A FAMOUS CRIME RECALLED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

A FAMOUS CRIME RECALLED.

MADAME STEIN'IIEIL MARRIES I'EKIt. It is announced that Madame Steinlicil has nr,irr : ed Lord A binder. In May, 19i 1. Marguerite Steinheil, native of the little village of licaueourt, on the Swiss and German borders nf the French front'or, wx-< charged with the murder of her husband, and of her mother. For twelve months she remaitied in prison. but after a trial which excited profound sensation was acquitted.

Her father, Ednunrd Japv, was the son of a wcalthv manufacturer, and, having abundant leisure, devoted it 1o teaching her all the arts of which an acconi])lishcd coquette should b." mistress. Later a marriage was arranged between Marguerite and M. Steinheil, an artist of some distinct inn, who was very much older than she.

With licr husband she settled in Paris, and her drawing-room was frequented tiv a number of more or less distinguished j>Of|)lo, of whom two, Zola and President Felix Fame, were widely known. With the President she became very friendly, l'aure sent the woman a pearl necklace, one so costly that she told him she could not accept it. lie pressed her to do so, but two days later told her that there had been a dreadful mistake.

This part of Madame Steinheil s story is singularly mysterious. Faure had bought the necklace from a friend unnamed. No one must know that lie, Faure, had even possessed it. Sho 'nils': never wear it, must let no one know she had it, but must keep it and with it certain secret papers. Having laid this foundation for a romance, Faure died. Mysterious people l>egan to haunt the house, to demand the pearls, and to blackmail M. Steiuheil. Then came the night of the crime. "I started up out of my sleep," says Madame Steinheil, '"and felt something on my face. I then heard a man saying, "Tell us where your parents' money is. 7 I pulled the cloth off my head and face, and I saw three men and a wowan. They repeated, 'Where is your parents' money!'' Frightened, trembling, and seeing that the woman was pointing a revolver at niv right temple, I said, 'There,' and pointed to (lie boudoir. The woman remained near me, still holding the revolver against my head, and, with her other hand, she held my arm tightly. I was terrified. I heard my mother erv out to me, 'Meg, Meg !' That gave me a little courage. Then the woman said, 'Come on girl, bo good Tell us where the jewels are.' I was afraid to say they were in the rooms my mother was occupying, really my rcom, in the drawer of the wardrobe. I said to them all, 'Don't kill me ! Say vou won't kill anyone !' Then they bound me and put a cloth over my face. And that is all. I don't remember anything else." In the course of that night Madame 3 elderly husband and old mother were brutally strangled. Suspicion fell on Madame, who was arrested, and remained in custody for a year. Her earlier statements to the police abounded in what she afterwards admitted to ' o lies. But that is a fact which calls for no explanation, if the story about President Faure, the necklace, the secret papers, an dthe mysterious blackmailers be accepted. Madame Steinheil and her daughter settled in England, and the mystery of the double murder remains unsolved.

Lord Abinger is the fifth baron of the line, and was formerly in the Diplomatic Service at Berne and Stockholm. He is a wealthy peer, his estates covering 11,000 acres.