The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-28 00:00:00

SHOCKING MURDER IN FRANCE.

A shocking murder bas just occurred at Passy. A
woman named Carlu was living with her two children,
one 13 and the other 9, separated from her husband, who
had cruelly ill-used her. The night before last the
father managed by some means to introduce himself into
the lodgings of his wife, who was sleeping be-
tween her two children. He instantly attacked her
with a large butcher's knife which he had brought
with him, and apparently the first blow must have
killed her, as no cry was heard by the other people
in the house. Not satisfied with thus wreaking his
vengeance he continued his murderous work, as more
than thirty stabs were found on the poor woman's body,
most of which would have been fatal. Having
completed his sanguinary work, he drew a mattress
towards the door and laid himself down on it to await the
result. A neighbour, hearing the children moaning, gave
notiee to the police, who entered the apartment and
arrested Carlu, who made no resistance, but simply said,
" It was I who killed her."

We r egret to learn that the accounts of Mr.
Childers do not improve.
The Archdeacon of London, the ',Ten. William
Hale, lies dangerously ill at the master's lodge, Charter-
house.
The Oxford and Cambridge tennis matches will
be played in the M.C.C. court at Lord's Cricket-ground,
to-morrow and Thursday.
Preparations for the Wimbledon review are already
in progress. The office of the National Rifle Association,
at the Camp, Wimbledon, will be open on the morning of
Saturday, July 9.
Lord Justice Giffard is so unwell that it is feared
he will not be able to attend to business for some time.
His absence from the Court will cause serious incon-
venience.

THE HEBREW BREACH. OF PROMISE CASE.
The case of Keyser v. Moryosef was resumed in the
Bail Court, Queen's Bench, before Mr. Justice Hannen
and a common jury. It was an action brought by a
Jewess, the keeper of a lodging-house in Aldgate, against
one of her co-religionists, who lodged in her house, for an
alleged breach of a promise to marry her, which
promise the defendant denied. From the evi-
dence given yesterday, it appeared that the
parties had lived together as husband and wife

for some weeks • and while it was sworn by the plaintiff
that this was subsequent to the promise, it was contended
by the defendant that the plaintiff used it as a pretext for
endeavouring to wheedle a promise out of him. The
evidence to-day was directed towards proving that the
plaintiff's conduct with other frequenters of the house
was most unbecoming. The jury, after being locked up
for some time, returned a verdict for the plaintiff—
damages £25.

ACTION FOIE, THE LOSS OF :A FATHER

AND MOTHER.

The case of Walden v. the Great Northern Railway

Company, was tried before Mr. Justice Brett and a spe-
cial jury in the Court of Common Pleas. It was an action
by two young men, sons of a farm bailiff, to recover
damages from that company for the loss of their father
and mother, by an accident on the railway. at Welling
Junction, Hertfordshire, on the 20th of October last. On
that day Mr. and Mrs. Walden were passengers by a
train which was passing, the junction points, when it
suddenly left the line, one half being over-
turned and smashed, and the other half running
along towards Hertford. Several passengers were killed,
including Mr. and Mrs. Waldon. It was contended by
the plaintiffs that the accident arose from the pointsman
shutting the points before the whole of the train had
passed over them ; while the company ascribed it to a
defect in one of the carriage-wheels, for which they
-:culd not be held responsible. The questic nof liability
had been determined against the company in another case,
but they were not willing to accopt this decision as
final, and accordingly they defended again. The jury
found a verdict for the plaintiffs, and assessed the
damages at £l7s.—Another action, arising out of the
same accident, was arranged on the conclusion of the
above case.

THE WHOLESALE BABY *FARMING CASE
AT BRIXTON.
This afternoon the prisoners Margaret Waters, 35,
with the aliases of Willis, Hurley, Walters, Ellis,
Oliver, Blackburn, Ford, &c., and Mary Ellis, 29,
her sister, underwent a further examination at
the Lambeth Police-court, before Mr. Elliott. The former
prisoner was originally charged with neglecting to provide
proper food and nourishment for the illegitimate male
child of Jeannette Tassy Cowen, thus endangering its
life, and the child since the last examination has
died. The prisoners together were also charged
with having other infants in their possession, and
endangering their lives by not providing proper food and
nourishment. The interest in the case has very much in-
creased, as no less than three of the children found have
since expired. The Court and its approaches were
crowded.
Mr. Poland again appeared to prosecute, on behalf of
the Treasury, and the prisoners were defended by Mr.
Mayo.
Mr. Poland said he very much regretted to inform his
worship that since the case was last before the court
three of the children had died. One died on Thurs-
day, at the workhouse. Miss Cowen's child died on
Friday, and another male child died on Sunday last. The
post mortem examination was made only yesterday, and
what he proposed to do was to go as far as he could with the
case to-day, and then to ask for a further adjournment.
At present he had not been able to trace out the mothers
of the children who had been found, but he should shew
beyond doubt that some of the clothes which they had
been wrapped up in, were clothes which came from the
prisoner's house. He hoped further information would be
forthcoming, owing to the publicity the case had natu-
rally received
The first witness called was Robert Tassey Cowen, who
gave evidence respecting the birth of his daughter's child,
and his entrusting it to the care of the prisoner similar to
that he had already given at the inquest.
Mr. Poland then read the following letter, signed M.
Willis, and received from the prisoner in reply to one
which had been sent :
" Dear Sir,—ln reply to your letter we wish to say, as
a reason for not giving you our address, that, in taking a
child, we wish to do so entirely, never to be claimed.
We have been married many years and are without
family, and we have determined on bringing a little one
up as our own. My constant care shall be for the child,
and every thing which shall be for the child's comfort shall
be constantly considered. If you should think any more of
this, and will write where and when I can see you, and
how I shall know you, we shall feel very much obliged.
We have had several letters and so are anxious to decide
whose child we shall adopt.
Cross-examined : The child seemed to be getting better
until three or four days before its death, and he
thought it would survive. He had no wish
to get rid of the child entirely, and should not
have done so had it not been for the assertion
the prisoner made. He could not identify the child he
sw" his daughter's. It might, for aught he knew, belong
to 3 one else. He did not offer to give more than £4,
an, expected the child to be brought up respectably.
He considered the refusal to receive money shewed
Waters was fond of children. She said when she
had got the child that her husband was very much pleased
with it.
Re-examined : If he had known Waters had ten chil-
dren in her house he certainly should not have let her
take his daughter's child. But for her statements he
should not have parted with it at all.
Mrs. Caroline Guera, with whom Mr. Robert Cowen
lodged, and who was present when his daughter's child
was given to Mrs. Waters, repeated the evidence she had
given at the inquest.
Ann Rowland, wet nurse, Elizabeth Curnow and Caro-
line Bellamy, workhouse nurses, deposed to the wretched
condition of the children entrusted to their care.
Dr. Puckle, the medical officer of the district, said on
Saturday, June 11, Sergeant Relf requested him to ac-
company him to the prisoners' house. In the front room
downstairs he saw the two prisoners and several babies.
There were five of them lying in a row, three on the sofa
and two in a crib adjoining. Waters brought Miss
Cowen's child to him, and he examined it. It was in an
extremely emaciated state, very lethargic, the eyes closed,
the limbs were relaxed, and the child did not
appear to move when taken up. The limbs
hung down. The pupils of the eyes were contracted,
which was a sign of oppression of the brain. He tried to
rouse it and ascertain if it was the result of sleep. He
could only partially rouse it. It partly opened its eyes,
and then again relapsed. The administration of a narcotic
would produce such a state as lie had described. He asked
Waters what she had given the child. She replied,
"Nothing except what Dr. Harris has ordered." He
inquired if she had given it any sleeping or composing
stuff, or any soothing syrup. She said she had not. In
a bottle on the table, the cork of which was out, he dis-
covered about three drops of fluid which smelt like
laudanum. He pressed the prisoner Waters as to
whether she had given the child anything,
and she adhered to her statement that she had
not done so, and she had done all she could for
the child, which had been suffering from diarrhoea. She
also said the children had plenty of food, and she told him
what she gave them. He approved of Mrs. Rowland as a
wet nurse, and he attended the child of Mrs. Cowen up to
its death, visiting it every day. He had since examined the
bottle, and was satisfied it had contained laudanum. After
the child had been removedit very much improved, and took
the breast readily. The lethargic state went off, and
led him to the opinion that it had been produced by a
narcotic, and was not a natural state. The child was
afterwards seized with diarrhoea, and then gradually
sank. During the two days last before its
death it was unable to take the breast from
weakness, but everything was done for it that
was possible. Before it expired it was taken with con-
vulsive fits. He made a post-mortem, examination, and
found that death was the result of atrophy, extreme
wasting with thrush, and congestion of the brain.
Giving a child of that age a narcotic would
tend to produce congestion of the brain—would
interfere with digestion, and increase the atrophy.
from which the child was suffering. The other children
were very quiet, and this struck him as being very_re-
markable. The child that died in the workhouse on Fri-
day died chiefly from congestion of the brain, though
there were appearances of atrophy. A narcotic adminis-
tered to it would have tended to produce death.
Further evidence was given, and the case was again
adjourned.

HOW TO EAT STRAWBERRIES.—Very few fruits,
however well-grown, and however perfectly ripened, are
so good if eaten instantly upon being gathered as they are
when kept in a cool dark place for twenty-four hours or
more. Strawberries plucked when the sun shines fiercely
are simply unfit to eat, for they are warm / ditto peaches,
and all else. To obtain the full, true, delicious flavour of
a strawberry or a peach, gather the fruit one day in
advance and shut it up closely in the fruit-room, and it
will then be fit for the dessert and a credit to the cultiva-
tor. A second-class fruit prepared by this course of pro-
cedure will actually surpass a first-class fruit eaten freshly
gathered. Yet the current notion is that soft fruits can-
not be too fresh, and the keeping of them deteriorates
their flavour.—The Gardener's Magazine.

CONSUMPTION IN AUSTRALIA.—The MeMourneAge
discusses at some length in a recent number the curative
influence of the Australian climate upon diseases of the
lungs or pulmonary consumption. Arguing from statistics
furnished by the colonial hospitals, the writer concludes
that the long sea voyage acts as an invigorating tonic
where the disease is in its earliest stage, and that in such
cases the changes of habits which life in a new country
involves may also be productive of considerable benefit.
But in every case where the malady is established it
is mere cruelty to expose a patient to the certain
discomforts of life on shipboard, and to an early death in
a distant land, if its shores be ever reached. Whether
from empirical restlessness, a desperate throw for
health, or the desire of getting rid of troublesome
patients," the system of encouraging the emigration of in-
curable as well as curable cases, prevails largely among
English doctors. During the past four years one out of
every sixteen patients entering the Melbourne Hospital
has been consumptive, and the, chances of recovery
may be estimated from the fact that 52 per cent. die
there.

IMPERIAL PARLIAME NT.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—Tare DAY.

The Sp,a,ker took the chair at five minutes past twe
o'clock, when there was a pretty good attendance of
members. The private business presented no feature of
interest.

'"tie Plymouth, Stonehouse, and Devonport Tramways
read a third time. _

THE EVESHAM RIFLES.

Mr. TAYLOR asked the Secretary of State for Wax
-whether his attention had been called to the following
p..blished statement in regard to the Evesham Rifle
t-orps :—" That, for several months past, the corps hae
I)een in danger of being broken up from being entirely
without officers ; that, after much pressure, two highly
respectable tradesmen, both town councillors, consented
to serve as lieutenant and ensign respectively, but that
commissions were refused by the Lord-Lieutenant on the
ground that he ' did not consider their social position
would allow of his appointing them commissioned
officers.'" _

Mr. CARDWELL replied that it was not strictly correct
that the Lord-Lieutenant had refused the commissions.
By the regulations commissions were granted on the re-
commendation of the Lord-Lieutenant, in accordance
with what he conceived to be the general feeling.
THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
Viscount BARRINGTON asked the Secretary of State for
War if there was any truth in the report which had been
circulated that, by a recent order in Council, changes
had taken place in the relations between his Royal
Highness the Field Marsha Commanding in Chief and
the War Department.
Mr. CARDWELL answered that an order in Council,
defining the duties of the Commander in Chief, had
received the sanction of her Majesty, and had been laid
before Parliament. The intention of that order was to
define in the clearest terms, and by the highest authority,
the position of that officer, and he believed that it would
be found that the terms were in entire conformity with
the declarations which he had always made in the House
upon the subject, and in making these declarations he
had always had the entire concurrence of His Royal
Highness.
ALLEGED FRAUD ON THE ADMIRALTY.

Sir JAMES ELPHINSTONE asked the Secretary to the
Admiralty if there was any truth in the report now cur-
rent, that a sum of money, stated to amount to £2,000,
had been paid as compensation under a late Act to a per-
son who had been previously discharged from the service
for misconduct ; and if so, whether he, would state the
date and cause of said clerk's dismissal, and the date and
amount of payment of the commutation referred to.
Mr. W. E. BAXTER regretted to say that, in conse-
quence of a mistake, a person who had been discharged
from the service in October 1861, by the Duke of Somer-
set, received, on the 13th of June, 1870, the sum of no
less than £2,233 9s. as commutation of a supposed pen-
sion. The Treasury and the Admiralty had instituted a
thorough investigation into the circumstances and facts
connected with this extraordinary case.