Show miserly mother kills sons son s wife shoots shoot young woman fox for having heir to fortune she hoarded new kew york almost on the very tiny lir billat arl mr frances stevens nail hall gray fired wealthy and socially prominent appeared before a jury in somerville K J charged with the killing of her ausband boti bus band sime guillaume lefebvre arity ray haired a millionaire and a member of one of tile the most prominent families lies in northern france appeared before the assize court in the city of polls foual charged with fill tile the murder of her ber young and beautiful daughter lo in tow law says ay the new york world the trials were conducted simul for gome days and while in hi this country a public was wan following fol lowine the grim details of the ual hall mills murder mystery all france was hy by the most sensational of at since the trial of landru the french bluebeard tile bie rears ago the parallel between the die two cases to IB impressive in both instances the principals were nomen of who becal mii odthe of the dignity of their age and the prestige of the large fortunes they commanded seemed secure against any misadventure with the law foth both were charged with a cap etsil crime against one of their kin kia by marriage and in both ther ewas the spectacle of two men luen brothers in the case of mrs lull hall burband buhl but moil band and son la in the case of mme ame lefebvre defending their women kin against tile the accusation vt of a heinous and nd indefensible crime both cases presented a 11 baffling mystery the hall flail case a mastery of fact in which the issue was the identity of the murderer the lefebvre ease casa a psychological mystery in the motive for the french confessed crime baffled the th best legal bruins brains of france an amazing character but here the parallel between the hall lefebvre cases ends for when hen finally filially tile the aged motive was mas unraveled there was revealed to the world an amazing psychopathic character such as only a balzac could have created the lefebvre l murder could have been committed only in a latin country and the hall trial muffled in the silence hence of the defendants was wa a dull show indeed compared with the le ie abre trial en livered continually hy by latin latin outbursts of passion in both tile the principals and tile the audience and repeated and frantic tIff orta by the judges to control the uncontrollable exhibitions of french temperament throughout tile the trial exactly one year ago in tile the fall of 19 5 ilme guillaume lefebvre Lo febvre learned from ier son a secret that lie he had kept for live months that his w lie ife antoinette lefebvre was soon to give birth to an heir to tile the com tined lefebvre fortunes on that ery cry day mme ame lefebvre Lc febvre boug bought glit a revolver and soon after writing to tier lier son asked him to call on tier her bring ills his wife with him and take them hot both tor for a drive in his car the son obedient to his mothers wishes appeared several days later at t the paternal home with ills his young wife and the three set out for a drive andre lefebvre occupied the front seat alone his wife and ills his mother sat gat together in the rear when they passed through the city gates and emerged into tile suburbs ame mme IA lafebvre febvre requested that her ber son drive long giong the path known knon as solitude road andre without inquiring into die reasons tor for this strange still to lo his as pliant before the commending will of ills flis mother as lie var RB when ben a 11 child compiled KM but when he had reached solitude road and tie the car was buma jing along the dem deir ted lane lie he suddenly heard an outcry from his mother andre turned and what lie he saw made him tiring firing the car to a quick halt his wife lie immobile lay back to tier her teat seat it thin stream of crimson trickling down tier her cheek from a wound in tier temple ills mother tier her hands handi paralyzed in her lap one of them a revolver regarded him st rl I fenily ily tile young ninn man could only ask aik ils agonized question with his eyes 1 I bove killed her the hie mother suld sold quietly without a further farther word andre lefebvre swung the aar around nod and dashed madly loudly toward the city arld a hospital sons conduct shows show motive arrived at the b altal ohp young woman was ass at once hurried to the operating room but it was too late she was lead dead mine hime lefebvre making no effort to shield herself was arrested and her son BOI andre his wife dead and hs his mother a pr prisoner Noner stopped long enough tit nt the hospital to claim his cifes purse parse examine its contents to see that they vere intact and inquire whether the ring she wore when bell she he hild had left home was still on oil tier her finger questioned again hiter hirer in the lay mine lefebre re declared slie she had killed tier her daughter in law becan se she wits wn driving tier her fon to ruin in reporting the tragedy the following morning the french newspapers described it as a crime of mother love another crime pass louel As usual tile the ca case cae e was tried in the french press long before it came to the courts and presently arck antly though still recognizing a crime of passion tile newspapers became aware that they were dealing with something more than a mothers love for her son it fin passion slon just as old but in mme ame lefebre ie overshadowing any feeling she me had for her offspring the star reporters assigned to th the e case got their first cue to the real motive for the crime in andre ivres conduct fit at the hospital when he showed such concern about his dead cifes purse and her jewels their inquiry took n R definite direction when it was e estimated that the entire outfit of clothing worn by the millionaire at tile lie time of her arrest could not cot have exceeded in cost more than 15 and when it was learned that the young couple had b azon en quite happy and altogether to each oilier and that if anything they had been living beneath their means sime le fe byres feb bitter charge that antoinette was driving tier her son to rut ruin n specifically revealed tile the nature of the passion which had bad driven tier her to commit murder kit bit by bit in the lie press and legal investigations wid and during the trial there emerge emerged the portrait of an amazing creature a female such a monster of greed as neither mollere moliere nor balzac would haie base dared to portroy portray lest they tax too heavily the credence of their publics A love match tile marriage of andre lefeber vr and antoinette was to all appearances pe arances a loe match but mine lime lefebvre in made nole it plain to her son that hint she considered it a misalliance mes alliance because the llullen fortune though considerable sid erable was not quite equal to their 0 oin n shortly before tile the wedding andre announced to ills mother that he was war to leave on a short honeymoon after afier the lie ceremony hime lefebvre threw up tier her arms in horror honeymoons were a waste and EL a needless expense she told him who had put such nonsense into his bead probably ill unit it awful girl who ho already was filling his head with e extravagant nelt notions ions however andre insisted that it was only decent for people in their position to have a honeymoon and on file he following day lie he went to a travel bureau and arranged for the trip it was perhaps the first time in his life that eliat the young man thoroughly under ill his mothers thumb had bad ever asserted himself and sinie lefebvre sensed that this eliell ailed women not only was wai leading if her son to extravagance but was wan thi her own authority the resentment she nurtured increased slie she yielded to her sons ions ittis hghes hes but when ahe he learned that he and procured first dabs clubs tickets tor for his travels slie she immediately repaired to the tourist bureau anti and had them changed to in second class it did not appear at or air grotesque to her that a young couple representing two of tile most tin families in northern france should second elass on oil their honeymoon the newlyweds had been gone only four or five days when mme ame le ie febvre wrote to her ton son that it was time he was home you seem to 0 o think you ore are rolling in cold it if your iti wife ire wont ont come with you come colne holne lone alone and this in the second week of the lie honeymoon madame grows grow panicky by now noa mine Ik l febvre wan waa growing decidedly pon panicky letty not only win was she idle incensed that tr ler sou son bad married a wate fateful ful ond and improvident woman but she began to entertain team for the security of their own pas possessions sess tons the Lefelt lefebvre ivre fortune a monument to tier her greed which the had built clone alone by stone franc by franc over a api polled lod of half a century when tier her son had married though it wn t beneath kenenth him she rhe taw saw the bol t ginning of a new fortune which by bf saving anti and self rolf denial would well swell i tile HIP Lerot ivre hesitate herl heri taze tate to even more impressive and here her ho be was traveling vp spending Priding freely rol rolling in III gold 1 and perhaps destined soon koon to make demands upon tier her to maintain the lie swift and destructive pace ills spendthrift wife was waa setting if t etc shadow of note lefebvre cletu clouded ded the young cou couples plus horry honey moon it completely overcast their howe ife after they had returned Ait dres mother we was a frequent visitor canting up lip the household hoose hold budget find and it evro silve dve urging retrenchment and sail sol nir nt warning M her son lion lint alint he would in the slip slie was shot ked beyond words when she found that antoinette laid a fresh white tablecloth for each trient meal allut put it Is scandalous she whined to her son BOD think of the laundry bill white linen soils to so quickly we ve have always used red tablecloths sad iss napkins tit at home they lost last a lona iona time without uR washing shing 11 she was stunned when she discovered that her lavish girl gift of antique furniture hild had been consigned by antoinette to file attic and vint that ue the home was tastefully taste folly furnished with new and expensive equipment the discovery led to a bitter quarrel between the women one of the first of many to follow alme lefebvre was not appeased when antoinette explained that she could not have used the worthless junk her mother in law had given ven tier her without making herself and her husband tile the laug launs bIng stock of their set she was riot not appeased when the young women woman explained that she was spending largely out of her own pocket that tier lier people were well to do lind and that she had been brought up to live according to 10 her ample means lime alme lefebvre emerged from each of these quarrels with the conviction that tier her son had married into a family of spendthrifts and wasters basters and that ills his wife would lend lead him ineata bly to ills his ruin yet it wils was brought out at the trial abat tile the wealthy young couplet couples total expenditures did not exceed a year her hatred grows in the heart of mine lefebvre there gathered a consuming hatred for tier her daughter in law and for tile the whole family which was soon to come to a head it was hatred which grew as she realized slie she was alone in her desperate struggle to save the lefebvre fortune tier ler aged bus huiban bon 1 seventy geventa six and long retired from busl bus ness was a mere pale paje carbon copy of 0 herself echoing her protests and re sentiments sent ments but helpless and relying entirely on his wife to fight the men ace to their wealth he bad been cowed too long by this dominant woman to show chow any tight fight now lie he was just a whining old man her eon andre a war hero many times decorated was wag a spineless creature in her presence his will broken from infancy to respond to her imperious will then one day andre lefebvre announced to ills mother that an heir was expected it was the spark that thai kindled mme ame hatred to a consuming lame flame this alien women woman who wits was bringing lier her son to ruin who abo was wit sting instead of building a fortu was about to bring luto into the world another adlle another waster she bought a revolver slid and killed tile young woman whose condition of a new gue tince to her greed the lefebvre Ie febvre trial lasted only foul days daya but into that short time there ther was parked packed more drama than in I 1 whole month 11 of the hall mills trial s t the jury was out only ten returning with a verdict of guilty the audience b broke ro k into cheers as lit judge pronounced the cf rp to t have tier her head cut off I 1 in n a publia ab 1 square of tile the city the first to dle die at tile guillotine lo in froude it many years |