoners were told they were suspected of the murder of Madame Noise they turned pale, and denied the charge The police have, however, obtained further evidence against them, and among other things the two men are known to have spent the night of Sunday at Neuilly- Plaisance, and can give no satisfactory information of their presence in that dis trict. Finally burglars dark lantern of clumsy make had been left by the murderers in the house where the crime was committed, and the police have, it is believed. found proof that the lantern is the work of the plumber, who had roughly soldered the pieces together. But if 1t had not been for the finger prints it is probable that the police would not have so soon come on the track of the alleged criminals.
 The Chinese naval student, Yen Kor Hon, who is accused of having stolen im- portant documents from the Borda, a warship utilized for the training of naval cadets, has been examined by M. Bor- deaux, the examining magistrate He stoutly denied that he had been guilty of an act of espionage. The package con- taining the photographic negatives siezed at Brussels-the Chinese student had pho tla fc faly frnn ships-was opened by the examining mag istrate The negatives were carefully ex- amined by naval officer who had been appointed to report to the magistrate the exact nature of the documents. The off, cer declared that-most of the documents photographed were not so important as was at first believed They bore only in- directly on the national defense. Only one of the documents stolen was of se- cret character. The Chinese student de- clares that 1t was important to him that these documents should be photographed, since he could not reproduce them in writing. Besides, it was never intended that documents should pass into hands other than those of the students of the Borda.
 The next session of the Municipal Coun- ell of Paris, beginning on Monday, will be occupied with a discussion of a gigantic scheme for improvements In the capital for which the Prefect of the Seine to be authorized to raise a loan of $16O coo o00 The works, which are to be started im- mediately after the vote Is taken, will n- clude hygienic Improvements, and the widening orN prolongation of certain streets in the vicinity of the central mar kets in order to facilitate traffic. The re- construction of certain city halls and pub lie schools will also be undertaken. The council will devote most of the money to making Paris healthy, and especially to improving some of the old populous quar- ters, which are at present centers of dis ease A number of municipal councillors have devoted the last two days to making a tour through some of the worst parts of the capital, including the rag-picker's quarter in Salpetrie.