The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-10 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

SINGULAR TRIAL.

A very singular case has lately occupied the Court
of Assizes io Paris. A Prussian medical man, named

Wieceecke, was indicted for fraudulent bankruptcy—
he having as alleged started an establishment for
making coffee-pots and a peculiar description of
toffee, run deep into debt, and then sold off or se-
creted his furniture and effects, in order to defraud
bis creditors. But, -as the " Doctor " was also a noted
professor of the mystery of animal magnetism, a mass
of very curious evidence having no direct connexion
with the case was given, for the Purpose of showing
his real character. It appeared that be came to Paris
in 1833, and in 1835 obtained authorization to act sa

a physician. In 1842 that permission was withdrawn,
but he continued to assume the character, and to act

as a medical man.. In that year, he made the ac-
quaintance of a retired tradesman named Mucous.
This person was made to believe that the prisoner was
not only a physician of extraordinary power, but a
chosen agent of God ; and he' gave him a sum
of 8,000 f., and subsequently different :films, his
plate, watches, jewels, &c. Although it was
understood that the prisoner was to restore these

things when called on, he, on different pretexts, ne-
glected to give Marcoux any written acknowledgment
for them. Under pretence of being in angel on
earth, he compelled Marcoux to pray several times a
day, and gained such a complete influence over him
that he made him do all he wanted, and give up all he

had. Amongst other thiogs he told him that n
treasure was buried in his garden ; but, when the
gzden was dug up, none was found. Wien„eet
length Maroc.= had reason to suspect the man s
honesty, he demanded a written acknowledgdartit
for his money and effects; but the prisoner oely
gave a few vague lines, and stated that his "good
angel" had forbidden him to give more. Such was
the power of the prisoner over the unfortunate dupe,
that, even before the Court, Islarcoux did not dare
to look him in the face, end Nimbly assured him,
"in the presence of God," that in giving his evi-
dence be was not actuated by sentiments of ani-
mosity. After Marconi had concluded his testimony,
a female, named Cileste Vallet, was called to give
evidence. She was in custody, heving been arrested
.on the charge of being concerned in certain acts of
swindling, for which the prisoner is to be hereafter
tried. She stated that she had been presented by her
sister to " the Doctor," and that, having ascertained
that she possessed extraordinary lucidity as a mag-
netic subject, be persuaded her to go and live in his
house. She after some hesitation consented, and from
that time for six years she declared that she had not
had an hour's liberty—that she was completely sub-
jugated. "And even now" she cried with extraor-
dinary agitation, "I feel his influence extending over
one—but I have a talisman here ?" and she pressed
convulsively a small white stone. "If the look of the
prisoner affects you," said the President " remove to
another place." "Oh what would that do !" she
answered. "If I were at thirty leagues' distance his
power over me would be the same. When I was in
my cell at St. Lazare I felt it, and even on thinking of
him, I trembled, and ail my senses became agitated !"
The witness then said that when she first went to live
in the prisoner's house, he used to talk
soul,talktoandherof
death, and of the immortality of th
com-
pelled her to read the Bible for hours together. He
made her pass whole nights without sleep, and she
was in a sort of exracy, caused by, his, having mixed
some peculiar substance in her drink. On other oc-
casions after drinking liquors prepared by him she
was seized with vertigo, her hair stood stiff on her
head, her eyes filled with tears, and her lips like
stone. " Oh," exclaimed the woman, " I suffered hor-
rible tortures ! " She then said that the object of the
prisoner in treating her in this way was to make her
a source of profit, by giving medical consultations ;
but he never gave her a farthing, and embezzled her
own furniture and effects. He persuaded her that
her singular magnetic powers were given to her by
God, and that it would be impious for her to make
money by them ; also, that it was by order of St.
John the Baptist that he bad disposed of her furni-
ture. He made her clean the house, as well as give
medical advice; and, when worn out by fatigue,
she demanded repose, he ill-treated her, and made
her drink potions. Oa such occasions he said that if
she resisted him, she would be cursed of God, driven
from God's bosom, be interdicted access to God's gar-
den,_ and be so afflicted with the itch that any one
approaching her would catch it. Her belief was that
the doctor had gained the enormous sum of 700,000 f.
by her. He converted her from the Catholic to the
Protestant religion, by causing a voice to cry to her
when she thought herself quite alone, "Calvanist !
Calvanist !" When she was in a state of agitation
caused by his potions, he used to make phantoms
appear which terrified her exceedingly. The pre-
scriptions she gave, under the prisoner's direction, to
the persons who consulted her, were drawn up in the
name of " the good Angel," or " St. John the Bap-
tist," or the " well beloved of God. It was next proved
that a Madame Verdys, who had possessed consie
derable property, bad gone to live in the prisoner's
house, and had been defrauded by him out of a for-
tune of nearly 300,000 f. By his recommendation
she had also been induced to advance the pretended
Duke de Normandie, who called himself Louis XVII,
about 50,000 f. All this she had done, she stated, in
obedience to letters from the good Angel, St. John the
Baptist, end the Saviour, which bad been presented to
her by the prisoner. But, notwithstanding she had
been reduced to poverty by him, she declared that her
confidence in him was undiminished. She admitted
that she had written letters of a very amorous cha-
racter to him. He had other " magnetic subjects"
besides Vallet; but they were too prudent to let him
victimise them so completely. When the magnetising
business began to fail, he invented a new species of
coffee, which he called, " Coffee of the Angel Blanche,"
the secret of making which bad, he alleged, been mi-
raculously revealed to him. A great number of wit-
nesses proved that in his capacity of trader he had not
paid his debts, and that -he had sold or sent off his
furniture and goods. A number of boxes containing
property had, it was stated, been seized in a waggon
establishment ; they bore his address, and were evi-
dently intended to be sent out cf the country. The
counsel for the defendant having addressed the jury,
and been replied to by the advocate-general, the jury
deliberated and returned a verdict of Guilty, with ex-
tenuating circumstances. The Court sentenced
Wiecseke to six years imprisonment.

~
DETERMINED SUICIDE.
I secretary to
his
ereLtence lately
M. St. Edme, a literary man, formerly
Marshal Berthier, put an end
dtohhn a
Paper,
contain.
by strangulation. He left behind
OD the day of his
ing a series of reflections, writtenvisits which be paid in
death. They relate chiefly to the.
children, all of
going to make the course of the day to his frienhdes
wanade
whom were led to suppose that
stated where he had
13,3vdingbow be had passed the
a short tour. After
mdf.past two in the morn.
breakfasted and dined,
_e
day, be concludes thus
arations, for
ing. I must now setday
about WY Prep
to surprise me. The
I cannot allow the
. no, a matter of indiffer.,
mode dying r was anxious to fire a pistol
rence to me. . t alp heart, such a death being
1 Haws
with its muzz..e.--ut pain ; but I could not procure
prompt and :idtrnoown
myself would take me outside
a pistol.. T which I do not like the idea of; and
my lodging,
/ ha? always disliked the water. To die by
besides, f charcoal is a tedious and terrible
the fumes
I have chosen to employ strangulae
agOny• . the
ie , manner of Picbegru. I will
tion, tie together several pieces of wood,
consequentlY
and use them as a screw in the knot of my hand-
kerchief, tied round my neck. I will turn on as long
m 1 can. To make my death more certain, I will tie
a cord from the upper part of the room, and, mak-
ing a running-knot of one end, I will pass it round
my neck ; and then, pushing aside the chair
on which I will have mounted, I shall have
the double chance of hanging and strangulation.
Three o'clock : I have fixed the cord. I tried to use
four pieces of wood tied together, but I could not
succeed. I must use a single piece. I do not fear
death, since I seek it ; but I dread prolonged suffer-
ing. My ideas are passing away; I think of nothing
,
r
but my children. What silence is around me .
Galignani.

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ETON COLLEGE.—The examination for the New,
castle Scholarship commenced on Monday, the 29th ult.,
and was continued through the whole of last week, when it
terminated as follows:—Scholar.—Stone, ma., K.S. Bledg:
list.—Walford, K.S., Thakeray, K.S., Wilberforce, f..i.,
Lambert, K.S., Lyall, K.S., Alathiae, K.S. Arravisarni.
alphabetical order —Evered, K.S., Harper, ma., •bS_:,c,„,!;_
I, ::, .11.,;111i;,,r, &S— Marirntin, Wslrn:, F. S• but ti•
, ~i s
tidies were not CO numerous this
Year 's (janinclallist, as
worthy of remark that both the scholar alL,ers.
wall as the six next in order of merit, Are c""