The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-28 00:00:00

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1 pa/ties should come to any kind of agreement, the
fact was patent, and it was one upon which every
Englishman should reflect—that for the first time
in history we should find across the Atlantic a great
naval and military power, and it was impossible to
say what might be the effect of those altered circurn.
stances upon our establishments and oar future career.
The hon, member concluded by claiming credit for
the House of Commons in the last Session of
having effected a redaction of taxation to the ex-
tent of £3,278,000, making with previous reduc-
tions during the existence of the present Parliament
a total of ten millions.

In answer to questions, the hoe. member said he
was anxious to ace more free bridges• and with:
roads in this metropolis, and he took the opportu.
ni(y of stating that the Common Council had that
day agreed to open Southwark-bridge toll free for
six or twelve months. With respect to Mr Law-
Eon's Permissive Bill, he was not aware that he had
voted against it ; but, as it appeared that he h
done so, his reason was that a great improvement
had taken place in the habits of the richer classes,
~ntl ho had no doubt that, with improved education,
the working classes would follow the example, and
thus put down drunkenness without the necessity
for any co3reive measure. (Rear, hear.)
A resolution approving the statement of the hen.
member and expressive of continued confidence in
him was then proposed and carried unanimously.

Another La Pommerais Case.

A trial is now going on before the Assize Court
of Berne, in Switzerland, which has some points of
resemblance to the La Pommerais case, which made
so much noise in Paris some months back. One of
the accused parties is Charles Hermann Demme,
Doctor of Medicine, practising at Berne, and the
author of several treatises on military surgery. The
other, Sophia Elizabeth Trumpi, the widow of
Gaspard Trumpi, of Glaris, merchant and banker,
also of Berne; '-litcreetTit,Wbffififtiferefliiintte
of Dr. Demme in the murder of her husband.
It appears that on the night of the 15th of F.
bruary last Gaspard Trumpi died at his country
house at Vabren, in the neighbourhood of Berne:
The day following his death rumour got abroad that
he died by his own hand, and in consequence of this
and of another report, that Trumpi had met with
foul play, the Prefect—a functionary named by the
Grand Council or the election of the people and Coun-
cil of State, and whose duties are to inquire into all
the crimes and offences that may be brought to his
knowledge—opened an inquest, and called upon
Doctor Demme, as the family physician of the de-
cease, for a report of the circumstances relating to
Trumpi's death. The report was sent in by Demme
who deelored that the circumstances which he had
observed in the case showed that the death was not
owing to any extraordinary cause, but that Trumpi
had died from an apoplectic stroke. The Pro.
cureur-General of Berne ordered a post mortem
examination by two experts—namely, Dr. Charles
Emmert, professor of legal medicine, and Dr.
K upper, both of Berne. The experts were unable
to find any outward signs of a violent death. As
the head of the deceased had been previously
opened by Demme, it was not possible to detect
marks of violence on that part ; the experts accord-
ingly proceeded to search for traces of poison in the
organs that remained intact. The intestines were
removed and put into vessels which were sealed, and
handed over to two chemists, MM. Fluchiger and
Schwalback. The result of their experiments was
the discovery of the presence of over ten grains of
strychnine, a quantity more than sufficient to cause
death, and the physicians who made the post mortem
examination concluded in their report that the death
of Trumpi was the result of that poison. The Pre.
feet transmitted the report to the College of Health,
or Medical Commission, whose duty is to ermine
the reports of experts, and who in criminal cases
like the present have superior jurisdiction, and re.
quired them to see whether from all the circum-
stances death had been occasioned by others, or was
the act of the deceased himself. The College of
Health, before coming to a decision, transmitted iu
turn the report to the'experts employed by the Pre.
Feet for their opinion. The experts rejected the
notion of occidental death; neither would they
admit the suppositioa of self. under, and they
declared that there was every probability of a crime
having been committed by others. As it was ascer-
tained Doctor Demme had ben alone in the house
of the deceased the night be died, and moreover
that a criminal intimacy had existed between him
and Madame Trumpi, the authorities considered
:hemselvcs justified in issuing their warrants fur the
,pprehension of both parties. In consequence of the
iuspicion that the poison may have been adminisa
tered during the operation for an abscess two days
before death, the body was disinterred, and the
abscess and other parts extracted and submitted to
chemical experiments. The experts found in them
no trace of poison. The medical questions were
again discussed before the College of Health, who
came to the conclusion that the poisoning was not
accidental, that there were, however, some grounds
for believing in suicide, and that as to whether death
was the result of a crime committed by others, they
declined giving an opinion, it not being within their
competence, but that of the judicial authorities. It
was finally resolved, on the Oth of last month, that
the case should be sent before the Assize Court, and
left to the jury to pronounce on the guilt or bane,'
cence of the parties.

The attention of the Court was particularly di-
rected to certain points set forth in the bill of inn
dictment by the Procureur. Demme had been the
family physician of the deceased. He was on the
nights of the 14th, 15th, and 16th by the bedside
of the sick man, who was suffering from a tumour
in the groin. Demme opened the tumour on the
14th, and he remained alone with Trumpi up to the
moment of his death. The causes assigned by
Demme for the death were not the same in the re%
port he sent in to the Prefect of Berne as in that
. which he drew up for the Procureur. In the one
apoplexy was stated to be the cause ; in the other
he attributed it to strychnine ; and besides this
serious discrepancy he suggested certain causes
which neither the experts nor the College of Health
could accept. Several allegations on the part of the
accused, bearing upon the essential points of the
affair, were equally inadmissible. Moreover, his
manner of acting as physician during the illness of
Trumpi laid him open to the gravest suspicions.
Madame Trumpi confessed that improper intimacy
had subsisted between her and Demme both before
and after the death of her husband ; that Demme
had many times urged her to leave her husband
and accompany him to some foreign country ; that
she and her husband had lived on very bad terms ;
and that on one occasion Trumpi had thrown a
lamp at her which occasioned the loss of an eye.
In the preliminary examination she made certain
statements which she afterwards retracted. In her
depositions she tried to dissipate the suspicions
which rested on Demme. While in prison her
manner was that of a person 'whose conscience was
ill at ease, and she attempted more than once to lay
violent hands on herself. In addition to these dr..
cumstances was the fact of the marriage contract
between Demme and the daughter of Madame
Trumpi, which took place after the death of the
father, doubtless with the view of removing from
the public mind the suspicions which the intimacy
between the accused had raised.
Nevertheless the Procureur could not but admit
that there were some circumstances in the case in•
dicating suicide. Several witnesses deposed that
they had heard Trumpi declare his conviction that
his death was at hand. He was also known to
have uttered menaces of suicide; and the depression
to which he was of late subject, in consequence of
losses in business which had nearly ruined him,
lent probability to this view of the case. The Prc.
cureur also admitted that the indictment he hr.,l
framed was neither substantial nor prec'se ;
he quite sgreed with the Criminal Court that it
was expedient to add nothing mere, but to rest
the
whole case on the documentary and oral Evidence
that would be laid before it. It was stated, besides,
that the accused had in other respects borne a god
character, and that this was the first time either of
them bad appeared in a court of justice.
The examination of witnesses was then proceeded
with.

Demme is about 30 years old, of fair complexion,
what. under the ordinary
above the middle height, and of an agreeable and
distinguished exterior. 'Madame Trumpi is some.
deacate c.n height; her features are
d agreeabla rather than handsome, not•
withstanding the loss of her eye by the brutal `ion
luxe of her husband.