Show miserly mother kills sons wife shoots young woman for having heir to fortune she hoarded new york almost on the very day that mrs frances hall grav haired wealthy and socially prominent appeared before a jury in N J charged with the killing of her husband ame mme GuU launie lefebvre eray haired a millionaire and a her of one of the most prominent families in northern france appeared before the assize court in the alt of deual charged with the murder of her young and beautiful daughter in law says the ew york world the trials were conducted elmul laneous ly for some days and while in this country a puzzled public wis following the grim details of the hill murder mystery all iranee was stirred by the most sensational af dalre cel elire since the trial of lan dru the 1 rench bluebeard live years ago the parallel between the two caes ca es Is impressive in both instances the principals were women of who because of the of their age ind the prestige of the large fortunes they commanded seemed secure against any misadventure with alie taw both were charged with a capital crime against one of kin by marriage and in both trials there was the spectacle of two men brothers in the case of mrs aall husband and son in the case of amp l defending women kin the accusation of a heinous and indefensible crime both cases presented a baffling mystery the hall case a mystery of fact in which the issue was the iden uty of the murderer the lefebvre case a mystery in which the motive for the french comans nomans confessed crime baffled the best legal brains of france an amazing character but liere the parallel between the lefebvre basei casei ends lor when adnall the aged motive was unraveled there was revealed 0 o the world an psychopathic character such as only a balzac could have created the lefebvre murder coald leave been committed in a latin country and the aall trial muffled in the silence of alie defendants was a dull abow indeed compared with the I 1 e febvre trial bv bitin emotion latin outbursts of passion in both the pils and alie audience and d and frantic efforts by the judges to control the uncontrollable exhibitions of french temperament throughout alie trial one ear ago in the fall of ame mme guillaume I 1 learned fram 1 cr son a secret bit lie hd kept for live months that his wife antoinee lefebvre was soon to give birth to an heir to the corn lined lefebvre fortunes on tint very day mine lefebvre bought a revolver and soon after writing to lier son asked ailin to call on her bring hta wife with him and take both for a drive in his car ahe son obedient to his mothers wishes several days later at the paternal home with his young wife and the three set out for a drive andre lefebvre occupied the front seat alone ills wife and his aal together in the rear hen they passed through lie city gates and emerged into the suburbs ame mme I requested alint drive along the path known as solitude rod ro d andre inquiring into ahe for tills strange wish still in ills manhood u pliant before the will ot ms mother as be vaa when a child compiled but he had reached solitude road and alie car was humming alon the lane he suddenly nn outer from his mother andre turned and want he saw made him bring the car to a quick halt ilia wife immobile lay back in her seat a ihan stream of crimson trickling down her from a wound in her mple hla mother spent her nandi in her lar one of them H revolver regarded him sl lalli the oung man could only ak a k il agonized question with hla ee I 1 have killed her the mother said quietly a further word andre ie febvre swung alie car around and dashed madly toward the city and n hospital sona conduct motive arrived at the hospital the yoong woman was at once hurried to operating room but it waa too late she waa biad mine lefebvre mak ing no effort to shield herself was arrested and her son andre his wife dead and ills mother a prisoner stopped long enough at ne hospital to claim his altes purse examine its contents to see that the were and inquire whether the ring she wore when she had left home was still on her finger questioned again 1 iter in the daiy diy mine re declared she had killed her daughter in law because she 4 driving glicr son to in report ing the tragedy the following morn ing the french newspaper described it as a of mother love another crime pass lonel As usual the case was tried in the french press long before it came to the courts and presently though still recognizing a crime of passion the newspapers news pipers became aware that they were dealing with something more than a mothers love for lier son a passion just as old hut in mine 1 febvre overshadowing any feeling she had for her offspring the star reporters assigned to the case got their first cue to the real moth e for the crime in andre conduct at the hospital when be showed such concern about ills dead cifes purse and her jewels their inquiry took a definite direction alien it was estimated tint the entire out fit of clothing worn by the millionaire at the time of her arrest could biot have exceeded in cot more than 15 and when it was learned that the boung couple had ben quite happy and altogether devoted to each other an that if anything chev had been living beneath their means ame mme ie hitter charge that antoinette was driving her son to ruin specifically revealed the nature of the passion which biad driven her to corn alt murder I 1 it hy bit in the press and begil in and during the dial there emerged the portrait of an amazing creature a sudi a breed as neither mollere nor malzac would hive dired to por tray lest ta too heavily the credence of their publics A love match the marriage of andre I 1 lefebvre and antoinette was to all ap a love matali but ame mme I 1 lefebvre ande it plain 0 o her son that she considered it a misalliance mes alliance because the fortune con eld erable was not quite to their own shortly before the wedding andra announced to his mother tint he was to leave on a honeymoon after the ceremony ame mme I 1 lefebvre threw up her arms in horror honeymoons were a waste and a needless expense she told him V ho had put such nonsense into ills head probably bluit awful girl who already was his lidid with extravagant notions however andra insisted that it decent for people in their post alon to have a honeymoon and on the following day he went to a travel bu reau and arranged for the trip it hii perhaps the first time in his life eliat the young man thoroughly under his mothers thumb had ever asserted himself and ame mme lefebvre sensed that this alien woman not only was leading her son to extravagance but wai threatening her own authority the resentment she nurtured in creased site yielded to her son a w aslies but when arhe learned that he had pro curd first class tickets for hs tramp she immediately repaired to the tour ast 1st bureau anil had them changed to second class it did not appear at nl grotesque to her that a young couple representing two of the 1 hal families in northern should travel second dasa on their honeymoon t the imd been gone onla four or five da 8 when ame mme le febvre wrote to her son that it was time he was home ou seem to think vou are rolling in gold if your wife won t come with ou come lionie alone and his in the second week of the hoap moon madams grows panicky B now mine lefebvre was grow ing decidedly pint cly t nelv was t lie incensed tant tt son had mar aled a wasteful and improvident woman but she began to entertain fears for the security of own possessions the I 1 fortune a monument to her greed which she had built stone bastone by stone franc bv franc over a period of half a century hen her son had married though it was beneath him she saw he bi innings of a new fortune which bf saving and self denial would swell the I 1 heritage to even more impressive magnitude and here h was spending freel roling in gold and perhaps destined soon to make upon her to maintain the swift and destructive pace his spendthrift wife was setting if the shadow of aime lefebvre the young couple s bonev moon it completed overcast their home afe after chev had returned aldiea molher was a casting up the household budget and finding it excess he urging retrench and fang her son ali it he coill land in the she was shocked belond word when blie found tint antoinette laid a fresh white tablecloth for each meal but it Is she whined to her son think of the laundry bill alte linen solla so quickly we have always used red tablecloths bad napkins at home they last a long time without washing she was stunned when she discovered that her lavish gift of antique furniture had been consigned by antoinette 0 o the attic and fiat alie home was tastefully furnished with new and expensive equipment the discovery led to a bitter quarrel between the women one of the farst of many to follow ame mme lefebre was not appeased when antoinette explained that she could not have used the worthless junk her mother in law had ghen her without making herself and her hus band the laughing stock of their set she was not appeased when the oung woman explained that she was spend ing largely out of her own pocket that her people were well to do and that she biad been brought up to live according to her ample means ame mme lefebre emerged from each of these quarrels alth the conviction that her eon ind married into a fain lly of and basters wasters and his wife would lead him ineata bly to his ruin yet it was brought out at the trial that alie wealthy joung couple 1 total did not emceed 4 POO a year her hatred grows in the heart of mine I 1 lefebvre there gathered a consuming hatred for her daughter in law and for the whole family which was boon to come to a head it was baided bailed which grew as slie realized she was alone in lier desperate struggle to saie the le febvre fortune her aged seventy six and long retired from basl ness was a mere pale cairon conj ot herself echoing lier protests and re sentiments sent ments fiut helpless and relying entirely on his wife to fight the men nee to their wealth he had been cowed too long by tills dominant worn an to show any fight now he was just a whining old man her son andic a war hero amny times decorated was a spineless crea ture in her presence his will broken from infancy to respond to her am perlous will alien orle day andre lefebvre an to his mother that an heir was expected it was alie spark that kindled ame mme hatred to a consuming fl iroe this alien woman who was bringing her son to ruin who waa wasting instead of a fortune was about to bring into the world another malle another waster she bought n and killed the oung woman whose condition of ferel a new menace to lier greed lefebre trial lasted only thui days hut into that short time then was packed more drama than in i whole of the hall mills trial the jur was ont only ten minutes it turning with a of guilty the audience hrolfe into cheers as tin judge pronounced the sentence tt have lier head cut off in a of the the ferit komu to die at the ID france li mati deurs |