The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-27 00:00:00

translated and dramatised in France in all sorts of
ways. Ducis founded tragedies upon him ; Alfred
de Vigny, Emile Deschamps, and Frederic Soulie
gave Shaksperian readings, and Lamartine's tran-
slations were revised and annotated by M. Guizot.
The Court of Assize of La Seine has been occupied
with the trial of one of the most hardened and atro-

cious villains of modern times. He is a young man
of 19, named Charles Felix Lemaine, and the evi-
dence, chiefly supported by his own confession,
proves that he murdered a woman named Bainville,
simply because, she was about to marry his father,
a widower 68 years old. The prisoner i 3 of very
vicious and dissipated habits. Ile often told his
father that he hated him, and said he wished to enjoy
his little fortune himself. Towards the month 'of Octo-
ber last the father told the' prisoner that he intended
to marry the wiclow 8.-Aim-ilk, a washerwomen, who
a dAtio;l'.?7. 0.1 1111 20th o D:,seeraly2r the

father and non worked together, and the former re-
marked that his son was more gay, and almost affec-
tionate. The prisoner left work about seven in the
evening, and then went to the, house of the deceased,
who was working with her daughter,. and three
workwomen. He asked the deceased to go down
stairs, and accompany him to his lodging, as he had
a message to her from his father. She had been
there but a very short time when piercing cries were
heard. The door was broken open, and the woman
was found insensible and covered with blood. Her
daughter caught her up -in her arms, but she fell
dead at her feet almost instantaneously. Behind
her was the murderer with longbloody knife in his
hand, the point of which. had been broken by the
violence used: The
,wretch was unmoved. He
went up to the girl and.said—" I am very happy at
being revenged. I only regret that I have not
killed the three others (the ilirde workwomen), be- .
cause I wanted to murder the whole four. lam
neither mad nor drunk, and I shall know how to
mount the scaffold." When arrested and examined
before the magistrate, the murderer said that
eighteen months ago he had resolved to
assassinate his father, because he spent too
much money upon his mistresses. (This insinuation
is said to be completely unfounded.) The prisoner
added that the moment he -heard that his father
meant to marry the widow Bainville he had made
up his mind to murder her. He- very calmly de-
scribed his plan. He knocked a nail into the wall
and made a running knot to a cord fixed to a trap-
door which led to the cellar, and prepared himself
with a knife .and razor. His idea was that when-he
had murdered the widow he:would throw her body
into the cellar, and then on after the other induce
the daughter and a young' apprentice girl named
Barbe Fogelback, aged 15, to make them come in
and suffer the same fate. This done, he intended to
wait until his father returned, and, feigning to be
asleep, he intended-to rush suddenly upon him and
assassinate him. This little game being played, he
meant to take away all the money he could find in
the house, and enjoy himself with it somewhere
where he was not known.- The magistrate at the
first examination endeavoured to make the prisoner
exhibit some show of "repentance, but, on the con-
trary, be only expressed his regret that he had not
been able to carry out his whole plan. lle was par-
ticularly sorry that he had not been able to kill his
father. At the trial the prisoner exhibited still more
effrontery. The Advocate-General, in support of
the accusation, said he could only find one excuse
for the prisoner's -madness. The prisoner had a
counsel, M. Colin de Verdieres, but when his advo-
cate rose, the prisoner, in spite of the remonstrance
of the judge, said he wanted to address the jury
himself. He then proceeded, in a solemn tone, and
with great volubility, to launch diatribes and invcc-
tives against his father, who, he said, was a bad
parent, addicted to all the evil passions, and-passing
all his time in debauchery and drunken orgies. He
concluded by saying,' " I had to revenge myself
upon a woman. I killed her. Society will avenge
that woman. It ought to avenge her. It owes me
the seaffold. I claim it. Have no pity fOr me ; I do
not desire it. I have told you that I ant lazy. I did
not like work when -I was free. Don't send me to
forced h ird labour. If you destine me for the hulks
they shall not have me. I will 'die of hunger,- and
then you will not be able to hold me up as an ex-
ample to frighten criminals. Jam tice will be van-
quished, and will not be able to pursue her course."
This speech created long-continued excitement. The
prisoner's counsel theh addressed the Court, but the
prisoner seemed to treat his remarks with indiffer-
ence or contempt. The jury found the prisoner
guilty, and he was sentenced to death. He smiled
and looked round the court on hearing the sentence,
and said, " I have got what I asked for; gentlemen,
I heartily thank you."