The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-19 00:00:00

bastion having been rejected, that the action of
firo tnok place after the countess had ceased
to live. Then, had the lady taken poison,
• before kindling the flame which should conceal her
' deed ? This was rendered improbable. not only by
the religious resignation of her whole character,
' but by the consideration that while the stilness of
' her sitting-room and other circumstances made it
probable that she was dead at half-past six, when
I the count returned from court, no trace of the fire
Iwas seen till about eight o'clock. Had she fallen
' into a swoon or a fit and then caught fire, a taper
stand or similar means of light should have been
standing near her, but no trace of such was
• discovered. Suppose, too, that a light had stood
near the countess when she was struck, with apoplexy
for instance, the upper part only of the secretairr
should have been burnt ; but it was clearly
shown that that piece of furniture was set on fire
from beneath. Suppose, further, that the swooned,
fainted, or dead countess had been in a sitting
posture before the seeretuire, her lower garments
I should have been first ignited; but these were not at
all burnt.
It seemed then an inevitable conclusion that the
hand of a murderer must have been present at this
tragedy. The loss of the keys. never since found,
the torn-down bell rope. the strangled appearance of
the mouth and tongue favoured this idea, which was
still little more than an elaborate guess. In this
difficulte,the position of the household andof the count
on the fatal afternoon and evening were reverted to.
The absence of all the servants, excepting Staudt
up to about ten o'clock in the evening could be
proved. The count was in the house with that per-
son from half-past six to half-post seven, when Staudt'
was again lett alone. Three witnesses came forward,
two of whom saw about eight o'clock a dense smoke
rise from a chimney in the count's house, which led
from the servants' room. Within a few minutes of
the !QM, time the inmates of the opposite house
saw through the drawn window curtains of
the cabinet a flame several feet in height,
which remained for a few seconds on one and
the same spot and gradually. expired. The
fin. thus burned in the absence of the count and
while Stauff was at home. The with of the footman
deposed that at a quarter-past four she called at the
counts house to inquire for her husband, of whose
previous departure she was not aware, and found all
still as death. She walked about looking for one of
the servants, and heard the footsteps of some one
coining down stairs. It was Stauff ; his appearance,
unsuited to a Sunday afternoon, surprised her ; his
shirt-sleeves were turned up, an apron hung befine
him, and he carried a towel in his hand. flat. still
more than his dress, a wild, strange air in StaufFs
countenance struck the attention of the witness, who •
instantly felt that she was in the way. About a
quarter to six the count's coachman saw Stauff at
the ducal palace, where he had gone by appoint-
ment to fetch home his master. As she neared the
house on their return Stauff jumped down and ran
to the street door, and was about to ring the bell,
notwithstanding that all the servants were gone out.
The count observed this confusion. and asked him if
he was mad. Suspicion scented now to be hitting
upon Stauff. It was further remembered that a
strange delay had occurred in procuring tile work-
men to force the doors in the later period of the
evening, and that Stauff had been sent on this
errand; The footman and his wife remembered that
on the fatal night Stauff came to them trembling
violently and asking to be allowed to sleep at their
house, as he was ill. This was permitted, and ho 1
perspired so violently in the night that it was newes-
t sary to change the whole of the bedding. Next day
he bought a dog, which he sulssequently took nightly
Ito bed with him llis behaviour was eccentric : one
hour he would go whistling uud singing about the
house in an unseemly manner, and the next, espe-
. eially towards eve ,e. his mien would betray the
deepest dejection and^auxiety.
Stautf's attempt to poison the count was accepted
on discovery as u welcome promise of a clue to this
hseplexing and entangled question. The day after
e had been imprisoned word was brought that his
father, a poor old miller of Upper Hesse, had been
arrested at Cassel on suspicion of having stolen cer-
tain articles of gold, which he had been ottleing for
sale there. These, armlets, bracelets, rings, and
!other ornameatul and costly objects, answered the!
description of those missing from the casket of the
deceased lady.. A point had been gained. It was
now known who had profited by her death.
Stauff maintained in prison a more composed be-
haviour than he had exhibited in the tidal scene. I
To the interrogations put to him respecting posses-
sion of the jewels, which he admitted having given !
!to his father to sell, he replied in a long story.
1“ Doubtless the count had not given them to him for
I the sake of getting hint into trouble; he would do !
him that justice. For his part, he had accepted I
them out of regard to his dear departed mistress.
His master hail given him the whole, saying that
they were no longer of use to himself, and would
• make a rich man of hint (Stauff). He now believed
they were intended to bribe him to silence. When
the count handed them to hint he took an oath of him
never to say how he' came by them, and told him to I
bustow them out of the house. When he reproached I
the count on the apprehension of his father, for ,et- I
ting him into trouble, the latter replied that he need
not be afraid; all would go off; but, at the same time, I
threatened that it' he told what he knew, he, the I
count, would deny the story."
The investigation dragged through two years and
a half, until March 11, MIL when the ease against I
the Stauffs was considered tit for trial. A special assize
was appointed, and the High Court received on this
occasion an accession of two members, consisting
then of seven judges. More than a hundred -
wit-
nesses were examined, among whoa were the Pre-
mier Jaup, president of the last Peace Congress, held
at Frankfort, Count Gorlitz, and a number of per-
sons who could speak to his presence at court and on
the promenade on the fatal day.
' In the dock stood Johannes Stauff, the chief at-
I cused, Henry, his father, and his younger brother
Jacob. The first was charged with murder, rob-
bery, and incendiarism, as well as with the attempt
upon the count's bk. Ile was of the middle
stature, slender, and of pleasing address. His father,
a vulgar-looking man, slept nearly the whole time
occupied by reading the very long indictment, in
which he was charged with phis younger son as ac-
cessory to the crimes of Johannes. A jury of ex-
perts or professional men were sworn to assist the
court with its opinion upon the value of certain me-
dical facts, and included men such as Lichig, Bis-
choff, Buchner, known throughout Europe for scien-
tific proficiency. The examination took a range of
whose extent the practice of our courts gives no
idea. The sehoeiltnaster of Stauff was called
to give an account of his natural dispo-
sition ; his former commanding officer, his
fallow servants, his tailor, even his sweetheart,
were examined on his habits and mode of life.
In this way an immense collection was made of what
the Germans distinguish as "subjective facts," which
1 with them bear a larger proportion to the evidence
lin criminal proceedings than with us. The witnesses
agreed that Stauff was exceedingly hypocritical and
mean. He had borrowed fifty-four florins of a poor
hard-working girl, whom he had seduced, and who
for years had done his washing without recompense.
He was deeply in debt. His favourite reading was
the " Intrigues of Napoleon," " Memoirs of the Disc
de Praslin," and "The Life of Courvoisier," subjects
on which he would frequently talk.
The objective evidence was, of course, entirely of a
circumstantial character. The remains of the cowl-
teas had been exhumed, and by comparison of the
slims of violence with the state of her sitting room
when discovered, the bell-rope lying on the floor,
the marks of blood on the remains of the secretaire
the fire and the absence of the keys, led to the con-
viction that, after a struggle, the lady had been
killed by strangulation, aided perhaps by a blow on I
the head, and that her corpse had been laid on the!
see:retake, which had been set on fire in order to
mask the crime. No other person than Johannes;
Stauff could be suspected; This only had been the
opportunity of ctime, and his certainly the profit.
In the end, after a trial which fisted exactly a ,
month the prisoners were severally convicted on the '
indictment: Jolantnes was sentenced to imprisonment
and convict !tabour for life ; Heinrich to six months',
and Jacob to three months' hard labour, all in addi-
tion to the confinement of nearly three years already
endured. Thus terminated an investigation which in
its progress had embarrassed the authorities, scan-
dalised tbe court, blackened the character of the