, 1876-04-05

How 1t Was prnctsccd in the II ctcn OF
Louis XIV.

uc'HHr hlHHn auu ministers had fbcour8o TO
strange e1pcdlcnss. Even Louis XIV. was sadly
pinchod Tor want Of money; and, since Achony
was tho order Of the day, ho caught batch Of
hIohemista and sent them to tho Dhsttte to work
undnr 1oVornmont aurvol1anco. Thcy ws1o
allowed as much dulphur, antImony, sreonto,
and ANYTHING clso a. thoy wanted, and thoy wero
o1pccted to giva gold In roturu. ucucc, ono
OF the most notable diBooyorioH Of that time OF
eourso the po!ico fonnd no gold. but they found
snar. smhnas .tloy M naa ;ong snspoete TINT these
ers, and that thcir customers wero to bo found
IN tho very h[ghost ranks OF society. Arsenic,
which Ia ofton said to kill bv accumulation OF
many small dosos' was incapable Of dcseetion in
anu THUS poudre dc succession bocnno favottto
way Of getting rid Of any ono who stood hetwoon
man OF woman and tho catato or tho human
being whom On tboy eoye,ed. Wo hava all hoard Of
Of horB, doing for tho common people what tho
other did for tho nob|csse, to which she ho1self
belonged. Tho humber artist did her work in
Jus. as artistic style a. did tho matchionass. 4
to his gad- about vito; she gooa OF straight to
Voisn aud quietly buys packets of powder.
which mAko her In = few TookB q frolicaomo
widow. carpenter, dying, leaves little
money mothos and son cart agreo about it;
but before ehe Las como for Tie next tho son
has been there too. Votsin keeps them both In
hand, dotarlnlncd TINT whoever pays her highost
shall win; the mothcr gains tho day. Besides
poisoning, Voisin was ready for oyory other Kind
Of VllaIuy. She and q midwife named LopoEo
arc stated to haro procured abortion in TO- 600
cases, and tho number OF neu-born Children
burned by Volsn In her magical rites IL rockouod
at 2,61o. Tho wl1oio story II 80 horrible that,
woro it not LOCALLY sttostcd Ia thoao archives,
ono oould not credit II; it IL worse than tho
worst OF the foul dEoatua OF Witchos The con-
fesstona Of yoiBiu and her nccomplices wore
made long before they woro tortured. got ono
wouf1 fnfn bnDn TINT rf fhn inn
details wero due to q dtsoased imagination.
Spirituatlsm Is oontemptiblo enough; we may
be thankful Tint 1t il only contemptible Hhop
We read Of the methods which these wretchos
ueed to call up tho Devil and to win from him
for their dupes "the flying dollnr," which WAS
no sooner spent than 1t found Its way back into
It's owners pocket. To drapo d room in btack
cloth. sud. on black altaI lighted with black
(tor priests uoro found to lend themselves to
tho work. went through yilo travesty Of tho
mass, was ono OF tho loast horrible Of tho co1o-
tnoutes; Aone arc too bad ovon to hint at. 1t Is
0000 cfowns. and WAS leaving Franco Under q
talso nsnet Waa caught. triods and at last burned
february. 1880. ,6Le supped gayly the night
before, and sang parodios on tho church hymns;
"gave her soul to tho DoyiI In good style"
(ge,t!nsent). % Madame do Beyigno has 1t. But
all voisi ms clients wore not butchers and car-
pontera' wives and lowd young women Of tho
basor sort who Lad got into ttoubte." Mars
Mancini Countess Of soiesous, WAS convicted Of
having gone to her In order to get rid Of T.
Yal!leso, her sucuessful rival In Loua AIr.'s
affections. There was no doubt nbout it tho
proofs arc on record. Tho order WAS laauod to
arrest tho Countess, but Louis told tho Duke Of
Bouiiou to give her lint, and aho escaped.
Nor was sho the only one who escaped; for
thoro WIS such au opdemto Of poisoning that
tho Maglstrato DO ID navnie heAitatod to 60 on
With his Inquiries ho found they weTo likely to
compromise very exaltod personageB iud1ed.
n i Akrrt tiu,n Int IN At hin
hands, hud ho questions "whoshor 1t III for Gods
glory and tho Kings interest. i.e., tho interest
Of tue Btate, Or eycn OF Justice, to publish
abroad such tcrrlblo md enormous crimes"
Writing to Louyols tho Primo sl,uIstor. in 1861.
he saya. but for the confonsiou8 OF tho csim-
nRlB, I should scarcely ba ablo to credit tho
existence Of such traffic in poisons. Poisoning
ls tho common remedy for family troublcH.
poisoner among tho poor actually undertook
tic job for tho triaing charge Of 80 sous.)
There was such d panic that people gavo VI,
uHiDE motal 1slnklng-cups aud took to Glass
drink poured into i. At dinner every
guest Ind hla own silver plato, brought aud
cMrtc1 homo aga!n by q confidential scEvnnt.
Tie l!non VIVA washed at homo, and "got up"
under .he housswifo'1 own o1es, for fear tho
Letters we're dBlnfected ~ u 1t had boon time
Of plague aud ladies' gave MP Accepting bou-
luets, because peoplo had been known mover to
recover 4ftof 6fnoll1nE a. a r0tachtu NOWcf.
Even Nacino tho good aud truly pious, tue hest
character, pert,apH, of all the writer's who
adorned that brilliant Court, waa at ono time
suspected Of being poiHouer. Those archives
bhoW that inquiries wore secretly Bot on foot
tbout him. and that His innocouco was lndisruta-
bly, proved. Indeed. among tho molly crow
who tlabblc1 In polBons tlloro was not Hipglo
literary man OF tln BliEhtcst pretons!ons to
{aIne. Volsn was burned altya In February.
1850. Madame do Caraaa, vito OF = nlastor Of
uooda and toresls, had hor baud cut OIL year
After. uetweon these two good many met
their Just pu,iBl,menti aud tllnu tho trials Hud-
donEy ccasod, and TIC caansdre arde,4o loft or
it, investigations. Loais made up hin mind
TINT Do IA lloynie WAS right, aud that to 40
further would bring 9 scandal OH Tie whole
pntlofl. Other grind court favorisas besfdos tho
Countess Of HosHona Were compromised. Be-
sldos the yillainous prieats Who wore exeouted
thoro wero Inany othor olotgYmon involved moro
or less deeply III tho Bano tmpiotics. Tho Klug,
who. II, spite Of Ills freq iifo. wAs. after hfs
own fashion, highly 1olgious m1n, did not lko
to strengthen tue hAnua OF tho oncmieH OF Ca
thoclsm by publishing to tho world tho Shame
OF ita ministers. Tho guilty were allowed to
escapo iuto foreign parts, or to Lido themsclYos
In monasteEies. Public opinion, too. went round
In : moment. from Dslug "she fnhhlou,"
poisoning became "dreAdfll" In eyerybody'n
opinIou, and thuro was really no uead OF further
prosecutions, for socloty ut ouce oatraolzed all
tho guilty, and eYon tue suspected.