Today’s Collectible Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
The following is the tale of Emile-Julien Delahaëf, 22, an assistant brick maker and stamp collector, who was murdered and robbed by Guillaume-Louis-Joseph Aubert, 30, a morphine addict, publicist, novelist, and his accomplice Marguérite Dubois, 26, a former waitress, in Paris on May 14, 1896.
On May 21, 1896, a large and heavy case arrived during the day at the small station of Couvill, and, not being claimed by any one of the travelers, was placed in the baggage room. It was noticed as emitting a suspicious odor, and, consequently, was opened by order of the authorities. The case contained a trunk, and in the latter there was discovered a corpse, partly naked and doubled up; the head had been smashed by hatchet blows. The next day, the lugubrious parcel was called for by the passengers, a young man and a young woman, who had brought it from Paris. Arrested at once, they could not deny their crime nor conceal their identity: the man is named Aubert and his companion Marguerite Dubois.
The Body of Delahaëf
It was then learned with surprise that the assassin and his victim were frequenters of the Stamp Bourse (marketplace), and that it was to obtain possession of a collection of postage stamps that Aubert had committed a crime.
Not knowing how to get rid of the body, the murderer had for several days carted it about in cabs, shut up in the trunk. From the Avenue de Versailles he took it to the Montparnasse station, removed it from there to take it to the baggage room of the Lyons Railroad station; the next day he took the sinister package to a packer to have it covered with a second case. He finally decided to take it to the St. Lazare station and thence to Couville with him, evidently intending to throw it into the sea.
Aubert is thirty years of age, of medium height, slender, with dark complexion and sharp eyes; a twitching of the face causes him to be remembered at once by those who have had any dealings with him. He came from a family of easy means, of Saint Julien, Medoc, soon dissipated a small patrimony, took to cheating, and went into various operations; finally, he became a postage stamp broker, which could not have been very profitable since he was entirely without resources at the moment of the crime. At the Stamp Bourse, he had made the acquaintance of several persons who came to his house, drawn there by the passion for philately and also by his companion, Marguerite Dubois.
Mr. Delahaëf, unfortunately, was among the number. He was a young man about twenty years of age, rather timid, living at his father’s, 25 Rue Rhumkorff, at least this is the address which we find on his subscription slip to the Collectionneur de Timbres-Post, which subscription has been renewed each year since 1892, with several changes of address.
He was, therefore, not a novice; he often went to the Stamp Bourse, buying and selling, and it was the purchase from a Mr. Binard of a collection worth 2000 francs, which had been much talked of at the Bourse, that attracted Aubert’s attention to him. It was at that time that the idea must have been formed in the mind of the murderer of procuring by swindling, robbery or even murder, important lots of rare stamps, which are easier to sell than jewels or other merchandise.
The body of Delahaëf in the examination room
Culled from: The American Journal of Philately and Crime Album Stories (photos)
Aubert was sentenced to forced labor for life. Dubois received three years for receiving stolen good and harboring a criminal.