MRS. VICTORINE MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD

Crowley Signal June 25, 1904

Note: The original was in poor condition. Some of the words are missing; attempt to glean the gist of the account.

Rayne Louisiana June 20, 1004

The murder of Victorine Gautreaux which occurred here Sunday morning has caused great excitement throughout this _____ today. The assassin is still unknown and up to ___ oclock this afternoon no clue has been secured by Sheriff Murrel or his deputies.

The particulars concerning the murder_______ near as can be learned are as follows:

(The) murdered woman lived about 8 miles from the city. She left her home Sunday with a neighbor ______husband was away. She took ______ her ____ small childen a boy _______girl Saturday night she slept ____ side of a window, open from the ________. The assassin climbed to the top of ________ and shot downward through the window striking the woman in the _______ of the neck, the bullet cutting (the) artery, going downward and ______ _______ back bone. She lived but __________ moments after the shot was fired. Her children were found lying be_____ the same bed.

Assassin had used a small grist __________ a ladder by which he might ________the top of the window. On this _______ a bucket of water. After firing the (shot), in hurry to escape, the _______was kicked over the pail, and when ________ the footprint in the sand ___________ the guilty party to be a man. _________ Mouton, the parish coroner, who held the inquest over the body of Mrs. Gautreaux declared that she came to her _________ by the hand of some unknown _______.

Gautreaux was separated from her husband and they are said to have often _____ trouble while they were living together. ________ who know the deceased say _______ was a woman of good character _____ hunted for trouble.

Sheriff Murrel and his deputies are ______ today employing every means to _______ the crime to the proper party.

________ officers are at a standstill in the investigation of the murder of Mrs. Gautreaux, committed near Rayne Sunday morning. Not the slightest clue to _______murderer had been obtained. One ___persons saw a man on horseback _______ at a furious rate from the direction of the house where the _______had been perpetrated, but none of _______ were able to recognize the rider. A footprint of mans shoe size seven, not uncommon _______and had nothing particular _____ to it to furnish a clue. For the ________ the officers are hoplessly in the _____ and it looks as though this case _______ into a long list of murder _______ never to be unraveled.

________ theries that were sprung about the crime was first discovered have _______. One of them that ________murdered former husband, Victorin Touchet, with the crime is ridiculous as it is unjust. Mr. _______

is an invalid, dying with _________. He has been confined to his _______ several months and at the time of the murder and for several days ________ had been in a state of unconsiousness, besides, he had no motive for the _______. He and the dead woman had separated for several years; he had ________ a second time and had a family with his second wife. Add to this that _______ families were on the most ______ terms, visited together and _______ neighborly acts of kindness for _____ and in all probability or possi___ of the crime having originated from ________ is dissolved.

_______ the theory that the murder was ________ by Adam Hanks, a young ________with whom Mrs. Gautreaux had trouble last January, seems to ______ with a like fate. Hanks ac____ the night of the 18^th ______in_____ have been traced and show that he _______not possibly have committed the crime. The fact that Hanks had trouble with Mrs. Gautreaux at a dance given New Years night in which she soundly boxed the young mans __________ and the further fact that he then __________ a threat that he would kill her________ never got the chance, led suspicion to _______ him. It is positively learned __________ that Hanks left home early the _______ before the murder and went to ________ near Lafayette, fifteen miles ________the scene of the crime and that ________ there all night returning the _______day. So far as is known he is the _______ person who had a motive for _______, and with the above explanation __________actions on the night of the murder _______ substantiated by reliable witnesse, _________ seems complete.

Manual Stewert, who lives three ______ north from this city is a brother-in-law of the murdered woman, was in the city today and gave some additional details of the crime. Mr. Steward says the murder was committed about 1:25 oclock Sunday morning. The woman with whom Mrs. Gautreaux was staying heard the shot and heard her guest scream. She hastened to the room and at first did not call for help, not realizing how seriously the injured woman was hurt. She stayed in the room about five minutes before she started for help and then was gone about fifteen minutes. Mrs. Gautreaux was living when she left the house, but when she returned was dead.

Mrs. Stewart stated that the trouble between Mrs. Gautreaux and Hanks grew out of the latters abuse of a crippled boy who was present at the dance last New Years night. Mrs. Gautreaux asked Hanks to desist and he refused, calling her a foul epithet, whereupon she, being a large , strong woman, slapped him a couple of times and would probably have meted out more punishment had not some of the others stopped the fracas. Mr. Stewart says Hanks threatened then, in the presence of witnesses, to kill Mrs. Gautreaux the first opportunity offered. Aside from this one case, Mr. Stewart knows of no one who had any motive for murdering Mrs. Gautreaux.

FOUR ARRESTED

Crowley Signal, July 2, 1904

Four arrests were made in the Gautreaux murder case. The parties are Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Credeur, in whose house Mrs. Gautreaux was murdered: Clobule Doucet and Tobert Comeaux. The latter two are the same parties were erroneously reported arrested last Saturday, though at that time the names were withheld from the public for oblivious reasons.

The affadivits on which the accused were arrested charges the crime of willful a malicious murder, and was made by Joseph Gautreaux, father of the murdered woman. The evidence is largely circumstantial and founded on suspicion. Mr. Gautreaux has been tireless in his efforts to trace out the crime, and in this has been ably seconded by Constable J.H. Andrus of Rayne, who made the arrests. Mr. Gautreaux and Mr. Andrus believe they have got the right parties and expect to be able to gather enough evidence to convict. Their work has been carefully and secretly done and promises a reward for their trouble.

The officers have been accused parties under surveillance for some time and have only delayed the arrest to accumulate all the evidence possible. There are various rumors about the trouble between Mrs. Gautreaux and the accused, but no definite statement of the nature has been given out for publication. The officers are reserved in the matter, as they fear to prejudice the case all grounds for the suspicion against the parties are withheld.

The prisoners were brought to this city last night and placed in the parish jail where they are carefully guarded. Credeur and his wife are confined on the lower floor while Doucet and Comeaux are in cells on the second floor.

Further developments in the case are expected in a few days.