HORRIBLE CRIMES IN FRANCE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2218, 25 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

HORRIBLE CRIMES IN FRANCE.

The horrible discovery of the body of a woman minus the head and cut up into several pieces, has been made at Montrouge, a Parisian suburb. The police are convinced that a crime has been corn, mitted, but the absence of the head makes it a matter of extreme difficulty to follow up a clue to the mysterious affair. It is supposed that the first parcel having- been placed opposite the church in the Aveneue d'Orleans, the person carrying the ghastly bundles turned into the Rue d'Alesia, where he placed the thigh and portions of the back, after which he proceeded to the border of the railway line, where he got rid of the breast, which was found among the plots of acacia abounding in the spot. On Friday morning a little girl playing outside a shop in the neighbourhood found a packet of brown hair, which is presumed to have belonged to the deceased. A half'burned letter was among the tresses. No arrest has been made. The remains have been placed in the freezing apparatus at the Morgue, and can be thus preserved for three weeks. An atrocious crime has been perpetrated at Sell, St. Denis, in the Department of Loir-etCher, France. •An old widow named Lebon lived with her daughter and son-in-law, named Pirmin. As her mind had become weak they tried to get her into a lunatic asylum, and, having failed, agreed with her two sons to kill her. The horrible project was carried out. The man Firmin first strangled the poor woman in the presence of her three children. A pile of wood was then collected and kiudled, the corpse was placed on it, and for five hours the whole party kept up tho fire, and watched the flames slowly consuming the mortal remains of their mother. Tho next day they wet\t to tho Mayor, and doclared that old Madam Lobou had fallen { into the fire and was doud. But their

manner aroused the suspicions of the functionary, who replied that he would immediately send the gendarmes to institute; an investigation into the whole matter. When the officials arrived on the spot a terrible spectacle met their ;_view. The body of the poor widow was completely carbonised', but the feet were all intact. The culprits were at once arrested, and Firmin's little daughter, a child of seven,- denounced - her - father as the one who had strangled her grand* mother. ' > -