The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-12-20 00:00:00

HORRIBLE BARBARITY IN FRANCE.

The great topic of conversation in Paris Is a trial
which has jt taken Rheims, which illmilrates
in the moat painful manner the condition of the
.Yretsci
lieasantt7 in the western provinces. The prnitinent,
ua plate at
• father and mother, named Wert, were indicted on a
charge of brutally ill-using their daughter, • girl of 17;
they were described as proprietarree, and relatively
we.l off. The acte claccnsation describes their fortune
as relatively large, living in a house of their own, and
farming their own ground. They have five children,
the eldest Mary Adelina, being about 17. It was a well-
known fact that both man and wife treated ilieir child-
ren with the utmost severity ; they had been seen
beating them mercilessly in the fields, and to punish one
d sons,
inl3;t w the
as restored.l'ero once threw
in-
to • canal, and pulling him out after a time, beat hira
with ti until an
Int the
month
of July last, however, the eldest daughter Adelina,
whose appearance of ill-health was ascribed to the syste-
matic cruelty practised upon her, suddenly disappeared.
A report ttttt ueiliately sprang up in the village that she
had been murdered. This report came to the ears of the
authorities, an investigation took place, and here is
what it led to :—When the authorities penetrated into
the house they found the girl, Adelina, lying on •
conch, in a state of such debility and emaciation that
a physician was immediately ordered to see what was
the matter with her. What he discovered led to the acts
ft accusation described :—" The physician had discovered
that Adelina was in • state of emaciation which de-
noted long and cruel sufferings. On the left aide of the
neck, on the bands, on the right elbow, on the thighs,
were the marks of recent wounds, inflicted both by
blunt and sharp instruments, by the reiterated contact
with the flesh of some substance, in • state of combus-
tion. On the left cheek a strip of the skin bad been
torn off, about seven eentrimetres long by one broad.
This, it WAS subsciluciitly was the result of
a cut from a henry carter's on hip, inflicted by her mother.
But worse than all, the loins, the subvenal portion of
the back, the thighs, 110WD to the very knees, were one
mass of purulent matter. On other parts of the body,
awl anion: others on the sub-abdoudual organ, no leas
than Id s,-nrii of wounds were counted. The physician
was petaled to account for the peculiar appearance of
these wounds and festers, which could only be explained
by the constantly repeated combustion of the dealt. He
subjected Adelina to a treatment bailed upon that hypo-
thesis, and found it answer, and by dint of cross-ques-
tioning. she revealed the atrocious treatment she bad
been aulijected to. I may add that her revelations were
subsequently confirmed by the admissions of the pri-
soners. F the statements from Adelina it appeared
that she had been brought up in her grandfathers house
until she was eight years old, and from that time the
brutality she underwent ootionenced. She was employed
in driving • plough, and dogged with • cart horse whip
when her strength gave way. There is evidence. of
this, as also of her father having beaten her with • pitch-
' fork. At the couneenceineut of the present year, how-
ever, the cruely of her parents assumed • regular and
systematic character, denoting premeditation. Every
day—inur tt ill g, noon, and night—her father tied ber up
in • dark room used for breadmaking, and there used to
flog her mi her thigs and the lower part of her person,
with a martinet (cat-o'mine-tails.) There is evidence to
her father having on one occasion tied her up by the
wrists, so that her feet were fairly off the ground, and,
having previously lifted up her clothes, beat her with
the martinet on all parts of her person. There is evi-
dence, moreover, that in the month of March last, both
her father and tiler dragged her into • low vaulted
room behind the kitchen ; she was then stripped naked
and securely lashed, face downwards to • carpentering
table; red hot coals were then taken from the fire and
placed inside her thighs, close to the skin. The motive
for this torture WAS to extort from her • confession of
her having yielded up her virtue to one of her father's
workmen. The pain caused by the burns extorted a
confession from her, but as soon as she was set free she
recalled her admission, and protested her innocence.
On the following day these tortures were repeated, and
then her mother, with a piece of linen steeped in nitric
acid, washed the wounds caused by the lash and the
hut coals. A week later the same thing took place, the
unnatural mother using aquafortis in lieu of nitric sell.
On another occasion elle was again tied on the table,
and the mother seared the inside of her thighs and the
lower part of her back with a red hot shovel—• glass of
nitric acid was then slowly poured upon the wounds.
But there is worse to come. For • long time Adelina
had been made to sleep, or rather to use as a bed, • deal
box provided with a lid, about a yard and a half long
and half a yard (70 ceuninetres) broad. A thin litter
of straw was the only subetitute for a mattress, and
with the straw had been :nixed thistles and nettles
freshly gathered. On this she was forced to lie down,
with her whole body in a fester from wounds. The lid
was fastened down upon her, leaving a narrow aperture
for the air, and she was kept there for days together."
The acre d'acceaWirds describes another assault com-
mitted by these uuhatural parents on their daughter,
and the medical evidence proved it. It is utterly indes-
cribable in English. The evidence fully corroborated the
statements of the acts (faccuaation, with the exception,
however, of Adeliii• herself. who doubtless, under the
influence of terror at the sight of her father and mother
alleged that her previous depositions were untrue. The
mother, who was examined. admitted that "she had
only thrown • glassful of vitro' over her thighs." Both
hushahil and wife were sentenced to hard labour for
life.—Times.