The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-06-06
9aHtscelIa
A POISON CASE ABROAD.
How French Teacher Hung Himself by Poison
ing His Wife,

Lord Kinnaird, better known as Hon.
Arthur Kinnaird, Member for Perth,
must have read the proceedings in the
Chantrelle case-the recent case in Edin-
burgh, in which French master has
been condemned to death for poisoning
his wife--with an interest not altogether
devoid of pleasure. He is President OF
the Society for Insurance against Acct
dents, and the first effect OF the trial
must have been to convince him that as
against swindlers intent on causing death
by accident, and so plundering his soci.
ETY., his shareholders are nearly SAFE
The effect of the triple effort to cause
death and avoid the presumption ofsui.
eide, and to raise the presumption of un.
avoidable accident is to paralyse the
murderer's ingenuity, and make Lin
comparatively stupid. M. Eugene Marie
Chantrelle was late in 1877 teacher Of
French in Edinburgh, who had practiCed
his profession with some acceptance for
ten years, who was married to very
excellent and patient wife, and was ia.
ther of two or three children. A man
ofsome ability, with considerable know
ledge Of chemistry, and a plausible adj
dress, Chantrelle was very dissolute
man, frequently suspected of intrigues,
always wanting money and hating his
wife as an obstacle to his amours. He
had repeatedly struck her, had ouCe been
punished in police court for his brutal.
ity, and had frequently threatened to
poison her in such way that his wife
believed him and told her mother, who
was incredulous, that she believed her
life to be in serious danger. 1t was not
in danger, however, in the ordinary way
Chantrelle had keen feeling of dislike
for his wife, and great regard for his own
personal safety and comfort, and ii was
not until he had hit upon scheme for
killing her and protecting himself, and
at the same time acquiring large sum
of money, that he permitted himself to
make the attempt. He asked his wife to
allow him to insure her life against aCci-
dent for &1.000. So deep was his wife's
distrust of him, 80 strong her conviction
that he intended to be rid of her, that if
he had proposed an ordinary insurance
she would probably have refused, and he
therefore limited his request to insurance
against accident. Even to this she was
most unwilling to aCcede, arguing that
she never travelled, and was not likely to
die by any accident, and telling her
mother if the insurance was effected she
should soon be dead; but she gave way,
and the insurance was settled, after a
most suspicious interview between Chan
drelle and the insurance agent which
did much to convince the jury of the
prisoners guilt. Chantrele wanted to
make money, as well as be rid of his
wife, and he did not quite know what
would or would not be taken as accident.
Would, he inquired, an unaCcountable
and unexplained death be accident2 His
idea was to poison his wife, probably
with the concentrated opium he at last
employed in the strong tasting cooked
cheese; but the agent told him such
death would not be an accident within
the terms of the policy, and the money
would certainly not be paid. Chantrelle
therefore had to seek some other device
which would secure his plan, and is sp
parently believed by the prosecution to
have thought Of the one alleged to have |
been tried by De Tourville against his
mother.in-law-acCidenta shooting with |
a pistol. A pistol, at all events, did 60
off in his pocket, wounding one of his
children, but the wife remained unhurt |
He gave this idea up, however, as to un.
certain, and reCurred to his former one,
poison, but with this addition, that the |
poison must be 30 used as to cause the |
impression of accidental death. A pre-
sumption of suicide would not help him,
for death by suicide is not death by aCCi-
dent, and it was necessary to discover
means of killing his wife without ex-
citing suspicion, but with such a pre-
sumption or proof of accident as to ena-
BILE him to recover the insurance money. |
The triple task proved too much for
the murderers ingenuity. On the night |
of Jan, l, 1878, he indeed Contrived to |
administer poisonous dose of opium to |
his wife, as it is supposed, in an orange, |
and she died; but that was not enough to |
establish his claim upon the insurance |
Office. He, therefore, when the maid |
informed him that his wife was dying or |
dead, passed into the room, spoke to his |
wife, sent the girl out to attend to one of
the children, who, he said, was crying |
but who was not crying, and broke gas |
pipe under the window by main strength, |
The girl, who had not perceived a smell |
of gas before, perceived it on her return,
and he sent for a doctor, alleging that |
his wife had died ofgas poisoning a rare
mode of death, but one which is known |
to Psychologists, and which is aCcompa-
MED by many of the symptoms that fol-
low narcotic poisoning. The doctors,
however, after some hesitation, for they |
had no reason to suspect foul play, and |
there was the gas in the room, decided |
that the cause of death must have been |
opium, and Chantrelle was arrested |
Some stains ON the bed caused by vom.
iting were analyzed and found to contain |
opium; there was opium in the froth on
the poor lady's mouth, and the absence
of opium in the stomach was shown by |
experts to be usual, the drug being alb
sorbed with great rapidity, 1t was fur
ther shown that the gss-pipe could only |
have been broken purposely, as it must |
have been heaved up and down; it APP |
pesred from the evidence, as recounted |
by the Judge, that no one but Chantrelle |
himself, and by conceivable possibility |
Mary Byrne, the servant, who had no
interest in her mistress's death, and who |
gave her evidence very clearly, had &C.
cess to the pipe. Finally it was shown
that the accused had studied poison,
that he kept collection of poisons un.
der his own lock and key, and that the
preparation of opium was among them,
and inaccessible to Nine. Chantrelle.
The jury, therefore, had no hesitation in
returning verdict of guilty" and the
Judge sentenced the accused to death.
The prisoner thereupon asked permis.
sion to say few words, and made the
following sinpular bnt extremely inpeni.