OUTWITTING A BAD HUSBAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1924, 1 August 1889, Page 4

OUTWITTING A BAD HUSBAND.

The authorities at "Versailles have been engaged in trying a farmer named Lecomte, who made repeated attempts of the most brutal, although bungling, description, to get rid of his wife in order to turn her insurance policy into ready cash. Lecomte, who lived at Orgeval, is a man about thirty-«ix years of age, and of sinister aspect. Madame Lecomte is a few years younger than' her exemplary lord and master, whose murderous attempts have been successfully thwarted, so that she was able to appear 1 against- him. The details of the case threw some interesting light on French peasant life. Lecomte had a farm bringing him in about 31,000 francs, or £1240 a year. His first wife had a good dowry, but after her death Lecomte neglected his affairs, and in a few years was in serious difficulties. Through the intermediary of a useful "bagman"—-who, while exhibiting samples of his merchandise and-obtaining orders for the same, was in the habit of, making matrimonial matches for his country customers—Lecomte; was introduced to Mdll«. Chauv'in, from Paris, who was on* of those demoiselles avec tache mentioned periodically in marriage advertisements in the \ papers. The tache or "blemish" arose from the fact that »he : ; had a lover of a very accommodating disposition, and not at all jealous or averse to ,any advantageous offers wm\jH-theyoun"g woman might receive from eligible hymeneal candidates. To cempensate for the " blemish " Mdlle. Chauvin had a dot of nearly £SOO, which, although small, would enable Lecomte to tide over temporary difficulties. The* marriage took place in due course, and shortly afterwards Lecomte insured the life of hiai wife in two companies for Bums amounting altogether to about £ISOO. Then be set to work to emulate the late lamented Luprezia Borgia. He began by' dropping small doses of arsenic into bis wife's tea-, but Madame Lecomte, without having precisely a cast iron interior, was evidently of robust constitution, for the poison took no effect upon her. Madame' Lecomte in the meanwhile had her suspicions, yet, strange to say, she communicated them to nobody, but watched and waited. Her husband next dosed her soup, bung'ed over the operation, inasmuch as he persisted in seeing'it at 1 dinner, which was altogether contrary to his usual custom. AccordjnglyrMada.ae Lecomte asked her charming partner to partake of some of the delicacy himself, but he refused; plutrply saying that he had already taken his portion. 'I he woman hereupon accused her husband of sinister intention?, but as he protested against her want of confidence she-still remained silent and kept her secret to herself. Lecomte now tried »'»nother way" of demoralising his Wtterlhalf. i, When they were driving home in the dark one mghfc from Priory he endeavored to frighten his wife by telling 'her that the road was infested by footpads, and he bad once been attacked himself. Suddenly the lantern of the vehicle was put out, and Madame Lecomte, suspecting flometking, felt in her husband's big coat pocket, in which he usually kept

his revolver, and found to her horror that the weapon had been removed therefrom. " Give me your hand," she riaid; " I'm afraid; " and for ten minuter she grasped her husband's left hand, his right being devoted to directing the horse. Without warning, however, he threw down the reins and fired twice at his companion. She fell backin 1 the carriage, 5 and being but; slightly wounded, pretended to be dead, feeling that if she stirred she would be killed outright, as there were still three bullets in the revolver. Lecomte whipped up his horse and drove up to the mayor's office at Orgevalj where he recounted that his wife had been shot by footpads. He was disagreeably surprised to find her still alive, so she was taken home, and a squadron of gendarmes was sent out to scour the country for the fictitious robbers. While his wife was ill Lecomte renewed his experiments with the arsenic a third time, and was seen by a servant, not, however, before Madame Lecomte had taken the dose. The unfortunate woman, what with her wounds and the poison, was at death's door, but, wonderful to relate, again recovered. Lecomte was arrested, but has all along denied his guilt in the; feeblest manner. He accused the servants of the attempts to poison Maa\mie Lecomte, and in court could offeri no other defence. His victim was questioned as to her extraordinary patience and reticence respecting the repeated efforts made by the prisoner at the bar to get rid of her, and this most amazing of all stepmothers answered that she adopted Lecomte's little bov, the child of the rascal's first marriage', and could not bring herself to accuse the father. The peculiar of sensation in the case have attracted considerable attention in Paris, as well as in the towns of the Department of the Seine-et-Oise, where the principal scenes of the domestic drama took place.