It is now more than a fortnight since Sir Jack
Drummond and his wife and daughter were murdered, and to all appearance the French police are as far from making an arrest as ever. Appearance may, of course, be deceptive, and in any case there have been many murder mysteries in this country as well as France that have had to remain unsolved. It may also be that the police authorities engaged on the investigation are morally certain of the identity of the murderer, but have no evidence that would justify them in arresting and charging him. French police methods differ in various respects from British. There is, for one thing, more disposition to talk freely to journalists and seek their co-operation. Signs are not lack- ing in this case that the papers have been used in the attempt to create a psychological atmosphere that may so affect the criminal as to cause him to give himself up. Thus on August 8th police chiefs declared an arrest to be imminent. On August 11th Captain Sebeille, of the Marseilles Flying Squad, said, " We have the man, but not his name," meaning apparently that it was certain that the killer was a local nran but that the police could not identify him. On August 19th the police set about reconstructing the crime a second time. For whatever reason they wanted Domenici, a local farmer, to take the part of the murderer. For whatever reason Domenici refused. The police are being considerably criticised in their own country. How far they deserve that is hard to say.
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