The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-10 00:00:00

Trial for Murder in France.

The Assize Court for Douai was occupied on Saturday
with the trial of a murderer named Manesse, who killed five
persons with a hatchet, and left a sixth for dead, in so in-
credibly short a space of time that, until he made a full con-
fession, the public refused to believe in the possibility of
the crimes of which ho was accused. About a year ago, in
the case of Bastide Besplas, it was seriously argued by the
counsel for the defence that no man was ever known to
kill so many as fourpersons immediately one after the other,
and that the thing was impossible. But in the present in-
stance it is beyond a doubt that Maness° actually felled,
like oxen, no less than six people, without a moment's
pause, breaking the skulls of two of them with a single
blow each, killing three others with many wounds, and
grievously injuring the remaining ono of the party. The
indictment stated that on the 17th March last, at about 7
in the evening, a bloody drama appalled the inhabitants of
the commune of Favril. Six persons fell under the blows
of an assassin. Five died the same night, without for an
instant, recovering consciousness or being able to utter a
word, and the sixth only recovered after a long period of
the utmost danger. The first victim was Isidore Largil-
liere, a farmer, of Favril, aged 48. He was found in a
stable with his face smashed and one eye knocked out. The
second was his son, a lad of 18, whose body was found by
the side of that of his father ; his skull was split up, and
a part of the brain had escaped from it. The third was
Albino Largilliere, sister of the last, a young girl of 19. Sho
appears to have been struck down as she was running away
from the house ; there were eight wounds on her head, two
of which had fractured her skull. The fourth was Desiree
Largilliere, aged 42, the sister of Isidore, who lived next
door to him ; she had five wounds on the head, by two of
which the skull was broken. The fifth was Leopoldino
Largilliere, aged 16, a natural daughter of Desiree ; she was
wounded iu the head in two places, and from one of them
the brain protruded. Desiree and Leopoldine were knocked
down on the threshold of Isidore's house, to which they were
probably hastening when they heard the cries of the other
victims. Mdme. Largilliere, aged 38, the only one of the
family destined to survive the massacre, had four wonds in
the head, and a fifth under the chin, which occasioned a frac-
ture of the left part of the lower jaw. She was found senseless
lying on the ground, with her head against the open door of
the house from which the murderer had fled. The numerous
wounds received by the victims were all evidently inflicted
by the same instrument, wielded with extraordinary force
by ono and the same hand. The neighbours had heard the
blows and the cries of anguish, but not one had had the
courage to interfere. The boldest only ventured to approach
the scene when the carnage, which occupied but a very few
minutes, was entirely over. Madame Largillioro, when re-
stored to consciousness, related that on the evening in ques-
tion she was at supper with her son and daughter, when she
heard her husband coming home with a waggon and six
horses. She sent her son out to the stables to meet his
father. Her daughter shortly followed, taking the lamp
with her, and a few minutes later she (Madame Largilliere)
being all alone, felt herself struck, but without seeing the
assassin, and she remembered nothing more. The supper
table bore indentations from the instrument used by the
murderer, and it seems probable that she in rushing after
the aggressor must have fallen outside the door, where she
was found. Nothing was stolen either from the persons
of the victims or from either of the two houses. The mur-
derer- surprised Isidore Largilliere in the stable, which ho
entered by a back door, without passing through the village
of Favril. The acte d'accusatioa then enters into long argu-
mentative details, unnecessary to be repeated, after the
confession, to show that no stranger to the premises could
have committed the crime, and that nobody but the prisoner
had a motive for doing it. The motive assigned was that
Maness°, a small farmer, whose property was mortgaged, and
who was over head and ears in debt, was ono of the heirs of
the Largilliere family by virtue of his marriage with one of
Largilliere's sisters, and that he was anxious to hasten the.
succession. He made various confessions, telling lies in all
of them, as confessing murderers are wont to do. In one
of his confessions he sought to implicate as an accomplice a
brother-in-law named Fresse, who was a co-heir of the Lar-'
gillieres, but at the trial he withdrew this accusation, and
admitted that he alone was concerned in the murder. Tho
presiding judge endeavoured to make him confess that he
deliberately planned from the first the murder of the whole
family, in order to get his share of the property of all of
them. But he persisted, and in this ho probably spoke the
truth, that he only meant to kill the head of the family,
Isidore, and that after striking him clown in the stable ho
killed all the others to prevent them from giving evidence
against him. He also represented, and this seems, onread-
ing the report, not improbable—that it was not with a view
to inherit from Isidore Largilliere that he killed him, but
because he had a dispute with him about the distribution of
a relation's property, which had been so managed as to
give Largilliero two horses more than he was entitled to.
He alleged that ho had been drinking a great deal, and ad-
mitted, in answer to the leading question of the judge, that
ho was also drunk with blood, and that one murder led him
on to another. It is a most extraordinary thing that this
unparalleled series of murders should have been perpetrated
at an early hour of the evening, in a hamlet where there
were several houses, and yet that the murderer should have
got clear away, walked to a distant village with a view to
establish an alibi, come back to his wife and daughter at his
house on the scene of his crimes, attended the funeral of his
victims, and not been arrested till several days after the
deed. It was only at last public suspicion that pointed at
him on account of his violent character. Everybody said
there was nobody in Favril but Maness° who could have
done it. At length the police collected a number of small
proofs which they thought justified his arrest, and his
confession soon supplied the links wanting. Manesse is 52
years of age, a man of Herculean strength, and with an
impediment in his speech. He stuttered so much during
his examination as to be often unintelligible. The telegraph
which brings the result of the trial says that he seemed
totally unmoved when sentenced to death.

THE DEAD HAND.—The celebrated Lord Ches-
terfield's will contains this prelude :—" Satiated
with the pompous follies of this life, of which I have had
an uncommon share, I would have no posthumous ones
displayed at my funeral, and therefore desire to be, buried
in the next burying-place to the place where I shall die,
and limit the whole expense of myfuneral to £100." Shortly
after comes the following clause :—" The several devises
and bequests horeinbefore and hereinafter given by me to
and in favour of my said godson, Philip Stanhope, shall be
subject to the condition and restriction hereinafter men-
tioned—that is to say, that in case my said godson, Philip
Stanhope, shall at any time hereafter keep or be concerned
in the keeping of any racehorse or racehorses, or pack or
packs of hounds; or reside one night at Newmarket, that
infamous seminary of iniquity and ill manners, during the
course of the races there, or shall resort to the said races,
or shall lose in any ono day at any game or bet whatsoever
the sum of £5OO, then, and in any of the cases aforesaid, it
is my express will that he, my said god-son, shall forfeit
and pay out of my estate the sum of £5,000 to and for the
use of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, for every
such offence or misdemeanour as is above specified, to be
recovered by action for debt in any of his Majesty's courts
of record at Westminster." The will entails a similar pe-
nalty on the letting of Chesterfield-house. The present Lord
Chesterfield, Nvho is son of the man on whom these liabi-
lities were imposed, has certainly let Chesterfield-house,
and has, wo will venture to say, passed some nights at the
" iniquitous seminary of iniquity and ill manners:" His
ancestor vested the infliction of the penalty in the reverend
hands of the Dean and Chapter, to mark, by a sort of
Parthian dart, his sense of the grasping spirit he considered
they had evinced in their dealings with him respecting the
land on which his house was built, and to abow whata rigid
enaction of 'the penalty imposed ho anticipated from such
sharp practitioners.—Fraser's Magazine.