The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-17 00:00:00

MURDER IN FRANCE.

A trial for murder, attended with a remarkable in-
cident, took place on the 3d inst., before the Court of
Assize of the Indre-et-Loire. A man, named Cathelin,
was charged with having poisoned a widow, named
Porcher, by miring arsenic in her soup. The evi-
dence against the prisoner was circumstantial, but
very strong. The existence of a considerable quan-
tity of arsenic in the body of the deceased left no
doubt of the poison having been administered.
Cathelin, who had an interest in her death. as he had
to pay to her a life annuity for some property, was
alone in the house whilst the soup was preparing, he
was present with his wife .and mother-in-law whilst
the widow-was dying, and his mother-in-law swore
that he had thrown away the remainder of the soup,
in which were, she said, grains of a substance 'like
broken sugar:. He had applied to the Mayor of his
village for a certificate authorising him to purchase
arsenic to poison rats, which, however, the Mayor had
refused, and it was sworn by a witness that Cathelin,
in a conversation with him, had stated that he was
not troubled with rats. The only circumstance in his
favour, with the exception of the following incident,
was that the possession of arsenic could not be very
clearly traced to him. The evidence of the Cure de
Manthelan, who came forward on the behalf of the
prisoner, produced a deep impression. This eccle-
siastic stated that, a short time before the death of the
widow, who had a bad reputation, she had called on
him, and, after saying that she was very unhappy on
account of the number of her enemies, and
a charge of theft that had (been made against her,
added that she was resolved to destroy herself. The
Cure remonstrated with her, but without effect.
When he heard of her death, and that Cathelin was
accused, he went to the examining Magistrate of
bodies, who was charged to receive the depositions
in this affair, and stated the above fact, but the Ma-
gistrate refused to take down his deposition. Against
the probability that the deceased had poisoned herself;
was the declaration of several witnesses on the trial,
that, after having taken the soup, she said some body
had been guilty of a grande sottise, meaning that.
some hurtful ingredient had certainly been put into
her soup, and recommending that what remained of it
should be carefully preserved. The statement of the
Cure, however, was considered so important by the
Jury, that, after a deliberation of only a quarter of
an hour, they returned a verdict of acquittal. In the
interval between the two days that the trial lasted,
the President of the Tribunal sent an express to the.
examining magistrate, to inquire why he had refused
to receive the deposition of the Cure. The answer
communicated to the Court was, that the examining
magistrate did not consider that it bore upon the
case.

DISCOVERY ON SABLE ISLAND.
The Halifax papers of last week publish the fol-
lowing singular discovery :—The following facts have
been made known to us by a gentleman of this city,
who has had his information from the best authority
—viz., Capt. Darby, sen., Governor (as he is called)
of Sable Island. For the last 25 or 30 years there
has been a large mound or pyramid of sand about 100
feet high, on the island, and not very far from the
residence of Captain Darby. The winds for some
years have been gradually diminishing its height, and
after a severe blow some weeks since it was completely
blown away; and, singular to say, a number of small
houses, built of the timbers and planks of a vessel,
were quite visible. On examination they were found
to contain a number of articles of furniture and
stores, put up in boxes, which were marked " 43d
Regiment ;" the boxes or eases were perfectly rotten,
and would not admit of their being removed. A brass
dog-collar was, however, discovered by Captain Darby,
with the nanie of " Major Elliot, 43d Regiment," on
it, and which Captain Darby brought to the city,
and presented to Major Tryon, who belongs to the
43d Regiment.—Halifax Herald. Captain Darby
has endorsed this extraordinary announcement.
Ad-
dressing the editor of the Herald, on
.lWednesdaybaseoi,
he says :—" The houses are appearing at
a hill about two miles long,nand 60 or
loeet high,
e
lying parallel with the south coast of thetf ;
vegetation, about 35
N
covered with grass an
the eastern end of whicdh about 55 feet high,
other
feet below the surface, and 23 above
the level of
the sea; these houses appear as the sands year away
with the action of the winds. There appeared at times
numerous bullets of lead, a great number of military
shoes, parts of bales of blankets, and cloths, brass
l
points of sword scabbard:,
alpenny of George bees-wax,ll.,f a small convex
glass on both sides, a copper
dated 1749, some military brass buckles, a great
Major Elliot, 43d regiment,' engraved on
number of brass parr pins, a very small dog's brass
cito;ll7lrUinveitriolus bones, some whole and some broken,
with the scalp of hair and head-dress of a young
female, a piece of gold band. There are three build-
ings, which seem to have been constructed of the
fragments of some ship ; they are situated about 10
. feet apart, in a triangular form, and are 10 or 12 feet
• square.

STAGE COACHER AND
Act relating to stage coaches
OMNIBUSES.—By- the new
October next,
which comes into
senger is required to (5 and 6 Vict., c. 79), and
the operation upon and after the 3d of
lengthways_ on the front of eache.
averagehe6
inches,
allotted
.to each.a pas
s,eamt.eas(urhi ~,
inldriin‘n below
five years of age, sitting in the lap, are not to be deemed
passengers within the Act. The number of passengers
which such carriage is constructed to carry is. as at pre-
sent, required to be legibly painted, both inside and out-
side, for the information of travellers by these vehicles.
Lord Hill has, we learn, lately rallied most sur-
prisingly. Before his departure from town for llarfl-
wicke Grange, his Lordship's friends and medical at-
tendants entertained serious apprehensions for his re-
-1
covery, and he was compelled to remain some days at
Birmingham before he could be removed into Shrop-
shire ; but the influence of his native air produced a
I favourable effect on the spirits of the noble and gallant
Lord, who exclaimed that the sight of the Wrekin had
put him all to rights.
Yesterday morning, about six o'clock, as two of the
Thames police were rowing in a galley near the Surrey
side of London-bridge, they discovered the body of di
female in the water. On being taken ashore it was found
to be a young woman, about eighteen or nineteen years
of age. 'The body had apparently not been in the water
more than a few hours. The deceased was dressed in a
dark cotton gown with red and black spots, blue spotted
apron. black stockings (having a pair of white ones
underneath) ; in her pockets were a thimble, scissors.
and some small shells. From the circumstance of her
head being closely shaven, it is supposed she had escaped
from some of the hospitals or lunatic asylums.
d e hotis
A-
e
:-
committed suicide. The body was coney` to thG
of Mr. Down, undertaker, Guld° -,sireet, ra'. ,
lane, Borough, and ha;