Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1890 — WILL LOSE HIS HEAD. [ARTICLE]

WILL LOSE HIS HEAD.

EYRAUD. THE STRANGLER. TO BE GUILLOTINED. B« and Hi* Accomplices Mile. GabriaUe Bompard, Found Guilty o l Strangling M. Gouffe—Kyraud Will Have Hia Head Chopped OK and GabriaUe Will Labor Twenty Year* lu Prison. [Paris cablegram.] The trial ofMichael Eyraud and Gabrlslle Botnpard for the murder of Notary Gouffe was concluded this evenlug. Eyraud was convicted and condemned to death. Gabrlelle Bompard was also convicted, but was not condemned to the guillotine. She was sentenced to twenty years’ Imprisonment at hard labor. The proceedlngs-were opened by the public prosecutor, who summed up the case do behalf of the Government Be began by promising ito confine himself to the murder and robbery iof ,M. Gonffe. He begged tho Jury to follow hpu flesely and dismiss from their minds all the evidence that had been presented regarding hypnotism. He said he would make every effort to uphold justice against theories or suggestions, which he declared constituted a menace tq society. Regarding Mile. Bompard, the Public Prosecutor said that the woman’s intellect was not weak, but it was depraved. .Both prisoners were equally guilty. The evidence showed that everything in the room in which the crime was committed had been prepared -for the hanging of Gouffe, and it was idle to assert the contrary. The murder of tho notary would have been impossible unless the man had been taken unawares. It was the jury's duty to reject the story of the woman, who was as culpable as her companion, who frankly avowed his guilt. It was the woman’s girdle that strangled the victim to death; dt was tho woman who delivered Gouffe into the hands of her lover, who waited for a favorable moment to draw the cord with which Gouffe was strangled. When the public prosecutor had concluded M. Decorl addressed the dbijrt In behalf of Eyraud. M. Decorl admitted that hia task was a difficult one. The hour, he said, seemed about to strike, pot for justice but to sound the triumph iof the huntsmen who bad secured theig prey. Tho clamorous crowd appeared sure of their quarry, but he hoped that thd jury would not allow themselves to :bev Influenced by thl/s clamor. Eyraud, he continued, had been an industrious man, but liad become weak in the hands of a woman. The evil influence of Mile. Bompard had made him a mere puppet. Proceeding, M. Decorl. contended that Bompard and not Epraud conceived the crime for which they were now being tried. The criminal Intention of both, ho said, was not to murder M. Gouffe, but to extort money from him. This had led rapidly to the graver crime. Upon the conclusion of the counsel's address the jury retired to consider their verdict. After an absence of an hour and fifty minutes they returned and announced the result of their deliberations. The verdict was that both prisoners were guilty, but extenuating circumstances wore found in the case of the woman,

No protest against the verdict was made by either the prisoners or their counsel, and after a short deliberation on the part of the Judges, sentence was pronounced. The court condemned Eyraud to die by the guillotine, and sentenced Gabrlelle to twenty years’ imprisonment at hard labor. The woman upon hearing her sentence apapeared to be utterly overcome, and fell back Inti) the arms of her doctor. * Eyraud showed not the slightest sign of emotion. While being conducted to his cell Eyraud Incessantly muttered: ‘‘Condemned to death at last, but I expected It.” Eyraud refused to taste his dinner.. He expressed the hope to his keepers that he would bo granted a reprieve. Mile. Bompard is also hopeful that her sentence will be reduced. She showed no loss of appetite when her meal was brought to her. Dr. Charcot, a leading authority on hypnotism, agrees with Dr. BrOuardel in ridiculing the theories of the Nancy school regarding Mile. Bompard’s criminality. He sees nothing in the crime that places the woman outside the category of a vulgar* criminal. He doubts the possibility of Influencing a hypnotized person to commit a crime under a suspension of the will, and thinks It Impossible to suggest successfully any but the simplest action. Dr. Brouardel instanced cases of the moral conscience surviving under hypnotism. At SulpotrlCre two women who had been mesmerized were ordered to undress. One obeyed, but the other, restrained by an obvious feeling of modesty, icfused to obey and went into a nervous fit.

Eyraud and Gabrielle Borripard murdered GouJTe In toe room of toe woman at No, 3 Rue Tronson Ducoudray. They put the body of thetr victim in a trunk and set off with it for Lyons, where it was subsequently found in a ditch. An inquest was held, but the man was not identified. He was quietly buried in a <common grave in which other remains were deposited at the same time. The official who was responsible luckily tied a bit of string around Gouffe s feet, and when an exhumation was ordered the body was identified by this means. Meanwhile Eyraud and Gabriellc wan.’.ered about together for a time; then Eyraud went to America. Gabrielle confessed and was imprisoned. For a long time Eyraud eluded justice, until be was run to earth at Havana, whence he was brought to Paris. Eyraud, previous to the trial, confessed that he was the murderer of M. Gouffe, and that all that Gabrielle had said was true. When first brought before M. Doppfer, the examining magistrate, the criminal refused to admit that he had done more than dispose of the body after the Sheriff’s officer had been murdered by another man. But the very improbable, not to say impossible, character of his assertions being pointed out to him by M. Doppfer, Eyraud at length exclaimed: “Well, yes: it was I who killed Gouffe. If I commenced by declaring my innocence it was to save the honor of my family. I wanted to prevent the crime of the husband and father sullying the innocence of my wife and daughter. I wanted to prevent people pointing at my daughter and calling her a murderer’s child.” Eyraud then wept and appeared to be overcome. He, however, soon recovered his self-possession, and, in reply to a question from M. Doppfer. he added: “1 know very well it is useless for me to attempt to deceive you. Now I am in your hands I prefer to tell you all about it to-morrow or the next day, when I have had a little rest and feel stronger.” After a pause, during which silence was preserved, Eyraud added. In a firm and calm tone-: "All Gabrielle Bompard has said is true. It was I who lured Gouffe to Rue Tronson Ducoudray- It was I who killed him, and it was Gabrielle who helped me to put his body in the trunk. Now do not Insist on soy giving you at present any further particulars; I am really too unwell.” After signing his confession Eyraud was led back to his cell whence he emerged for his .trial.

Wickwibe—Tire re sever were so many chances as now to get a good income out of a small fwtune. Yabsley—What I d like is to get a good fortune out of a small income. -—lndianapolis Journal. “I teAMaou the poor have no chance. ” true in regard to poetry. know some editors who re. eet poems for no other reason than that they are poor. ”—Brooklyn Life. i>E Fer —“l feel like a new man this morning.” Waite (anxiously)—“Ah! Do jk>u feel anything like the kind of a man that would be apt to pay a debt of £5?” He paid it— Manhattan. “Your number,” said the Warden to the prisoner, “is 306. ” “That’s gratifying, ” said the unfortunate; “I’m in the 400 at last ”—New York Herald.