Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1886-01-16 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER CASE.  An extraordinary murder case is now being trio(' nefore the Assize court of the Seine. The accused are • man named Barbier, a Madame Fevre, with whom he lived, her mother, and two men named Parrot and Tissot. The person who it is alleged was murdered was a clerk in a municipal charity bureau. He was named Maton, lived at the corner of the Rue Rambuteau and the Rue St. Martin, and was an old bachelor who had many little oddities, one of which was an aversion to female domestics or attendants. It was said in the neighbourhood that he had hoarded a fortune. He also passed for being a literary man, having written a book. On the nth of last October M. Maton started at half-past 9 for his but can, and returned h. me at 3. From that date he was never seen alive. Next day several persons rang at his bell, which he did not answer. This was thought unaccountable, and the police commissary was warned. He came with a locksmith and found Maton's dead body leaning against a wall, the face forward. Round his neck there was a thin cord, with a slip-knot. One end of the string, which was broken, was attached by a loop to a nail above the head of the corpse. Everything in the room seemed in order, and it was concluded that Maton had committed suicide. His desks, drawers, boxes, ikc., were placed under seal, and an intimation of what had hap i ened was sent to the relatives of the deceased, who reside in the Deign tment of the Nord. The seals were removed a month afterwards and, to the surprise of the relatives, neither money nor securities were found in the house. He had at least an income of £4OO a year. A farm which belonged to him was let fix £260. He had invested a large sum in a restaurant of the Faubourg St. Antoine, at which he took his meals. he was very penurious, living alone, without any one to look after his house, and he was in the habit of boasting of the good investments that he had made.A careful search was carried out in the house. In the lining of an old coat a list was found of securities belonging to the deceased, amounting to £3,200. None of the bonds to which the list referred having been found, a complaint was lodged with the criminal authorities. The police soon discovered evidence that the deceased had not committed suicide. It was found that the nail could not have supported the weight of a human body. Then it was found that Mat on could not have got up to it without a table or a piece of furniture of the same height; but there was no such article near the dead body when it was found. The string had not been torn into two pieces; it had been cut. There were traces of a struggle in the room. A vase had been broken, and the fragments were hidden in the fireplace. A walking-stick had been broken and hidden behind the furniture. Lastly, a pocket. handkerchief was found which was twisted, and seemed to have been used as a gag. It was certain that a murder had heen committed. Inquiries were made of stockbrokers and at financial offices to ascertain what had become of the stock certificates and other securities. This led to the apprehension of Barbier, whose room in the Rue St. Martin wits immediately opposite that of Maton. Barbier, with the woman Fevre, had started a shop for the sale of flowers which had not succeeded. In July last be was living on small loans and on sums obtained from pawnbrokers.ln August he suspended payment.ln September he was turned out of his shop. In the last half of October he paid several of his creditors, recommenced business, and spent for furniture and articles of dress for Madame Fevre about £4OO. It was ascertiined that the money had been obtained by the sale of securities belonging to Meton under false names. Barbier asserted that he had found a number of the documents one evening at the corner of the Rue de Venise. On being arrested be shewed great ingenuity in defending him. elf. He caused all sorts of documents to be fabricated and ante-dated to account for the possession of the securities. Elie Fevre who remained at liberty, greatly helped him. The manufacturers of the forms of stockbrokers' receipts were Tissot and Pat rot. They undertook for £3OO to get the necessary forme printed for an imagkary stockjobber, whom they described as Rivoire. That no such pet son exists has been ascertained. Fevre has conies ed that Bsrbier told her how the crime was coreniitied. He got into the house by means of a &lee key. He hid himself behind the curtains, and when Maton entered he sprang upon him, twisted • ocket•dandkerchief round his neck and strangled him. He found the securities in a portfolio. Barbier's last eta ement is that the documents were handed to iorn on the 16th of October by two men called Poi cet and Rivoire, whom he met in a cafe, but whose told, esses he dos not know. In his examinati.n Bat bier, who is 2:i years of age, denied that he was the murderer and that he had made any confession o Fevre. Fevre, in her examination, stated that B ibici had confesse 1 his crime to her, and that she had told the truth, because a threat had been made to try her before the court as an accomplice f Barlier. Pinchon, the mother of Fevre, said that he got some of the stolen coupons from Barbier. T,ssot, an accountant, admitted that he had prepared tiocumehts for Barbier, but said that be had no suwictott of fraud or crime. Parrot, who is a clerk toployed by Barbier, d,nied that he ever said to Fevre, "Do not be stingy ; pay the £4O. My master risk his head for it." The trial is expected to last for some days.  Lecturing the Americans would seem to be a profitable business. Caution Farrar, for instance, has 15,000d01., which, in English money, would be equal to about £.3.000.