Marguerite Diablano, the murderess of Madame Riel, in Park Lane,
was on Friday found guilty and sentenced to death. The evidence differed little from that already known to the public, but the jury considered that the crime had not been premeditated, but had been committed in a fit of rage, or in revenge for some abuse uttered by Madame Rid. The Judge also in his summing- up appeared to agree with the prisoner's counsel that there was not sufficient evidence to prove any plan of robbery. The jury therefore added to their verdict a recommendation to mercy, which the judge said would be forwarded to the proper quarter. He had, however, carefully explained to the jury that mere abuse, however annoying or disgusting, could not by English law reduce murder to manslaughter, or in fact extenuate wilful murder at all.
Previous page
