The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-06 00:00:00

A MISER'S CAREER.

The extraordinary circumstances connected with
the death of an old miser named Crepin, which
took place on the 11th August, 1858, in Lyons,
are still undoubtedly fresh in the recoliec-
tion of many of our readers. Crepin was an old
bonhomme, from whom nobody would have with-
held a penny in the streets if he had asked
for it, and who, if it had been offered, would
certainly not have refused it. Having retired
from business with about 100,000 f., which he
had accumulated in the space of a few years,
thanks to lucky and certain speculations of every
description, he raised that sum to a fortune con-
siderably exceeding a million. But the great source
of his riches was his sordid avarice, which even in-
duced him to tear down bills posted up on the streets
in order to write his receipts upon the back, in-
stead of making use of stamps, as the law exacts ;
and yet these receipts represented the rent of seve-
ral houses which brought him in a decent income.
Dressed in a coat which a superb burnish of grease
and dirt rendered proof against all weathers, and
his head sheltered from sun and rain by a hat that
outlived the storm of the first revolution, one would
have taken him for a fugitive pauper. But every
one residing in his quarter knew that he was the
millionaire Crepin, possessing superb mansions in
the best quarters of Lyons, the rent of which he
made his tenants pay nine months in advance, while
all were expelled—the clause was inserted in the
agreement in every:case—who required any repairs
to be done. But the deity who caused the destruc-
tion of Troy also caused that of pere Crepin; not
that the wronged and artful deity ever succeeded
in loosening his purse•strings, but he gifted a cun-
ning woman with charms sufficient to induce Crepin
lonipncortkoe
eftnheotdihwne d it. Since
the
to live with her and her husband, and that woman
resveeendtuhaellry
finger managed
that Si: completely to
m made
einhder him
is
heiress. Finding, however, that be did noptldicileee,stwotohhaoe
sheteennootgheh,
opening had o rfecthonerwseiltio,
which
hoiiscohn
minadoerdheerr
twiceto has;
ekTt
dhheeec himself
haianosdreridsi
horrible
indiscretion
crime
sufficiently
ul olef t
cahonem wellatmcu accomplice, otpptmieat
dui
paid,
turpitude
which
nhtichhe
hppleuidrdbs
millionaire.
Dumollard case the
public has not been so impressed by any judicial
drama, and it is the
tribunal of Lyons which has
the honour of finally condemning the guilty trio,
namely, the man Fevre and his wife—(the inheri-
tors of Old Cre ' pin s great fortune)—the woman to
12 years', and the h usband—a very old man—to
fi
ve years' hard labour, and the accomplice, Claude
Chozel, also to 12 years, After the trial the pro-
perty was of course sequestered. But on the day
the verdict was given the heirs of Crepin com-
menced proceedings in the civil court to have the
will revoked, and M. Pollaky is now conducting the
inquiries on their behalf as next of kin of old Crepin
in England with a view to support these proceedings
in the Justice Civile (Common Picas) which is about
to give its decision on the affair of old Crepin, by
application en declaration dindignite made by the
legitimate heirs of the late Mr. Crepin against the
convict Favre, eccording to the provisions of the
article 727 of the rode Napoleon, at the First
Chamber of the Tribunal Civile of Lyons.

AMERICAN IRON-MIDS.—In tha engagement at
Charleston three types of iron-clads were repre-
sented—the llionitors, with their laminated armour; the
Keokuk, with her sandwich armour of iron and wood; and
the high-sided Ironsides, with her solid plate. The Moni-
tors received little damage, the Keokuk was pierced through
and as if it bad been pasteboard, and tho plates of
the through,
s were cracked. The Irousides, however, was
about twice the distance of the Monitors from the forts,—
,American Paver,