QUARTER OF A CENTURY IN GAOL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2364, 2 June 1892, Page 3

QUARTER OF A CENTURY IN GAOL.

Louis Bertrand, a respectably connected surgeon-dentist, in 18(30 living in the aristocratic neigbourhood of Wynyard Square, Sydney, and now confined in the Darlinghurst Gaol for causing the death of a bank manager named Kinder, with whose wife he carried on an illicit intimacy, is about to be released after serving a term of imprisonment for over 25 years. He is described as a most dangerous individual, and the local press _ is boiling over with indignation now it is proposed to release him. Bertrand was twice tried for murder, but the first time the jury disagreed, through some technical irregularity. The second jury found hnu guilty, and the judge sentenced him to penal servitude for’ life, with the first three years in irons. At the trial it was proved that Bertrand premeditated the murder, lurked about Kinder*s house with a hatchet concealed, purchased a brace of revolvers, and rod fla.mel shirt —in case of blood StaillS and took aiming notice at a sheep’s head. He also secured aconitine, a poison that leaves no pqst pjpi'tmu trapg, and wfym his victim Jay wounded, stated openly that he must administer it in case of recovery. On the day of the murder this demon was seen laughing in a cab with Mrs Kinder, the wife Q? the ipurdered man. The assassin’s relations belong to the opujent class, and have been indefatigable in their efforts to get him released, which, according to those conversant with the details, would bo a disgrace to the State, and that Bertrand can “thank his lucky stars” lie was not hanged in 180(3. His wife states that once hs tried to hang himself; on another occasion he endeavored to smother one of Ins children ; had frequently threatened to murder the whole of his family j

tortured c its ; saturated a rat in turpentine and threw it into the fire ; and that he was spiteful and fond of pinching and biting. His sister corroborates the wife’s assertions by saying that he took a dislike to his little boy, and expressed a wish to dash his brains out; that ho once tried to kill two of his children with a sword ; and had said,“ I should like to go down George street and cut every throat I could lay my hands on.” A plea was set up at the time of the murder that he was a homicidal maniac, and had murderous tendencies at certain periods, and thus he escaped the extreme penalty of the law—death. He carried on a liaison with Mrs Kinder in the knowledge of his wife, end prayed for a divorce so he could marry his choice in the case of Kinder’s death. Such a cold-blooded, treacherous, and cunning maniac—if such he be—gaining his liberty would be dangerous, and the over zealous efforts of his wealthy relatives should be nipped in the bud, and his continued incarceration insisted upon. Mrs Kinder was afterwards a barmaid at Hokitika, N.Z.-—Correspondent to Wanganui Herald.