Star.
London, England, 1824-08-26 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER.

The Court of Assize, at Rouen, has been occupied
with the trial of a barber of that town named Veillie; e,
for the murder of his wife, on the 2S:11 of April la t.
The principal facts, as detailed in ev;deece, were as
follow :—On the day abovementione I,
wife had been living separate from him in conegrienc
of the crue:ty and depravity of his coaduct, called
,„
the house of a Madame Padais, where his wife happened
to be, and insisted upon seeing het. He affected a c4.:11
and penitent air, and entreated his wife to be encore;
to him. This, however, she Tensed, but without osa ,
any irritating expressions, F.he endeavoured to leave
apartment, but was pi evented by her husband, .
still continued talking to Madame Padais. All of
sudden, and without the slightest word er I,oi
could have intimated his late:Lunn, he drew his
horn his pockets, where he had held them since his to_
trance, and rushing upon his wife, seized her by the
hair of the head, dragged her into a cm tier of the roottl,
and stabbed her twice with a knife in the neck. At her
cries, Madame Padais ran towards them, scizel Veil-
liere, and tore him from his victim, but not until he iidd
inflicted another wound upon !:erg Madame l'adai
and he then struggled for a long time, until they bon,
fell, when he escaped from her grasp, leaving the skw;
of his coat behind. With redoubled fury, he rettirt,e I
to his expiring wife, and taking the blade of the kni,e,
for the handle had been brolen off in the struggle, L.
plunged it into her belly, in which he made a even:4r
incision of four or five inches in diameter. Sonic nor nea
who had been present at the commencement of
horrid scene, fled away, terrified, and crying out tor
help. Their cries brought the other lodgers in the
house to the scene, and as they were about to seize
Veilliere, he gave himself several stabs with the kii!te,
exclaiming, "I wish to die with hei." Nme of Ike
wounds being serious, he was soon able to undergo ail
examination. He sought to establish that the crime w..s
unpremeditated, saying, that when lie endeavoured to
kiss his stile, she spat in his face, and that exaspera:ed
at such treatment, he had struck at her with a knife,
not knowing what he did. Bat this account was falsi-
fied by the witnesses, and other facts brought foiwatd
to prove premeditation ; his having been on inn.
watch for tome days; his having purchased a kid
day before the murder. During the trial he
a firmness and assurance that did not desert him tot a
single moment.
The Jury, after a few minute; deliberation, found
him Guilly, unanimously. He heard his sentence with( ut
die slightest emotion. Since his condemnation, he re-
fused to appeal, and gave, in writing, his detetminatiuri,
which he wrote with a firm hand. The hue' val be-
tween his sentence and execution he passed, except the
time devoted to sleep, ins playing cards. He had an in-
ordinate passion for gambling, which was the primary
cause of his depravity and ruin. To get his feilow-
prisoners to play with him, he used to tiirealen, when
they refused, to haunt them after his death. The clay
before his execution the cards were never out of hi;
hands, till he went to bed, when he slept soundly. Next
morning, after breakfasting heartily, he resumed his
card-playing, and did not leave off till the fatal mo-
ment came for him to go to the chapel, on his way to the
scaffold. He then entreated that his fellow-prisoners,
who had been playing with him, might be allowed to
accompany him to Chapel. flr confessed, with great
calmness, and listened with atter,ion to the discourse of
the Clergyman. On his way to the scaffold, lee spewed
the same unshakeable firmness. Jost before submitting
to the fatal knife, he addressed the people, and recited a
few lines of poetry which he had written %ince his tiial.
Friday, an individual of the name of Sarni:no, after having Isere
brought before the Court of Assizes as a fraudulent bankrupt, ap-
peared again before the same Court on a new charge, with ,hire
accomplices, Fronds Patel, Ade/aide Fougesi. and the w.f. f Setrmont.
Sieur Herbert Francfort, declared, that giving way to the entreaties
of the wife of Surmont, who told him that she bad something aim-
portanee to communicate to hint, he repaired to her on the Z.lst
of May last, when she induced him to go into a room at the
back of the house and at the bottom of the court. No sooner
were they met together than Surmont's wife locked thr door.
Sieur Francrort, who began to be alarmed. seized the key and
opened the door: all at once, two persons, clothed as sailnrs, threw
themselves upon him, saying, in an under tone, " icoundiell
we have been waiting for you these three or four days." Ac the
same moment they threw a rope round his neck, beat him vie•
lently, held his arms, and tied his legs together, and stuffed his
mouth with a handkerchief ; and kneeling upon his liosly, de-
clared that he must accept certain hills or fort. it his life.
After more than an hour had expired, the Sieur FraLctiot being no
longer able to endure his torment, consented to his own injury.—
Surmotit and Mittel then placed hint on a chair before a small
table, when they loosed his hands and compelled hint to sign
ninety checqnes or bills, the greater part not filled op. They
afterwards compelled him to subscribe to a paper, by which
he was made to acknowledge that these documents were given in
compensation for an adulterous intercourse with Madame Surmont.
This fi ightful scene lasted from eight in the evening till nue in the
morning. &amnia was sentenced to 20 ye ars' hard labour. Pettel
to 15 years, and Surmont's wife to five years. The prisoners have
appealed against the sentence to the Court of Cassation.—Purianw'r

An article from Stettin, of the Gth instant, says, the
Mentor, the first l'russian vessel which has come from Chitia kith
the productions of the place, will arrive here on the 19th this
mouth. The king, the Princes, and the Princesses, and Itt
Family, together with their Royal Ilighnes.es the Grantl
Mumatat. and the Grand Duchess ALExAmnai., will come her? .0
witness the:entrit of this ship, and to confer, by their presence, rnce
eclat to this event.

BIRTHS.
•
August lb, the wife of the Rey. William Rowland, uf
Llansantfread, Brecknockshire, of a son.
August 21, at Prislon Rectory, near Bath, the wife of the Pa r.
J. Hammond, of a son.