Franklin Centre, Québec, Canada (St-Antoine-Abbé) (Starnesborough)
1934 - Quebec Parents Charged With Child Murder. Two Held Responsible For Death by Ill-Treatment, Starvation. VERDICT IS GIVEN BY CORONER'S JURY.

Girl's Body is Exhumed as Result of Rumors in District
(By Canadian Press.)
ST. ANTOINE ABBE, QUE., April 25 - Edouard Grouleau, 42, and his 30-year-old wife stood charged here Tuesday with the murder of their six-year-old daughter, Laura, who died April 14 last from starvation and ill-treatment.

A jury under Coroner L. Savage, M.D., deliberated five minutes before returning its verdict, holding the couple criminally responsible for the child's death. The coroner thereupon signed a warrant charging Groleau and his wife with the murder.

The parents were arraigned at Valleyfield, Que., today and Judge J. H. Lomay, district magistrate, will fix the date of the preliminary inquiry later.

Body Exhumed
First verdict rendered a few days after the child's death on April 14 was one of death due to coal oil poisoning, it having been proven that the child drank coal oil on March 2 last.

Following the burial here, detectives heard rumors the child had been ill-treated by her parents and an order to have the body exhumed was given by the attorney-general of the province of Quebec. Dr. Rosario Fontaine, medico-legal expert, who performed the autopsy, reported the child's body showed black and blue marks, one or which, near the ankle, he thought had been caused by a chain. Furthermore, Dr. Fontaine declared the child to have been improperly fed for some time previously.

Detectives ascertained before Tuesday's reopened inquest the only reason the child took coal oil on March 2 was that all other liquids had been refused her.

Identified Chain.
Identification of the chain with which he said Laura had often been tied was made by Joseph Groleau, brother of the accused Edouard.

Witness said he had lived with his brother for some time but left last February when he became disgusted at the cruelties to which his niece was subjected. When he left the house, he testified, his brother had jumped at his throat and tried to strange him.

St. Antoine-Abbe is a village near Ormstown, in Huntingdon county. It is situated about 40 miles south-east of Montreal.

The Winnipeg Tribune
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
April 25, 1934

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