The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-03 00:00:00

ASSIZE COURT of LA NIEVRE

DREADFUL MURDER OF A MAN BY HIS WIFE.
(From the Gazette des Tribunaux.)
A woman named Guyonnet was charged with the
murder of her husband and stepson by administer-
ing to them arsenic in their food. Tire prisoner's age
was thirty-eight. She had been left a widow with two
children about five years, when sire met with and mar-
ried Pierre Guyonnet, with whose murder she now
stood charged, as also with that of his son. Guyonnet
was himself a widower, and also had two children. It
was agreed between them that each should bring but
one of their children into their household, and the
others should be put out. The first few months passed
off happily, and nothing interfered with their domestic
harmony. At length, however, the wife was heard to
complain that she had married a man who was in debt,
and to express a wish that she was rid aif him. In the
month of November last the husband was attacked
with violent pains in the stomach, followed by vomiting.
During eight days he was in great danger, and he owed
his recovery solely to the natural vigour of his constitu-
tion. He had scarcely recovered when his son, aged
about six years, became affected in the same way, and
died in less than twenty-four hours.
If the authorities had now inquired into the cause of
the child's death, a second would have been prevented.
But the unhappy man was fated to become the victim
of the confidence he reposed in his wife—a confidence
which, strange to say, was not shaken by the death of
his boy.
In the course of the January following he was again
attacked with violent internal pains. He was obliged
to retire to his bed, and in four days he was a corpse.
The Mayor of the commune now refused to allow the
burial of the deceased without an investigation of the
circumstances attending his death. The body of the
child was also exhumed, and both bodies were subjected
to surgical and chemical examinations, the result of
which was the discovery of arsenic in considerable quan-
tities in the stomachs of both father and child.
In the face of this conclusive evidence of her guilt
the wretched woman thought it useless to deny it ; and
she accordingly made a partial confession, taking care
to give the matter the best colouring she could put
upon it. Hcr story was, that in consequence of the
threats of her husband she had prepared a plate of po-
tatoes, with which she mixed some arsenic, and , left
them where he might eat them if he pleased ; trusting
to Providence, as she said (se reposant a la grace de
Dieu) for the issue ; that during her absence at the
house of a neighbour he had eaten them ; and that
therefore she had not given them to him. With re•
Bard to the child, she said that he had come by his
death through the carelessness of his father, who had
placed some portion upon a plate to kill mice, and that
the child bad accidentally eaten some soup out of the
same plate.
The Counsel for the prisoner told the Jury that after
her confession, he could only urge upon them that there
were palliating circumstances regarding the teath of the
husband ; and that in the case of the child there was
no proof at all of her having caused his death.
The Jury found the prisoner guilty of the murder of
her husband, denying by the terms of their verdict the
presence of any palliating cireitra,tances in the case, and
the Judge immediately sentenced her to death.
No sentence of death has been passed in this Court
for ten years before, and it excited the most painful in-
terest. I.le prisoner was the only person in Court who
appeared unmoved. The miserable woman is near her
confinement, and a considerable time will consequently
elapse before her execution can take place.