The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-08 00:00:00

THE MYSTERIOtTS TRAGEDY IN TAO

The tragical and mysterious event which occurred 50131.1
days ago in the barracks of the Rue de Tournon stl
occupies attention. When the report of a pistol was h°
in the rooms of Commandant Thevet, the soldiers rusil,e;;
to the apartments. They found.the commandant dead in Pci
bed with a revolver lying beside him. Beside the be ij
with no dress on but a chemise, was a female, who wile,
out to be a lady of rank, and one of the leaders of t/3,1
fashionable world of Paris. This lady was arrested °,
suspicion of being a murderess, but her husband lie,f'd
shortly came to claim her, and the commissary of poil,co
being satisfied that the officer had committed suicide, °Pt,
was set at liberty. The story goes that the commandAl34
who had carried on an intrigue with the lady for the Wif
six months, had in that time completely ruined hirose
by ministering to her extravagance. It was remark
that on the shouldexs of the lady were some reel,
scratches, and these, it appears, were occasioned in t;t
attempt which she made to prevent Commandant Tho;
from committing suicide. M. Thevet's son, a young
of 18, was at the races, and had arrived at the house Jos
as his father was about to expire. He was prevented foe
entering, and taken to the house of a military man, wile;
the sad news was broken to him. The occurrence too
place on Sunday week. M. Thevet was buried on Thlll4,
day last, without the usual military honours.

Ar
Owing to the depressed state of trade the 1,
Lancashire Coal Association have resolved to reduce ttit
wages of the colliers ten per cent., and notice of this dete,,
mination will be given immediately. The step is not uue't;
petted, and the men, who are still suffering from the elle°,
of the strike of last year, will, it is said, accept the racill'd
tion without resorting to another contest in which they I'.
pretty sure to be defeated.
A

sum of £47 has been subscribed by the T,
habitants of Uxbridge and the neighbourhood to reward t'i
police sergeant Mason, who a few week ago stopped a c)
driven by four burglars, captured two of them, and recoirereg
a quantity of stolen property. Two-thirds of the aura 113
0
been given to Mason, and the remainder to a policeman incji,
came to his assistance and secured the two burglars. 11301
presentation was made by the chairman of the bench
magistrates ou behalf of tho subscribers.
Pt
The steps to procure economy in the Governtne
offices aro being taken one by cne. The clerks in the etl'e
Servieo are (says the Manchester Examiner), by an 01%,
just issued, required to provide their own pencils, knisej
and other office materials, excepting stationery. It is S. s
4'
that the recent order about pen mending and waste P6r,i0.4;
which caused some amusement when it was published? Po
resulted in a revenue of about £lO,OOO, paid by centres°
who purchase the " waste" material.
A labs—

iabourer has been committed for trial at Gto
ford for putting a boy, 10 years of age, into a coPPer„°o
scalding water, when the boy refused to fetch him se'l
turnips. Tho brute dipped the boy thrice in the seaqino,j
liquid despite his screams. The doctor who had attended Pe,-,
since the sth February, when the barbarity was conidtl6o
stated to the bench that not a bit of skin remained frac' 's
middle of the thigh to the toe; and that the boy for a I°'
time lay in a precarious condition.
ft)g
Sentence was passed on Tuesday at the West 133-i1 of
sessions upon John Firth, convicted sumo mouths 4°,1
stealing 50;000 cubic feet of gas, the property of the
Corporation. The fraud was effected by intercepting; es
gas from the mains of the Corporation by means of 9,19fd
introduced at a point where the gas could be obtained and urifii
without the quantity being recorded by the meter. At the "tild
certain legal points were reserved for the opinion efsid,
Court of Criminal Appeal, but the conviction was confir P-oick
and the defendant now came up for sentence. The Prfifo
ing magistrate said the evidence showed that the Ile: of
oil
Corporation had been abominably robbed by a sistew
fraud which had been carried on for ten or eleven Vet?
ientenced the defendant to six months' imprisopiejth
hgd Mow.