MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1671, 11 February 1913, Page 5

MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY.

A PARIS CONCIERGE SHOT.

Nc. 57 Faubourg: Montmartro is a building like a thousand ethers in-Panis. It has-its Mist "portc-cochere," communi-. eating, by a. narrow, ill-lit. corridori with an inner court. On the left, as you enter, is. tho' lodge of the concierge, Madame Louise llib?t,'a woman of 4S, whoso husband is employed in a bank. At nine o'clock on the morning of December 18, M. Ribet, as usual, went to his place of business,' and the concierge was left alone. An hour later several shots rang out, and crios of "Help!" were heard, so piercing flint they reached the ears of''Madame Ribet's niece, who lives oil'the sixth story of the building. • , Recognising her aunt's . voice/tho girl ran down tho stairs, she too crying for help as sho ran. In a moment the whole building .was in a tumult. From every landing tho tenants rushed out and crowded to tho ground floors There they found Madame Ribet, Jier face'.covered 'with blood from two bullet wounds, beneath and abovo tho. eyebrow, saying, as sli© clung to tho bannisters,' "Tho wretch, ho has murdered me!" Then sho fainted. While some ,of the tenant 3 carried her to tho nearest chemist, others went in search of her assailant. One. of them was about'to enter tho lodge, the door of which was , half open, when, pistol in hand, a man barred his.way., "A step further, and you are a dead man," said tho intruder, and tho tenant, who was only a lad, drew back. The door was closed, and the key ground in tho lock. The assailant was making his preparations for a 6iege when the police appeared somo minutes'.lator.- He had already barricaded the window which opens on tho court. Tho order was given to break in tlio door, and it says much for tho courago of the policemen that it was obeyed without hesitation. • ! The fall of the door'was the signal for a fusillade, but happily all the shots firedfrom an inner room went wide. Tho police pressed on, and just as they reached tho door of the second chamber three more shots rang out, followed by a groan and the sound of a fall. The concierge's assailant had committed suioidc. It was with tho greatest difficulty that the body could bo removed from tho lodge, for tho crowd outside had broken the police cordon and invaded the corridor. So far tho motives for tho crime remain unknown, us Madame Ribet's condition is too serious to admit of her being questioned. Tho provisional police theory is that her- assailant's purpose was burglary. This is borne out by the fact that the desk in the lodge had been forced, Papers found on tho suicido would appear to establish his identity as Eugene Durand, <0. years of age, but as the dead man appears to bo considerably younger, it. is possible that tho papers aro .falso. His dress was that of an artisan or.bettorolass workman.—London "Daily Tele- 1 graph." . - ' '