Weekly News. — 1891-01-29 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

BRUTAL MURDER OF A LADY.  ATROCIOUS CRUELTY.  Four men, named respectively Dore, Berlant, Deveile, and Chotin, have been brought up before the examining magistrate at Paris, on charges of being concerned in the brutal murder of a lady named Madame Dessaigne, at Courbevoie, near Paris, and in reply to the interrogatories of the magistrate gave the following account of the crime :—Madame Dessaigne lived alone in the Parisian suburb already mentioned, and the four accomplices, being aware of this, concocted a plot for murdering her and possessing themselves of her belongings. On the afternoon of the day fixed for the perpetration of the crime they met at Asnieres, and started off together for Courhevoie. On the way thither Dore went into a café and wrote the address of a letter which Berlant had undertaken to deliver to ,their victim. Wiles they reached the house Berlant knocked at the door, and having been admitted went into .iRs room where Madame Dessaigne was lying on • .afa reading a book. He held a letter towards her, and as the unfortunate lady rose holding out her hand for it, he threw himself upon her, and struck her to the ground. Berlant held her there while Dore, who had followed his accomplice, and was only waiting for the signal, rushed in and gave her a blow on the head with a sharp instrument. At the same time Berlant dealt the prostrate woman some frightful kicks with the heels of his boots. Finding that their victim still lived, these wretches proceeded to further acts of atrocious cruelty till she lost all consciousness, and then they summoned their two fellows to join in the organised :pillage of the house. Dore and Deveile went up to the first storey, while Berlant searched the rooms on the ground floor, Chotin meanwhile keeping watch outside. The murderers thought that Madame Dessaigne had valuable securities concealed in her rooms, and from time to time Berlant went upstairs to incite his accomplices to fresh exertions, for, in spite of their ransacking in all directions, and searching in every corner, they had not found anything of consequence. Then he would go downstairs, and, furious at the failure to find the hoped-for booty, would give the poor woman, who was still breathing, some cruel kicks. At the end of an hour and a half, when there was nothing whatever else left to examine, the four men made up a parcel of the things they thought worth carrying away, putting aside the jewels of their victim, and the sum of 23 francs which Berlant had found in the pockets of her dress. The scoundrels then prepared supper for themselves ill the dining-room, and regaled themselves on eggs, sardines, and preserved fruits, which were on the sideboard, having been sent to Madame Dessaigne as a new year's present. While they were sitting at their meal their victim, who was still living, was lying at their side bathed in blood, and uttering now and again a kind of groan, and each of the miscreants got up in turn and kicked her in the face, telling her to be quiet. This is the tale told by the villains themselves. "She would not die," said Berlant to the magistrate, "and when we went away she wag still gasping." The accomplices passed the rest of the evening in Asnieres Theatre, entirely unconcerned by any thought of the hideous crime which they had been committing.