The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-26 00:00:00

A WHOLESALE POISONER.

The Court of Arsizee of the department of the Ar-
ddehe has lately been occupied for the. • days In the trisl of
an elderly man named Damonlin, of Limony, canton of Ser.
tikes, arrondissement of Taunton, for imisoning members of
his family. Thirty yews ago till- man entered Into the en-
vies of a widow named flacon, a woman of some little pro.
petty. lie soon established a criminal connexion with her,
and after a while married her. She gave him a union of
her property, but he treated her with great brutality. A
child she had by him died shortly after linh, and two of her
children by her first husband also died in tender years; it is
now supposed that all three deaths were caused by poison
administered by the prisoner. In 1839 the prisoner toot a
mistress to live with him in the same house as his wife and
family. This exasperated the wife—daily quarrels ensued,
and at length the prisoner got rid of her by poison. The
circumstances of her death left no doubt of this, but it was
not until 1648 that the law authorities heard of the
affair; and though they then prJposed to exhume the
body of the deceased, they could not Aid the pre**
spot where it was buried. After the death of his
wife, Dumoulin lived on bed terms with his son, on
account of some dispute about money, and the »-
fusel of the son to many the father's mistress. On the
26th of June, 1846, after supping alone with his father,
the son was seized with violent pain in the bowels,
and with all the symptoms of having been poisoned. The
father, thinkieg he wee dying, knocked up the cure of the
village. The priest, horrified at the state in which he found
the young man, administered an emetic, and this had the
effect of saving him. After that time the young man was
repeatedly attacked in the same way—indeed, in the MOW
of a raw months he had no ha er than six attacks ; but,
having always been able to vomit, he was saved. That these
attacks arose from poison administered by the prisoner there ,
is now no doubt, but this was not suspected at the time. The
prisoner himself persuaded his son that he was bewitched,
and he took him to a woman who passed sea sorceress, who
predicted to him his early deatb, and persuaded him toles,.
to his father the property to which he was entitled. To se- I
cure the reelisanon of the prediction, the father took Ike
precaution of purchasing • quantity of arsenic. In Decem-
ber, 1846, the eon of Dumoulin's deceased wife, a young
man named Pereoton, had a pig killed, and the prisoner was
noticed kassing about the trough in which the blood fell.
lie knew that black puddings were to be made, and
that his son was to dine with Perroton and his family.
lie himself Wu asked to dine else, but he declined on
some vague pretext. After the dinner all the family of
Perroton, and young Dumoulin, were seized with violent
pains in the bowels. Si: other persens in the village, to
whew the puddings had been seat, were seised in the same
way, and it is probable that all thnelpereons, twelve in
number, would have perished .if timely remedies Lad not
been applied. It appeared that at this time Dumoulin had
conceived the atrocious design of poisoning all the Penmen
family, as well as his LO3, as, by their deaths, he would have
come into all the property. One day in March, 1847, he
went to Perroton's house, and during the temporary absence
of Madame Perroton, threw some poison into the pot in
which the soup was boiling. Madame Perroton and two
,of her children partook of the soup, and were immedi-
ately seised with pains and vomiting. Tl:e same evening
llumoulin waited for his son and his son-in-lsw, Perroton,
and to their surprise strongly pressed them to go to his
house to eat soup,runk but they
of the refusedsoup,. Thwas tak e next day
ill, s
Per-
roton, having
d some en
his wife and children had been. In the night young
Dumoulin also was attacked in the same way, after eat-
ing some food which his father had prepared. In De-
cember, 1847, young Dun oul in was again seized with
all the symptoms of poisoning, after drinking put
of • glass of water presented by his father ; on this
occasion ha pressed his father to drink the re-
mainder of the water, but the latter displayed great re-
pugnance said only raised the glass to his lite. It wall with
difficulty 'that young Dumoulin succeeded in vomiting, and
after that he recovered. On the 2nd of January, 1848. he
had a violent quarrel with his fatherand having by this time
suspected that his father was poisonieg him, he announced
his intention of leaving home. In the night of the 11th of
January he was affected with a violent thirst, and having
risen to procure drink be fouled a battle containing wine on
the table. Of this wine he partook, and immediately after
he was wised with the meat horrible pains. Ile rushed out
of the house like • madras°, but presently returned and took
to his bed, where he suffered dreadfully for some time. The
nerd was called in: be found the tongue of the young man
quite black, and the latter told him that the attack had com-
menced after he had taken the wine. On this the curt ob-
served that Dumonlic, the father, who had heard what wen
said, quietly removed the bottle which was standing on the
table, and replaced it by another. This aet confirmed the
suspicion which had previously entered his mind that the
young man was poisoned by his father. lie went home to
see by a medical book what should be done in a We of poi-
soning, and daring his absence the father introduced a no-
tary to the ton, and caused him to make his will. In •
conversation which ensued during the father's absence be.
twesn the son and his brother in law, the former said that
he knew that he was poisoned, and that his father had dif-
ferent descriptions of poison secretes in a certain hole. On
the return of the eats this statement was repeated to him.
The priest Int of all applied an emetic, and took the pre-
caution of peignoir g what was vomited ; he then went and
took the poison from its hiding-place ; after which he had
an analysis made of the matter thrown up by the young
mat, and, on learning that poison existed in it, had the
father arrested. In addition to these terrible facts against
the prisoner it was proved that, when in gaol, he had con-
fessed to • fellow prisoner that his intention was to kill lie
son. When the evidence was concluded the president asked
the poisoner if he had anything to say. He answered in the
negative, and at the some moment, drawing forth a knife,
bared hie breast, and plunged the weapon into it. Blood
having heandistely flowed, a dry of honor was uttered by
the auditory ; but it appeared that the prisoner was only
scratched. The jury declared him "guilty: and the court
condemned him to death. Oa entering the prison the pri-
soner slain attempted to commit suicide by knocking his
head against the wall, but without success.
nation
Te:mph

STASTSVICS OP VIE UNITED STATES GENERAL
POST-ortlCe.—We glean the following statitties of the Ame-
rican General Post.oWce from a late Boston paper. The length
()Idle ',artists; mail routes in the United States was, on the
let of July lost, 167,703 miles, on which the mail was tran-
sported 43,547,009 mile*, at the cost of 2,426,515 dole., Cr-
etans* of the expense of 255.692 digs. incurred for the tun-
soured°, of the mail to Bremen, Havana, and across the
Isthmus of Panama. The gross revenue for the year ending
June 30,1649, amounted to 4,905,176 dole. The expenditure
was 4,479,038 dole. It is estimated that the expense for the
current year, ending Jane next, will be 4.750,138 dole., and
the revere* for the same time 5,683,848 dole. The whole
number of letters pausing through the mails the pest
Tear? and yhanstd with postage, SliPottntrti t sir.l7-
two sealant. The postage collected span them was
3,881,719 dol , on newspapers, pamphlets, fie., 819,016 dol.
The camber of free letters sent and received through the
Washington City Posrofflee the past year, 1.703,503 ;
speeches and docineate, 4,016,695; total, 5,320,098. The
postage to which the same would have been *abject, if sot
franked, to computed at 792,700 dol. Much of the free ser-
vice, thus performed, however, was for the transmission of
correspondence, dre., required in taking the census of 1850.
The?. G. questions the wisdom of continuing the frank
lag privilege any longer. He recommends a reduction of
the tea out. postage to five cents, thus subjecting all
single letters, *soapy deep linen, to a postage of nu cents
each. AIL brief trial of this esperimeat, he soya will show
its effeat, sad (authorno mportant draft should barnacle upon
OW Trani'', redactions say be resorted to hem
oPea.