The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-07 00:00:00

CRIME IN FRANCE.

An attempt to escape from the prison of Saintes
was made on Thursday by two men, one of whom
was in custody on the charge of stealing 40,000 fr.
worth of shares, and the other of stealing shrubs.
It appeared that, being in the prison yard, they
perceived that an unoccupied room on the ground
floor had been left open, and they went into it. In
it was a bench about 10 ft. long, each end of which
was fastened in the wall. This they succeeded
in removing, and taking it into the court-yard
placed it against the wall, and climbing up it,
succeeded in reaching the top. They then tried to
pull it up after them, in order to descend by means
of it on the other side ; but when they got it half
way up it slipped from their hands and fell to the
ground, with a great noise. The turnkeys then
rushed to the spot ; and the men were secured.—
An attempt to escape was also made lately from the
prison of Orleans, and which partly succeeded. For
several days, a ladder having been carelessly left
in one of the courts, two men, unseen by the jailor,
took possession of it, and placing it against the wall
got to the top, and then drawing it after them
descended into another court and thence by the same
means outside, so as to get clear off. Their escape
was not discovered for some hours after, when in-
formation was given to the gendarmes. One of
them was on the following day arrested at Etampes,
but the other still remains at large.
A case of some commercial interest was decided
three days ago by the Tribunal of Commerce o
Caen. In April last, a trader of that town, named
Blot, purchased from a M. Morel, of Bayeux, 520
hectolitres (the hectolitre is rather more than 21
bushels) of colza seed, and 50 tons of oil cake, to be
delivered before the end of October, according to
the convenience of the seller. But before any part
of the arrangement was executed, Morel died, and
as his affairs were in a somewhat embarrassed
state, his heirs declined to fulfil it. Blot, in con-
sequence, brought an action against them, and
the heirs raised the objection that as at the time
the bargain was made Morel had not in hand the
colza seed and oil cake, but had counted on ob-
taining them after the next crop should be got in,
it was, in fact, a gambling speculation, and was
consequently, according to Art. 1,965 of the Code
Napoleon, of no legal value. But the tribunal,
after hearing arguments on the point, decided that
as the parties had contemplated the actual delivery
of goods and payment for them, not the mere pay-
ment of the difference between the price of the
goods at the time of the bargain and the price at
the time of delivery, their transaction was of a
legitimate commercial character, and was perfectly
valid in law. It therefore adjudged that as Morel
and his heirs had not executed the contract, Blot
was entitled to damages, which should be estimated
afterwards.
A Belgian, named Stickelman, was yesterday
tried by the Court of Assizes for robbery. After
being employed as valet de chambre by several
noblemen, he, in September last, entered the service
of the Marquis de Stacpoole, Rue Jean Goujon.
Before long the marquis constantly missed articles
of wearing apparel, jewellery, and small sums of
money, and all his efforts to discover what became
of them were vain. He at last became convinced that
he was robbed, and his suspicions could only point
to the prisoner or to an English servant, as they
alone had access to his apartment. He determined
to have their boxes examined, and he first of all
called on the prisoner for the key of his. The man,
in great trouble, pretended that he could not find
it, and this left little doubt that he was the thief,

His box was then forced open, and it was found to
contain clothing, jewellery, a gold.headed cane, en-
gravings, photographs, and even a bottle of wine—
all the property of the marquis. On this discovery
he implored pardon, and protested that he had
taken nothing else; but in a chest of drawers in his
room, and also in another trunk placed in the room
of a fellow-servant, numerous other articles belong-
ing to the marquis were found. The total value of
the objects stolen exceeded 4,000 fr. The prisoner
was declared guilty with extenuating circumstances,
and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
It may be remembered that in November last, a
woman named Galabbe, wife of a public-house
keeper and fisherman of the Ile Saint Denis, Was
condemned by the Court of Assizes of the Seine to
hard labour for life, for having poisoned her hus-
band by means of tartar emetic. In the course of
the trial, it was shown that she had caused her
two female servants to purchase the emetic in small
quantities from different apothecaries in Paris. The
servants named as many as twelve such persons who
had supplied them with the article, and declared
that each sale had been made without their having
been required to present any prescription. As the
sale of poisonous substances without a prescription
is prohibited, the 12 apothecaries were yesterday
brought before the Tribunal of. Correctional Police.
Five of them positively denied. that they had made
any sales to the servants, and as the latter have
disappeared and could not be cited as witnesses the
tribunal acquitted them. As to the other seven
they could not deny that sales had been made in
their shops, but they said that the two females had
represented that the emetic was required on the
instant for persons in danger ; they also said, in
extenuation of their offence that the quantity sold
on each occasion was so small as not to exceed an ordi-
nary dose. The tribunal condemned one of the
defendants, named Dehaut, of the Faubourg St.
Denis, who, has been three times punished for
dtfferent offences, to 100 f. fine, and six to 60L
fine each.

As an omnibus was late on Wednesday evening'
going along the rue St. Martin, a lady cried with
great indignation to the conductor that a roan
seated next her had insulted her. The man 'MI
given into the custody of a police-officer, and loam'
up in the guardhouse of the Conservatoire des Art
et Metiers. On Thurday morning he was found
dead in his cell. At first it was supposed that he
had committed suicide, but on examination itturnea
out that he had died of apoplexy, caused, it is
thought, by the emotion which he had experienced
by being arrested. He was recognised as a trades'
man of the rue St. Denis.

AUSTRALIAN CONVICT ESTABLISH
111ENT.--ROBSON AND BEDPAT.H.

On Friday advices were received from the B.
Joseph Johnston, sent out to minister to the eon'
victs in Fremantle, Western Australia, by the
Colonial Missionary Society. The communication
announces the arrival of the notorious convict for"
gers Robson and Redpath, and the great gold dust
robbers Agar and Tester, and the bank forger
barrister Saward, alias Jem the Penman. The
writer says :—" They are all engaged on the public
works, making roads, &c. Redpath and Robson
are engaged, as I am writing, wheeling stones near,
my house, with shackles upon their persons. The;
health appears to be good, but they-, seem wrenched
and dejected, and weary of their lives. The eele:
brated Rev. Dr. Beresford, who is related to a 21011`e
Marquis, and who, with a living of £l,OOO
a year, committed forgery to an enormous extent,
has also arrived out in the colony, and is now era:
ployed sweeping the wards in the new convict
prison, which has just been completed. It is all
immense structure, and took seven years to build.
The prison has 1,000 separate cells, chapel, hospital,
lunatic asylum, workshops, and residences for tha
governor and his deputy, chaplain, doctor, 84c*
The convict expenditure here is £100,0040 Per
annum, and has been the making of the colonV
and there is no doubt the ticket-of-leave men `vi'
eventually be the leading men of the colony. See;
ral conditional pardon men are already established
in capital businesses as merchants, and one is nova
carrying on an. extensive timber trade with ta°
other colonies and India. A great many, of the
ticket-of-leave men marry the servant girls here,
and make good husbands. I have united severa'
during the past year. Fremantle is rapidly rising
into importance, and in a few years wiLl rank
amongst the foremost settlements in the Austriv
Tian colonies."