The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-02 00:00:00

ALLEGED POISONING CASE.

The Court of Assizes at Bruchsal, in the Grand
Duchy of Baden, has just tried the Baroness de
Baurubach on a charge of attempting to poison her
husband, Baron de Baurnbs.ch, Marshal of the
Court of Carlsruhe, by mixing phosphorus with his
food and drink. The baroness, who had been libe-
rated on bail, was present in court, and rep:ied
with great composure to all the questions addressed
to her by the President. It appeared from the in-
dictment that on the 20th of May last John Fritsch
and Amelia Leist,both servants in the baron's family,
went to a chemist named Rcederer, at Carlsruhe,
and showed him a piece of phosphorus, which they
said they had found in the baron's beer just
after the baroness had sweetened it with sugar.
As the servants hesitated to speak to their master
on the subject, the chemist advised them to commu-
nicate with the family physician or their pastor.
On the following day Fritsch accordingly went to
Dr. Benchegger and stated that the baroness had
attempted to poison her husband ; that the cook-
maid had seen her mistress put something into the
beer while warming it in a saucepan, which they
had afterwards ascertained to be phosphorus; and
Fritsch showed the piece of phosphorus to the doc-

tor, who made the fact known to the police after
speaking on the subject to the baroness, who declared
that she could not account for the fact, but would
speak to her husband on the subject, which she did
at once. The same evening several slices of toasted
bread smeared with phosphorus were found On the
floor of the dining room, having been laid there to
kill rats and mice. The poison had been bought a
month before by Fritsch in obedience to his mas•
ter's orders. The servant who had poisoned this
bread declared that he had put the remaining phos-
phorus in a glass and thrown it over the garden
wall. The maidservant Amelia Leist stated that
she had pounded the sugar candy and put it into
the beer while on the fire. Just as the beer was
about to boil over the baroness, by whose order she
prepared it, entered the room and took it off the
fire ; but neither herself nor the cook saw her put
anything into it, though when the baroness left
the room they thought the beer had a strange smell,
and at the bottom of the saucepan they found two
small lumps of a blueish yellow colour, which they
found to be phosphorus. The baroness drank some
of the beer herself, but neither she nor the baron
felt any inconvenience from it. Phosphorus was
afterwards four d in so many places about the house
that the charge of poisoning
seemed a conspiracy
on the part of the servants, some of whom had re-
ceived notice to leave. Fritsch, Amelia Leist, and
Reiss, the cook, were arrested in consequence, but
after examination were released and admitted as
witnesses. Various reasons, one of which was jea-
lousy, were assigned as the baroness's motives for
poisoning her husband, but they proved to be idle
and malicious inventions. Most of the servants gave
the same evidence in court as before the magistrates,
the only important difference being that Amelia
Leist stated that Fritsch still had the phosphorus
paste in his possession on the 21st May, while
he
deposed that he had thrown it away long before.e
The baroness defended herself with dignified com-
posure, and was well supported by her husband and
her daughter, according to whose evidence their
family has always been a very happy one. Twenty-
six witnesses were heard on the first day.' The next
morning the public prosecutor and the prisoner's
counsel addressed the jury, after which the presi-
dent briefly recapitulated the evidence, and left the
case to the jury, who almost immediately declared
the accused not guilty. The announcement of the
verdict was received with irrepressible applause,
and the bareness's husband and daughter, who had
been present throughout the trial, embraced her
with great emotion.

FIRE AT A FLAX MlLL.—Messrs. Firmin and
Co.'s flax works at Henley, about six miles from Ipswich,
have been destroyed by fire, the damage sustained being
estimated at £2,000. The number of persons employed in
the establishment was about 50, principally girls ; and one
of these narrowly escaped being burned to death, as she
was asleep on some tow where the fire was first dis-
covered, and must have perished had she not been imme-
diately roused, for in a very short time after the fire was
first noticed the whole building was a mass of flame. The
progress of the conflagration is: ascribed to the fact
that the building, which was 1001 t. long and 40ft. high,
consisted entirely of wood, with the exception
i of the foun-
dation and roof; while the materials which t contained
were also readily combustible. About 30 tons of flax and
tow were destroyed, the engine greatly damaged, and the
whole 'establishment reduced to ruins, with the exception
of the counting-house and four large wooden tanks in the ,
rear.