The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-30 00:00:00

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.I

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER•

A letter from Madrid, dated July 5, contain.

an account of a trial for murder, which is not
only remarkable from the peculiar circumstances
of the crime, but still more so from the extraor-

Binary means imagined by the. prisoner's Coun-
sel to save- his client. By the laws of Spain, a.
man who surprises his wife in
.flagrante with
her paramour, and in the first moment of pas-
sion kills both, cannot befoundguilty of murder;
but if he kills but one of the guilty partiesi.he
renders himself liable. to a. capital prosecution.
A wife has the same privilege in case of her hus-
band's infidelity. Don Julian 13**, a rich
merchant of Carthagena, had been married only
about three months to • the daughter of one
of the richest landowners in the province, when
a faithfill servant informed him that his wife was
carrying on an illicit intercourse with a certain
Captain of Cavalry, named Don Anselmo U**,
who regularly entered the house as soon as
Don Julian quitted it. Don Julian affected
not to .pay much attention to what his ser-
vant told, him ; but from that time forth he
frequently, during the day, quitted ins counting-
house and ascended to his wife's apartment,
where he generally found Don Anselmo, but per- .
ceived nothing that could Misfity his proceeding
to violent'ineasures. Deteriniried, however, to
put an end to his doubts, he on t',he Bth of No-
vernber, 1825, told his wife he was going to
Aguilas, where he should be detained fo'r some
days by commercial business. He accordingly
took leave of her, and departed ; but, atterestop-
ping at a short distance from Carthagena tti
whole of the day, he returned after nizhtfalii
entered his house by a back door, and, armed
with a poniard, ascended to his wife's apartment,
where he found . her and Don Anselmo fast
asleep. Determined to immolate them •both, he
began with his wife, whom he stabbed to the heart.
The cry, or movement she made, aroused Don
Anselmo, who jumped out of bed and cried out
Murder! At the cry the servants ran in, found
,Don Anselmo without his clothes, Don Julian
with a.bloody dagger in his hand, and his wife
breathing her last sigh. The officers of justice
were sent for—Don Julian, Don Anselmo, and
all the servants, were arrested and taken to prison.
Soon after a capital prosecution was commenced
against Don Julian, who, contrived to escape be-
fore the trial came on. He was soon retaken,
and brought up for trial. His defence consisted
in denying every circumstance sworn to by the
witnesses, and, even still more strange, denying
that he escaped from prison, &c. The Court,
however, found him guilty, and condemned him
to be hanged. Before the proceedings , were
transferred' to the Chancery of Grenada for, revi-
sion, another singular event took place. Some
porters, whom Don Julian had been in the habit of
employing in shipping and unshipping his mer-
chandise, were drinking in a wine-house, when
a man suddenly entered the roam, stabbed with
a 'poniard the porter who was next the door, then
fled, and before the porters, confounded by the
circumstance, recovered themselves sufficiently
to pursue him, he had disappeared. On the ar-
rival of the officers of justice, the porter who had
been stabbed (very slightly however) and all his
companions poeitively affirmed that the man who
had entered the room with a dagger and inflicted
the wound, was no other than Don Julian D",
them under sentence of death.for the inualer of
his wife. On repairing to the prison, Don Sii!ian.
D," was found perfectly secure there. DCA:.
Julian's advocate, taking advantage of this cir-
cumstance, moved for a new trial, on the ground
that his client had been unjustly condemned, in-
asmuch as he had constantly denied all the cir-
cumstances of the case, and that it now appeared
that there was another individual, who so com-
pletely resembled him, that even those who had
been in the daily habit offseeing Don Julian for
years could not distinguish hiM from the other.
The Corregidor was not moved to alter hisjiiclg-
ment for these reasons, and the proceedings were
transferred to Grenada, where, after a considera-
blemreasnemnebrl,edthDe on -hJanuoliearny inof sGo;eexntarda;
ywhao
del-ay, and various attempts to find out the
poredrsinonar
pronounced the following sentence : •
" In' the alternative in which the Court finds
itself, it is ordered that Don. Julian D. be set at
liberty, and that his imprisonment should
leave
no blemish on his reputation." Grenada, Jan. 2-
The writer of this letter states that it "was the
advocate who had planned this singular method
of exculpating his client. He had _bribed the
gaoler to let his prisoner out a few minutes, he
(the advocate) remaining in his place. He had
also prepared the porters to play their part in
the comedy. The gaoler received for his ac-
quiescence 25,000 francs.

Yesterday three foreigners and an Irishman
renounced the errors of Popery, and recanted to the Pro-
testant i
advantagesn congregation,s preached
of
n sermonmi
ng on
faith, in the presence of a
onnumerous
,Ih uk
aca
conforming
t oer new
to thetthe chapelo occasion,
Established Sioonm e rs- toclvh enlargingnu.
Church.
WOMEN OF BOGOTA.—The ladies of rank
in Bogota are generally small, but well made, and they can
boast of having as pretty feet and small ankles as any
women in the world, which are always set off by handsome
silk stockings and very neat shoes. Like the women of
Spain; they walk with grace and dignity, and are equally
coquetish and playful with their fans. Their morning
walking dress appeared at first rather singular, but I after-
wards thought it becoming. The head and shoulders are
covered with a fine black or blue cloth, without any trim-
ming, which sometimes meets under the chin, 'but leaves
the face exposed, and a small black beaver hat with a
crown of a conical shape, you may literally say, is on the top
of the head ; it was placed on one side, but as none of the
head was in it, I really often wondered it did not au off.
Their gowns are black silk, made to fit close, and much
adorned with bugles of the same colour. In this dress the
ladies go to church. The reign of the small black buyer
hat and the cloth covering will, I suspect, soon be at an
end ; as some of the ladies, before I left Bog
the streets in large French bonnets, with abundance of ar-
tificial flowers, and gay-coloured silk gowns and neeker-
chiefsth artificialPal.aded
over their shoulders, to the astonishment and morti-
fication of some of the priesthood, who considered. it a sin
in them to say their prayers in such gaudty attire. The
Norwich shawl, and chintz or cotton gowns manufactured
paseearolfs,wekmicheratlhdesy,
makeand ogtrheeart
in England.
snetvdue.enki nAogntdithrneuetihr
the same
sartauipnirieeastwtyaaynstrdasabwauthhie,
the ladies
iesawdarmess
after the French fashion with much taste, and are adorned
in general a very correct ear for music, but
there is a sad want of masters and good musical instru-
precious
ments, for the difficulties and expence are great in getting
stones,Twhi with
Thep
afovre profusionthe
pu
purchase
a piano-forte from the coast to the capital, and by the time
'it arrives would probably cost 2001. The ladies dance
well and gracefully; the Spanish country dances are parti-
cularly well adapted to show off the different attitudes of
the body. Waltzing is also a favourite dance. In my
morning visits to the ladies, I frequently found them sitting
on cushions placed on a mat, after the oriental fashion,
and employed at tambour work ; a little female negro
slave squatted comfortably in one corner of the apartment,
ready to obey the orders of her mistress. I remarked that
the Creoles, or descendants of the Spaniards, treated their
household slaves with great kindness and indulgence, al-
lowing them to converse with them in a more familiar way
than we do our servants in England. As regards the
morals of the ladies of Bogota, I believe they can boast of
as much virtue as the European ladiee.—.Colonel Hamil-
ton's Trattetti in Cakimbia.