WASTED LIVES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 93, 15 May 1909, Page 3

WASTED LIVES.

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"13th September, 1901. I | "I beg to report that I have made' 11 enquiries, and .find that Fougeron came , jto London about ten weeks ago from France, and for the first month after j his arrival he was employed at the Cafe' Monico, Piccadilly; and from that time! till his arrest he was the constant daily j ussociat ( , of foreign Anarchists, thieves,' etc., iu the neighborhood of Soho, where' they form a large clement of the poult-1 lation. A FULL PACK OF LIES. "He would claim all the Frenchmen , whom \i e met as his brothers, and iin-!, mediately an acquaintance would com- 1 iiieiicc, and he would tell them of Ins j past life, especially of his experiences | during his alleged five years' service in j the French Royal Marine Artillery. One of his stories was that he had committed a serious crime in the regiment, j but that he was mad at the time and was placed in a padded room. He escaped from the room by inducing the. ollicial in charge to come into the cell', under the pretence that he was taken suddenly ill, and as soon as Fougeron found the door open he ran out, slam- . niiiig the door back in the face of the; attendant, who was within the cell. Fori' sonic time after leaving the army, Foil-' 1 geron has given out that he was cm- 1 ployed as a hairdresser. "Since his arrival in this country ho lias had no fixed abode. One or other of his countrymen in the Soho quarter would give him shelter for the night when lie had no money to pay for bis , lodgings. On one occasion Fougeron v was seen in the possession of a silver- '■ backed brush and shoe-horn, part pro- j eeeds of all alleged theft. "lie was generally known as 'Mar- j seilles.' or 'Gascon,' from the province of his birth. " THE TELL-TALE KNIFE. (. "Very shortly after the arrival of j Fougeron in London he made the ac- f quaiatauce of an Anarchist and con- \ vieted thief, Victor Durand. He often ] supped with Durand at his place, but e never slept there at night. The Small o amount of underclothing and so on that h Fougeron possessed was always kept at a Durand's lodgings. f

"Durand was called :is a witness at tile Court .yesterday, and lie said that he had known the prisoner for two months, and that the last time he had spoken to him was between twelve and one o'clock on the day of the murder, when he left the hous' e owing to a quarrel Fougeron had with Madame Durand. Knowing that Fougeron had no money, Durand gave him three shillings and some linen in a valise. Durand identi-.i fled the knife produced as the one Fougcron used with his meals. '•Fougcron was only associated in an unconscious and passing way with a fe,w Anarchists during his (brief residence in this country, so that I feel sure that the commission of this crime was in no way connected with an Anarchist plot. It was solely the individual act of the murderer."

The murdered man, Herman Juiig, had been a cobbler by trade, who lived in Clerkenwell. He'was a rabid Socialist aim pro-Boer.

Fougeron was introduced to Jung by a man whos<. identity has never bean discovered. It is suspected that he was an Anarchist. Fougeron asserted that lie met thin mysterious individual in Old Compton-Btreet, Soho, in the firstinstance, and was taken by him to the house in Clerkenwell where Jung lived. Several times afterwards Fougeron wint [alone to visit Jung and met this man. [He declared that Jung definitely offered him ten pounds if he would assassinate Mr. Chamberlain. Fougeron was, as usual, very short of money at this time, but he hesitated about undertaking such a piece of work. Jung continued to press Fougeron, and occasionally ga.'e him small amounts of money; but ne still hung back. THE MURDER. Then, as 1 believe, the cobbler began to get nervous, fearing that Fougeron, who was always ready to blab everything in his head to' everybody with whom lie chanced to fraternise,'would begin spreading this matter about. So he seems to have thought it advisable to get rid of fougeron before anvtliiii" was said. ' °

One day when tile two wcr 0 together in ■llium's shop, ihere was something of mi alicrcaticm. Jung declared ho w.iu'ul not give Fongcron any more iiionv,-. and told him to Hear out. |l v wav of cmpliasishiy whai he 1,,,,! to sav.'be took H|> a piece of in id threatened hi? visito,. with it. Fnugerou. in stepping hack to avoid the blow lie feared nii.'it fall, lost his fontiiiL' and rolled under the cobbler's lieneli. Instantly he spra.i" up again, pulling out his'knife, anil stabbed Jung in the neck. Then he took to ]ii»' heels, hut was captured after a I'mgish chase, Jung died a few Lours laler.

I his was not a case that created inv particular stir, despile Jung's inalicrnitv towards ilr. Chamberlain, and the"two principals -were both particulai-lv tmnittiresting individuals. It was generally considered that there was smthincin th,, way of an extenuating cireuiu" stance, and Martial l-'ougeron was sentenced to death and executed.

HI MAX HE ITS E. This 'business was largely one for which we have to thank our laws, which allow such indiscriminate immigration. Crack-brained rascals like Herman Jung, o r fellows like Martial Fougerou, re nothing hut a burden and a nuisance to the country on whose ground thev walk. Here was a wretched, invertebrate fellow, an absolute "waster." who cared nothing about doing any honest work, and existed by attaching himself to anv other alien who would tolerate him and from whom he could beg an Occasional sixpence or meal or night's lodging. He [associated with the lowes't, neither picking nor choosing. Being what he was, he debased others and became further debased himself. Soho and Clerkenweil are to-day full of aliens who are equally undesirable, and cpiite probably would, Riven snltabl c circumstances, terminate their career In the-same way as did this particular specimen of human refuse—--Martial Fougeron Answers'.