AT THE SEZNEC TRIAL THE WIFE OF THE ACCUSED DEFENDED HER HUSBAND BUT WITHOUT SKILL

The servant Angèle Labigou also came to testify in favor of her employer, to whom, she declared, she would willingly lend more money.

THE WITNESSES FROM LE HAVRE WERE THEN HEARD

BREST, October 30. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. Mr. Pouliguen, the notary of Pont-Labbé, continues his testimony which relates to the relations of his brother-in-law Quémeneur with Seznec. Mr. Quémeneur did not know the typewriter. Only Seznec knew how to type. It was indeed Seznec who telephoned Quémeneur and not Quémeneur who called Seznec on the telephone before leaving for Paris.

The case of the automobiles destined for Russia was so well presented that it seemed serious. When he went to see Seznec, after Quémeneur's disappearance, Mr. Pouliguen told him that he had sent a check to his brother-in-law. "What proves to me," he told him, "that my brother did not arrive in Paris, is that he did not collect this check." Then Seznec replied: "I knew that Quémeneur had asked you for a check for 50,000 francs. Thus, Mr. Pouliguen must observe, Seznec told me the amount before I declared it myself. (Long sensation.)
— What do you have to say?
— I never said the amount of the check. My testimony on this subject is formal. I will not return to it.

Mrs. Seznec at the bar
But here is Mrs. Seznec at the bar. She is being heard for information purposes, not as a witness.
While Seznec remained impassive at his bench, his wife first declared that she had bought dollars during the war. Her husband then told her that he had paid them to Quémencur to pay part of the purchase price of Traonez and, on June 22, he showed her the deed of sale:
"I wrote it down in a notebook," she said, "but I don't have it anymore, the police took everything away." (Laughter.)
Mrs. Seznec quickly became animated:
"Since the police came to our house, everything has been upside down." (Laughter.)
The attorney general protested:
"It's easy to tell a story like that now." (More laughter.)
"Oh! If you start by scaring her," interrupted Mr. Marcel Kahn, "she won't talk anymore."
"Yes," continued Mrs. Seznec, "that's the first time I've said it." But during the investigation I was told: Answer... Shut up... You've talked enough... So I couldn't explain myself as I wanted.
The president to Seznec:
— You knew this little notebook well, the existence of which your wife reveals to us.
— I don't know it since it's my wife who buys it. (laughter).
— Come on, madam, continues the president, you were forced to admit that you lied to the police.
— It was out of pride, not out of interest, retorts Mrs. Seznec, that I lied. My room wasn't done when these gentlemen came to search. So I sent them to the attic, telling them that the box was there. That's why I didn't tell the whole truth. (Laughter)..

The typewriter
Mrs. Seznec comes to the discovery of the typewriter that she doesn't recognize. She complains that the police called her a thief and told her that she would go to the penal colony. But she does not provide any details about the facts themselves. She denies everything and repeats her initial statements in a general way. She is not intimidated. She explains that her husband had stupid lawsuits because they were angry with him, but that his financial situation was excellent.
"However, he was seized," observes the president. "Tell us how."

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THE SEZNEC AFFAIR IN QUIMPER
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Mrs. Seznec then gets lost in endless explanations. And the story of the dollars remains obscure. Tired of hearing empty remarks, the president talks about the promise to sell the Traonez property.
"Now tell us about your husband's return," the president asks. "What did he tell you?"
"Oh! if you think I remember!" retorts Mrs. Seznec. "What I can say is that my husband had no interest in Mr. Quémeneur's disappearance, that's easy to understand. (Laughter.)

But now the witness assures us that she did not know the Quémeneurs.
Miss Jenny Quémeneur is called to the stand. She confirms Mrs. Seznec's statement on this point. Without transition, Mrs. Seznec moves on to her husband's unfortunate attempts to bribe witnesses.
"He was excusable," she says, "tortured as he was in his prison."
But she nonetheless denies the steps she took in this direction at her husband's instigation. However, she acknowledges that Rospars gave her the receipt drawn up by Seznec in his prison and which was to support the alibi of June 13.

At 11:45 a.m., the hearing is suspended.
The typewriter again When the hearing resumes at 1:30 p.m., Mr. Alizon, the civil party's lawyer, asks Mrs. Seznec who would have brought the typewriter into her home. The police? The Quémeneur family?
"I can only say one thing," Mrs. Seznec replies, "the machine did not belong to me." Then, on a question from Mr. Kahn, Mrs. Seznec complains again about the lack of consideration shown by the police officers towards her. The deposition ends. We will now hear from the servant:

Angèle Lebigou. After the mistress, the servant
— Was your boss in a good financial situation? asks the president.
— Yes, replies Miss Lebigou. However, he borrowed 5,000 francs from you. Did he give them back to you?
— I did not ask for them.
— You asked for them, replies Mr. Guillot, the attorney general, and very energetically in a letter, which is in my file.
Angèle declares that she has only good things to say about her boss, a good "good man" to whom she would have lent more money if she had had any.
— What shape were the dollars? asks the civil party.
— They were large coins like hundred-cent pieces, with a bird on them, replies the witness. (Laughter.)
— Were Seznec's effects very clean when he returned from his trip? asks the attorney general.
— Yes, yes, answers the servant very quickly, there was just dust and that's all!

Other witnesses
We then hear Mr. Belz, liquidator-solicitor in Morlaix, who explains the financial situation of the accused without managing to make this situation very clear to the uninitiated.
Now here is the driver Samson, who was in the service of Seznec. He knows nothing about his boss's trip to Paris and little about the return from Morlaix. Did he try to find people who were favorable to the accused? Samson denies it. On the other hand, he says he saw the box of dollars and he adds:

"It's even the only thing I saw."

The hearing is suspended for a quarter of an hour. When the hearing resumes, Mr. Cunat, police inspector of the mobile brigade of Rennes, is confronted at his request with Mmes Lebigou and Seznec.
"I want to protest," said Mr. Cunat. "I have always been correct with Mme Seznec. I never threatened Miss Angèle Lebigou with a revolver, and I never offered her money. Miss Angèle Lebigou approaches Mr. Cunat:
— Yes! Yes! You threatened me! she shouts. (Laughter and rumors.) Yes! Yes! That's true! a voice in the audience repeats. It is Samson who approves in the room. Mr. Marcel Kahn puts an end to this incident and a new witness is called, Mr. Deheneau.
— This young man claims to have recognized Seznec on the train. from Le Havre, June 13, 1923. The president asks Mr. Deheneau:
— Look at the accused, do you recognize him?
— It's him, sir. (Rumors).

The witnesses from Le Havre
In a delicate and childish voice, but with a frightening precision, Miss Hérauval, typist for Mr. Chenouard, gives an overwhelming testimony which confirms the previous ones.
— It is indeed he, she says, who made me try the machine and who bought it.

SEZNEC. — That the witnesses recognize me is not otherwise surprising. They all saw me at the investigation. Miss Feuilley, cashier for Mr. Chenouard, received the price of the typewriter from Seznec. She recognizes the accused without hesitation.
SEZNEC. — The witness is mistaken.
THE PRESIDENT. — Here are five witnesses who are mistaken:
Mr. Hus, employed at the telegraph office in Le Havre, who received the telegram of June 13, does not recognize Seznec.
— It is indeed the same type of man, he said, but I cannot be positive.
The President hopes that the hearing of witnesses will be closed tomorrow evening. The court, in any case, will sit on Saturday and, if necessary, on Sunday, if the judgment cannot be given on Saturday night. The hearing is adjourned at 6:30 p.m. and adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m.