“Fait divers” – (PIP #87)

By Louise Peloquin

Daily news coverage has always included briefs about accidents, crimes and unexpected events. These human interest stories fed reader curiosity much like social media does today. Here are examples of L’Etoile’s “faits divers.”

L’Etoile – December 24, 1924

TWO LOWELL WOMEN 

ARRESTED YESTERDAY IN LAWRENCE

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     Following a car accident in Lawrence last night, Mrs. Georgiana Grenou, 34, and Mrs. Jennie Sweet, 30, both Lowell residents, were apprehended on charges of theft in the Lawrence store J.F. McGrath.

     Both appeared in Lawrence District Court this morning and both were sentenced to pay a $10 fine.

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L’Etoile – December 30, 1924

A WOMAN WHO KILLS FOUR

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Mrs. Emma Hobough, 30, kills her father, her mother, her 22-year-old brother and her own child of 3 with a lead-charged rifle. – Terrible battle in the house. – She alleges mistreatment.

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     Logansport, Ind., 30. – Refusing to respond to questions concerning the death of four family members but speaking volubly of alleged ill-treatment received at their hands, Mrs. Emma Hobough, 30, widow, was in county prison last night.

     She was arrested yesterday by Sherif Bowyer at the request of Thomas Sheets about 4 miles from the Bassler residence where, shortly after noon, her father Henry Bassler, 69; her mother Catherine Bassler, 60; her brother John Bassler, 22; and her little girl Viola Hobough, 3, were each found, heads partially smashed by a rifle discharge of lead.

     Mrs. Hobough was going to Lyman Yantis’s residence early yesterday and called Rev. Mullins, pastor of Wesleyan Methodist Church in town. Yantis said that Mrs. Hobough told the reverend that her brother had thrown her to the ground and that if she had a rifle, she would kill him. Yantis said that he had paid no attention to Mrs’ Hobough’s threats because the family was constantly quarrelling.

     Yesterday, when the neighbours noticed that there was no sign of life around the Bassler residence, they inspected and discovered the body of Bassler senior and of his granddaughter Viola in the house. Shortly afterwards, the bodies of Mrs. Bassler and her son John were found close to the barn. It is believed that the four were killed inside the house where traces of a horrific battle were found.

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L’Etoile – Front page March 2, 1925 

SHE SHOOTS HER BROTHER WHO  ATTEMPTED SUICIDE YESTERDAY

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An English vicar tries to commit suicide. – His sister, who saw him dying in agony, ends his suffering.

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     Leicester, England, 2. – An extraordinary tragedy, which reopens the question of justifying taking away life in special circumstances, took place in a Hungarton, Leicestershire vicarage. 

     Reverend William Jettison, vicar, returned to the rectory for his breakfast yesterday after having distributed communion. Later, he retired in his study where a pistol shot resounded a few moments later. The vicar’s sister, Miss Jettison, who, with a maid, lives with her brother, went to the study and found him on the floor.

The rectory does not have a telephone so Miss Jettison ran to the post office and called a doctor who lived four miles away. She immediately returned to the rectory and prevented anyone from entering the study.

     A short while later another shot rang out and Miss Jettison came out of the study.

     “I asked him if he would survive and he did not respond” she said. “I saw that he was dying in agony so I shot him to relieve his suffering.”

     Miss Jettison was arrested.

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L’Etoile – March 2, 1925

50 PEOPLE LEAVE A HOTEL IN FLAMES

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Guests and employees came very close to being imprisoned in a Salem fire.

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Salem. – Fifty guests and employees at Hotel Essex on Essex Street in Salem came very close to getting caught in the building early this morning when a fire broke out in front of the Daniel A. Donahue clothing store located on the ground floor.

     The guests, dressed only in night gowns, fled into the streets leaving their belongings and suitcases in their rooms while two employees, an elderly man and a woman, were rescued from the third floor corridors by firefighters.

     A great many guests exited the hotel by the fire station ladders but most of them managed to force their way through corridors filled with smoke.

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L’Etoile – March 2, 1925

A MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Houlton, 2. – Ralph Burleigh, brother of lieutenant Albert R. Burleigh, U.S.N. who was found in his cabin aboard a naval transport in Wallego, California with a hole caused by a projectile to the head, denied that he had received a letter from the young lieutenant announcing his intended suicide.

     “The last letter I received from my brother was joyous and made no mention of any trouble” said Mr. Burleigh. “I did not know, and I only found out after my brother’s death, that his friend lieutenant Kennedy was in trouble. I heard that my brother wanted to defend lieutenant Kennedy but that is all I know. I still think that my brother’s death was accidental.”

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L’Etoile – March 2, 1925

1. POTHIER AND MR. SOUCY GUARDED BY AGENTS

     Woonsocket, R.I., 2. – The news spread that governor Pothier and mayor Soucy of Woonsocket are guarded by detectives and that their residence is “under police surveillance day and night.”

     Chief of police Côté refused to give details on the subject saying that it was police business and of no one’s concern.

     Nevertheless, we know that there are detectives close to both residences and that they politely request lingering passers-by to move along.

     The reason would be, rumour has it, that the two may have offended whiskey salesmen and gambling establishment owners with the cleanup campaign they undertook and that the detectives stand guard to avoid all attempted reprisals.

Neither side has provided details. 

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L’Etoile – March 2, 1925

SAD DEATH  OF A RENOWN AVIATOR

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     Bayonne, 2. – Roger Rousserail, the aviator known as the Périgord avenger, was killed yesterday close to Mont-de-Marsan during a flight.

     Since the armistice, Rousserail was at the service of a travelling circus for which he performed acrobatic stunts. Despite a violent storm, the aviator wanted to execute his flight as usual. At an altitude of 1500 feet, a wing of his plane was ripped off at the moment that he closed the loop. The plane crashed to the ground and the aviator died instantly.

     In October 1915, Rousserail had downed famous German aviator Adolphe Pégond.

     Rousserail’s wife and two children were present at the moment of the accident. (1) 

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1) Translations by Louise Peloquin.