FRENCH MAYBRICK CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 36, 11 February 1905, Page 13

FRENCH MAYBRICK CASE.

A SBKSATKHUIi TRIAL. The ftxajnination at Ais-en-Provence of Mine. Massot and tier lover. Eaeuartl Hαbac, charged with beiaff concerned to poisoning the ipmmi's husband, was continued on December IS, when witnesses were called for and against the prisoners. The court was .isatn, crewd-etl ta its utmost limits. Mine. Massot still presented a confident I and smiling air, but Hubae seemed to feel t >his positioa acutely. H. Leea. a shipmate ef tJle murdered man, deposed that thi raplaiu was always in goed bealtb vita Uc waa at aea. itnd tills evjienee ! was jicEfirmed by several felloT-oScers-wiinse testimony in their absence vraa read by the clerk of the Court. The evidence of lime. M&ptoreU, the mother of Jlnie. liassot. was •'iieu rsad. and during the reading the feuuiie prisoner for the first time applied her handkerchief ito her eyes. Her mother denied that she had ever connived at any Improper relations between her daughter and Hubac. The captain, she said, was always in illhealth whea he was ashore, and she ascribed this to the fact that he ate too much and had a bad digestion. After the <?apea La's death, the sorvanr. Lneie Clap, began to caliiTmji.ir.e her and her daughter. She tbnngnt of bringing an action against the girl, bnt her friends advised her not to. as she and Mme. Massot were abose sueu infamies. Then Mme. i Bobiae.au. sister of Captain Hassot, came forward. So greatly affected was she that the president requested her to be seated, and it was with many sobs And. team that 3fle recounted how she and tier husband did all in their power to prevent the marriage between her brother and the female prisoner. They had done so only in their brothers interest, because of wltat they nad learned regarding the woman's misconduct. Three weeks after the death of her brother, said the witness, she received an anonymous lertpr stating that the captain had been poisoned, but she paid no attention to it until Mine, ilassot -was arrestCd. Several more witnesses wofe heard, a number of whom described Hubac as Hlbaianced and ( eccentric. At oae time he cootemplated entering tlie CSrareh. and at another expressed his intention of going to Constantinople to engage a troupe of daneinjr sir's for France. The remainder of the sittins was devoted ro the speech of tbe Public froseeator. His speech created a profound impression on the jury and the public because of its merciless exposure of the motives of the accused. After the pitiless harangue, of the Public Prosecutor little hope regained for the accused. Tie jury had before them the letters written by Mme. Mascot while she was ill prison, which contained an explicit admissitm tliat lier liasband liad been poisoned After fifty minntos' deliberatiou. tile jury murned with a verdict against bocb the accused, but witU extenuating circumstances. The Judge thereupon sentenced the soman to penal servitude for life and ber lover to twenty years' penal servitude. At'f?r tlie sentence Mme. Massot, who had enrnported herself bravely during Che trial, broke down and sobbed bitterly. I Tfeeti. with a srestnre of despair, she wanc!od silently out of the docls. The poiseaed i nub-band was an officer on board ship, anfl ! darins his frequent and prolonged absen- ! res thp wife, a beautiful woman of 28, carried on a liaison with a young man named Hnbac. whose disgrace has !ed to the' resignation of his father, a judge, and has I caused his mother to die of grief. The ! iTiiilT? pair conspired to poison M. Massot. i and succeeded. Afterwards, boweTer, a ; servant of the family discovered in an odd ' fornpr Mia» letreis. -which rr-veared the ! crime and its motive. The poisoners were i arrested, and ou Saturday, December 17, they ;:r»c their deserts. Ail the jurymen have signed a petition in favour of clemency fer Hubac. I