The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, .JUNE 11. 1842.

ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

The Court of Assizes of the Eure-et-Loire, held
at Evreux, was engaged, on Friday and Saturday
last, with the trial of two men, Langlois and Gode-
froi, for an attempt to murder the farther of the
former, under the following circumstances :—Lan-
glois, the prisoner, having expectation of a consider.
able inheritance at the death of his father, was eager
to enter into possession. He first attempted to poison
his sire, by sending him an omelette drugged with ar-
senic, when at work in the fields. This however failed,
producing only a violent sickness. Upon this he se-
duced a shepherd, the other prisoner, Godefroi, a
man aged only twenty-three, but married and having
a family, and being in the greatest distress, to become
the murderer of the elder Langlois, by shooting him.
To insure his success, Langlois made him practice, by
firing at rabbits, fowls,' and other objects. When
thought to be a sufficient marksman, he was put on
the watch for an opportunity of shooting the parent
of his suborner. Finding, in October last, the old
man, who is 72 years of age, in his orchard gathering
apples, Godefroi fired at him, and struck him. He
then hastened back to the house of the son, and,
not finding him at home, left word for him
with the servant that he had hit the rabbit,
but it was not yet dead. Langlois, on receiving this
intelligence, went to his fa ther, feigning great grief; but
finding that his father had only his arm broken he deter-
mined to have again recourse to arsenic, and sent
Godefroi to a chemist's to purchase some, but fortu-
nately it was refused him. Langlois, the son, lived in
concithinage with his female servant, who was with
child by him. She was acquainted with his horrible
projects, and frequently remonstrated against them,
upon which he quarrelled with her and ill-treated
her. At length she communicated these facts to her
brother and his wife. They, on hearing of the at-
tempt against Langlois, sen., went and related the
whole story to the Chief Magistrate of Guillefontaine,
in the Seine Inferieure, where all the parties
lived, and the nefarious act was perpetrated. Lang-
lois, the son, and Godefroi' were arrested, and
in dne time' brought before the Court of Assizes for
that department. Notwithstanding the evidence of the
guilt of the prisoners was incontrovertible, and Gode-
froi fully confessed his share in it, and declaring that
he Was to receive I,ooof. as his reward, the jury,
in delivering their verdict of guilty, found that there
were extenuating circumstances in favour of both the
delinquents. The Procureur-General, discovering
some flaw in the tbrm of delivering this verdict, which
subjected both the convicts to the minor punishment
of hard labour at the hulks for life, instead of death,
appealed against it to the Court of Cassation, which
quashed the judgment, and ordered a new trial
before the Court of Assizes for the Eure. At
this new hearing, all the facts of the case were again
given in evidence, and Godefroi renewed his confes-
sion. The prisoner Langlois was further proved to have
been so avaricious as to have committed robbery and
forgery for the purpose of obtaining money. Holding
a farm under his father, at a rent of I,Boof. a year, he
had, on the day before the old man's life was at-
tempted, written his name to a receipt for 900 f., two
quarters rent then actually clue' in order thereby to
save nine-tenths of the money he was to pay Gode-
froi for the bloody deed. The proceedings were not
concluced till 12 at night on Saturday, when the
jury retired, and remained upwards of an hour in de-
liberation. On their return, they found Langlois
guilty of parricide, and Godefroi of murder, with
extenuating circumstances as to the, latter alone.
Langlois was condemned to death, and Godefroi, as
before, to hard labour at the hulks for life.

G REAT EIGHT-OARED
CUTTER MATCH.

(THIS DAY-BY EXPRESS.)

OXFDRD v. CAMBRIDGE.
This contest, which has excited so much interest,
not only among the members of the respective Uni-
versities, but also with the boat-clubs and aquatic
amateurs generally, took place this afternoon, and a
more brilliant affair it has seldom been our lot to wit-
ness. Shortly after one o'clock the river presented a
gay and animated appearance, and several gal-
leys, with their coxswains in gay attire, being
in the neighbourhood of Westminster-bridge,
showed that the above match had caused an
excitement 'amongst the elite of the boat-clubs, not
usually witnessed now-a-days, and proved that it is
only necessary to announce a match, which has the
appearance of hon esty about it, to call forward in full
vigour that interest in boat-racing, which has of late
appeared almost dormant.
By two o'clock there were hundreds of boats, from
the plebeian punt 'to the aristocratic cutter, issuing
from the yards of the several builders On the Surrey
side ; nor were there wanting steamers, with their
display of female beauty, to enliven that which was
to be, indeed, a stirring scene to the lovers of this
popular, fashionable, and manly amusement. The
betting had been 5 and 6 to ,4 on the. Cantabs,
almost throughout, although the Oxonians, were not
wanting,in friends to take the odds, and, at last; to
lay even: How far this was justified, the result of the
match will best tell. Although two of the Oxonians
had been prevented from rowing by the Heads of their
respective Colleges, substitutes were not long want-
ing, although such an interference must have operated
prejudicially to a crew, which had been practising
together for some months before. Shortly before
four, the appearance of the purple blades making to-
wards Westminster-bridge, indicated that the hour
of trial had arrived, and that the Oxford crew were
eager for their work. The general move of
the steamers upwards, together with such other Wats
as required a mile or two the start, to enable them to
see the finish of the match, proved that it would not
be an easy task to keep up with the wager even with
this advantage.
The light-blue boat, with white oars (Cambridge's)
dashed gallantly through the bridge, against tide,
and soon rounded the pier, and took their station on
tae Surrey shore, and in a very few seconds; both
crews were in rowing trim, and it would be difficult
to find two crews more evenly matched, or a similar
number of well-grown men.
• At eighteen minutes to four the start took place,
the Oxonians' taking the lead, but in a few seconds
were passed by the Cantabs. The advantage was
merely temporary, for the Oxonians again went bythem
at the liorseferry in gallant style, and at the Cadogan
pier they were at least six boats length in advance,
which, however, was triflingly diminished at Batter-
sea-bridge. Off the Red-house the Cantabs drew on,
but were soon tired of the sport, and dropped still
further astern. At Broome House-lane the
Oxonians were full three boats-length before the
Cantabs, who in a short time after gained a little,
but very trifling. The Oxonians went through
Putney- bridge exactly 15 seconds a head, and they were
exactly thirty minutes and three-quarters rowing the
distance. It was a splendid match.