A FRENCH MURDER CASE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2885, 15 May 1878, Page 2

A FRENCH MURDER CASE.

The details of an extraordinary crime of murder hare just been unfolded in a trial before the Court of. Assizes of Mons, in Belgium. The victim was a lamp manufacturer of Gilly, near Charleroi, named Vanot, and the accused were his wife and two workmen, . Veiient and , Dewilde* Another man had been implicated as an : accessory, but committed suicide. The woman was of a most perverse nature, and about four months before the crime, which took place in March, 1877, formed an illicit intimacy with Vehent, who was in her husband's, employ. Not content with deceiving Vanot, they soon began to desire his death, and resolved on murdering him; but not possessing the courage themselves, they applied to Dewilde, a collier, who accepted the proposal. Fearing, however, that he would not be sufficient for the deed, the para* : mours endeavoured'to procure for him an assistant, and offered successively to three other workmen, first, ISOOf., then 2500f., to aid Dewilde, but they each* refused. One of them, however, named Cardon, subsequently took part in removing . the traces of the crime, and he it was who destroyed him* : self on the murder being discevered. Not being able to find another accomplice, the wife and Yehent determined that Dewilde should proceed alone, and twice brought him at night to the bedroom; the first 1 time the husband was awake, and the second the alarm was given by a small' dog. The third time, however, the oircum* stances were favourable. Yehent and Dewilde entered the room, the former holding a loaded pistol at the head of the latter and threatening to shoot him if he failed. 'r Two blows from a heavy hammer fractured the skull of Yanot, and he expired without a groan. The accomplices s then dug a hole in the garden aud buried the body. The disappearance of the man caused some, surprise at Gilly, but the v wife gave out that he had gone to Dunkirk, and showed a fictitious letter she pretended had been sent to her from him. Yehent then began to asiume the ~ air of master. He. dined at me table of his mistress, went .on excursions with her, . and even, consulted an advocate; at Brussels as to whether she might not obtain a divorce on the ground of her husband's desertion. Some weeks passed^ and as Vanot did not return, a rumor became spread that he had been murdered and buried in his own garden. The accomplices then dug up the body and buried it in • piece of ground depending on a cottage occupied by Cardon, and... where it was found in the month of May, - when he and Dewilde were arrested on suspicion* and-made a confession. The three accused on the trial endeavoured to cast the blame on* each other, but ..were all found guilty and were condemned to death. —Home News..