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 in Paris. A Prussian medical man, named
Wiecsecke, was indicted for fraudulent bankruptcy--
he having as alleged started an establishment for
making coffee-pots and a peculiar description of
coffee, run deep into debt, and then sold off or se-
creted his furniture and effects, in order to defraud
his 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 he came to Paris
in 1833, and in 1835 obtained authorization to act as
a physician.* In 1842 that permission was withdrawn,
but he continued to assume the character, and to act
es a medical man. In that year, he made the ac-
quaintance of a retired tradesman rosined Mama.
This person was made to believe that the prisoner W9S
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 sums, 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 au angel or,
earth, he compelled Marcoux to pray several times a
day, and gained such a complete influence -over bho
that he made him do all he warted, and give up all he
had. Amongat other things, he fold him that a
treasure was buried in his garden ; but., when the
garden was dug up, none was found. When et
length Mareoweheid —re tato n te;eifipect t he'in a i
honesty, he &mended a written acknowtedgmenr
for his money and effects; but the prisoner °illy
gave a few vague lines, and stated that his "goad
angel" had forbidden him to give more. Such was
the power of the prisoner over the unfortunate dupe,
that, even before the Court, Mercoux did not dare
to look him in the face, and humbly assured hire,
"in the presence of God," that in giving his evi-
dence he was not actuated by aenthnents of ani-
mosity. After Marconi had concluded his testimony,
a female, named Cdleste 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, he persuaded her to go and live in his
answered.,lfl were
house. She after some hesitation consented, and from
that time for six years she declared that she had not
, "Oh! what would that do !" she
had an hour's liberty—that she was completely suh-
jugated. " And even now" she cried with extraor-
dinary agitation, "I feel his influence extending over
one—but
I have, atalisman
at
h ir
thteyr e
leagues'?' ' and
ishedn convulsively a small white stone. "If the look of the
prisoner affects you,"
said the President, " remove to
another place.'
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
st pressed
distance a
him, I trembled, and all my senses became agitated !"
The witness then said that when she first went to live
in the prisoner's house, he used to talk to her or
death, and of the immortality of the soul, and 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 extacy, 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 b 3
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 had 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 bad gelded 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, " Calvenist !
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 consi-
derable property, had 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 him self 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, and the Saviour, which had 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; bat 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 had, 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 of 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.

secretary to
rl
M. St. Edme, a literary man, formerly eelistence lately
Marshal Berthier, put an eildndto
ins a
paper, contain.
hand how he had passed the
on the day of his
ing a series of reflections, written
the visits which be paid in
death. They relate chiefly tof
iends and children, all of
the course of the day to his
thatr
be
whom were led to supposey
jogstated where he had
was going to make
by strangulation.pEE DETERMINED
leftlN Eh:phi
breakfasted and dined,:_
11 Half-past two in the morn-
day, he concludes thusest
about my preparations, for
ing. I must now
the day to surprise me. The
I cannot allow
,2 110 t a matter of indiffer.
mode of dying ; was anxious to fire ' l
a pistol
a short tour. After
renoe to me. .i.• at my heart,
again such a death being
with its muzzte.
out pain ; but I could not procure
prompt and.ewldtrnawn
myself would take me outside
a pistol.. T
which I do not like the idea of; and
my lodgin always disliked the To
besides, I have_ water. die by
the film"
of charcoal is a tedious and terrible
1 have chosen to employ strangula-
tion, • the tion, in manner of Picbegru.
ShUICTIVE.
I will
consequently tie together several pieces of wood,
and use them as a screw in the knot of my hand-
kerchief; tied round my neck. I will turn on as long
as I 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
the double chance of banging and strangulation.
which I will have mounted, I shall have
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 posing away; I think of nothing
,
r but my children. What silence is around me .
Galignani.

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London.

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 t
terminated as follnws :—Scholar.--Stone, ma. K.S.
liat—Wallord, KS., Thakeray, K.S., Wilberforce, ein
Lambert, K.S., Lyalf. K.S.. Mathias, K.S. Arr
rdphabetical order._ \:_tarCrCiln,
dates were not so numerous this year and medallist, as
worthy of remark that both the scholar fferi.
Well eg the six next in order of writ, g4""w*