THE TRIAL OF LANDRU.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1921, Page 12

THE TRIAL OF LANDRU.

INTENSE HUMAN DRAMA. AMAZING COURT SCENES. London, Nov. 11. Writing on the trial sti.l proceeding at Versailles of Landru, who is charged with the murder of 11 women, the special representative of the Sydney Sun writes:—Will the phenomenal will power of the amazing man Landru triumph over his physical afflictions as the hearing progresses? He seems to visibly shrink, and his cheeks are getting more hollow, and his pallid - prison hue ha« become a mask of ghostly white. Yet he has his back to the wall, playing almost a lone hand. He fearlessly faces his accusers, the public, the Judge, his advocate, and the general vast array of witThe whole Press has combined in an immoderate and relentless onslaught. Landru’s self-possession is remarkable Hexquiekly seizes a point, and the fluent phrases in which he couches his replies shows that he is a man of no ordinary intelligence. Time and again he scores against the Judge, but the relentless mass of evidence is piling up in a damning array. 1 France has already consigned the Bluebeard to the “knife.” but it does not want to miss one iota of such an absorbing life drama. Society women and famous actresses follow with shrill little squeals of amusement the threads of the story, yet with slow, cultured diction and gestures which are quaint and dignified, Landru remains unmoved, with the exception of when he uses his mournful phrase: “Chivalry is dead.” This evoked a noisy outbreak, with gibes and laughter, from the onlookers. With eyes blazjng with anger, and his arms outstretehbd, Landru swung round with the eloquent rebuke; “It is shameful that you should behave so in my present plight. I am innocent of these horrible charges. There is no bipod on my hands.” Such is his strange hypnotic personality that the crowd was awed into quick silence, and many looked down on the ground rather than face the fierce enigmatic gaze. It is clear that Landru’s defence will be that he was a furniture dealer, and his-relations with women were merely in order to obtain their furniture. He adopted the matrimonial role as a matter of business. They left him and disappeared for their bwn good reasons. When pressed to disclose more, he replied: “As a man of honor there are private bonds which seal my lips.” The Judge: Even if your head is at stake ? Landru: “Most certainly. The correspondent of the Times at Paris says that the evidence of Landru’s fiancees is exhausting the prisoner, who falls back on poor excuses such as bad memory and commercial motives. Today’s hearing was. devoted to Mme. Guillin, who expected to travel to Australia with the prisoner, owing to the latter’s pretended < ular appointment. The Judge checked one of his outbursts with: “They found you because you were existent. They have not found madame because she is not alive.” Landru: “They sought me vainly for six years, and her for three. It is only a question of time,”