Weidman, Eugene

Born in Frankfurt, in Germany, in the family of a businessman. After the outbreak of World War I, he was sent to live with his grandparents; at this time he began to steal. Hiding from military service, he moved to Paris , then to Canada . In Canada, he was arrested for robbery, he spent a year in prison, after which he was deported to his homeland.

In Germany (more precisely, in the protectorate of Saarland ), Eugene also had problems with the law; he had to spend five years in Saarbrücken for robbery . In prison, he met two future accomplices: Roger Million ( Fr. Roger Million ) and Jean Blanc ( Fr. Jean Blanc ).

After being released from prison, they decided to work together. With their craft, they chose the abduction of wealthy tourists in France for ransom. For this purpose, they rented a villa in Saint-Cloud , near Paris. However, the first attempt at the abduction ended in failure, their victim put up desperate resistance and broke free. The second attempt was more successful.

On July 21, 1937, Weidman met Jean De Koven , a dancer from the United States . Gene lived in New York , where she taught ballet and classical dance, and came to Europe with her aunt. At the Paris exhibition, she met Eugene, who worked there as a translator, who introduced herself to Siegfried. He impressed de Coven, and she wrote to her friend:

I just met a charming and intelligent German named Siegfried. Maybe I will play one of the Wagnerian roles, who knows? I am going to meet him tomorrow at his villa in a beautiful place, next to the famous mansion donated by Josephine Napoleon ...

During a date on July 23, at the villa, Jin photographed her gentleman (later the camera was found near the body), and Weidman strangled her, and then buried her in the garden of the villa. The kidnappers took the money found from the murdered woman - $ 430 and 300 francs in traveler’s checks, after which they went to Million Colette Tricot’s mistress.

Soon, Aunt Gene, with whom she lived, received a letter demanding a ransom of $ 500 for her niece. She immediately connected the police to the case, but despite new letters and phone calls, the search was unsuccessful. Brother Gene Henry urgently arrived in France and offered a reward of 10,000 francs for any information about the whereabouts of his sister. But everything was inconclusive ^[1] .

In the meantime, Weidman committed a new murder. On September 1, 1937, he hired a driver named Joseph Coffey to take him to the French Riviera , but shot him in the back of the head in a forest outside Tours . The production became 2500 francs ^[1] .

Already on September 3, the next murder was committed. Together with Million Weidman, using a job offer, he lured a nurse, Janine Keller, into a forest cave in Fontainebleau . There, Janine was shot in the back of the head, and the criminals got hold of 1,400 francs in cash and a diamond ring.

On October 16, 1937, Weidman and Millon agreed to meet with young theater producer Roger Leblond on the pretext of financing his new show. The meeting resulted in a shot in the back of the head Leblond and 5,000 francs, inherited by criminals.

On November 22, 1937, Weidmann killed and robbed his acquaintance from his last stay in prison, Fritz Frommer. He, like past victims, was shot in the back of the head and then buried in the garden of the villa.

Five days later, Weidman killed a real estate agent Raymond Lesobre, showing a "wealthy" client a villa in Saint Cloud . As a result, Weidman made a fortune of another 5,000 francs ^[1] .

However, the assassination of Lesobra was the last. According to Weidman’s business card, which he left in Lesobra’s office, the national security department went on the trail of the killer. Already on December 8, 1937 , returning home, Weidman discovered at the door of two police officers who were waiting for him. Pretending to invite them into the house, he shot three times at unarmed police officers injuring one of them. However, the injuries were not too serious, and the police managed to knock down the criminal, and then neutralize him with the help of the blows of the hammer lying at the entrance ^[1] . ^[2]

Having regained consciousness, Weidman confessed to all crimes. The only murder that caused him regret was the murder of Gene de Coven. With tears, he told:

She was very sweet and until the last moment had no idea ... When I reached for her throat, she went limp like a doll.

- ^[1]

His accomplices were detained. Weidman showed the hidden bodies.

On December 31, 1937, Gene de Coven was buried in New York.

The trial of the Weidman, Millon, Blanc and Tricot gang was the most high-profile case since the time of the "Blue Beard" by Henry Landry eighteen years earlier. The newspaper Paris-Soire hired the famous writer Colette to write an essay about the murderer, who described the process ^[1] .

The defense was powerless, and on March 31, 1939 the verdict was announced. Eugene Weidman and Roger Million were sentenced to death . Jean Blanc received 20 months in prison, and Colette Tricot was acquitted.

On June 16, French President Albert Lebrun rejected the Weidmann pardon, but commuted Million to a life sentence.

On June 17, 1939, Eugene Weidman was executed with the help of a guillotine on the square near Saint-Pierre Prison in Versailles . The murderer was executed by the French executioner Jules Henri Defurno. Among the public present at the execution, there was subsequently the famous British actor Christopher Lee , who was then 17 years old ^[3] .

Those wishing to see the execution gathered in the square in the evening, and soon in the nearby cafes the liquor ended. A huge crowd gathered, the noise from which came even to the prisoner's cell. At two in the morning the gendarmes tried to clear the area for the erection of the guillotine. In a crush, a woman suffered, but the crowd remained standing. The authorities had to clear the area with the forces of the national guard. There were problems with the assembly of the guillotine. And after the execution, according to Christopher Lee, some broke through the cordon to wet the handkerchiefs in the blood of the executed.

The execution took place with a delay of 45 minutes. There were rumors that the delay was deliberately caused so that the sun could rise, and photographers were able to take photographs of the convict and execution. To top it all, it turned out that in one of the apartments, whose windows looked onto the square, a movie camera was installed, and the execution was captured on camera, there were scandals with the press. The result was a ban on public executions in France.

• Michel Ferracci-Porri. Beaux Ténèbres - La Pulsion du Mal d'Eugène Weidmann . - Editions Normant, 2008 .-- 412 p. - ISBN 978-2-915685-34-3 .
• F. Tennyson Jesse. Comments On Cain (New York: Collier Books; London: Collier-Macmillan, Ltd., 1948, 1964), 158p., P. 99-158, Eugen Weidmann: A Study in Brouhaha.

• Eugene Weidman