Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-06-26
From the Ns~ York Tribune
Extraordinary Criminal Trial In

y
Belgium.
A criminal trial is now pending in Bel
GUM, which, on account OF the high social
position of the parties. has excited general
interest, in many respects resembling that
called forth by the Praslin affair in France
The circumstances may be briefly related
as follows:
The persons accused are the Count and
Countess Bocarme, for the crime of mur-
dering their brother in-law. The Count
belongs to one Of the most distinguished
families of Belgium. His father, Julia Bo-
carme, married a niece of the Austrian
General Chasteht, was an official of the
Dutch Government at Java, where Hyp-
polite, his only son, was born. He was
nursed by colored woman, and grew up
among the Malays, whose savage and per-
fdious character heseems to haveimbibed.
Count Julian afterward returned to Belgi-
um, and lived for some time at Tournay
Here, however, he enjoyed no rest his love
of adventure drove him abroad; and ac-
companied by his son, he wandered to
North America, where he founded colo
ny on the banks of the Ohio among the
savages. Young Hyppolite remained here
till he was eighteen years old, when he re-
turned to Europe, and soon after married
lady named Lydia Fougnies, from Pc
ruwetz. His young wife was well educa-
ted, with superior talents, possessing VI
vid Imagination, and cherishinga passionate
admiration of the French romance writers.
She sustained personal relations with some
of them, among others with Balzac, who
often passed several weeks in the summer
at Bury Castle in Tournay, which the
young couple had made their RESIDENCE
She also wrote some few novels, but quite
insignificant ones. Such cha ter was
by no means adapted to Influence man
like Count Hyppoite, who had brought
with him from abroad the instincts of
haf-savage. He abandoned himselfto his
unbridled passions, and became the terror
of his acquaintances and the distress of his
relations: in the village where he lived he
was hated most intensely on account of his
severe and cruel disposition.
The dssipated life of the Count produced
total disorder of his finances. He was
deeply in debt, and had squandered large
part of his estate. His only hope was in
the Inheritance Of his brother-in-law, Gus
tavus Fougnies. This person gave no pro-
mise of long life. His health was bad,
and by fall from horse, he had lost a
leg. A deep distrust Of his brotherin-law,
no one knows why, seems to have been
early rooted in his mind. Although he
was ardently attached to his sister, and had
made her the heir to his whole property,
he seldom went to Burg, and often said
that he was afraid to eat any thing there,
until it had been tasted by his brother in
law. He was perfectly aware that he was
anxious to get hold of his property, and
wished nothing so much as his death. 1t
is said even that he once expressed the sus-
picion that Count Hyppolte had poisoned
his father.
Toward the close of last year Fougnies
had made up his mind to marry the Coun-
tess de Grandmetz The wedding day
was fixed, the bridal gifts were purchased,
the marriage contract was to have been
signed on the 23d of November, when
Fougnies, although advised to the contrary
by his intended, who foreboded some bad
end, came to the unlucky determination to
invite, in person, his sister and brother-in-
law to the approaching wedding. The
Countess announced the expected visit to
her husband on the goth, who replied, IL
will do the business for him today
Gustavus Fougnies arrived at the Castle
that day, and in the evening he was dead.
On the next morning, the report was
spread in the village that Fougnies had
died suddenly at the Castle, but the peo-
pie did not hesitate to speak of Count Bo-
carme as the murderer. The universal
prevalence of the rumor, led the magistrate
to institute an inquiry. The official was at
first very circumspcct and lenient toward
the Count; but the embarrassment of the
accused, with his contradictory answers
at length aroused his suspicious, which
soon took more definite shape. Among
other things, the examining Judge discov-
cred deep bite on the hand Of the Count,
evidently made by a man, and which he
could not satisfactorily account for He
accordingly had the Count and Countess
taken into custody and sent to Tournay.
The physicians unanimously testified
that Fougnies came to his death by cor
rosive poison, probably sulphuric acid
which he had been forced to swallow
But for long time the bite on the hand
was the only circumstance to direct sus-
pcion against the Count. Both the Coun-
tess and himself strenuously denied the
charge, asserting that Fougnies must have
poisoned himselfin their house, since they
found him dead in the dining room, and the
servants could throw no light on the mat
ter. At length, Emerence, the French
chambermaid Of the Countess, made some
important disclosures. She stated that on
the morning of November 20, the Count
sent his servant to the village several miles
off, and she took his place in waiting on
the table. When it tbegan to grow dark,
she asked whether she should bring in
lights, but the Count directed her to go to
the nursery up stairs, where were the chill
dren and the only two waiting maids then
in the house. One ofthc children wishing
for some milk, maid went down into the
kitchen to get it. She was no sooner there
than she heard half-satisied cry in the
dining-room "Murder! Assassination
Hyppolite! Hyppolite!" She rushed to
the door of the kitchen, which was scparat-
ed by one room from the dining room, and
saw the Countess come out and shut the
door after her She imperiously ordered
the maid to return up stairs. As the latter
passed the window of the dining-room, she
thought she heard the death-rattlc of dy-
ing person. She afterward met the Count
and Countess on the stairs, on the way to
the parlor; they both looked pale and dis
turbed, and said nothing. Some time af
ter they went down into the dining-room
again, and on the sight of the body broke
out into loud cries before the servants, who
were now called in.
Soon after the first examination chem