The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-06 00:00:00

ASSASSINATION OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF

(Prom -,Vessenger.)

Paris was plunged into profound consternation
on S.'atiirday evening by the report that the Arch-
bishop of Paris, whilst officiating in the church of
St Etienne-du-Mont, bad been murdered by a
priest. At first no one could believe in the rea-
lity of so awful a crime, committed in such a place
and by such a hand ; but it was soon ascertained,
lamentable to relate, that the mid intelligence was
only too true. The following is a detailed account
of this dreadful crime :
Sator lay
was she fete of St. Genevieve, and the arch-
bishop went to the church, according to announcement,
to preside over the opening of the annual =amine in
honour of the saint, who-is patronessof the city of Paris.
After vespers, and after a sermon preached by Mgr.
Lacarriere, bishop of La Basse-Terre, a procession was
forined and paraded round the church in the customary
way, the archbishop in his robes walking at the head of
the lady patronesses of St. Genevieve. Just as the
archbishop arrived opposite the outer door and was
about to turn up the nave, a man advanced towards
him from the crowd of spectators, and removing the
prelate's cape with his left hand, plunged with great
force with his right baud a large Catalan knife into
the prelate's breast, near the heal t, exclaiming as be did
so, "Down with the goddess !" (A bas la (Uwe.) The
archbishop fell back two steps, cried out " Ale, le
malheureux I" staggered, and fell into the arms of the
priests who surrounded him. The wounded prelate
moaned two or three times, as if in great suffering, and
was the moment after bathed in the blood which
flowed from the wound. He was immediately conveyed
into the vestry, and medical assistance sent for ; but all
human aid was feund to be useless, as he expired almost
immediately. The fatal blow was struck with such ex-
traerdinary rapidity that it was impossible to prevent it.
The assassin, a young man of about thirty years of age,
dressed in dark coloured clothes, made no attempt to
escape, and was immediately seized ; he had at the mo-
ment he knife, from which blood was dropping, still in
his hand. Just before the venerable prelate breathed
his last, the Abbe Surat, vicar-general, who was close
to him, gave him absolution.
The assassin was conveyed to the mairie of the 12th
arrondissement, and M. 3fgaon, substitute of the
Procureur Imperial, and M. Treilbard, examining ma-
gistrate, were immediately summoned; and commenced an
interrogatory. M. Cordouin, Procureur Imperial, and M
Pietri, Prefect of Police, subsequenily interrogated him
also. From what he said it appears that he is a priest
of the diocese of Meaux, named Verges. He had been
four or five times interdicted for misconduct, and some
months back was again suspended for having preached
against the dogma of-the Iminaculate Conception, In
November last he displayed great zeal in defending a
woman who was tried at Malan for poisoning her hus-
band, and though she was convicted of the crime, and
condemned to hard labonr for life, heprinted a pamphlet
declaring that she was innocent, and casting the grossest
imputations on the jtelges anti the public prosecutor.
The pamphlet was seized by the authorities before it
could be distributed, and it caused a new complaint
against him to be made to his bishop. A little later,
he uttered menaces against a respected clergyman of the
diocess of Paris, who had done him many kindnesses;
and the clergyman deemed it necessary to make repre •
sentations to the police. On the 24th of December, the
man came to Paris, and took up his residence at an
hotel, No. 2, Rue Racine. He was accustomed to pass
days in the public libraries ; and even on Saturday he
went to one 'as uscal. He entieaviored to obtain an
appointment in the diocese of Paris, but it was notified
to him that the archbishop would not grant him
one. Oa- hearing that, he appears to have pro-
jected the death of the prelate, and he purchased for the
purpose a knife at the shop of a cutler in the Rue Dau-
phine. After he had stated the previous facts, he was
asked if he had stabbed the archbishop more than once,
and he answered, "No ; I only gave him one stab, far
I struck in the heart, and knew the blow was mortal."
" Why," be was asked, "did you cry Dawn with the
aoddess when you struck the fatal blow ?" "Because
I do not believe in the doctrine of the Immaculato Con-
ception, against which I have preached from the pu!pit:
and I wished to protest once more against the impious
doctrine." " Why did you commit" so grave a crime ?"
"Because I was interdicted, and because the archbishop
had declared that the interdiction would not be removed."
He then added, atter a pause, "A priest cannot be al-
lowed to die of hunger." He admitted that he had
gone to the church with the premeditated intention of
killing the archbishop; and he then several times cried,
with some violence, "No goddess I no go-ideas !" Oae
of the gentlemen who interrogated him, reinaiked that
the crime which he had c )(omitted was one of frightful
enormity. IYes," be exclaimed, "it is frightful 1" and
then tears fell from his eyes. He begged for a New
Testament, and said, "I shall have great need of it
during the night."

.„
The assassin replied to the questions put to him with
calmness, and only displayed agitation when he referred
to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. His fea-
tures are full of expression. In the course of the even-
ing he was conveyed to the conciergerie, and a turnkey
was placed with him in his cell. On examining his dress
some printed papers were found fastened in his coat.

The body of the archbishop, after remaining a short
time in the vestry of St. Etienne-du-Mont, was removed
to the house of the curl, and placed on a mattress in
the drawing•rooin. The features of the venerable pre-
late had undergone no alteration—they were as calm
and serene as if ho were in a mild slumber.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
(From Le Droit.)
Monsiegneur Sibour, the Archbishop of Ririe was
murdered to-day in the Church of St. Etienne du Mont.
The archbishop went to the church to inaugurate the
religious ceremonies which are celebrated there during
the neuvaine of Ste. Genevieve. At half-past four he
left the choir and was proceeding towards the sac-
risty, when a man ra.hed towards him, and pushed
aside with one hand the archbishop's cape, and with
the other plunged a large Catalan knife into his breast,
crying out at the same time, " A bas les deesßes 1'
(Down with goddesses ) The prelate staggers; his attend-
ant priests surround him and hold him up ; his face is
deadly pale, some deep groans escape him, he is taken
into the sacristy, medical assistance is at once procured,
but all aid is in vain, the archbishop is dead. The
murderer was a priest, who stood unmoved, his bloody
knife in hand, by the side of his victim, whom be gazed
upon as he succumbed, with an expression of fiendish
joy. This priest was formerly attached to a parish in
Paris, wbere, in consequence of his conduct, he. had
been several times interdicted. In the month of Nov.
last he was at Melon. The Assize Court of that town
having to try a woman charged with having poisoned
her husband, this priest watched the case with the
utmost interest. The woman was found guiity, and
sentenced to hard labour for life. (See Droit of Nov.
26, 1856.) This result did not abate the zeal of her pro-
tect-4r. He openly declared that she was innocent, and
to give greater publicity to his protest against the
verdict, he printed a pamphlet on the sulject, which he
was on the phint of publishing, when the parquet
(public prosecutor's of ce) interfered, and ordered the
pamphlet to be seized. The measure was called for by
the protest itself, and by the terms in which it was
worded, for it contained most serious accusations against
the honourable judges who pronounced the sentence. This
libel and others gave rise to judicial proceedings in the
course of which the priest in question manifested a total
want of self-control. The church thought 1; to inter-
pose its authority, and to interdict the priest who had
so misconducted himself. The interdiction greatly aug-
' mented the irritation of the party against whom it was
proi Jounced. No act, however, on his part led to the
supposition that he could have been capable of the crime
which has now stained with blood the church consecra-
ted to the patron saiet of Paris. The interdicted priest
meditated, prepared, and executed his crime with a cold-
blnodedeess which is horrible to think of. He provided
himself with a Catalan knife about a foot long, with a
blade of the breadth of three fingers. He lizew that on
the 31 of January the archbishop was to officiate at
the church of St. Etienne-du-Mont, he went thither
with the settled resolution to kill him, and he did kill
him in the church, and in his pontifical robes. On
beingtha n oante,dhewahnesthweerredhe, b,a,clNsota, bobe the
nlyd
once7cfohrbiisAhtop ruenor
kiaet
was •
A basmortal."
lea
Immaculate d eCe o;in‘e seeh'p3:-'
ed why he had com-
mitted I have stated my opinion on that doctrine from
didt,Because
ehyceoaauur
st: cryal
dod when h
not
te lybotoihl that
eet struck,hineign blow
t sek'
the pulpit, and I wish to protest o,n,cteeemaoursee algwaiansatipttheart.
dieted, and told that this time the interdiction would
not be revoked." The imperturbability of-the man after
eanwdzatheeotnemi7tlreds:asence:
tih:haievittlinin::::teVhoewimElso urigsnirhtdeiteapert.d"csuchr
whiche' atbhece crime and
inconsistent with a sound mind, and it must be believed
for the honour of humanity that the man who was in-
, vested with sacerdotal functions was a man and not a
monster. The assassin was taken to the mayoralty of
the twelfth arrondissement. M. Mignon, the subs-
stitute of the Procureur Imperial, and M. Trailhard,
jet Ige of instruction, went there at once to examine
him. M. Cardouin, the Procureur Imperial, and M.
Pietri, the Prefect of Police, interrogated the prisoner
afterwards. The body of the archbishop was taken
to the presbytery of the curd of St. Etienne-du-
Mont, and placed on a couch in the drawing-room. The
venerable prelate's features were not the least changed.
lOne who was ignorant of what had passed could never
have supposed, on looking at him, that death bad fur
ever frozen that generous heart. His family and his
many friends flocked to the death chamber. We must
renounce the task of describing the heart-rending scenes
that took place. In the course of the evening the sad
news circulated in-Paris, and all hearts were shocked at
learning the dreadful catastrophe. In 1848, an Arch-
bishop of Paris fell a victim and martyr. In 1857, his
successor falls in a church underan assassin's knife. Both
_were struck while in the exercise of their Divine func-
tions, and died in their sacerdotal robes. May God
grant that society may have only a calamity to deplore
and not a crime to punish ! The murderer is 32 yea"
of age. The church of St. Etienne du Mont is closed,
and will not be opened till after the purifications neces-
sitated by she crime that has been committed in it.
M. Sibour was born at St. Paul•Trois-Chateau x,
in the diocese of Valence, on April 4, 1792, he was
consequently in his 65th year.

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE LATE CHIEF-JUSTICE OP TII
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.—Last evening Mr. Charles
St. Cla►r Bedford, coroner lor the City of Westtninster,
held an inquest on the body of Edward Lee Warren,
Esq., late Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of India,
at his residence i❑ Albemarle-street. The jury returned
a verdict to the effect that the deceased died front disease
o the heart.