The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-11 00:00:00

jeweller, recognised the diamonds
,cents, which bad been sold to
• e ornaments were worth about

. .. _
' SECOND DAY.—Aue. 6.
' The concourse was full as great as on the preceding
day, nlthongh it was well known that Mule. Marie Laf-
farge would not appear ; but the public curiosity was
excited by the expectation of hearing the evidence of the
sister of sf. Claret, and a letter from hinvelf sent froth
the town of Guadalaxara, in the interior of Mexico. At
a quarter past eight o'clock, the Court was opened, and
the proceedings were resumed.
Pierre Coullebeeuf, a domestic servant from the Rue
Saint-Florentin, Paris, was the first witness examined.
He deposed that he knew M. Felix Claret in 1839, when
lie returned. Mr. Felix Claret was' a young. man of
gentlemanly manner and habits, of a respectable family
and good principles, incapable of accepting such presents .
as had been imputed to him, or of committing any base
or immoral action.
M. Poutier (Raymond), physician in the army of Al-
giers, the uncle of Mme. Laffarge. deposed as follows:—
I was at Algiers in July, 1840, - and one day, whilst
walking with some officers, M. Alphonse Clar6" came up ,
to us. We were talking of the atfair of Laffarge, and,
when I heard his name, I asked him if he was the per-
sou mentioned on the trial ; he replied in the negative,
but said he knew the M. Claret referred to, having deli-
vered to him a box, which had, been sent, by Mine. de
Leotaud, on receiving which M. FWx Claret said, " It
is a box of colours which has been skt to me by Mme.
de Leotaud." I remarked that this infortemtion -was en-
tirely at variance with what Mine. de Leotsit,,l had stated
at the trial, and, as it was important, requeste:l 11101 to e
make a declaration in writing, which he did, and I sent .
it to the Counsel of Marie Capelle. The box was id',
dressed, in the first instance, by the landlord of the hotee ,
of the Croix tl'Or, at Toulon, to M. Damy, Surgeon-Mae
jor of the Ist regiment of the line. The address was,
To M. Damy, to be liven to M. Claret." lle thought,.
however, there must have been something to indicate
who sent it, for M. Damy said to him, "It appears that ...
little Claret has connection only with Countesses." M.
Perrin had told him that he heard froth M. Desciorsilles • •
that it was known that the box came from the Viscoun-
tess
de Leotaud. •
M. H. Brissot Thivars, director of salubrity and
public lighting in Paris, said he had long known the .• .
family of M. Felix Claret, for whom he had great esteem.
He spoke in the highest terms of M. Claret, but admitted
that he might have the defects of youth, vanity and pre-
sumption,for he was a handsome young man, and the
ladies perhaps had told him so rather too frequently.
Nothing more was required to fill'his brain with chime-
rical hopes. On one occasion, when walking with Claret,
the latter told him that he was going to be married to a
handsome, rich, and, what was more, noble young lady,
upon which the witness told him that he was more
mad than he had ,hitherto taken him to_ be, and
that he was a fit subject for Charenton. Two years
afterwards, .: and during the affaiis of Glandier, the
witness learned that the lady whoth M. Claret had spoken
of as his intended bride, was Mlle.. de. Nicolai, and the
- \person who befriended him Marie Capelle. He also learnt
that Marie Capelle had been in the habit of walking in
the Park of Mousseaux, which, not being, a public pro-
inenade, is g-enerallY solitary. She ' enfered Under Me
auspices of a lady whom it was not necessary to name,
who had her child at her breast ; but Marie Capelle
would quit this lady and walk by herself until she met
Claret, who had also some means of getting into tike
IPark, and would sometimes give five francs to the gate-
keeper to admit him. The rendezVous continued for
about three mohths, and in the bosquets they pro-
bably talked over the projects of marriage with Mlle.
de Nicolai.—(A laugh.) At length, however, Clavet ,
Yielding to the remonstrances of his family, or dissa-
tisfied with the little progress which he made in his
suit, told Marie Capelle that he had reflected on his folly,
and a situation being offered to him as one of the ma
nagers of an agricultural colony at Algiers, he had re-
solved on accepting it. Marie Capelle replied that .he
was wrong, that he should take courage, things did not
go on so rapidly in the world, and that at any rate she
was there to console him. The witness did not knew whe-
ther Felix Claret nourished a double passion—(Great -
laughter)—but he thought not. lie felt probably that he
had been duped into false hopes, and therefore resolved
.to go to Algeria. This witness then proceeded to state
that the Company by which M. Claret was sent out agreed
to give him 4,000 f. a year as manager, and that after his
departure from Paris he received from his partnersloo,ooor.
for his expenses of the voyage and the first outlay in Al-
giers. Be continued to receive his salary regularly all the
time he was in Algeria, which he quitted in August, 1839,
and arrived in Paris in September, where he remained
until February, 1840. He did not leavel)tris in the in-
terval, and the witness, being very intimate with his
family, saw him almost daily. In the month of Fe-
bruary, continued the witness, Claret left for Mexico
with his father, mother, aunt, and young sister and her
children. At this moment he 'was in the province of
Guadalaxara, at 15 or 20 leagues from the Pacific
Ocean. He had written, since his arrival there, only
once to his sisters, and the letter had been given to the
witness. The witness said it was proper to in,
form the Tribunal that, when Felix Claret left
Paris, ho knew nothing of the Laffarge affair,
except the poisoning, and had learnt that Mtulame
Laffarge was the Marie Capelle with whom he' had been
acquainted. He then continued as follows the reading of
-the letter :—" It is impossible for us to know the details
be Compromised in it. There
of the Laffarge affair. Ido not comprehend how I hen
in the defence of Mine. Laffarge, that it was of abnaturtetude
render her more culpable in the eyes of every I
N@v(lia't. un-
to hasten her condemnation. M.
—y poor sistcanistimugh
lint
easiness must not all this have caused Y
was so much improbability
me some details,
this horrible said was possible.to Lip
correctly of what
if it be possible. lam anxious
here handed the letter to
know me well enough not to believeetrdatoaun'ything of what
lam accused." The witness here
sock: y
t of the company of
the President, as also the ac f
mansger, and the certificate
which M. Claret had
petit), had her rendezrouta
Algiers. He then added,
otiflahtisatartirlieratlimate
wheark of Mousseaux, shepassed nearly
with Claret in the park
e , the "'endows of the school of Claret, in
every day before Route, No. 20, and the mother- of.
tt,e Faubourg
lunch
struck on seeing her eyes constantly
Claret was
.rds the house. Madame Claret once said
directed toe a
rl ter " D you know that young per-
her eldest daue i , o .
Felix?'
to Toutoou,lblefaernrojemca
sechvne' Ippeara to TUC to be very bold." Mademoiselle
ho is locking so earnestly at the window ofMademoiselle
Chivas
•
who had seen her at the church of Saint Philippe ;
de Rouge, replied, " It is Marie Capelle.'' ,
M. Catrufo, painter, of the Rue de Ponthieu, Paris,
stated that, about the end of 1834, he became acquainted
with M. Felix Claret, in consequence of their being.
members of a charitable association, and an intimate
friendship was formed between them. In the begining
of the spring of 1836, M. Claret showed witness a letter,
which he imagined came from two young ladies lie bad
seen at chuich, and in the public walks. Of Mdlle. de
Nicolai, whom he said he loved, he always spoke in the
most respectful terms, and as one with whom he had no
secret intercourse, nor even any acquaintance in seeiety.
Mdlle. Claret, sister of M. Claret, now in Mexico, was
next examined. Great interest was displayed on the
appearance of this young lady, who is so nearly releted
to the person who had figured so conspicuously in the de-
fence set up by the prisoner. In reply to a question of
the President, she stated her name to be Catherine
Barthelemy Claret, aged 36, and-a teacher at Toulouse.
Her appearance was prepossessing, and her emotion for
some time prevented her from being _heard distinctly.
Before commencing his interrogatory, the President
desired her to be seated, and compose herself.
President—YOul are] the sister of M. Felix Claret ?
A. I am.—Q. Do you know anything of the robbery
of the diamonds of *ine. de Leotaud ? A. No, Sir.—Q.
Do you know anything of the relations of Marie Capeile,
or Mlle. de Nicolai, with your brother? A. My brother,
who frequently made me his confidante, told me that he
often noticed two young ladies, that he had formed an
acquaintance with one of them, who had led him to enter-
tain a hope that a marriage might be brought about with
the other, who was Mlle. de Nicolai. I endeavoured to
persuade him against entertaining such an idea, which I
yefiuviel,,(ds
saw was illusory. He never said a word to me, to lead rae
et tt
,ef onears
to suppose that these hopes were encouraged by the per-
son to whom they related.— Q. Did your brother ever show
lettersnidehe
hs
ielloawsdpeerdaekcieniie:tahr
respectful
oplrnee
youteladuitess. the.,: (4 ..Ap.
from Marie Capelle, but I do not remember their eon-
the youit lady whom he had beenl d '()
you of
e to hope he might
he had
terms to
e