The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-06-11
By SELFRIDGE HENNEGAN.

l counted for ten women victims and a | boy. but there are believed to be many more, and possibly when the | investigations are completed 1t will | be found that Landru was also re- | sponsible for the mysterious disap- i pearance of some English women 1 during the last three or four years. We are able to publish some as- ! founding revelations regarding the | Bluebeard's life in London, where he was dubbed the Duke of Bond Street" He lived for a considerable time in the West End, and inquiries are now being made with view to tracing his history and ascertaining whether any of the numerous Eng lishwomen whom he fascinated and decoyed met the dreadful fate of their French sisters.
 The wide publicity given to Lan- dru's crimes and the circulation of his photograph have helped many people in London to recognize a familiar figure. For Landru was no stranger in London. He came here in 1912 and lived for a time in the neighborhood of Shaftesbury ave- nue.
 At this period in his career he was interested in a little French restau- rant in the Soho district. He never appears to have done any real work. and most of his time was employed in cultivating friendships with sus- ceptible dupes of the opposite sex.
 A striking feature of Landru's character Is that he always avoided men both in London and in Paris It was women whom he sought, and invariably he selected victims pos sessed either of a flourishing business .z1
 Landru was not mean in his distri- button of gifts, and when he made an acquaintance, no matter how casual, he usually spent his finances liberal ly, in order to impress his dupes of the strength of his own position, and thus gain their confidence.
 Expensive Suppers to Inspire Trust.
 There is one establishment in OK ford Circus where Landru was an al most nightly visitor, and the manager of this shop now relates how the Bluebeard never appeared twice with the same female acquaintance. He always had new toy, and often there was an extraor rdinary discrepancy in their years.
 Sometimes his companion wae just a strip of a London business girl, who, ignorant of Landrus intentions. accepted him as a kindly, genial hammered old gentleman with more money than sense. Sometimes again he would chaperone an elderly lady, another chance acquaintance whom he would pick up in the vicinity of Picadiliy.
 There was a good deal of method about Landru's tactics. The first stroke in his campaign was to inspire trust and this was usually accom- plished by an expensive supper and lofty talk about his business in the West End and a delightful country estate. supposed to be situated in Devonshire.
 But it was not to the country that Landru 1ured his victims. It was to Paris. and whether any of them ever returned to their English homes re- meains to be established.
 The Investigations into his life his tory are only now in their initial stage. and many months must eIapse before the police will be able to probe his career to the bottom.
 What manner of man was Landru? He was neither elegant or handsome. In fact, his features were conspicu- ously commonplace. But he dressed exceedingly well, and his tailor's bill must have cost him a pretty figure.
 His favorite attire was morning dress, and he carried himself with such haughtfness and jauntiness that people often stood and looked after the dapper little Frenchman as he strolled .leisurely through the thor oughfares of the West End.
 A EIequenter of Bond Street.
 Tradesmen nicknamed him The Duke of Bond Street. for nearly every morning especially during the summer months, Landru paraded the fashiona bIe thoroughfare ostensibily to arrest the attention of young wo- men. If any of his admirers were foolish enough to even smile at him Landru halted, raised his hat, and offered an irresistible salutation.
 A walk in the Row was then sug- gested, and Bluebeard would pour the most fantastic nonsense into the ears of his latest dupe. He would repeat the stories of his extravagant wealth and talk airily of the vast property which he owned in France.
 Landru. however, always proceed ed about his nefarious mission warily. and he took good care not to fall in to the hands of the police, for once arrested he was certain to be found guilty of White Slave Traffic crimes, and would have been sent to a long spell of penal servitude.
 For this reason he limited his visits to London, and he never stop ped more than three months at time in England. He would then return to Paris, no doubt to fleece fresh prey and lure them to the bungalow where the French police are now recovering grim relics of his revolting and callous crimes.
 How many women have disap- peared from their homes in London since the war began one can only hazard a guess. There is seldom a week passes that the police are not notified of some young woman who is missing, and within the last twelve months there has been a pronounced increase, and, many young women, especially of the flapper type, have left their parents never to return again.
 Landru is, of course, not the only Bluebeard in existence and he rep reseTits a specimen of manhood which is not common in this country. But it is we'll within the realms of proba bility that he was responsible