The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-25 00:00:00

CRIME IN FRANCE.

The Court of Assizes of the Eure has just tried
four young men named respectively Chandellier,
aged 19, Delacour, 15, and Dufresney and Langlois,
both 21, charged with stealing, on several occasions,
from the offices of the Prefecture of Eure, sums of
money amounting in all to about 3,000 f. In May
and June last, M. Chevalier, one of the clerks at the
Prefecture, successively missed several sums of
money from a drawer, and the thefts continued un-
til they reached the amount abovementioned. At
last suspicion fell on the prisoners, who had been
spending money far beyond their means, and
they were accordingly arrested. When interro
gated Chandellier and Dufresney, who had been
employed to clean the offices, confessed that they
had accidentally discovered where M. Chevalier
hid his keys, and had used them to get at the
money, which they afterwards shared with the
other two prisoners. This confession having been
fully substantiated by collateral evidence, the jury
found ali:the prisoners guilty, and they condemned
Chandellier to seven years hard labour, Dufresney
and Langlois to five and three years', while Dela-
cour, being under 16, was ordered to be confined in
a house of correction till his 20th year.

The Court of Assizes of the Loire tried on Tues-
day a farmer named Blachon, aged 63, charged with
having attempted to murder M. Desfarges, juge de
pais at St. Rambert. It appeared from the evi-
dence that as M. Desfarges was returning home
from church on the morning of the 12th July last,
the prisoner, who had been waiting near the church,
approached him from behind, and fired a pistol at his
back. M. Desfarges fell to the ground, and the pri-
soner was taking aim at him with another pistol, when
some of the shopkeepers living near seized and dis-
armed him. Fortunately the wound proved to be
only a severe contusion, from which he soon re-
covered. The prisoner's motive for the crime was
vengeance. He had been engaged in an unsuccess-
ful lawsuit, and regarded all the judges who had
decided against him as personal enemies; hence his
attempt on the life of M. Desfarges, who was one
of them. The jury at once found the prisoner
guilty, and the Court sentenced him to ten years'
imprisonment.
The young man Leclapant, who murdered his
father last week :at Villers (Marne), has just been
arrested near Eperuay, while in the act of stealing
the clothes of a shepherd to replace part of his
own, which he had left on the bank of the Marne
to lead to the belief that he had drowned himself.
When apprehended, he gave the name of Pre-
vost, but on being taken to Rheims he was
at once identified as the murderer of whom
the police were in search, and he has since confessed
that he killed his father by repeated blows with a
mattock.

The commune of Leran (Ariege) has during the
last few days been the scene of disturbances, the
suppression of which required the intervention of
the armed force. About 100 individuals, men,
women, and children, went for two or three days
following in bands of from five to twenty, into the
forest belonging to the Duke de Mirepoix, where
timber is now being cut down. Ia spite of all the
remonstrances and efforts of the private forest
keepers, they carried off by force all the Toppings
and faggots which were piled up, and even the
presence of the proprietor himself failed to deter
them from their acts of pillage. The interference
of the authorities was at length applied for. The
juge de pair of Mirepoix proceeded to the spot,
accompanied by a party of gendarmes, and a num-
ber of the leading actors in the outrage were
arrested.