STRANGE FRENCH DRAMA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 231, 29 September 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

STRANGE FRENCH DRAMA.

CRIME PASSIONNEL.

A crime passionnel in one of the suburbs set all Paris thinking of the plot of the much-discussed play, "La Prisonniere,"

which had a record run in Paris, was not allowed to produced in London, and was banned in New York after a short series of performances played to packed houses.

In Paris, where it was .staged by an exceptionally brilliant company, the piece attracted two queens, and was regarded as a serious piece of work dealt with in masterly fashion, worthy to rank with M. Brieux's "Lea Avaries," which was presented in England under the title of "Damaged Goods," after a vigorous contest with the censor.

While in "La Prisonniere" the'*' only tragedy is a xnoral one, the real-life version resulted in the fatal«hooting of the greatlytroubled mother of one of the protagonists, who used her own body as a shield to protect her threatened daughter.

Now the daughter's former woman friend sits in a Paris gaol, waiting to stand her trial on the murder charge, but, apparently callous and indifferent.

To tell the story from the beginning: Two years ago the petite Yvonne Frard, then seventeen years old, renjarkably pretty, despite hair that looked too blonde and a pait of blue-grey eyes that seemed rather too bold for her years, came with her mother to live in a flat in Rue Bobillot. In an absolutely identical apartment across the corridor lived another young woman, four years older, Paule Pellegaud.

Paule Pellegaud was a direct contrast to Yvonne Frard, wearing her Spanish-black hair long and being built in almost masculine proportions. It is said that she could box like a man, and one glance at her was sufficient to show that most of the secrets of life were within her ken. Yet, though her general appearance was that of an Amazon, her lips were very full and passionate and, in her savage way, she was almost handsome. Unbearable Quarrels. Yvonne and PauTe, doubtless because their character and their temperament made them the opposites of one another, were not long in discovering a mutual attraction —the law of contrasts. At first it was an enjoyable and free camaraderie that made them seek one another's company. Then the affection became stronger, and Yvonne Frard went to live with Paule Pellegaud. Neither seemed to care for anyone else, and on their promenades together it was remarked that they were full i of gaiety.

But after a while the neighbours began to hear sounds of disputes from the apartment, and the quarrelling developed into bouts of fighting. At first the neighbours cynically referred to these squabbles, but in the end they became unbearable, and Mme. Frard, the mother of Yvonne, who had vainly resisted the association at the outset, employed desperate efforts to get her daughter away from her violent and undesirable friend.

She was helped by the fact that Paule Pellegaud accepted a post in anothfer town, and this enabled the feebler Yvonne Frard to "break" with less difficulty.

Everything seemed to be settling down satisfactorily after a few weeks, till Paule Pellegaud experienced an irresistible desire to revive the association with her former friend. She calne to the Frard apartment in the evening, bringing with her as a peace-offering a bouquet of flowers and gifts that she knew would tempt the dainty Yvonne. The girls exchanged greetings on a terrace common to the flats of this story. Yvonne accepted the flowers, but her mother then called to her, telling her to refuse the gifts, and Yvonne told Paule Pellegaud that while she would keep the bouquet she was determined not to resume the former relations.

Paule Pellegaud cried, "You are mad. Return with me." "No."' insisted Yvonne Frard, "it is all finished."

From being affeetionsfte, Paule Pellegaud turned menacing, then brutal. She struck at Yvonne Frard. who, though frail in comparison, struck back with all her strength. Mme. Frard, hearing the scuffle, dashed out and endeavoured to separate the combatants. Paulte. frenzied almost to madness, rushed into her room and seized a revolver. She pointed it at

Yvonne, who had just exclaimed, "I want no more of you; leave me alone!"

Mme. Frard, however, realised that Paule Pellegaud intended to shoot, and she threw herself in front of her daughter, arms outstretched in order to give as much protection as possible, and screaming, "Don't do that." But the report of the pistol covered her voice, and she fell to the ground, shot dead by a bullet that had pierced her throat.

Paule Pellegaud fled to her foom, screaming wildly as she did so. A police station is almost adjacent to the building, and the gendarmes, immediately notified, hurried up, to find that she had barricaded herself in the room, and threatened to shoot any officer who tried to arrest her. Finally she was seized and disarmed without being able to do any further harm.

She was still "a raging fury"_ when led before the Commissioner of Police. She expressed 110 sorrow for her crime, even when she was formally interrogated by the magistrate some hours later. The only break in her attitude of indifference over the prospect of a long period in gaol seeirfed to be a touch of regret over the irreparable severance of her friendship with Yvonne Frard, crying in her solitude over the loss of 3. tortured mother who had given her life to save her.