Litchfield enquirer., 1870-07-28
sHooK1Na OCCURRENCE Ar WASH. i5

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT WASH
 iINGToN. q sU1cIDH or THE FRENCH MINISTER.
 PaEvosT PARADoI SHOOTS mMsE1F WITH A M. Pervost Paradol, the new French minister who arrived here last week. and Who was received by the President on Sat- urday, committed suicide in his sleeping chamber at one o'clock on the morning of the e'20th inst. by shooting himself with a pistol The inmates of the house at the time were his house-keeper and g French : serTing maH. The woman heard the re- port of the pistol and rushed to the room, where she found M. ParAdol lying dead on the floor, bleeding from the left breast- the ball having entered immediately over the heart. Before committing the deed he had prepared himself for bed, but had evidently remained up some time meditat- ing sui4 ae. He had nothing on but his night shitt and slippers and apparently stood fhcinR the fireplace, near the centre s.of th6 room, when he discharged the pis- tols His body was found lying on the back with one leg drawn np. and the left arm outstretched above his head. He left a note saying, twill kill myself. M. Be1- themy. come back and stay.''
 eMr. Paradol took possession of his house on Friday last. and on Sunday evening he sent his son and daughter, who accompa. nied him to this country, to Newport, R. l.. intending to join them in few days, to spend the summer. He has been very bu- sy since his arrival, and on Tuesday his mlnd seemed wandering, though he con- frIH at %~ ing the afternoon. It is presumed that he was laboring undera temporary fit of in- sanity. Circumstances go to show that the act was premeditated. The deceased walk ed out on Tuesday and purchased pair of Colts single-barrel, breech- loading pistols, one of which was found on the floor under his body, and the other on his bureau with the cartridges beside. The underta- ker was sent for as soon as the affair was known, and the body was embalmed and prepared for burial. M Berthamy, who was in New York at the time, was ordered to toWashington by Napoleon, and nothing further will be done until his arrival.
 Secretary Fish on Wednesday telegraph ed to Minister Washburne to inform the French government of the sudden death of M. Paradol. The President has order ed guard of honor over the remains of Paradol at his late residence
 CAUSE OF THE SUICIDE.
 One of the foreign ministers, who had for number of years been bosom friend of the deceased, in discussion of the sad event of the death of M. Paradol, stated that he was subject to fits of the most un- governable temper, du1SGg which he en- tirely lost his sel-possession and commit ted acts of which he afterward had not the faintest recollection. In the opinion of the minister referred to, it was doubtless in one of these fits that he committed the act of self-destruction. According to the same authority, he left Paris under highly unfortunate circumstances. His friends had become seriously estranged from him on account of his political course, which, until of late, had been in warm opposition to the Emperor. He had as bosom friends such men as Thiers and Favre, whose an- tagonism to the war was such as to draw upon him the open hostility of the French populace, and the latter fact. announced to him at the same time as the formal de- claratlon of war against Prussia had the ettect of arousing his sensitive nature to the highest pitch of excitement. A num- Der of causes of similar nature added to the attrition of his mental system, until the over-strained cords snapped asunder, and he sought relief in suicide.