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

A MISER'S CAREER.

The extraordinary circumstances connected with
he death of an old miser named Crepin, which
ook place on the 11th August, 1858, in Lyons,
are still undoubtedly fresh in the recollec-
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
aeatghea
the best quarters of Lyons, the rent of which he
made his tenants pay nine months in advance,wbile
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-
tiont of Troy also caused that of pere Crepin;c
itnhaiotetsheeniwngrohegisepduarnsed.satrring
artful deity
fling woman with charms sufficient tonduce Crepin
I
buth ever
. gifted s succeeded
cae ecdu not
that
to live with her and her husband, and that woman
so
iw s completelyill he made her his
heiress. towindhinils
round
r fin managed
Finding, however, that be did not die soon
eventually
enough, she had recourse to poison in order to has-
tenopeningof thedt will,
which
made her twice ain h
millionaire. The indiscretion of an accomplice, who
did hiri k himself sufficiently well paid, let the
public
hethink
know the horrible crime committed upon the
hpaedrs nototn
precededot' the d e
it.e a e aoen d
the Dumollard as
all the turpitude vevi theiili
pdruabml haansd ni
to t b
is etehne
troi
biumnparl eos e f
yboyn as jualhiaasl
the honour of finally
condemning the guilty Ire
namely, the man Favre and his wife—(the
tors of Old Crepin's inheri!
great fortune)—the woman to
12 years', and the husband—a very old man—to
five years' hard labour, and the accomplice, Claude
Chozel, also to 12 years. After the trial jhe 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 hove the
will revoked, and M. Pollaky is now conducting the
inquiries on their behalf as nest of kin of old Crepin
in England with a view to support these proceedini.s
in
to
give
the Justice
ilvoits dc Coisiivile
decision
tCethemlYe
affair of fsowldhcieh Crepin, by
about
application en declaration dindignite made by the
the
convict Fevre, according
legitimate heirs of the latet
oM rt .h
e Crepinprovi againstprovisions
of
the
Napoleon, at the First
article
Chamber
727 of
of the tho'l Code
'ribunal C vile of Lyons.

AMERICAN IRON-CLADS.—In the engagement at
Charleston three types of iron-dads were repre-
sented—the Monitors, with their laminated armour; the
Keokuk, with her sandwich armour of it on and wood ; and
the high-sided Ironsides, with her solid plate. The Moni-
tors received little damage, the Keokuk was pierced through
and through, as if it had been pasteboard, and tho plates of
the Ironsides were cracked. The Iroxsides, however, v,a4
about twice the uistance of tho Monitors from the fort:
American paper.