The Warwickshire Herald. — 1885-08-27 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER IN PARIS.  A dreadful crime, of an extraordinary character, has come to light in one if the suburbs of Paris. In 1883 Mademo:selle Flodie Menei.ret, living on her means, and from 38 to 40 years of age, had bought, in the neighbourhood of Villeinetible,a pretty villa which she went to live in. With Mademoiselle Menetret lived an old maid mooed Mercier, half servant, half companion, whom she treated as a friend, and out of moniseration took with her everywhere. Mademoiselle Mei cier was the daughter of a manufacturer who had been ruined, and whose family, composed of • eon and two other daughters, lived in misery. Some months after Mademeiselle Menetret and her c.onpanion had taken up their abode at Villemonble, die former suddenly disappeared. Mademoiselle ' Mercier remained alone and continued to occupy the villa. When interrogated by the neighbours regai ding the disappearance of Mademoiselle Menetret, Mercier said that her friend entertait.ed strong religious views and had retired to a convent in a foreign country and left her in charge of affairs. In fact, Mercier drew the rents and gave receipts in the name of Mademoiselle Menetret. Some time after the disappearance of her mistress she went from home and when the caine back to V illemonble she brought with her a general procuration which she said had heen given to her in the presence of a notary in Luxemburg by Mademoiselle Menetret, her friend, and in virtue of which she was authorised to dispose of the income of Mademoiselle Menetret in whatever way she thought tit and without restriction of any kind. She finally took up her abode at Villemonble, brought her father and her two sisters to live with her, drew regularly the rents of Mademoiselle Menetret, made great alterations in the villa to suit her taste, built two wings to accommodate her brother and sisters, received in the house a number of friends, and in all respects conducted herself like s well-to-do proprietor. From time to time she showed her neighbours letters which she sent to Mademoiselle Menetret, some of them containing money, part of the income of her friend, which she was transmitting, she said, to the convent. In spite of all this, however, the suspicions of the neighbours were aroused, and M. Kuehn, the chief of the detective police, was communicated with. Having watched the case for some little time,M. Kuehn arrived at the opinion that there were good grounds for believing that Mademoiselle Menetret had been murdered and buried in her garden. Acting upon this conclusion, Kuehn, with a Juye d'lnstruetion and pie policemen, went to the house. On their appearance the four inmates tried to escape. The garden was at once examined, with the result that human reniains surrounded with quicklime, were found buried at a depth of some centimetres. A doctor was then fetched, and lie immediately certified the bones to be those of a woman. While this was going on Alexander Mercier, the brother, became livid in the face. while the two sisters pretended_to go road. They raised their hands to Heaven and said they were going to fetch a holy banner in order to excommunicate those present. Mademoiselle Mercer, however, remained quiet. She said her friend was still at the convent, but she would not say where it was situated. She said that it was no wonder they had found human bones in the garden, because it had once been a burying ground. This assertion was found to be false. Seeing that it was impossible to adhere to this statement, she screamed out to M. Kuehn, "Oh ! I known what it is you have come for. You are looking for the remains of Elise Hamer, the victim of I'vll. These seem to be the remains of a woman, and I do not see why Pell may not have buried his old servant in this place." After hearing this declaration, and in view of the result of the search in the garden, the whole family were taken into custody. The brother remains at Villemonble for further examination there. The sisters, who kept screaming in a furious manner, were removed to Paris amid the hisses and cries of a crowd who saw and heard them removed. The event has caused great excitement all over the country.  Charles James Albert, of the Victory beerhouae, Hoxton, has b-en sentenced to three months' hard labour for excessively chastising his son, aged 8 years. The dwelling-house of a man named WGilvery, bailiff of the Law Life Company's property, Roeamuck, county Galway, has been set on fire and burned down. The outrage has given rise to great excitement in the district.