The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-16

A Paris letter, of the lst instant, published
in the New York World of Wednesday, gives
the following additional details in regard tt
the awful massacre which is the sensation o
the day in the French capital:
There has been no abatement since my las
letter of the popular interest in the PantiI
murder-siLe crime de Pantin" or "L'Assassi
nat d'Aubervilliers, as it is variously denomi
mated, either after the place In which, or the
fort near which the victims were buried. The
public feeling has lost nothing In intensity
Here is q man who not only has committed Q
most horrible crime, but has committed 1t will
such care and precaution as absolutely to mis-
lead the world, and induce it to attribute the
chief guilt to one at least, If not two, o
his victims, and who, nevertheless, aftel
having thus induced every one to slander
the dead for a time. now absolutely refuses
either to disclose the names of his real accom-
plices or to retract the charges that he has
brought himself and has caused others to bring
against the innocent dead. 1t Is not in human
nature, at all events it is not In French nature to
forgive such multiplication of offences. Under
any possible contingency cannot imagine the
remOtest possibility of Traupmann's escaping
| the guillotine. Let him make what revela-
tions now that he may think fit to do, they
will not avail him. The time has gone by.
People have been, in all ranks of life, from the
Emperor at St. Cloud to the raggedest chit-
fonier in the kennel, too long and too sorely
troubled and perpeXed about this matter to
consider any eleventh hour confession, how
soever accurate, of dirty little half French,
| half German assassin, with shallow brain fill
ed only with ideas of his own capacity and pow
ers To have been possibly useful to himself,
such confession should have been made long
ago, when it was so much desired by the real
l,i fha Ia of hn In a n
sympathes of the people. He has chosen to
| consult his own convenience as TO the time of
making it, If even he makes 1t all and his
golden opportunity has passed away, never to
return. The police will probably accomplish
their task fully without any further assistance
from Traupmann, although, undoubtedly,
such aid would be In the last degree important;
but In any case-confession or no confession
Traupmann must die.
Although very little has been made public
since my last letter Of such startling character
as the incidents which attended the earlier de-
velopments of this most distressing affair, yet
enough has been discovered to keep up the In
terest from day to day. Here Is q summary OF
what has occurred. 1t will be recollected that
mention was made of the finding at Pantin of
the corpse of Gustave Kinck, the son, and one
of the earlier reputed assassins. The circum-
stances of this discovery seem almost provi.
dental. Traupmann had already denounced
Gustave as guilty, and demanded his arrest.
He also had alleged that Gustaye was with
him In Paris on the day subsequent to the
crime. Diligent search by the police was be-
ing made in every imaginable quarter (saye
the right one) for each Of the Kincks, dead or
alive, when, on Sunday last, the 26th of Sep
TEMPER, the very first Sunday after the original
murder, and in the very same field In which
the bodies originally found had been Inferred,
butchers boy accidently. came upon
spot which both he and policeman thought
sufficiently suspicious to demand examination;
and n yery few moments of search enabled
them to disinter, almost, one might say, with
their very fingers, Il putrd corpse whosn
ghastly proportions were so silGniiy hluucn HS
the incumbent earth that In walking over tnc ,i
nIonn the distnndnd body sunk and rose De-
heath the pressure of the foot of the strangers
as though an India-rubber air cushion was oe-
low. This body was at once suspected as De.
jnp that of Gustave Knck. 1t was removed
forthwith to the MOrgue, and, us decomp0sl-
tion had already made havoc with 1t, no time
was lost In confronting Traupmann with the
remains. No intimation was given MN OF tnc
object for which he was led from his prison.
and his own idea probably was, that he was
about to be examined again In regard 10 inc
charges against him before the proper
authorities. Until he was led into the
chamber at the Morgue where the oody
was exposed, he had not the slight
est conception that anything had been dis
| covered In relation to the fate or the where
abouts Of Gustave Kinck, and hi5 self-com-
mand had nearly deserted him when he was
called on to testify as to his knowledge OF the
identity of the corpse. But although greatly
taken aback, his equanimity soon returned;
| Unhesitatingiy he averred that the corrupted
and mangled object before him was nothing
else than the corpse of Gustave. The official
who had him in charge vainly endeayored to
extract some avowal Of guilt In this regard.
He Obstinatey persisted that, since the boy
had evidently been murdered, the deed must
have been the work Of Jean Kinck, the faith.
er-performed after the other murders mad
been completed. But enough dropped from
his lips, even at that moment, to discredit MS
belief In the truth of his own statement,
and it's In the highest degree probable
that. through all this time, he has known
that Gustaye was murdered and buried in the
Mace where he was found, and that SUCH mlr-
der and burial were of almost the same date
as the others. The wounds by which Gnstayc
died were of the same character Us those ol
| his mother, brothers and sister-the Dack oi
i his head was crushed In as with blow from
! nlckaxe: his throat cut from ear to ear, SO o.
| nearly SO sever the head from the body; anu
| IN the eaping wound--a wound in which one
could easily plunge his two clenched lists
still remained the weapon by which IL was
| effected. This was simply common table
knife. black handled, but highly sharpened.
The same nervous, half frantic, bestial energy
that guided the assassin's hand through the
infinity of strokes dealt to the other victims
was to be seen here; and there remains little
room for question that the same hand was
guilty of all ofthc various offences. Whether OF
not lie had accompiccsi Is still unknown. Tne po-
lice for some days past have been very reticent,
and the rumors that are prevalent as to thelI
discoveries are so many and so various that IL
| is impossible to receive them as authentic
But their general tenor seems to be that there
were two, If not three, others engaged with
Traupmann in the crime, and that the authorl.
ties are upon the track of one, and perhaps all
of them; that the man who dug, or aided tC
DIG. the pit at Pantln is already in the hands
of Justice, and that his wife is native OF the
same town as Traupmann; and that klnck, tht
father, was murdered by Traupmann or his
comrades some days previous to the consum
mauon of the tragedy. All these stories. L
true, will soon be verified by the trial of the
case. But, on the other hand, theory exists
which, unsupported by so many circumstances
indeed, but fortified by strong moral con
yiction in the minds of a large mum
ber of people, attributes the entire con
ception and execution of the plan tt
| Truupmann alone. In the first place, II Is as
serted that he would not be apt to cntrust the
various details of such an enterprise as the be-
gllilement and slaughter and burial of eight
different persons to strangers. His great am
hilton Is known to have been the sudden &C
ouisition OF wealth. He knew that the sun
total of the kinck property would not exceed
some $4,000 francs, which in America woult
| b., obout 500 mn This sum divided amOns