A Crime in France That May Solve a Mystery.
London, April 8.
The barbarous murder of "Helena Montana", a disreputable woman at Hersthal
near Aix-la-Chapelle, has created great
excitement. The woman was killed in some mysterious manner in the open
street under the eyes of the passers-by. The throat
was cut from ear to ear. The body was disembowelled and otherwise
mutilated after the fashion of Jack the Ripper. The
unfortunate woman was drinking with a Chinaman all the afternoon in a low
den and the pair parted apparently on friendly
terms. It is supposed that the Chinaman subsequently laid in wait for and
murdered her. When the body was found at midnight
the blood lay in stagnant pools on the pavement all around it. No outcries
were heard by those living in the vicinity and
none of the neighbors could throw a particle of light on the mystery. The
police arrested thirty laborers of the Chinese
colony on suspicion if having been accessory to the murder. The London
police department is much interested in this crime on
account of its similarity to the murders committed by Jack the Ripper and
sent detectives yesterday to trace the scenes of
the last Whitechapel crime, taking the details of the Hebersthal murder
along with them for comparison. A reporter who
accompanied the officers created great excitement by relating the story of
the Hebersthal outrage and women and children
flocked about him, expressing their hopes that Jack was at last
discovered.
