Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-04-18

The Probst murders, the Palmer murders,
the Tropmann murders, and remarkable series
OF murders in Belgium lately would seem to
c0untenance the curious theory act forth by De
Quincy in his essay on Murder Considered as
. Fine Art"
The last named horror has created nearly As
muen excitement In Continental Europe Is the
IroPmann murder, and is similar to that
tragedy In its details. Dessous-le- Moustier a
small sheep-grazier, has been charged before
the Court Of Assize, sitting at Mons with sue
cesslvely numbering and burying three brothers
named Thirion, cattle dealers, who had occasion
to call upon him in the course of their business;
with poisoning his wife and his father-in-Iaw
and with robbery and forgery. The jury have
returned verdict of guilty on al the counts.
with the exception of that Of causing the dealt.
of the wife's father; and le- Moustier. who was
with dificuity kept from the clutches of an in
furisted mob, will in due course be executed a,
Mons, and has not the faintest chance of a re-
PrieVe. Inc prisoner is man of notoriously bad
Character. Throughout his trial, he manifested
not the least emotion. He received his sem
tenee with smile, and once or twice upon
MS tiai made insolent replies, which were
greeted by the audience with loud laugh
Ter IN which he himself heartily Joined.
suspicion was first aroused by the death of his
father-in-law and afterwards of his wife. who
expired in great agony; and on examination of
her body large Quantities of arsenic were found.
and le-Moustier was at once arrested. JJpon
MS arrest he asked with what he WAS charged.
and upon being told that it was with the muir
der of his wife blurted out the rash words, "I
wish that was all" This being reported in the
neighborhood, the neighbors began to chatter
and gossip, and rumOrs which had lain dormant
for two years in regard to the unaccountable
disappearance of the Thiron brothers took
tangible shape. 1t was recoIlected that Nicho-
las Thirion when last seen was in the company
Of le- Moustier, who had helped him to pack
large sum OF money in his belt, and had said at
the same time, raising his fist, ga blow of this
sort would kill a man" 1t was also called to
mind that the two other brothers had been last
seen with leMoustier.
On the strength Of all these reports lemons
tiers yard was dug up, and the bodies of the
three Thirions were found buried a very few
inches beneath the surface. As far As appear
ances let any light upon the murders it would
seem that le-Moustier, after packing the money
OF Nicholas for him in his belt, had enticed him
to his house, and had dug grave for him in his
yaru. In the yard he had somehow murdered
him-how Is not known, the bodies being much
decomposed-and had thrust him into the ready
made grave, throwing a great stone upon his
mead IN order TO complete the brutal work and
ming up the grave with earth. Gustaye who
would appear to have called later, he mur-
dered In the same way, and dropped the body
into a shallow and dry we'll, throwing over il a
layer OF dung. Pierre, who came later, he
disposed OF in the same way, throwing him into
the well above his brother, and directing old
Mons. Havrez to I'LL the we'll level with the sur
face. Finding that Havrez babbled about the
matter, he then got rid of him by poison
HE old mans coffin was found to be saturated
with arsenical salts Lastly, the desire to be
sole possessor of the house in which he dwelt
coupled with the reproaches which his wife
must have heaped upon him for his guilty in
trigue with a concubine he harbored in his
house led him TO take her life also, and to add
fifth to his four victims The most remarkable
point in the case Is the wonderful influence le-
Monster seems TO have had over his neighbors,
and more especially over the members of his
own family. From the first he was suspected of
the triple murder of the Thirions, and vet no
one apparently dared to accuse him. His
father-in-law and mother must have known Of
the murders, and yet they kept silence. 1t is
clear that his wife must have known that she
was being poisoned, and that yet she yielded to
her fate, as if under the influence of some ter
rible fascination. In fact, le-Moustier seems to
have charmed his victims much as a rattle
snake Is said to charm a bird