Crime Passionnel – tragedy at Kanowna

Tragedy at Kanowna.

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE.

A shocking tragedy, the motive of which is not yet ascertainable, owing to the meager particulars at hand, was enacted at Kanowna on Tuesday afternoon. A Frenchman named Henri Lance, who was connected with the recent prostitute cases in Kalgoorlie, was arrested on Monday afternoon on a charge of vagrancy. He was brought up at the Kalgoorlie Police Court on Tuesday morning, and remanded for eight days, bail being allowed in his own surety of £50.

Whatever were Lance’s actions from the time of his remand until the arrival of the Perth express at Kalgoorlie has not been ascertained, but it is certain that he journeyed to Kanowna in that train. On arrival at that place he proceeded to the residence of a French woman named Josephine Le Loup. What it was that led up to the catastrophe has not yet transpired. It is probable that high words passed between the pair, and that Lance was excited to madness by some stinging retort of the woman. All that is known, however, is that he seized a razor and attempted to murder Le Loup by cutting her throat and arm. Having, as he thought, succeeded in his purpose, Lance turned his attention to himself, and gashed his own throat so badly almost to sever the windpipe.

Meanwhile the neighbors had been aroused, and some of them entering, found Lance lying quite dead upon the floor, and the woman unconscious and bleeding from two large wounds in the throat and arm. The police were speedily made acquainted with the sad affair, and the injured woman was removed to the hospital, where she was examined by Dr Ewing. He pronounced her to be in a dangerous condition, and intimated that he would require the services of another doctor, and would also have to administer chloroform in order to perform an operation. The body of Lance was removed to the morgue.

KANOWNA, Sept. 26 1900. The tragedy, which was reported of today, appears, from what can be gathered, to be the result of a Frenchman’s jealousy. The assassin, Henri Lance, after cutting Josephine Le Loup’s neck and throat, thought he had killed her outright; and forthwith proceeded to take his own life. With a razor he first cut one of his arms near the elbow, and then completely severed his windpipe. Finding that this did not produce death as soon as he wished he apparently fired several shots into his head from a revolver, as there were several powder marks visible near his mouth when the body was conveyed to the morgue at the hospital. An inquest was opened today, before the coroner (Mr. P. Troy) and a jury consisting of Messrs. Doolette, Grieve, and McDonald. After viewing Lance’s remains, the inquiry was adjourned until next Tuesday. The woman Le Loup, who is at present in the hospital, is in a serious condition, her neck being cut right into the cervical vertebrae, but Dr. Ewing has hopes of her ultimate recovery.

Notes:- Henri’s surname was spelled as LANCE, LANZI and LANZE. He was buried in the Kanowna Cemetery. He died at the address of Josephine La Loup, which was Lot 40 Wills Street, Kanowna. He was aged 51yrs and was a Baker by trade, he was born in Marseilles, France and had been in Australia for 3 yrs. It was reported that he had previously brought out a young girl to Kalgoorlie from France as a servant, and then forced her into prostitution.

Josephine’s surname was spelled as La Loupe and Laloupe. She was 22yrs old at the time of the attack. She was treated in the Kanowna hospital and she recovered from her injuries, and went on to marry, Quentin Augaustin Constant THOMAS in Perth in 1906. She died in Perth in 1941 aged 63yrs.