The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-18 00:00:00

MURDER OF THE COUNTESS

GORLITZ.
Most of our readers must remember the circum-
stances connected with the death at Darmstadt of the
Countess of G,-glitz, and the suspicion which was at-
tached for some time to the Count, her husband, who
holds the post of Chamberlain to the Grand Duke.
This suspicion was caused principally by the earnest-
ness with which the Count attempted to pre-
vent a dissection of the body, but that was fully
accounted for subsequently by evidence showing that
the Countess had so great a horror of dissection that
she had solicited her husband frequently to promise
that, in the event of her dying before him, her re-
mains should not be exposed to such a proceeding,
and had made this a special injunction in her will. If
any suspicion, however, had continued to attach itself
to the Count, it has been fully removed by a trial of the
murderer at Darmstadt, which, after lasting more
than a fortnight, has just been terminated. It may be
necessary, even fur those who paid attention to the
case when it was before the public more than a year
ago, to relate the leading facts briefly. The Countess,
who was in possession o;ia handsome fortune inde-
pendently of that of her -husband, was a woman of
unbounded charity, but of an eccentric character. lib.
had for some years resided in apartments of the house
separated from those t.f her husband, with whom, how-
ever, she was ion the best:term,, visiting him from time
to time, and receiving his visits. She had always
considerable sum of money in her secretaire, and had
also a rich collection of jewels. She had caused extra
locks to be placed on her secretaire, her drawers, and
the doors of, her rooms, and opened the outer door of
her apartment to her husbind and the confidential
servants. One evening, on the return of the Count
from the palace of the Grand Duke, where he had
been dining, he went as usual to see the Countess be-
fore retiring to rest, but could not obtain admittance,
and soon afterwards an alarm was raised that a fire
had broken out in the apartment of the Countess. A
locksmith was sent for; the outer door was broken
open ; thesecretaire in the sitting- room of the Countase
was on fire, and she was found lying dead on the floor,
with her body partly consumed. At this time no sus,
picion was entertained of her having been murdered.
It was at first supposed that the secretaire had taken
fire from the boogie ; but subsequently, as this alone
could not account for the carbonization of a part of
the head and body of the Countess, it was imagined
that she had perished from spontaneous combustion.
When suspicion fell upon the Count, it arose entirely
from the anxiety that he displayed to prevent an
autopsy from which it was imagined that he might
have administered poison, and then attempted to de-
stroy the body to prevent detection. N othing but
the absence of motive for the crime and the well'
known affection which had subsisted between him and
the deceased prevented his being sent to trial. Some
time had elapsed, and this horrible affair was still
involved in mystery, when circumstances occurred to
throw suspicion upon the valet of the Count, John
Stauff, who occasionally waited upon the Countess. it
was proved that on the evening of the calamity, and
whilst the Count was at the palace of the Grand Duke,
he had on various pretexts induced the other servants
of the household to go out, and had remained alone in
the house for nearly two hours, with the exception of
a visit to the palace to ascertain whether the Count
was there, for the evident purpose of convincing him'
self that he could commit his intended crime with
impunity. Another circumstance to excite suspicion
was that the keys of the outer doors of the apartment
of the Countess -were not to be found, thus proving
that some person in the house must have used and
then concealed them. It was supposed that money
and jewellery belonging to the Countess had been
removed, but of this there was no positive proof in
the early part of the investigation. A considerable
quantity of jewellery remained, and the Count was,
not able to say what was missing. When Stauff bad
been arrested new circumstances came to light. It sire!
proved that he had sent articles of jeweller,'
to his father, Henry Stauff, and that be
had charged his brother James to bury sale
jewellery at the foot of a tree. Many of the article'
found there were proved to have been the pre-
perty of the Countess. Henry and James Stauff were
therefore also arrested, and the three were brought
last month for trial before the tribunal of Darmstadt'
The evidence on this occasion left no doubt of the
guilt of John Stauff, and there could be no doubt
that his father and brother knew that he had ob-
tained the property by foul means, but there wise no'
thing to allow that they had been directly or
indi-
rectly parties to the murder. It was also prove?,
that, after the murder of the Countess, John Stant`,
had purchased some verdigris, and mixed it wit"
some sauce which was being prepared in the kitchen
for the Count, with the intention of poisoning hint:
The medical evidence at this trial was curious and
interesting. Some of the most eminent physiciansot
Germany, and Baron Liebig, the celebrated chemist,
were desired by the Court to give their opinion as to,
the way in which the death of the Countess bs",
been caused—whether she bad been burned
intentionally or accidentally, and whether spun'
taneous combustion in her case was pro'
bable, The medical men performed several ex-
periments on dead bodies exposed to fire, placing
burning furniture, and even a fat simile of the sear"
taire, in a closed room, to ascertain whether the ex-
tensive carbonization of the body of the Countess
could have been produced by accident, and they re-
ported positively to the contrary. On the question of
spontaneous combustion, Baron lAebig, and the
other scientific men who joined in the report, de;
dared not only that it was impossible in the case °`
the Countess, but that spontaneous combustion of the
human body in any case was impossible. They de-
clared that the ordinary belief on this subject was a
delusion; that they had carefully examined the evi:
dente in all cases of spontaneous combustion that
had been reported, and found it all so defictiv.r!
as not to weigh for an instant against their
conviction of the physical impossibility of snob
an occurrence. The only point on which the medicsl
men and chemists differed—but that was of no 0;
portance as regarded the charge against John Sten!:
—was as regarded the degree of danger to hurce:
life in the verdigris introduced by him into the sauce
intended fur the Count. One chemist declared, Ot
instance, that if he bad taken the same it would not
have injured him seriously, as the strength of the ,ver-
digris had been in a great degree carried off by ebtle.
lition ; another, on the contrary, declared as the 16_
cult of several experiments that the strength of tPO
,
poison was materially increased by the ebullition'
The whole trial was remarkable for the skill and jilt:
partiality evinced by the President, and the anxiety
which was evinced by the Court to elicit the tro.t,l
without having recourse to any of those objectionable
means which have sometimes been witnessed in tDA
courts on the Continent. John Stauff was fount;
guilty of the murder, and sentenced to imprisontne,".,
for life. His father and brother were found guiltY!';
a minor degree, and only sentenced to a few month)
imprisonment.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
BRISTOL, Arum 17. Asp
Swim EXCHANGE. —Our share market was dull
to-tern
and prices are lower. The transactions were—Great
Quarters, 12 —Ditto, 171. Shares, 91AI dis.—Midland, o'
Bristol and Exeter, 36 dis.—North Staffordshire 10% dig.
_ _ •

L 1 VERPOOL, APRIL 17.
STOCK EXCHANGR.—Business on our Stock Exchna
was dull to-day, but prices had a tendency nPvr
The transactions were as follow:—Lancashire and Ir'3„r,
shire, Consol., Fifths, 1034 dis.—Ditto, Preference, 11A -d
Ditto, Fifths (West Riiding Union), VA dis.—London 1113
North-Western, 101—Ditto, New Quarters, %
Quarters (C), I,X p.—Midland, 311,E —Ditto, Halves, ir
dis. —South-Eastern and Dover, 12d4 —Ditto (No. 4). ,
gistered, 4%—York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 11 —Bir.
head, Lancashire, and„ Cheshire, 221. Shares, 1e,4,-Cale`'%
nian, Preference, 51. Is. 3d. c.—East Lancashire, 6N.
MANCHESTER, Aram 17.
STOCK EXCHANGE.— We have had a more anima
market to-day, in consequence of the improvement t
London Stock Exchange, and prices are a shade higher.
BIRMINGHAM, Aram 17. 0
STOCK EXCHANGE.--All descriptions of railway stock .4
,
better to-day. The amicable arrangement between then,
don and North. Western and North Staffordshire Rail°,4
Companies appears to give general ratisfaction. London
North-Westerns were quoted, buyers, 100, sellers, 10'
Ditto, New Quarters, 2 1-16 ais.