BAFFLING CRIMINOLOGISTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 96, 1 August 1910, Page 3

BAFFLING CRIMINOLOGISTS

AMAZING CONFESSIONS OF BOY MURDERERS. Paris, June 11. A crime of singular horror, and from a criminological standpoint almost unpre- 1 cedented, came before the Auxerre Assizes. | In the dock were two. lads—one a, scowling, black-haired youth of seven- j teen, the other a mere slip of a boy aged fifteen. The prisoners, Jacquiard, : and , Vienny, are Swiss peasants, charged, on | their own confession, with the murder at I July on December 10 last year of the j whole staff, with the exception of one I person, on the lonely farm where they were employed. Armed with three revolvers and a hatchet, they killed in succession their employer, M. Verriere, and his wife, an old farmhand and a younger'man, and a servant named Marie Goguet. They left for dead Imbert, a lad of sixteen, who had the presence of mind to pretend to be dead. He later went to a neigHboi ng. farm and gave the alarm. The murderers were captured after they had been roaming about the country for several diays. The court was densely crowded. Among the witnesses was young Impert, proudly wearing the medal given him 'by the Minister for Justice for .his bravery, and the only survivors of the ill-fated. Verriere family, little Oliver Veeriere, who _es> caped through Jacquiard's revolver missing fire, and his small sister Andree. The two lads answered the judge's questions in gutteral tones. Jiacquiard stated that his object in 'committing the murder —to which he instigated the younger lad—was to steal the farmer's (money and go to Africa. "Where in Africa?" the judge asked. "To the Congo," was the reply, "to explore unknown lands and write my memoirs." He stated that the immediate cause of the murder was .the fear of losing his month's wages for having broken a pitchfork, as he was saving up all his money to set out in quest of adventure, a scheme he had long fostered. "How much were your wages?" asked the juvtye. "Thirtv-two shillings and sixpence & month/' Jacqu:ard replied. ''And for this 'infinitesimal sum you dm not hesitate to murder a whole family?" persisted the judge. The liov replied quiet^-. ly, %o, ' . Jafcquiard's calm caused amazement among tlio public. With absolute selfpossession he described exactly his share in the murders and how he committed them.