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

The Swiss Poisoning Case.

The Court of Assizes of Berne was occupied dnr.
ing 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 he again consented to stop
all night. On 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." He perceived that Trumpy had
drunk the pretended sherry. He 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 so it proved, for soon after he ex-
pired. Though he did not think so at the time, it
was now his (prisoner's) conviction that Trumpy had
realised his long-meditated project of suicide by
poison. Soon after his death three members of the
Trumpy family arrived at Wabren, and he (pri.
soner) proposed a post-mortem examination that he
might be able to give a proper certificate as to the
cause of death for the satisfaction 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
Trumpy's death to apoplexy. The President here
read a letter addressed to the Prefect of Berne by
Maw. Trumpy when the 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 writte❑ in
concert with Demme for the purpose of frustrating
the ends of ju3tice. 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 26Lb,
the President interrogated the prisoner on several
points of his statements made the day before, espe•
cially with regard to his projected marriage with
Mdlle. Trumpy. He 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 explanations@
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
his friends, and to have been intended to mislead
the officials charged with the investigation. The
prisoner denied all knowledge of the letters, and his
cpunsel 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 ill.
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 oft 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. 1)r.
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 whe❑ 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 suspicions. 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.

PRICE ..4d:
STAMPED.....Sd.

The president then proceeded again to interrogate
the prisoner at great length relative to the events
which immediately preceded and followed her hus-
band's death, especially with regard to a letter
written by her, in which she said—" I am a wicked
woman, an adultress, and the assassin of my hus-
band." She replied that the above words were
written in a moment of despair; they did not mean
that she was her husband's actual murderer, but
that the grief and trouble her conduct had caused
him contributed to shorten his life. The reading
of the letter containing the above phrase produced
a painful impression in court, and seemed to over-
whelm the male prisoner with astonishment. The
court then adjourned,
At the opening of the sitting next morning (28th)
several witnesses gave evidence as to the mental
state of the female prisoner, from which it appeared
that she was very excitable and subject to halluci-
nations, and that she often fancied voices from uns
seen persons were addressing her. A report from
Dr, Schaerer, physician of the Berne Lunatic Asy-
lum, was read, in which he expressed an opinion
that she ought to be carefully watched, as she
might attempt suicide. At this stage of the pro•
ceedings Madame Trumpy looked wildly up and
exclaimed, " I still hear voices telling me to com-
mit suicide ; they say that they will only be silent
when I shall have returned to my room to kill my-
self." Dr. Schaeder, another physician of the
Berne Lunatic Asylum, gave evidence to the same
effect as Dr. Schaerer's, and added that when he
conversed with the prisoner she had often stopped
short to reply to these imaginary voices. Other
testimony having been given, the case was
adjourned.

HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From the Registrar• General's Report.)

The Registrar-General's return shows that the
deaths in London, which were less than 1,400 weekly
in the seven weeks subsequent to the last week in
August, rose to 1,409 in that which ended last Saturn
day. The average number of deaths in the forty-
third week of ten years, 1854.63 is, with a correct
tion for increase of population, 1,19 g. In the
present return there is therefore an excess of 210
deaths above the estimated number. The deaths
occurring under 20 years of age, which had been
below 700 in the previous weeks, rose to 771 last
week. The deaths frem atrophy and debility rose
from 48 to '77 in the last two weeks. Those from
pneumonia increased from 119 to 138. Bronchitis,
which was fatal in. 105 cases in the previous week,
was returned in 150 last week—and the cases that
occurred under 20 years of age were respectively 49
and 85. The deaths from phthisis rose from 139 to
155. The mortality from scarlatina has increased
lately—it amounted in the week to 95 deaths, of
which 7 occurred in Westminster, 8 in Pancras, 5
in the South Hackney sub-district, 8 in Shoreditch,
4 in the sub.district of St. George, Camberwell, 11
in the Greenwich district, which comprises Dept-
ford, Greenwich, and Woolwich. Of 79 deaths from

typhus, there were as many as 18 returned in the
Greenwich district, and 4in Plumstead, The two
oldest persons registered as having died in the week
were a man aged 91 years, and a woman aged 102.
The centenarian was the widow of a farmer, and
died on the 18th October, at 9, Nottingham-court,
St. Giles.

Last week the births of 1,044 boys and 987 girls,
in a 10,031 children, were registered in London.
The ten corresponding weeks of the years 1851-631
the average number (corrected) was 1,926.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 29'253 in, The reading
was 28..)0 in on Sunday, and rose to 29'65 in on Saturday.
The mean temperature of the air in the week was 50.6 deg,
which is 3.1 deg above the average of the same week in 43
years (as determined by Mr Glaisher), The lowest night
temperature was 37-9 deg on 'Tuesday. The highest day
temperature was 60 2 deg on Friday. The range of tem.
perature in the week was therefore 22.3 deg. The mean
daily range was 12 deg. The daily range, which was 20.6
deg on Monday, was only 5.5 on Thursday, The diurnal
range was small on four days. The difference between the
mean dewpoint temperature and air temperature was 3.6
deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air was SS, com-
plete saturation being represented by 100. The daily humi-
dity varied from 79 to 95. The wind blew from S.P. and
N.B. The rain in the week was 0.45 in, most of which
fell on Thursday morning. The mean of the highest tem-
peratures of the water of the Thames was 52•3 deg ; that of
the lowest was 50.7 deg.

During the week ending Oct, 29, 115 births (those of 60
boys and 55 girls) and 123 deaths (those of 52 males and
71 females) were -.-egistered within the municipal boundaries
of Dublin. Its population in 1861 was 254,808, and ex-
tended over 3,808 statute acres.
The deaths in Vienna, as returned by Dr Glatter, were
313 in the week ending Oct. 22, when the mean temperature
was 481 deg, that at Greenwich haiing been 53.1 deg.

Wescminster, St. Margaret—At the workhouse, on Oct.
18, a jobbing man, aged 58, very destitute, general dropsy.
Islington, East—At 140, Essex street, on Oct. 22, the
daughter of a pastrycook, aged 11 years, inpaction of a
plumstone in the appendix vermiformis. Post modem.
Inquest.
Sc. Giles, South—At 9, Nottingham court, on Oct. 18,
the widow of a farmer, aged 102 years, decay from age.
Informant states that 102 years was the correct age of the
deceased, and that she retained possession of all her faculties,
and amused herself principally with needlework. She was
30 years since unable to see without spectacles, but latterly
could not see with them.