The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-20 00:00:00

FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS

The Semaphore, of Marseilles, gives an account of
the arrival in that port of a bold and ingenious sailor,
who has constructed a boat formed to fit his own
body when laid at full length, in'which he traverses
the sea with a swiftness and security rivalling that
of fishes. His head and arms alone appear from
without, and with the latter, holding a pair of
oars, he impels himself along. Provisions are
stowed in recesses of the boat, and thus he made
voyages from Toulon to Nice and Leghorn, coming
to Afarseilles by the islands of Hyeres. On ar-
riving in port he complied with all the prescribed re-
gulations, entering his own name, Malbec, and that
of his vessel, and then darted across the harbour like
an arrow; On -being examined when on shore, the
wonderful vessel was found to be a most perfect piece..
of mechanism. It is furnished with a small pump,
similar to that used in wine and beer-houses for
drawing the liquor from the casks in the cellar,
and by means of which any water the . boat may
make can be easily discharged. Having been
deprived of his left leg, M. Malbec has converted
its Wooden' -substitute into a mast, upon which
he. occasionally raises a sail suited for his light
bArk, and which he can trim with ease, according
to the wind, and the course he wishes to steer. M.
Malbec's visit to Marseilles is said to be for the pur-
pose of having a vessel on his plan constructed of cast
iron, with various improvement, among which are to
be hollow masts, admitting air into .the body of the
boat, so that either in foul weather, or when requiring
sleep, he may lie down on the mattrass at .the bottom,
close the hatchway and apertures for his head and
arms, without fear of being suffocated. Ile has given
his vessel the appropriate name of the l)uck.
A young man of Rhehns, named Bernier, having
received a sum of money- for entering the army as a
substitute, determined, before his departure, to spend
a portion of it in licentious pleasures, and formed, an
intimacy with a girl of the town. On the morning
of the '2sth ultimo, after passing the night together
in a house of ill fame, they went down into the com-
mon room, and each called for a glass of brandy, but
`before either of them had drunk, another paramour
of the girl came in, and she, in spite of the remon-
strance of Bernier, resolved to go away with him.
Upon this, Bernier, in his exasperation, took a pistol
from his pocket, and discharging it at the girl laid
her dead at his feet. He attempted to fly, but was
secured with the pistol in his hand.
A marriage took place lately at Blois between a
travelling dealer and an exceedingly pretty girl, who
some years back was a common street-singer. The
bridegroom saw her one evening weeping bitterly,
from being forced by her father, who was a cripple,
to sing when her strength was unequal to the task.
The honest dealer took compassion on the girl, then
about 14, and offered to put her to school. The fa-
ther gladly consented, particularly,as he was himself
to be placed by the generous dealer in a small shop at
Tours, where he could make a comfortable subsistence.
Education brought out so many good qualities in the
young protege that the dealer thought he could not
(to better than become the possessor of such a treasure.
He proposed and was accepted, and the marriage took
place as has been related.
In the afternoon of the 24th ult., a young man,
named Pierre Bastard, who had been for some time
at variance with his -father, entered the house of the
latter, at Vaux, in the Charente, and finding him re-
posing on the ground, approached within three yards
of him, and discharged at him a gun loaded with shot
and slugs, a great portion of which lodged in the
thigh, and others in the shoulder and side of the victim,
who died shortly afterwards of the wounds. A
person named Roy, who was lying by the side of the
father, roused by 'the report, sprung up, and pursued
the parricide. Oncoming up with -him, young _Bas-
tard displayed'a brace of pistols, and threatened to dis-
charge them at Roy if be did not desist. The mur-
derer having thus deterred Roy from following him,
went into a meadow opposite his fathers house, and
committed suicide. Ile. first discharged one of his
pistols into the region of his head, and, this not having
immediate effect, he reloaded his gun, and tying a
string to the trigger, placed the muzzle on the right
side of his head, and by a pull of the string, discharged
the contents, thereby causing instant death.
Three or four days ago, M. Fontaine, a farmer at
Teteghem, near Dunkirk, employed two of his men,
Decock and Eduwaele, in emptying. the cess-pool of
the premises. Towards the conclusion of the task,
the latter went down into it, but was so overcome
by the effluvia, that he was obliged to ascend almost
immediately. Decock then went down, was affected
in like manner. M. Fontaine, undismayed, determine 4
to save his man, and descended with a rope. Ile got
him up to the mouth of the cess-pool, and Mme. Fon-
taine, who had come to his assistance, took the body
of Decock, and endeavoured to lift it out ; but the
weight was too great for her strength, and she let it
fall upon her husband, and both Were precipitated to
the bottom, and suffocated in the remains of the
contents of the fosse. Other men were then em-
ployed to relieve theth, and they were drawn up by
ropes ; but all the applications of medical skill were
insufficient to• restore them to life. .Eduwaele suf-
fered for some time, • but ultimately was restored to
convalescence.

At the Court of Assizes for the Charente, a few
days ago, a female of 17, named Stonteau, a farm-
servant, was tried for an attempt to poison another
female servant of the same farm, named Noel,
,by
putting some ,verdigris, which she had scraped from a
brass pump, into the glass from which she was
drinking. Noel was very ill, but eventually recovered,
and proof having been obtained of the guilt of the
girl Stonteau, she was arrested. It appeared from the
evidence that the only motive for the deed was. a de.-,
sire to remove Noel, who, according to the pr.insonerd._
statement, caused additional labour to b
having administered
the upon her. Stonteau confessed
the poison, but declared that she dno idea that it
would kill, and merely wished to make Noel so ill as
The prisoner was
to compeller W.leave her. p

A letter from Bourges states that during the fair
of the commune of Sainte Vite a quarrel arose, - and
the Mayor of Saint Maur wishing to interpose be-
tween the combatants, received a blow from a stick,
on the head, which almost immediately killed him.
The perpetrator of this act has not yet been discovered.
We learn from Toulouse that, at six in the morn-
ing of the 2d instant, Bonnet, the steward of the late
Lady Hawarden, condemned in March last to five
years' imprisonment for robbery, having received a
notification that his appeal against his sentence was
rejected, cut his throat with a razor. The wound is
desperate and dangerous, but the medical men called
in have some hopes of saveing his life.
The Echo de la Nievre of the 2d instant, says—
" Yesterday the 3d battalion of the 23d regiment of
the line, arrived from Oran, passed through Nevers
on its way to Orleans. Among them in an old soldier
who lost his sight in Africa, and is led by an Arab
boy of fifteen. Having been taken prisoner, the sol-
dier's eyes were put out by the barbarians; and they
were on the point of cutting off his head, when they
were in turn surprised by our men, and all cut to
pieces except one—viz., the lad who now serves as a
guide to the blind soldier."
The Courrier de Loir-et-Cher states that a com-
pany of capitalists, in the neighbourhood of Blois, has
been formed for the purchase of the domain of Cham-
bord, the property of the Duke of Bordeaux, which it
supposes will be brought to sale.
The Patriote de Saone-et-Loire says :—" Mll;.
Rosalie C. de V., the eldest daughter of one of the
first magistrates of the Puy-de-Dome, eloped a few
days since with an Auvergnat, who was her father's
steward, and the fugitives made their way to Chalon-
sur-Saone. They did not venture into any of the
grand hotels of the town, but immediately installed
themselves hi a humble dwelling near a farm, close
to the small river called the Genise. Here they ex-
pected to enov, without interruption, all the sweets
of love and a cottage ; but, alas ! cruel fate in two
days betrayed their retreat, and a party of gendarmes
surrounded it, and separated them. the young lady
was sent back to her father, and the love-stricken
Auvergnat was committed to prison for travelling
with a false. passport. The father missed from his
money-box a sum of 250 gold Napoleons, but nothing
more was found upon his worthy steward than 40f. in
silver." '

e:lptloni,sitdAirlsileshtc:rolhyttealialliidl:coal-man, ascending the Rue St. Jacques,
eaednfre,s,:lo'idede podraiac,s)ickiistdeacd,..ig: ;lase:, theofi:N.enirteeditldo. ow'r;otihiffiluail,3l-‘,lvlian:hercee-knlsLOlopi.ne.,
came out hisne
Isuag,cloke vdtv gone.h'oallsiLtitlhae
111.0Agutpuoet
ehr
atwit made him
onceo had taken it;
would
hill with his
burden, and our Auvergnat at once descended with
all his speed. Before he reached the bottom, he saw
his sack moving on before him, and in a second he
brought the bearer to the ground with one blow. The
fellow, hOWever, was not stunned, and, before he could
be seized, gathered himself up and fled. Finding that
he was pursued, he attempted to escape by throwing
himself over the parapet by the river-side. The
water was too low to make his fall soft, and he broke
both his legs. In this state he was carried to the hos-
pital of the Hotel Dieu.
A few days ago, says the Memorial des Pyrenees,
the village of Borderes, near Tarbes, was visited by a
violent storm, during which the lightning struck an
ancient oak, nit still in full vigour, the trunk of which
was twenty inches in diameter, stripping it of all its
leaves and bark, and- carrying some of its heaviest
branches to a distance of 300 yards. The tree itself
was split into nearly two equal parts, leaving them
as dry as if they had long been dead. A hole of an
oval form was made at the foot. Other tees in the
quincunx, of which it formed the corner, were in-
jured in a less degree; but a wooden cross, which
had been sheltered by them from time immemorial,
remained untouched, nor were even the crowns of
immortelles hung upon it as votive offerings in the
slightest degree scathed. A party of Young men had
passed the evening under the oak, gird had net left
the spot many minutes before the event took place.
The Prefect of Police has caused to be posted up
in all parts of Paris, the usual ordonnance et this
time of the year, that no dogs are to be suffered to
run about the streets, or to be at liberty in magazines,
shops, work-shops, or any other open establishment,
without being muzzled. All dogs also must wear a
collar, with the name and abode of the owner. To
this is added, by desire of the Board of Ilealth, in-
structions as to the first measures to be taken in
cases of persons bit by dogs supposed to be mad.
A man of the name of Sciotta, one of the turnkeys
I of the prison pf La Force, came to the office of the
Commissary of police two slays ago, and delivered
himself into custody for the murder of his wife. He
stated that he had called, on three other Commissaries,
1 but had found them absent from home. A quarrel,
it appears, arose between him and his wife, by whom
he has five children, from some jealous suspicions on
his part. Blows ensued, and in his. passion he threw
i her on the edge of the bed, and stabbed her repeatedly
with a knr
e.lie then went coolly, as above stated
and gave himself into custody. The woman died
..the same day.
;the 3e Theo iliaitinabliriergadby: rseac3e,si‘acdletbteyr
til.r)oemßteilliaetfeLo
itl3,,n-
-oif
stlat:ftitouit., already exceeds three millions of francs.
The following are the names of the different com-
mercial houses whose establishments were destroyed
in the late conflagration :—Huttner and Co. ; Albrecht -
and Dill ; Ross Viedahl and Co.; Husseden and Co.;
G. Bebre and Co.; •L. Behrens and Son ; Perniieh
and Co. • Ludwig Bahne; V. D. Linden and Co. ;
11. D. Ifertz ; Biancore and Co. ; A. V. Dohren ;
E. Johns ; Popert and Van Halle ; F. Jastl ;
F. E. &lire : E. B. Bandmunn-Eldam; W. Ritter;
Schulte and Schemanii ; M. and W. JoOst ;
Watchter and Co.; Maschwitz and Co. ; Gallmever •
Geffcken ; Bottornleyl Giese and Co.; Solomon
Heine ; Freres Schwartz ; Reddelen and Luich ;
Lorentam En& and Co. ; 11. E. Meyer, jun. ; Hens
and Menke ; Auftin Ondt and Son Steegman ;
G. and E. Gempel ,• Fehr and Northman ; Conr.
Laar ; Andr. Israel ; Devenpont and Co.; Wenterhof
and Pieper ; O'iwald and Co. ; D. and F. Oppen-
heim ' • Schluter and Maack ; Iligson Boeckmann and
Co.; Emmanuel and Sohn ; Meyer and Sehonfeld ;
Gebr. Schwabe and Co.; Gebr. Bing; A. H. Groo-
thoff; H. A. E. Gansland; Bank and Durkoop ; U.
Genequel ; Schroeder Mahs and Co.; Perthes; Besser
and Mauke ; D. Jacques and Son ; Feldmann, Bohl,
and Co. ; Simon and Jacoby ; Z. R. Hammfeld.
.4n ever-confiding girl (says the Droit), sedueed
by a than of fortune, left her native village, and tsil-
lowed him to Paris. For a time she lived in joy and
litXtiry, but having become enciente; she was heart-
lessly deserted. Her child being born she placed it
out at nurse, and for a time supported the charge by.
her industry. After a few months her work failed,
and the payments fell into arrear. Two days ogo
the nurse arrived with her baby, and and knocking at
the door of her lodging, in the Rue St. Spire, de-
sired to be admitted. The poor distracted girl,
wanting bread for herself, instead of letting the nurse.
in, seized a knife and cut her own threat. The Com-
missary of Police was sent for, and the room being
forcibly entered, she was found senseless on the floor,
but was not dead, and was carried to an hospital,
where, however, little or no hopes are entertrined of
saving her.

SINGULAR DEATH or A Boy.—On IVeclrieslay Air.
Wakley, M.P., held an inquest at University College Hospital,
on the body of John Villiers, aged 13, the son of a surgeon in
the array, residing at. 54, London-street, Fitzroy-squate. It
appeared from the statement of the deceased's father that the
deceased, who was rather a sickly boy, was exceedingly fond of
eating vegetables of every description. On Thursday be, ac-
compaeied by some juvenile friends, wort into the fields for
the purpose of gathering sorrel, of which, during the time he
was out, he ate a great quantity. On his return home in the
evening, deceased complained of violent pains in the bowels,
which induced his father to administer medicine to him. He
slightly recovered on Friday, but again gradually
.got worse,
and his appearance left no doubt on his father's mind that he
was attacked with cholera. He continued to prescribe for
him until the morning of Sunday, when the deceased's mother,
fearing he was dying, took him in her arms, and carried him
to the above hospital. Dr. Quaine, resident surgeon of the
hospital, proved the admission of the deceased about one o'clock
on Sunday, evidently, in his opinion, labouring under the
effects of cholera. He died in half an hour after. Mr. Quaine
here detailed the appearances of the body on pest Jan:lie:l
examination, which left no doubt on his mind that he h
'
otifncnhedol.eraihined
Jury
ydabove en-
caused by taking improper food."
lately been discovered
Some antique remains have
returned b y the
e satin{;
in
verdictg improperot Diedfe from cholera,
howner of the land
discovered in this neighbourhood, and •
which have just brought
at
ordered excavations to be made,
Ileronyal, in Normanby. A few years ago, five tombs were
ofstone, and
feet of the surface, all
foiled within tn.."
• Only one remained entire, and, on being
to light some fresh discoveries. Dane sarcophagi have been
east and wes..
-
opened carefully., it was found to contain the remains of two
bodies, supposeel by the skulls to be those of a male and
female. Bracelets of beads of various colours were found
near the woman's
,arm, strung on brass wire, all of very rude
workmanship.ean
to believe are those of a Roman warrior, v/ere
m
and ornaments in bronze, a sword, a stylus, and
buckles of the same metal, perfectly well executed. The
isore:ioncrs :Near the remains of the male, which there
rings would lead (ale to suppcse that he vas of the eques.
trian order, and the stylus denotes a man of letters. One of
the rings is almost of modem form, with a small place under
where the stone is usually fixed, into which hair may be
put.
The tomb also contained a bronze ornament set with small
stones, of the form of a brooch, to'hold a dress or shawl. The
warrior's skull is fractured as if with the stroke of a weapon.
Some iron ornaments, eaten with rust, were found near it,
but their use cannot be imagined.An ofredearth,
covered
urn
covered with slight designs, was placed near these bones.
The neighbouring tombs contained two other urns of blue
earth, of elegant forms. A medal of Faustina Augusta, found
not far off, may indicate the period to which then tombs
, b 61014.