The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-02 00:00:00

The Swiss Poisoning Case.

The Court of Assizes of Berne was occupied dur-
ng the remainder of the sitting of the 25th with the

continuation of the interrogatory of the prisoner
Demme, relative to the events preceding Trumpy's

death.

He stated that the patient, being in great pain on
Sunday night, requested him to administer chloro-
form, which he did with favourable results. At six

on Monday morning he took leave of Trumpy, who
thanked him fervently for his attentions during the
_ _ _

night. He returned in the evening, and found
Trumpy in a high fever and almost delirious. He
gave him some quinine in wine and water. Trumpy
remarked that it was very bitter, but that he had
already taken a powder still more bitter. At the
patient's urgent entreaty ho again consented to stop
all night. Oa first entering the room he saw a bottle
on the table by the bed-side, and in reply to his in-
quiry, Trumpy said it contained bad sherry. About
3 o'clock he left the sick room for a few moments, and

on his return Trumpy remarked, in tones which
particularly struck him, " Now, I shall get some
sleep, Demme." lie perceived that `frumpy had
drunk the pretended sherry. Ho blamed him se-
verely for drinking it, but Trumpy replied that he

only wished for death, and that he felt it was near
at hand; and 83 it proved, for soon after ho ex-
pired. Though he did not think eo at the time, it
was now his (prisoner's) conviction that Trnmpy had

realised his long-meditated project of suicide by
poison. Soon after his death three members of the
'Frumpy family arrived at Wabren, and he (pri.

saner) proposed a post-mortem examination that he
might be able to give a proper certificate as to the

cause of death for the sßtis faction of the assurance

companies in which Trumpy had insured his life.
This proposal was accepted, and, after making the
examination, he gave a certificate attributing

Trutupy's death to apoplexy. The President here
read a letter addressed to the Prefect of Berne by

Mme. 'frumpy when tho judicial investigation was

commenced, in which she spoke of the family ar•
rangements that were to follow the prisoner's mar.
riage with Mdlle. Flora Trumpy, and which the
prosecution considered to have been written in
concert with Demme for the purpose of frustrating

he ends of justice. The prisoner denied that he

had dictated the letter, but admitted that he had

made a few corrections in it.

At the commencement of the sitting of the 26'h,
,he President interrogated the prisoner on several

points of his statements made the day before, espe®
cially with regard to his projected marriage with
Aidlle. Trumpy. asked how it came to pass
that the proposed marriage was a secret to every-

body, although, according to Madame Trumpy's
letter, it had been entertained for nearly a year.

The prisoner replied that he could not account for
that fact. The President then asked him to ex-
plain the cause of the difference between his first
and second statements as to the cause of Trumpy's
death. The prisoner said that when he gave his
first opinion he had not sufficient ground for
stating that Trumpy had taken strychnine,
and he therefore attributed his death to natural
causes. The President next interrogated the pri-
soner on many minor points of his explanationse
and the court was occupied to the close of the sitting
of the 26th with the continuation of the interroga-
tory. The President's questions chiefly related to
a number of anonymous letters which the prosecu-
tion supposed to have emanated from the prisoner or
hie friends, and to have been intended to mislead
the officials charged with the investigation. The
prisoner denied all knowledge of the letters, and his
caansel protested against the manner in which the
President conducted the interrogatory. The Presi-
dent handed the letters to the jury, who seemed to
think them of no importance, and declined to put
any questions to the prisoner respecting them.
At the commencement of the sitting of the 27th
the female prisoner Trumpy was introduced, and
in reply to the President's questions made a state-
ment of which the following is the substance :
She was aware of the crime laid to her charge, and
was confident her innocence would be established.
Her marriage with M. Trumpy, who was two years
her senior, took place in 1846. They had one child,
Flora Trumpy. The first years of their wedded life
were tolerably happy, and she assisted her husband
in his business for some time, but subsequently
ceased to do so, owing to his having become illa
tempered and violent under the vexation caused by
unsuccessful speculations. At one time her husband
was extremely jealous,
_and treated her in the most
brutal manner, but for some years preceding 1862
they had lived on better terms. She first knew Dr.
Demme in 1861, when he attended her daring an
illness, but their intimate acquaintance did not
commence till 1862, after her husband, in conse-
quence of; quarrel about a servant, had thrown a
decanter (not a lamp, as stated in the indictment)
at her head while at table, and knocked out one of
her eyes. In the beginning of the present year her
husband was suffering from a painful disease, the
nature of which she did not know, and was attended
by a person connected with a military hospital. She
advised him to consult a duly qualified physician,
and he, of his own accord, called in Dr Demme.
This was about a fortnight before her husband's
death. He took to his bed on Saturday, Feb.l3. Dr.
Demme never told her what was her husband's
disease. On the night before his death she saw the
doctor give her husband medicine in a glass, and
heard him say," Take this, it will do you good." At
the moment her husband expired she was reclining
on a sofa in his bedroom. She confessed that her
intimate relations with Dr. Demme were continued
after her husband's decease. The prisoner was next
interrogated as to what occurred during their jour-
ney in the Levant, and related a scene which took
place at Corfu when she refused to drink a glass of
some mixture offered to her by her husband. In
reply to the president's question relative to this
scene at Corfu, the prisoner stated that she could
not affirm her husband wished to poison her, but
that she refused to drink the mixture he offered be-
cause she thought it looked suspicious. She was
not aware that her husband had bought poison at
Constantinople, but such a thing was possible, as
he often went out accompanied only by a dragoman.