The Express.
London, England, 1857-12-15 00:00:00

FRANCE. •

EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL—A LADY AND
HER TWO SONS ACCUSED OF MURDER.
(non OI: II OWN 00111UNTOMDINT.)

PARIS. MONDAY EVENING,

A trial for murder comes on this day at Evreux,
which is destined to take rank among the most ce-
lebrated of rouses ellibres. A lady of noble family,
handsome fortune, and hitherto unblemished cha-
racter, inhabiting the ancestral mansion of her late
husband, her two sons, and an old faithful servant,
are accused of the wilful murder of a neighbour
who was at one time on intimate terms with tho
family, but whose acquaintance, for rations which
do not clearly appear, it was lately desired to drop.
The circumstances, so far as they are at present
known, and can with propriety be related, are
shortly as follows:—Madame de 'outcome, is the
widow of M. de Lanidpce de Jeufosse, a cavalry
officer of some distinction, who retired from
the service on the accession of Louis Philippe,
in 1630, and from that period to the time of
his death, about ten years since, resided on his
estate, the Chateau de Jeufosse, a few miles
from Ewen:. M. de Jeerer. lett • widow, two
sons, and one daughter, end a fortune of about
1,0001. a year. Madame do Jeufosse, whose maiden
name was lie Beauvais, belonged to an old and
much respected family of Vein. She is now forty-
nine years of age. Her two sons, Ernest and Albert
de Jeufosse, now respectively of the ages of twenty-
five and twenty-two years, have, since their educe-
tion was finished, been in the habit of paring the
greater part of the year in Paris, where they did
business at the Bourse. They always, however,
went to stay with their mother at the chateau
during • part of the summer. The daughter,
Madlle. Blanche de leakage, is in her nineteenth
year. Since the death of her husband, Madame
de Jeufosse lived a very retired life, and devoted
herself to the education of her children. At the
time of the tragical event to be presently mentioned
there was a governess in the house, named Madlle.
Laurence Thourery, a young lady about twenty
years old. Crespel, the man servant (forty-three
years old), was born at Jeufoese, and has passed all
his life in the service of the family. the name of
the individual whose violent death is the subject of
the now pending inquiry was Emile Ouillot, and this
completes the dramatis persona.. M. Ouillot belonged
to a rich tradesman's family, of °anion, a village
not fur from hurter. His father was a govern-
ment contractor, and had left all hie sons, of whom
there were several, 1,0001. a year a piece. M. Emile
Ouillot, who was thirty-two years of age, was married
to a young wife, and had two children of tender
years. He is described as having been • person of
' frank pleasing manners. Although the 'edam
family was, both in feeling and habit, altogether
aristocratic, and seldom visited any but aristocratic
families, it happened that about two years since a
more than ordinary intimacy sprung up between
them and M. and Madame Ouillot. This intimacy
continued down to January in this year, when, for
reasons, which as Madame de leafage is alleged to
have stated, concerned the honour of her family,
she determined to break off the acquaintance.
H. Ouillot had brought scandal upon the go-
verness, and then addressed himself with similar
impropriety to the daughter. Madame Guillot
at once resigned herself to this rupture, but
M. Gullet could not, or would not, bring himself
to believe that it was serious and final. He thought
Madame de Jeurosee had merely given way to a
momentary caprice, and that there would be no diffi-
culty in renewing the old friendship, which he ap-
peared greatly to desire. He waylaid the family
whenever they went out, and spoke to them gaily
as if nothing had happened. Madame de Jeerers
was greatly annoyed at these attempts to make her
revoke what, on her part, was a settled resolution.
Many anecdotes of these forced interviews are cur-
rent, which will, no doubt, be elucidated
at the trial. The Chateau de Jeufosse tt
a building of the time of Louis XIV. or Louis XV,
The principal front is separated from the road by a
court of honour and a high iron railing. At the
back there is a lawn sloping to a garden, beyond
which there is a park surrounded by a low wall.
It is stated that M. Guillot had several times got
over this wall at night in ceder to deposit in •
certain hollow tree • letter for some inmate of the
Chateau de leafage. However this may be, it is
certain that on the 12th or June last, at about ten
in the evening, he, accompanied by a servant named
Oros, rode on horseback along • lane that bounded
the park wall, and choosing • favourable spot,
slipped off his horse upon the top of
the wall and jumped down into the park.
Hardly had he done so when the report of a
gun was heard, and M. Guillot fell mortally
wounded. He called out for help to his servant
Oreg, but the latter, panic-stricken, ran as hard as
he could to the chateau, where he knocked hard at
the door, but could get nobody to answer. Ile then
ran back to the spot where his master fell, and
found him writhing in the dust in the agonies of
death. H. Ouillot charged him to convey his dying
farewell to his wife and children, and to ask theirpar-
don, and then breathed his lut. Oros, however, was
too frightened to go back to his mistress that night.
Fie went toe friend of the family, a retired lawyer,
named Tripet,li vi ng at Courmoulin,to whom he told his
story, and it was not till the next day that thebody of
Guillot wss removed from the spot in the park where
he felL It is alleged in the indictment that the
fatal shot was deliberately fired by Crespel, the old
servant, by the order. of Madame de Jeerer', and
her two sons, and that it being known that M. Gail-
lot had been in the habit of getting over the park
wall, Crespel had been lying in wait for him with
his gun for several nights successively.
The trial excites extraordinary interest at Evreux.
The hotels are overflowing, and every bed
to be let in the town is taken. Great
nurabers have gone from Paris to bear the case.
M. Chair ffltstange was originally retained to de-
fend Madame de 'carcase, but when he was pro-
moted to the office of Procureur-Imperial, his brief
was transferred to M. Berryer. Madame de 'career,
who, on account of her health, was allowed to reside
in an hospital after her arrest in June, has lately
been transferred to the Evreux prison, to await
her trial. fleyeral of her relations and friends
have takes lodgings in the town, and visit
her es often as the prison regulations per-
mi.. Her sons, as well as the servant, Crespel,
are in the manse prison, but of course are kept apart
from her. Mdlle. do "came since her mother's
arrest has been residing with her governess at the
hotel of an aunt at Vernon. No less than fifty-one
witnesses are subpmnaed by the crown, and twenty-
five by Madams Guillot, who appears to support
the prosecution as partie eirite. The trial is ex-
pected to last all the week.
A telegram received from Ewen: this afternoon
states that after the reading of the indictment, it was
agreed between the public prosecutor and AL Berryer
that Mdlle. de Jeufosse should not be examined as
a witness. Crespel was interrogated by the
presiding judge, M. Vannier, of the Im-
perial Court of Rouen. He admitted that in