A LOVE-STRICKEN FRENCHMAN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8111, 16 May 1906, Page 4

A LOVE-STRICKEN FRENCHMAN

A fickle woman, an excitable French- l man, a successful rival, and a cheap and useless revolver were the chief ae- | cessorics in a drama which was almost a tragedy, aud the details of which were put before the Chief Justice in the Supreme Conrt, Wellington, on Thursday. The name of the excitable Frenchman was Henri Francois Hormona Etieane Bocquet (how a mau can keep cool with a name like that is difficult to understand). The successful rival was named Eeillc, the lady's Christian name was Annie, and the revolver was bought for 14s 6d at a pawnbroker's (experience showed that it would have been foolish to have given any more for it). Henri, etc., Bocquet is, or was, a waiter employed at varims hotels about Wellington, a.ii ijf some three years he had been living with Annie. The church had not blessed the union. B»cquet had many times urged her to marry him, but, according to her own statement, he never had enough money, and she preferred not to tie herself up permanently to the Frenchman. Meanwhile a rival entered the house as -i boarder. His name was James Eeille ( and he seems to have set his hpart on gaining possession of Annie, who proti's>cJ to Bjcquet her faithfulness while evidently keeping a good strong tow-line hitched on to Keille. Things went on like this till March 26. In the morning Bocquet went out to his work as usual. Annie took things easily, and about 11 o'clock went out of the house for good, and during the afternoon went along to the registry office iiiid married Keille, with whom she went to live the same day at Bona Bay, on the eastern side of the harbor. There she was found the following afternoon by Bucq'iei, who threatened to shoot her if slu woull not go back to Wellington with uini. Jiveutually they met Eeille, who knocked poor Bocquet down, and during the scuffle that followed, Bays Eeille, he felt the revolver being pressed ag:iinst his neck and heard me click of the trigger several times, Tlie fact was, said an expert at the hearing of the case, the weapon wa,a too weak in the spring to explode the cartridges, four but of five of which bo:e a mark showing that they had been struck by the hammer. That, in brief, is the history pf the case—sufficient, ai any rale, to explain why Bocquet itjh chirked with attempted murder.

Boequet's ve;sim w.is given to the Cmrt as evidence of ins ,nv» defence, and in spite of some eie.ijeuis of improbability elicited by a slciLled Oroun Prosecutor, it certainly seemed genuine. As boon as he found she >ws Jgone— where lie dill not know—he w.is almost distracted, and the' next morning, after a sleepless night, his head was in a whirl; he saw her photo on the mantelpiece, and thought that without her he could not live. • lie wrote on the back of it: "Life without you is not worth living. In spite of your faults I love you still. May you be happy. Write home to my brother and sister. You have their address. Good-bye, Annie. From your true and loving Didi (his pet name)." He then went out and bought a revolver, his intention being to commit suicide, the letter on the photo being hi< last message to his lost love. He took i lie bout. to Day's Bay, having heard she Uad [gone there, and while crossing the harbor he got by himself, put the revolver, which he had loaded in all five chambers, into his mouth, and pulled the trigger, he thought, five times. The weapon, however, missed fire, and he was seized with a desire to see Annie asj.iin and make a final appeal to her. He found her, and made his appeal, and then they met Keille, as already stated. They scuffled and fell, but he did not fire the revolver at Eeille, or even point it at him. His sole intention was to ohoot himself.

The jury, after an hour and a half's deliberation, found a verdict of "Not guilty." In discharging him, the Chief Justice said he did not find fault with the verdict of the jury. He advised Bocquet, however, to let this incident in his life be forgotten, and not either seek to destroy his own life or that of other people. If he -was a wise man, he would be manly and not think of what had occurred in the past. '