The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, september 12, 1908. ACTING A CRIME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 435, 12 September 1908, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, september 12, 1908. ACTING A CRIME.

Tbe grim French procedure of “ th.e reconstitution of the crime ” is rep.ulsive to the Briton, who has not th,e Frenchman’s innate love of the dramatic. The practice is, however/ being carried to such lengths that protests against it are being made by French peopl Correspondents of English papers comment oh the brutality of the scene enacted in the bedroom of the murdered stockbroker Remy, who was done to death by his valet and an accomplice for the sake of his money. The murder took place after midnight, therefore the “ recoustitution” could not take place 1 till after dark—to such a length is realism carried. The room was arranged to resemble as nearly as possible its condition on the night of the crime. The lights

having been turned down, Courtois, the young man who had confessed, was bidden to tell and act his story. A detective stretched on the bed impersonated the murdered man, and Courtois and another police officer enacted the murder, after Courtois had. been given a stiff glass of brandy to steady his nerves. Courtois stab’bed the recumbent figure again and again harmlessly—and with gusto, according to reports —while the other pretended to strangle the victim. While this was going on the other accused, who had affirmed his innocense, was standing by. Suddenly the lights were turned on, with the idea of disclosing the mock tragedy to him, and so breaking down his resolve, but without success. A scene occurred between the two accused, the one reiterating his accusation, and the other repeated the word “ liar.” To make the affair still more repugnant to trans-Channel folk, a large crowd gathered outside the house, and while the grim drama was being played, howled for the blood of the accused. On their arrival the men had narrowly escaped lynching at the hands of the infuriated mob, who apparently had little confidence in the law taking its full course. A leading paper, the “ Debats,” roundly condemns the whole business.' The only excuse for this sort of thing is when it is to settle some disputed point, but when employed with a view of extorting confession it is on a par with other inquisitorial methods which have long since disappeared. The “ Debats” hopes that this will be the last of these lugubrious and useless exhibitions. Certainly they are a high price to pay for that sense of the theatre, the absence of which in the English some people deplore.