PARIS POISON DRAMA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10295, 2 June 1919, Page 7

PARIS POISON DRAMA

• - DASTARDLY PLOT ALLEGED. DEATHS' OF INSURED PEOPLE. ’ A glass of tonic wine which. Henri Girard, a Paris insurance agent, and his wife offered their guest, Mdlle. Monin, a year ago, has led to the discovery of ~, what, if rue allegations oL the .hirenen •?. : , police are correct, *is the ‘greatest poison , •conspiracy in the annals.of crime. •- Mdlle. • Monin was taken'ill and died next day. ■ During the following week Girard and his wife wore phidojCMi.OOO by uin'cront insurance compkiuesAtf' i’fespeot of policies on her life. Hut the doctor of one office who examined the body - noticed that the dead woman was strangely unlike-the one he had passed for insurance. ■■ : , This ied to inquiries, which showed that Mdlle. Monin .had been personated by Aline. Girard, and to the discovery tnat' the couple had insured a number of other people Without their knowledge. Several of these had already* died,_ soma ’of'maladies: which carried them oft in a 'tew days. ..others ,pf • complaint?, like tyr ■phdid fever and anthrax. Girard and his wife were arrested.lor ■ defrauding the insurance companies, and the publicity given to the case led- to mi ' allegation that- Girard’s friend Pernotte. whllstt suffering from typhoid, had' died . with mysterious •suddenness-arter- Girard had given him an injection-ordered-by a doctor - 1 ’ , .Other suspicious cases came, to light in-, eluding one in which a young “.woman, : after accepting the couple’s - Kbsj?i.|ality on two occasions, -each time. became ill in circumstances which completely baffled her doctor. Site recovered, but other guests or acquaintances of the Girard ramily were less fortunate. h ;^:; i !v i'inaUy, it was found that some year* previously, when Girard was in trouble for a trifling offence, he was . in,; posses- ‘ siou of medical works on poisons,,jind a: quantity of dangerous drugs and microbe cultures. He was discharged' as' being' ,i 0p,.-minded, but by some extraordinary blunder his'-collection of poisons was returned to him. ' ~ ■ Recollection of this incident led to the : flat of his woman friend, Mmo, Doneteau, , being searched and to the finding of traces of typhoid and anthrax cultures and of morphine, cocaine, and cyanide. • It 1 is'also alleged that ho studied poisonous’ mushrooms' and other.-venomous ,- ■>.-:■ substances, and, although not a qualified student, carried out experiments on guinea-pipe.'"' Moreover, this -7 'struggling .- insurance agent was paying .£GOO a year for Mme. Doneteau’s flat, and, through sneculatidiTs 'oh" the' lives of people. who ■died''•■mystcrioaSly, had accumulated a large-fortune:' A;'.l: ....Girard' and- his wife-and'-womaif‘friend ; .were arrested.. and" now.-after‘tenymonths’,i .secret inquiry,theyare.charged -withoon- , ; spiring to,-poison a number of people. Girard,- it is stated, kept a diary In which he recorded not merely his financial transactions. .Jiut also his scientific f-K: experiments, and .this- will bo produced . - at the forthcoming trial. v - , '