The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-07-19
a Fan,ily Tresctay.


Il Family Eragcsly u
. 81 rTfon she Rostoli 4dreriissr, 17th.I IS g 50
III an Austrian court there has recently
been reached the con cl,lsion oi q tragedy
(which seemed TO have its spring in q heart
Of TisirsuM biackness. y Henri Perrau, or
EDe Tourrfife,. as he Is otherwise known, a
Frenchman natura lied In Eng land mas
Just been convicted OF the murder OF ms
wife In a terrible way, from most sordid
motive-fn money. He had been. examined
on the charge once by the Austrian author.
Titles nnasuffered to return to4EngianG, DUE
reports ofhis former lie and TIE inconsistent
cies OF his statements led them to demand
his extradition, and ut the second trial he
was found guilty. Tt was found that
his first wife had been wealthy widow,
and thai her mother haA been killed
by so-calIed accidental discharge OF
a pistol in De Tourvitle'S hands. 1t was
suspected, but not proved, That he murdered
! her that he might more certainly secure his
wife's property. a reported statement OF
his, which was not brought out at that exe
animation, was that he kneW how to get
| rid OF motiiers-in-law and wives. IL one
l.shoulR be showing pistol to mother-in-
| law and it should go of a0eld entally 1T would
killhsr, and il wife should be looking at
Imountain scenery and SHOULD chance to fall
ovens cliff it might prove fatal. After the
death Of his mother-iu-laW his wife died,
though there was no, charge against him.
She left him property bringing an annual
iaeomc OF six thousand pounds, and he
asterward married another wealthy widow,
4 whose property, which was settled upon
Ehim in. case Of hen. death, was forty thou
sand pounds. He endeavored to learn her
financial condition before the wedding, but
she refused his request. 8,
On the 18th of July, last year., De Tour
Vile and his wife, with her maitf, came to
1.-THE town OF Spenclinig in the Tyrol. The
! next day the husband and wife. leaving the
maid behind, started for the Stelyio pass.
but, not BeiDg able to reach it, they decided
! to return as far as Trafoi. The coachman
was ordered to drive one while the two
walked by path. Madame De TourYille
was never seen alive again.! Three quar-
tiers OF an hour after leaving the coachman
De Tourville walked leisurely in .Trafoi.
Remarking that he felt hot, he drank a glass
OF wine, and. in answer to question al bout
i his wife, said that she had fallen and hurt
herself. He suggested that the coachman,
with others, go and look for her, saying
that he would follow soon. But it was de-
cided that he should go with the men,
and when they reached the place he
sat in the carriage while the others
searched. A little way down the cliff from
the path they came to a straw hat and a
vest, the former being.covered with blood
When it was shown to De Tourville he said
4 it was his yifc's. Farther down were other
articles of clothing, and at the bottom OF
the precipice was the woman's lifeless
body, the head bleeding from severe wounds
| upon the forehead and the limbs broken.
4 De Tourville was not excited when word
was brought to him, but offered first hum
i dred fiorins, then twice as much, to have
the body brought up. But an inspector OF
customs who was present, suspecting some
thing was wrong, refused to permit the body
to be moved. Blood was found upon the
husbands fingers, and he explained the sns-
picious fact by saying that he had cut him.
self upon the stones.
To different persons his accounts were
very contradictory. TO the maid he said
that his wife had fallen down the precipice
while admiring the scenery-an idea very
much like the saying attributed to him
years before. He told the landlady that his
wife had struck her foot against stone and
fallen; to an officer he said that she fell
from giddiness, while at the trial he DELHI
erately charged her with suicide, saying
that twice had she cast herself down, that
he had both times helped her back, and that
when he returned. for the carriage she had
succeeded in her insane purpose. Curiousfy
enough, the lady had written letter to a
friend, in which she had given warning not
to believe any story that she had committed
suicide, adding that II her death was re-
ported "you will know that have been
murdered"
He was examined by the authorities, and
SO loose was the questioning that he was
adiudged innocent and returned to Eng
land. On the second trial, however, after
the extradition, not only were all the cir
cumstances of the case thoroughly sifted,
but under the liberal laws for the admission
of evidence much Of his past life was re-
hearsed in court. The jury stood eleven
for conviction to one for acquittal; and
what ground that one could have bad for
belief in the mans innocence is hard to
see, after reading the details OF the case. A
more tiendish crime is rarely heard OF. For
the sake OF securing the property OF his
wife-and no other motive can be found
he conceived and executed the purpose Of
destroying her by most violent death. All
remembrance OF love, all thought Of his
duty as his wife's protector, must have
/ cQanSeQ 1DCO Luelf QlTecG OppOSltcS, auu ueT
life was taken by him who had sworn to
cherish her-taken because he esteemed her
fortune higher than herself. The social
position of the family and the peculiar
atrocity OF the crime have made it famous
throughout Europe, and there is little dis
position to criticise the methods Of the
Austrian court, since it has succeeded in
passing sentence which common humanity
pronounces just.
AMERICAN OFFICERS LEAVING THE EGYPT
JAN SERVICE. General Fields, of this State,
who has been in the Egyptian military ser
vice for several years, with other distin-
guished American officers, announces in his
last letter home-receiVed in Fredericks-
burg Monday-that the Khedive has dis.
charged all Of the American officers in his
service, and he is now on his way home.
The disagreement grew out Of some COM
plications aMsing from the position Of the
Egyptian Government towards the Eastern
Powers now ut -Fredericksburg Star.
The tidal-wave OF May 10th at Nukahiva,
one OF the Marquesas group in the Pacific,
rose and fell ali day, the greatest rise being
fourteen feet, swapping the plantations on
| Taiohae hay. On the ofher side of the